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My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

Iceland | Friday, July 5, 2013 | 5 photos

I first realised what it was to be a photographer when I was 17 and travelling through Europe. I was walking through the woods in Versailles when through the trees I spotted a boy and his father crouched over the ground digging up worms to use as bait. There was something so human about this moment, something so intensely real, I was scared that by reaching for my camera I would somehow cheapen it. I suddenly realised that taking a photograph is more than 'point and shoot'. Hell, it is even more than 'point, frame and shoot'. Taking a photograph is working out a way to capture the entirety of the moment so that when it's staring at a stranger from a backlit screen 3000km away they can smell the dirt and feel a type of attachment to a little boy and his father.
I understand the allure of photographs but I’ve never understood how some people can spend more time with their eyes behind a lens than with their eyes in front of it. The photographs I’ve taken that have meant the most to other people are those that have come from really trying to understand what it is I'm seeing. I'd love the opportunity to learn more about how to translate the real from someone like Jason Edwards.