Author: The Photographer Clay

It is beginning to appear as if the biggest market in photography is photographers. We are inundated with marketing to buy presets, software, brushes, cameras, and every other sort of gadget. We are also flooded with publishers and promoters seeking our photography not to be bought but to be submitted for the glory of being “accepted and published”.

While I know there is still a photography-consuming customer base it has dwindled. Sears, Picture Me, Olin Mills, Glamour Shots were virtually everywhere. I know many of these were not all that great but they often beat the “on-location” natural light portraits we see so much of today and yes, I’m guilty of those types of portraits as well so shame on me too.

I’m not sure we can ever go back to the heyday of photography when newspapers and print magazines had staff photographers or when studio portrait photography was on the street corners and shopping malls. I’m not sure I would want to either but I do believe we need to move the current trend of snapshotish (my new made-up word) looking portraits. Let’s move towards showcasing photography as the art it can become. Let’s make the term photographic artist mean something superior to a professional photographer. Who is in with me?!

If you were to learn one new thing in photography what would it be? For me, I want to learn about compositing images. You know, altering reality. The image I have included with this blog is a creation of two separate images. One was a fairy house from a fairy house competition at a local arboretum and the other was from a photo session with models in costume.

I have always been impressed by those who are able to create a realistic fantasy from multiple images. This, to me, is where the creativity rubber meets the road. I visualize all sorts of amazing concepts but to put them together in a single image may be difficult or impossible. This is going to be my challenge to myself to accomplish this year. To learn to create those sorts of images from my photography.

What is the new thing you want to learn, photographically?

What is your why did you become involved in photography? Was it a hobby to create art? Was it to document family? Or was it one of many more possible reasons?

Ansel Adams believed that photography could give vent to the same feelings he experienced through his music. His first attraction to photography came indeed through his love of the natural landscape and a yearning to capture something of that overwhelming experience on film. Ansel Adams was encouraged as a youth to become a classical pianist. When Adams was about 14 his family visited Yosemite National Park and he got his first camera. Adams become very interested in conservation and joined the Sierra Club and continued his work in photography.

Edward Weston’s father gave him his first camera, a Kodak Bull’s-Eye No. 2, which was a simple box camera. He took it on vacation in the Midwest, and by the time he returned home his interest in photography was enough to lead him to purchase a used 5 × 7-inch view camera.

The stories go on about how some of our most renowned predecessors got involved in photography. Perhaps you have had a similar experience. The point is we, you, could become as good as your favorite photographer. It just takes a bit of dedication and skill-building. Get out there today and do some skill-building and art creation. You’ve got this!

I occasionally get worked up with the discussion of photo manipulation and photo purity. What I mean is there are factions of photographers who believe any but the most basic of photo editing renders a photograph something other than a photograph, it isn’t “true to life”. I argue none of it is actually “true to life”. The photograph I have included here is lit naturally, by the sun under the cover of a roof at an open-air farmer’s market. No light modifiers, not supplemental light sources, no post-processing beyond a slight crop. When we take a photograph we make choices that modify the reality of the scene.

First, we are recording a moment, or in some instances a few moments of time as a still image. Next, we make a choice on how to meter the light, spot metering, matrix metering, center-weighted, and where we are metering. We decide what aperture to use, to make sure how much of an image is “in focus”. We decided how close to get with the lens’ focal length. As you see by using our cameras to record a scene, we are already modifying “true to life”.

Photography is all illusion. We take a three-dimensional world and convert it to a still image represented in a two-dimensional fashion. So to me, it irrelevant whether or not an image has been post-processed, unless the photographer is a photojournalistic image. Even a documentary image is merely a representation of what happened based on the photographer’s position to the event or scene affected by the choices mentioned above. It is all an illusion so let photographers do their thing and create their images. Remember, we can please everyone so it is most important to please ourselves with our work.

It has all been done before. Is there anything that hasn’t been photographed? I’d say we would be hard pressed to find anything. Are we truly innovative in our current work, maybe but maybe not. I believe we are influenced by work we have seen in the past on work we create for today and the future. Is that a bad thing? No, not necessarily. We can stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. One could argue that Michelangelo, who died over 300 years before the Wright brothers first flew an airplane, was one of the first to conceive of the idea of an airplane. Did the Wright brothers build upon the work of those who had preceded them?

Are we really copying the work of others? Maybe. Does it really matter? Most likely it does not matter. We will most likely apply a bit of ourselves into the new work. If I’m not attempting to produce counterfeit work that I proclaim was made by others and attempting to profit by forging the work of someone else is it wrong? Do we really believe we are coming up with a totally new concept or are we building upon the work of those who came before us? I get inspiration from seeing art and often times I may incorporate more than one piece of work I’ve seen into my piece is it truly an original never been done before by anyone at any time since the beginning of art? I’m not so sure. To me, don’t worry about it, just create.

