What I see vs what I take.

It's been a while since I've written an article with this approach, in which I show how I take or compose a photo, how I capture an image or a moment: what I capture, what elements I incorporate, what I see through the viewfinder, or even what I appreciate long before I raise the camera. Because photography is not just about the scene itself, but about what the photographer sees, appreciates, and interprets from it. It's about how they observe it, the elements they decide to incorporate, their vision, and their style when composing an image.

The first photo was taken in United Nations Park, in the Recoleta neighborhood. I wanted to do this theme because, honestly, I had been seeing it on social media for a while and wanted to try it out. Today I finally got around to it, although I did it in a very simple way.

I didn't overthink it or try to make the photos “impressive,” in quotation marks.

In the first image, you can see that what I did was incorporate that modern blue building in the background, framing some parts of the trees in the square and some streetlights that visually accompany the building.

For the second photo, I had the Law School building with its large columns in the background and in the distance. I stood there watching for a while and thought: if someone walks by, if someone stands within the frame I'm looking at, I'll take the photo. And that's exactly what I did. Obviously, I'm using a 70–300 mm lens, which allows me to reach places I couldn't with a fixed lens, such as one designed for portraits.

I really like this shot because it incorporates the human element, the architecture, and some of the vegetation.

I took the following photo from the top of the building, where the columns of the Law School are located. From there, you can see a scene with many elements to compose an image: buildings, bushes, people, cars. You can photograph practically anything you want.

The first thing I saw at that moment was the bus stop. It was empty, and to be honest, I have a certain fixation with photographing people waiting for public transportation. I waited a couple of minutes for someone to arrive. My idea was to have the person sitting on the seat, waiting for the bus, but that didn't happen.

There was a girl standing there, looking at her phone, so I decided to take the shot anyway.

Finally, a shot in which more or less the same thing happens as in the previous image. There are too many elements, too many buildings; you can choose to photograph anything, depending on what catches your eye, what you are most passionate about, or what you find most captivating.

Honestly, I am attracted to classic buildings, that ancient architecture. So, as I stood there, that was the first thing I noticed. That's where I pointed my camera, my lens, and my gaze.

This is the first time I've tackled this subject, and depending on how it's received, I might consider doing future editions. I think it's a great way to show how I work and what I see through the lens, and even what I see in my head before I look through the camera viewfinder.

If you liked this way of showing photography and learning a little more about the visions I have before taking a picture, leave me a comment.