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Images of Imagination
Av: Terje Hellesø
 It’s often said that the art of wildlife photography is capturing the art of the moment. However, each individual photographer brings more to creating an image than a fortuitous knack of timing. A photograph is created in your mind long before the shutter is tripped – it begins as an idea or emotion. The creative photographer seeks a deeper identity with the scene or animal in order to create an image that’s more than just illustration.
A friend once called me a transcendentalist – a person who has the ability to go one step further than what can be explained by the mind or common sense. It’s the ability to symbolize things and give personalities to different elements in nature.
It becomes much easier to create different kinds of photographs if I’m not entirely basing my images on the appearance of a scene or animal. When I transform a scene into a photograph, I’m creating an image that expresses my emotions for it and my opinion on it. In a way, I’m trying to transform the scene into what I want it to be. The technical aspect of the photo is important, of course, but never decisive. You have to control the technique so it can integrate naturally with your personal intentions.
 Most photographers start creating photographs when they’re out in the field searching for a compelling scene to secure on film. Many times they’re lucky and really find something, but there are occasions when the trip is a disappointment.
We all treasure the times when something comes along that’s quite fascinating and gives us enjoyment. But entirely working under these conditions is in many ways like a gambler hoping for a jackpot! Really, it’s not often that everything unites to give you the per-fect photograph.
Besides, we photographers easily attack new scenes with a certain pattern – a special lens, a special composition and so on. When we do this, we’re usually being very influenced by other photographs that we’ve seen. We can be inspired by this work, but I’ve always tried to be very conscious of not repeating it. When you’re inspired, you harness that inspiration to create something new and original. That’s when you’re making your best pic-tures.
  I’m at my photographic best when I’ve been doing most of my photographic thinking before venturing out into the field. The artistic vision is something that comes from within you, and it’s not limited to times when you’re out photographing. Ansel Adams referred to this as previsualization. We have the photograph in our head before we ever depress the shutter button.
In the realm of wildlife photography, much less has been made of previsualization than in landscape photography. For me, however, the very same principles apply in both. I try to have the image of the animal in my mind’s eye before I even set out into the field. This previsualization doesn’t mean that you have to be rigid. It’s a process of always learning and evolving my internal vision so that I can adapt for a given situation.
 Try to keep an open spirit, stay curious and play with your imagination. You can discover nature with the eyes of a child. Hold on to that child’s spirit, and you can see beyond the obvious.
It sounds so easy, but this way of working with your photography doesn’t come by itself. Philippe Halsman once said that most photographers aim their cameras and shoot without using their heads. Think first, take your photographs afterwards. Your head is your most important tool. Making interesting images demands concentration, imagination and lots of practice. The goal is to get a fundamental visual consciousness. Without it, you’ll miss what’s important.
 In some way, I don’t consider myself to be a photographer. I’m thinking of myself as more of an imagemaker. I don’t so much enjoy the action of photography in and of itself, but I love pictures! I often go to art galleries to study oil paintings rather than photo-graphs. Seeing the world through the eyes and art of someone who’s free to paint a scene that may not exist anywhere is inspiring to me. I try to take that spirit and apply it to my photo-graphs. When I succeed, I come away with images that go beyond the obvious. It’s very re-warding.
So release your imagination and creativity. There are no rules that you can’t break when the time is right. Break them!
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