Occasionally, I think about the range of influence I have currently and the potential range of influence. I write my blog as a motivational piece for both me and those who read it. Another goal of my blog is to build confidence with my readers in the pursuit of their artwork and photography. I’ve heard from a few that don’t believe their work is “good enough” to share with others. I’ve been there. I understand. The old adage “you can’t please everyone” is true especially in the art and photography world. The most difficult group to please with photography and photographic art is other photographers. Don’t let them hold you back. Build your circle of influence.

Before I end, I would like to ask a favor. On my current blog site, I have only one actual follower. It’s not a huge deal but one that I would like to increase. I would like to increase the number of followers and readers of the blog for a few reasons. It would boost my confidence in the work I put into the blog and would result in motivation for me to increase the amount and contents of the blog to provide more information to my followers should they so choose. Increasing the following would also help to motivate me to get more photography done. If you like these posts please consider becoming a subscriber of the actual blog site, spread the word about the blog to your circle of influence. Thank you all for being such an inspiration to me.

This debate, much like the debate about whether or not photography is art, rages on ad nauseam. It recently came up in a modeling group I admin. The question posed by one of my other admins was, “is a cellphone camera a real camera?” The comments and votes were not surprising in the least. Photographers who used high-end gear overwhelmingly said a cellphone was not a real camera. It was interesting though they couldn’t define a “real camera”. Is a Brownie Target Six a real camera? Absolutely! A “real camera” is anything that can take a photograph, period, full-stop. Hells bells, it can even be a professional camera put into the right hands.

The real question comes down to is it the right camera for the task at hand? Right now, cellphone camera technology may be a bit more limited than some of our newest digital SLR or mirrorless entries but the abilities are beginning to shrink.

As I have said before and will continue to say, it isn’t the gear but the skills of the person operating the gear. Again full-stop. Let’s stop trying to belittle others for the gear they chose. Trust me, I can find someone using a cellphone as a camera who can outshine many photographers using the top-of-the-line digital SLR or mirrorless model. I may even give it a go and take the same photograph of the same subject using my cellphone versus my Nikon gear and see if anyone can tell the difference. Game on!

Today, it is totally babbling. Just random thoughts.

Despite all its shortcomings, trolls, bullies, spammers, and scammers the internet and social media are wonderful places as long as you’re aware of the potential exposure to those people. Just think about it. The internet and social media have given us a platform to access millions of potential viewers of our art. It has given us the opportunity to interact with people we may have never met, even if we never meet in person. We get to see what the world is like for people across the street to the other side of the world. Take advantage, and explore the artwork around you, not just from your friends but what is done by others in your own area and then others far away.

Photomanipulation has never been easier. Today, we can manipulate a photograph on our cellphones with an app. This is our chance to let creativity run wild. We can all become surrealists or abstract artists. It doesn’t have to become your “go-to style”, just try it. Play with it, enjoy it. The current version of Photoshop allows you to even use some styles of art and apply them to your photographs. Who knows you may find a new way to be creative.

Last random thought today, don’t let anyone belittle you for the equipment you use. You be you. Use what you have, be it a cellphone all the way up to the latest greatest whatever may come next. As Edward Steichen said, No photographer is as good as the simplest camera.

Newbies and even photographers wanting to grow beware there are monsters amongst us. On any given day or given topic in photography forums and social media outlets you can find good advice, great advice but you will also find monsters amongst those willing to help. The monsters offer horrible advice or love to hurl insults at the questions or work of others. Rarely do you find these monsters submit any work of their own for review but they always have something negative to say about the work, knowledge, and/or questions of other people. I’m sure these types have always existed but in days before we had such availability of contact with such a large number of people around the world they were much more isolated.

Why do I say to beware? These types can eventually affect your confidence in learning, applying knowledge, and experimentation. I had left many large groups for that very reason some time back but recently went away from my self-imposed guideline and joined some forums that have over 20,000 members. While most of the active members are decent there is also a large percentage that works to sabotage the efforts of others. So beware, find people willing to help you both learn and grow and be able to filter out the monsters.

Photograph for yourself. I often have to remind myself of this simple statement. What do I mean when I say photograph for yourself? I mean do the photography you want and get the results you want. While it is important to push yourself to explore different genres and subjects it is more important, in my mind, to get the photographs you want rather than attempt to get what others want. If it isn’t your style, maybe you’re not the photographer for them. I’ve done this with weddings. I’ve been asked to photograph weddings and I have done a few. It just isn’t for me. I don’t enjoy them even though I love working with photographing people.

What I have found if I go with what I enjoy photographing and apply my style others enjoy my work. Please yourself first with your artwork.