What makes a memorable photograph? Is it the way in which it was taken, or the lasting impression the scene itself makes? This is an age-old question in photography, and one which I think Australian photographer and photography historian Peter Adams answered definitively back in 1987.
Around this time, Adams said something so simple yet monumental that it has become one of the most-recognized quotes in photography today: “Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field.” With these 11 words, Adams, in my view, made it starkly clear that a composition is only as good as the emotional reaction that it evokes in viewers.
