What makes a good photograph? II

A great photograph is a photograph that speaks to the viewer and makes that viewer want to look at the photo for a while. It leaves the viewer with questions and the desire to have a conversation with the photographer.

The following is a quote from the reading that I believe best describes what a good photograph is... "you can look at the photo for hours and still discover something new... it manages to show... something utterly mundane and transform it into high art." Evocative and mysterious are two more important aspects of a good photograph that are mentioned in the reading. Another good point is that it is often important to look at a series of photographs or a large body of work by a photographer in order to determine if the work is really great. It is sometimes difficult to judge just one photograph on its own.

Reading the comments in “What Makes a Good Picture?” I noticed that many of the answers mentioned that a good picture stirs up strong emotions. For example, Alexey Brodovitch commented that “a picture which affects you emotionally… makes a picture good” and Jacob Deschin wrote that “a good picture is felt rather than merely understood (intellectually).” These quotes me think about the differences between painting/drawing and photography. I feel that great photographs often evoke strong emotions but that great paintings or drawings don’t. I’m not sure why this is.