Thoughts on Ken Rockwell's "How To Take Great Photographs"

I really enjoyed reading Ken Rockwell's thoughts about taking great photographs, though he was a bit aggressive at times. For example, he claims that it is silly for people to think that they need to learn how to use their cameras on manual settings and really understand the inner workings of their cameras. He instead thinks that we should just point our cameras on auto mode and eventually, with enough practice and cleverness, a great photo will come out. To a certain extent I agree, but mostly I think it is a bad practice to teach that we do not need to understand how things really work. As a teacher of very young children, my entire curriculum is based on teaching basics. I have more or less based my entire school year on the fact that children need to understand how things really work before they can continue on in their learning. For example, I think it is imperative for a child to know how to construct each letter properly before learning to write. I cannot just send them on their way with pen and paper and assume that with enough practice and cleverness that they will be writing essays. You can go fishing and catch lots of fish without knowing how the rod and reel work mechanically, but the minute you get a snag and have no idea how to fix the problem - your day is done and you're going home without dinner. 

On another note, Rockwell has some great insight into the concept of passion. He writes, "Photography is the art of communicating passion. You need to be passionate about whatever is it that you photograph. If you are passionate you'll get results, if you don't care, you won't." This exact concept can be applied to teaching. If you replace the word "photography" with "teaching" - then it defines exactly what a good teacher's motivation should be. If we are passionate about what we teach, we will see the results in our students. If we are not passionate or we do not care, then we won't. It's as simple as that. If our students see that we are not motivated, then they will not be interested either. Kids see through adults better than anyone else, and they can read emotions so easily. Rockwell also writes, "For a photograph to be effective you have to be clear with what you're communicating." The word photograph could easily be replaced with "lesson plan." If our lessons are not clear, then they will not be effective. Again, a simple concept. 

Module 1-1