Intuition or Intent?

[Araakii]

Sometimes you use intuition, sometimes you use intent. Sometimes you start out with an intent and rely on your intuition afterwards. They come hand in hand and everyone would have a bit of both.

[Bob Michaels]

I found this outside the front door of my adopted family's house as I was leaving to go around the corner and have a drink. I only photograph in b&w in Cuba for my serious work but I was done photographing for the day as I had been out walking and shooting for 7 hours.

I stepped back inside and picked up the compact digital that I use for family happy-snaps. I shot this, put the camera up and went on to partake of Cuba's finest rum.

Was this intuition or intent? consider:
* I was in Cuba to photograph people
* but I was finished photographing for the day
* I shoot b&w film
* but for some reason I picked up my digital
* I am diligent about editing and printing my b&w work
* but this was so casual that I forgot I shot it and just found the digital files that I shot six months ago. I never looked at them before

So would you call this intuition or intent?

[Araakii]

This is not the photo association thread but I can't help not to post this shot.


Mexico City #4 by Araakii, on Flickr

[candidcameraman]

With intent makes for better photography

Intuition... makes for average photography

[jsrockit]

Originally Posted by candidcameraman

With intent makes for better photography

Intuition... makes for average photography

And this is an absolute?

[candidcameraman]

Originally Posted by jsrockit

And this is an absolute?

Of course not - based on my experience, pretty much all intentional photography produces better resulting images versus intuitive photography... A mix of both can be magical but one versus the other is very different. I'll choose intent over intuition any day of the week

My intuition made me lift my camera to capture a subject to the right which has been cropped out as my intent was to make better and more relavent images not subject base, to make images which were context based - to trump the subject in favor of context.

Had I just followed my intuition... I would have aimed the camera lens in the direction of the subject, throwing out all composition rules, the proverbial baby, with the water - out the window, making instead a rather pedestrian image, a grab shot versus an intentional thought out composition. One more image to delete as opposed to a keeper.