Freedom is a concept that can mean different things to different people based on their life experiences and the philosophies they follow.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. Photographs have been added to serve as visual breaks. To view this article in a range of other languages click on the Canadian flag in the upper right corner. 

Let’s look at a few definitions of freedom as found is some dictionaries.

Freedom is defined as the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever we want to, without being controlled or limited.

It is also defined as the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.

Another definition is the condition of being free of restraints, especially the ability to act without control or interference by another, or by circumstance.

There are three specific types of freedoms that often enter into discussions about this topic.  These include…

• Freedom from the constraints of society.
• Freedom to do what we want to do.
• Freedom to be who we were meant to be.

How we define freedom in our own lives, can directly impact our approach to photography. Including our choice of camera gear.

And, our desire for freedom can change how we use our camera gear. For example, many years ago… like a lot of photographers… I used a tripod and neutral density filters to create ‘smooth water’ images like the waterfall photograph above.

In subsequent years I found tripods and filters far too restricting when out in the field. I ended up hating to use them as they were impediments to my photographic freedom. This led me to rely on in-body image stabilization (IBIS) and computational photography technologies like Live ND to create ‘smooth water’ images.

It is important for each of us to define freedom in our own lives and to identify how it impacts our approach to photography. Until we can clearly identify the freedoms we want in our lives, we will never reach our human potential.

Technical Note

Photographs featured in this article were captured using camera gear and technologies noted in the EXIF data. Image 8 was tripod assisted, all others were captured handheld. All images were created from RAW files using my standard process in post at the time of capture. This is the 1540 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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