Vision Drawing / Oramagraphy
“Orama” is a Greek word for “vision” with the emphasis on the “o” (O-rama). The term “oramagraphy” literally translates as “vision drawing” similar to photography which literally translates as “light drawing”. As a lover of languages and neologisms, I googled “oramagraphy” (English and Greek) and to my surprise, it did not pop up! I took a print screen of it for posterity : )
What you take with your camera is photography. What you make before, during, after the photograph (from previsualization to realized vision) is oramagraphy. Oramagraphy also refers to a personal pursuit of vision in photography that is specific and original to the photographer themselves (το όραμα του φωτογράφου) but may lead the photographer to discover an inspirational vision or an innovative or prescient form of photography within the photography community and in the evolution of photography as an art form. In essence, “oramagraphy” is about personal revolution for evolution in fine art photography. I purposefully sought an “o” word to describe this concept to compliment the word “originality”.
By cultivating a personal vision, I do not always mean that you first have to hide with your camera in Plato’s allegorical cave or walk the desert for 40 days; I mean understanding ourselves and the world around us to be able to see with nascent eyes and a prescient mind with our photography. We are all influenced on some level by other photographers and we often compare ourselves to others and strive to reach their levels. I want you to be confident enough to learn from other photographers while striving for personal satisfaction while surpassing your own and other’s expectations! I would like for my photography and your photography to be talked about as if you were describing a neo-surrealism, a neo-cubism, a neo-impressionism, and any other neo-ism, but this time the art is in pixels and not paint. Great art, to me, is grounded in neuroesethetic principles, the miracles of mathematics, an enlightened and eclectic aesthetic, semiotic relationships, philosophical tenets, and a non-zero-sum psychology. One day, I would like to see a photograph next to Da Vinci’s “La Jaconde” (Mona Lisa) in the Louvre. Is conquering the world of art too much to ask as photographers? Is becoming the second coming of Steiglitz too lofty of a goal? May Photography and Art marry well and have children named (insert your names here). Let’s all try to multiply, shall we : )
Are you Intrigued by this can-do treatise? If you would like to read more about this and some of my practical concepts in photography, please have a glance or two at my interview at Canadian Photographers Online : )