Am I entitled to express my opinion?

Am I entitled to express my opinion?

A remarkable photograph must be a personal,
visual report of the subject. It has to be able to tell me,
using the photographer personal and unique visual language what the photographer saw and what he felt.
 For a good photograph it is not enough to just be a visual report, it also has to be a psychological report.
 It has to transfer to me the emotions and the point of view of the photographer behind the camera.
We live in an era of photographic boredom and the photographer has to fight it and prevail.
The only way to do so is by using the power of ingenuity, the element of surprise and shock.
When I say that a good photograph has to have the element of surprise and shock,
 it doesn't necessarily means that it has to be provocative or vulgar. It has to stimulate and arouse our minds.
Sometimes it is the simple and un- pretentious image that will succeed to surprise us due to an element in it that will catch our attention and stimulate our mind.

The element of surprise may be achieved in many ways. It might be created by catching the viewer attention to a mundane element yet charming and that hasn't been noticed
before. Or it could show an everyday routine but with a new and fresh angle.
The best way to achieve the element of surprise is by avoiding mimicking others. Many photographers fail producing an interesting body of work
because they are photographing the same image over and over, or they are photographing images that where made countless times before by other photographers.
 Copying others is the greatest danger for the young and aspiring photographer. For the veteran photographer who already found his voice,
the greatest danger is falling into the trap of infinite repetition of himself.
to some extent, all beginners mimic other photographers when they pick up their new hobby,
but they must know when to stop mimicking and start their journey to discover their own personal photographic language.
Upon every photographer lays the responsibility to find new images and a new and personal way of seeing things.
 If succeeded, his images will catch the viewers attention and they'll have the element of surprise.
Exceptional photographs from the past are very important for photographers of today, but they should be a source of inspiration and not objects to be copied.
 These masterpieces are there to learn from, not repeat them.

Techniques

Every aspiring photographers must know and understand that techniques are only the means and not the objective.
 Anyone can learn how to photograph a good image technically wise. Once mastered the tools of the trade,
 the only important things left are the personal taste and point of view of the photographer behind the camera.

I believe that all photography techniques are fair game if it contributes to the personal reportage of the photographer.
All the tools must be aimed at this cause. At the beginning of the photography journey, the photographer acts in this manner without thinking about it,
it is an instinct, he roams with the camera in his hands and "clicks" every time something has caught his attention.
Sometimes these images are very interesting and unique since the photographer hasn't tangled himself in the web of a certain technique and hasn't learned to copy others yet.
 But a day will come and the beginner will have to clarify to himself his ideas and focus himself towards a specific direction. He will have to learn that
 "clicking" just for clicking is a boring activity and he'll have to develop a very specific tendency which will characterize his work.
 Through this process of photographic maturity the photographer will develop his photographic glossary that is needed to express
his new visual discoveries and visual understandings.
The photographs made by advanced and mature photographers are personal interpretation of the subject in terms of the photographer's personality and tendencies.
The uniqueness and the surprise of the personal point of view are the things that bring people to discover their attitude toward the photograph.
Therefore I think that a good photograph must be an individual expression of the subject and it must stimulate the viewer and force him to think.