The Essence of Something

One of the dictionary definitions of "essence" is "the ultimate nature of a thing."  Depicting something's essence is my personal goal in filming things, no matter the subject.  Essence is why you can look at two pictures of the same loved one and know that, somehow, the photographer captured who the person really is in only one of them.  It is hard to describe because, ultimately, it is an immaterial quality.

Take daffodils, for example.  I have filmed a lot of daffodils, but seldom am I satisfied that I have captured the essence of the flower.  Yet, can you describe what the essence is?  I can't.  It is like what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about hard-core pornography - "I know it when I see it."  So, in the first photo, you have a very nice (ho hum) daffodil, but in the second photo, I think I have caught more of the nature of the flower.

If you are at all serious about photography - or even if you only take the occasional photo, try to think of how you can capture the essence of the subject you are about to film.