Minor White         

Few in this century would understand the term editorial photographer or illustrator.

In that past century such a person would be shown (or couriered or faxed) a manuscript for a magazine, newspaper article or perhaps an author photograph for an upcoming book.

It would be here where reading the words would conjure in one’s mind an image that would go hand in hand to make the published article one that a person looking at the illustration would then be eager to read.

A specialized form of the above would be a magazine cover or a first page newspaper article.

In my long career as a magazine photographer I can attest to the thrill of using my imagination to illustrate an essay.

What this means is that I was forced to pre-conceive the idea and then realize it graphically with my camera. Sometimes my original idea would not fly so I would have to regroup. This whole process is what made it all such a pleasure.

In my blog I had left a blank for January 1, 2017. I wanted to look back after a few days of rumination on what to expect for this New Year. I have found this. I first wrote about it here in an essay in Medium.com.

All I can add to it is that my little talent for a Minor White preconception is alive and still well. Armed with it I may take a few more interesting photographs this coming year.

Previsualization and the Development of Intuition

Photography serves all kinds of image-making talent in mankind with an equality that almost amounts to a holy indifference. It does not distinguish the sleeper from the transcendentalist; it serves the first with its automatic mechanicalness, the second with its power to evoke the sense of light in images. It gives the spark of creativity in anyone a fine chance to grow. And from those people who have grown to love photography and master it have come three psychological concepts: Equivalence (Alfred Stieglitz), Previsualiazation (Edward Weston and Ansel Adams), and Response. (The latter sometimes goes under the name of “reading photographs”.) These concepts give affirmation to individuals who pursue consciousness and wakefulness by way of photography.

Zone System Manual – Previsualization – Exposure – Development – Printing by Minor White 1968