‘Visually Speaking’ Teaches You How to Take Lasting, Meaningful Photos

Nov 21, 2024

Jaron Schneider

A person with glasses holds a camera to their eye, appearing focused. Next to this is the cover of a book titled "Visually Speaking" by Ted Forbes, featuring an image of a person holding a camera.

“My goal with this book is simple: I want you to understand how to communicate an idea that resonates with the person who views the image,” Ted Forbes, author of “Visually Speaking” and the face behind The Art of Photography YouTube channel writes.

“Visually Speaking” is, if you were to sand it down to its basics, a book about how to be a good photographer. From this perspective, there are hundreds if not thousands of similar books out there. But what Ted does differently here, and what he has done differently for his entire career, is explain how someone can not only craft a great photo but then take those skills and use them to create a photo worth remembering.

Ted is a dear friend of mine and over the years of knowing him personally, every moment with him has resulted in me learning something. It’s not enough to understand how a camera functions and often it’s not even enough to know the rules of what makes for a well-composed image. There is more to it, this “secret sauce” that turns a good photo into a great one, and a great one into one with a legacy.

Image of a book's table of contents. Chapters include topics like "What is Photography?", "The Role of Composition", "Understanding Your Own Work", and "Finding Your Own Voice". Page numbers range from 1 to 343.

An open book displaying two pages on color in photography. The left page features a photo of people walking at sunset. The right page includes text about color and two color wheel diagrams, one labeled "Pythagorean" and the other "RGB.

But putting into words what has the potential to do that is, I thought, impossible. It’s something you have to feel or, in my fleeting attempts at it, stumble into. But somehow, Ted created a book that manages to explain it. It’s a thick book, so it’s not necessarily “easy” to convey but I think Ted has come the closest I’ve ever seen.

A musician plays a double bass on a dimly lit stage, framed by a curtain in the background. The scene is reflected in a mirror, with candlelit tables and a shadowy audience in the foreground.

“The idea that makes photography so interesting is how it requires many disciplines to produce the final image. It brings together art, physics, optics, chemistry, and digital technology, in addition to what’s in front of the lens in any given photograph,” Ted writes, coming to the same conclusion I did.

“There is no shortage of books on photography… I found there were way too many books, especially in the last twenty years, most over explaining how to get an exposure correct. There are a lot of books on how to break into the wedding industry and how to shoot portraits for a living. There are books explaining software and how to edit your images. There are books on how to develop film, how to print in a darkroom, even books on how to revive early photography practices. There are books on lighting, books on toy cameras, and books on making a pinhole camera. There are books on the history of photography and picture books of amazing work from famous photographers. And then there are countless self-published books by amateur photographers (some of them quite good, others not so much) and even photography zines. There are books on just about every aspect of photography, except for the actual act of photography itself.”

A small, dimly lit Japanese bar with people sitting close together on stools. A server stands in the background. Dark blue curtains with Japanese characters hang above, creating a cozy, intimate ambiance.

The reason for this is that it is hard — too hard — to put to words how to be a photographer. You can explain where to put yourself, what settings to use, how to capture a desired subject in focus, how to properly compose it. But for the same reason I will always believe that it will be impossible for a robot to make a meaninful photo, those elements of photography cannot just be combined to create excellence.

If you will allow me to be a nerd for a moment, anyone familiar with Fullmetal Alchemist will know that just because you perfectly combine the elements of a human — down to the exact measurement of each element of their makeup — you cannot make a human. There is no recipe — there is not even a quantifiable measurement — for soul.

A black and white photo of three ballet dancers in motion. Two men and one woman, all in elegant poses, wearing form-fitting attire. They are captured mid-performance with a background of tall windows.

Ted doesn’t tell you the recipe for adding soul to a photo. He can’t, it’s not possible. But what he can do is tell you how to find that soul for yourself. “Visually Speaking,” as the title suggests, is about communicating with photos. It will give you a complete idea of what you need to put together so your photos can tell their own unique story.

A woman in a flowing rust-colored dress spins gracefully, her back facing the camera. The background is blurred, with indistinct figures seated and watching her in a dimly lit space.

“Art is not ‘paint by numbers’; it is an act of creativity. Intelligent art has structure, and the challenge is what you decide to create within that structure. Just like literature, dance, music, architecture, or any other creative medium, photography must evolve to represent the culture we live in currently,” Ted says.

Ted is a great teacher because he asks you to do the hard parts. He’ll put you in the position to make greatness, but he won’t do it for you.

And that is why when he teaches you, you will succeed.

Two koi fish, one white and one orange, swim close together in dark water. Their movements create gentle ripples, and small debris is visible floating around them.

A black and white image of a bouquet of tulips in a vase, positioned against a dark background. The tulip petals are softly illuminated, highlighting their delicate texture.

All of that comes across in “Visually Speaking.” Reading the words on these pages, I hear his voice. It’s true to who Ted is and that means I can now carry my friend with me everywhere, where he will help me be the best version of the photographer inside myself. He can do that for you too, I think.

This is not just me hawking something from a friend of mine. If you know me, you know I don’t do that. No, this is a book I like from a person I trust and admire. Photo books have always meant a lot to Ted — his home is full of them. His cumulative knowledge is incredibly valuable and that is obvious with every page in “Visually Speaking.” If you can, I encourage you to check it out, because what Ted writes in his introduction is exactly how I know he feels:

“My desire is for you to set the world on fire, then write your own book one day to inspire others. You’ve got this!”

Image credits: Ted Forbes, Visually Speaking, Whalen Studio Editions