Author: The Photographer Clay

Something I hear very often from new photographers is how they are passionate about photography. I love to hear them talk about their goals, dreams, and excitement. What is sad is that many in a couple of years go from passion to apathy. Many give up photography completely. I have mentored and taught a number of photographers who just put the camera on a shelf or sell all their equipment. I often wonder what happened. What caused them to lose their passion? Many had a dream of becoming professionals and making photography their job. I often wonder, was that what led to their loss of passion for photography. Did the drive to become an instant fortune discourage them and crush their dream?

The movies and television portrayals of photographers make it appear like a glamorous job. Always behind the camera at exotic locations or working with beautiful models shooting photographs and collecting big paydays. The real-life of a professional photographer is much different. I’m sure it is a wonderful job, but like all jobs, there is much work as well.

I’ve been involved in photography for 40 years. The passion cools from time to time but I never let it go away. Just like any relationship it sometimes requires a bit of work. While photography isn’t like a relationship with people it is a relationship. You give yourself to photography and photography gives to you. I do a bit of something every day that involves photography. I don’t necessarily take photographs every day. I may read about photography, I may study photographs, I may talk to others about photography, or even as little as think about photography.

Do something to keep your passion alive and well. Don’t let it go.

One of the greatest challenges for me is not deciding on a project or photographic concept but getting it started. I often have many great ideas and projects in mind but the actual act of getting the gear ready, setting out, and starting the project often gets pushed aside. To me, it is similar to starting an exercise program or diet. Ah, I’ll start tomorrow, then tomorrow comes and it becomes, ah, I’ll start this weekend. The one exception has been writing this blog. My intent in starting my writing was to motivate me and maybe help others who have fallen into the same type of abyss. Yes, it sometimes feels like an abyss more than a mere hole.

I have a mini-vacation coming up over the next few days and I want to publically proclaim this is my notice to you that I will no longer put off starting my projects and artistic concepts as I have over the past year or so.

If you are in this same photographic, artistic, or personal void I am challenging you to join me. Let’s stop putting off until tomorrow to get our projects going or make that change. Like the well-known sneaker company says, “Just do it”.

I hear many photographers, most are fairly new, talking about doing a 365 project this time of year. Many of these same photographers talk about photography being their passion. I’ve been there. A 365 project, one that takes a photo every single day for a year, is a massive project. What I have discovered from my experience at such a project, it wasn’t worth the effort and I’ll tell you why I believe this.

From my experience, I became so consumed with taking a photograph to put in my project that I resorted to just taking a photograph. The photograph became more important than quality. I’m sure there are a handful of photographers who could take a high quality photograph every single day. For most of us, it is setting us up for failure. There may be a day that you don’t feel well or you’re tired or it is busy with other aspects of life. Once you miss a day, your 365 is no longer a 365.

I’m not saying it isn’t possible. I’m saying that for many of us it is nearly an all or nothing project that from both my personal experience and the experience I have seen of others that sets us up for failing and burn out. Some of these same photographers who I have watched attempt such a project and talk about passion for photography have also disappeared from the photography world. Now, I don’t know if the 365 project lead towards the ultimate demise of their passion but it does make we wonder if the project may have contributed towards the cooling of their passion.

In my Facebook group, The Digitial Photography Forum, we run a challenge. The challenge started out as a weekly challenge but is now it runs every two weeks. I must admit even in my own group I miss fulfilling the challenges on a weekly basis, and have missed on bi-weekly basis. We can be passionate about photography and our artwork without going in all or nothing. Challenge yourself to grow but don’t set yourself up for failure. If you want a good project for the coming new year, join a group challenge, meet the challenges. By participating in group challenges, or a weekly project you can still take photos every day, but you are not compelled to committing to a using work that does not meet your standards or doing something every day all year long.

As we move towards the end of the year we look at the past and reflect on what has happened during the past year, and sometimes the years before. We always find things we wish we could do over and things we would never change. I do believe it is important to reflect on the past but not to dwell in the past. Photography gives us a visual of the past. We photograph friends, family, events, and adventures. We can then, as we remember the past, actually see images and moments from the past year and years before that.

I find this time of year a good time to set goals for the coming year. Not resolutions but rather goals, not only in life but in my photography and my art. As you look back on the past year take time to review your photographic and artistic goals. Set the destination to grow as a person and an artist.

I often feel like my mind never stops. Last night I woke somewhere around midnight to 1 o’clock am, with the thought of illegitimate art, reminding me of an article written in 1965 by Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist, who wrote about many things, including art and photography. In an article called “The peasant and photography”.

The article itself is quite boring and written as a research paper. Essentially, Pierre Bourdieu did not believe that either “peasants” were capable of producing valid work, “A frivolous luxury, the practice of photography would for a peasant be a ridiculous barbarism; to indulge in such a fantasy would be rather like a man taking a stroll along with his wife, on a summer evening, as the pensioners of the bourg do: ‘That’s fine for vacationers, those are things of the city. A peasant who would walk around with a camera hanging over his shoulder would be no more than a failed monsieur’ ( Ibid., p. 608. This quotation is also found later in Bourdieu et al. 1990, op. cit., p. 49.) What is even more interesting is that because his view of photography was not able to develop originality, authenticity or, formal vocabulary photography became an interesting format for a certain advanced field of art in the 1960s and 70s. While some art purists still believe photography is not an art form it has become a more legitimate form of art.

Newer photographers seem much more secure in believing their work can rise to the level of art as I see more newer younger photographers say something along the lines of “my photograph, my art”, whereas many more experienced and trained photographers question what is art. For me, one of the reasons I question what may rise to the level of art is that I have, for better or worse, set a certain expectation of my work and what I believe the work of others should be before being considered art. This is a bias I work to overcome when discussing a photograph with other photographers and focus more on what I believe may encourage them to try different techniques and approaches to lead them to a different plane of creativity. A quick internet search of the term, “what is art” leads to 5.14 billion responses. Go out be creative, create your art don’t let others call your art form illegitimate.

In photography one of the greatest challenges many people make is seeing the light. Photography is all about light. Without light, we would not be able to take photographs. I strive to find dramatic light, even if I have to enhance it or create it. The featured photo of this blog post was shot at 1:40 PM on a brightly sunlit day. I won’t go into the intimate details of how I achieved the lighting except to say I saw potential in the scene with how the light was falling. As artists, we need to follow the light. See the light, or if need be create the light.

Just as in photography, our daily life is about seeing the light. If there is darkness, follow the light but if needed, create the light.

I recently saw a series of posts in a social media group that was discussing pretentious comments of others (which was somewhat humorous because the post was somewhat pretentious) and a second, by a different person, that talked about another photographer proclaiming to a group that there “was nothing to see” about a scene. Social media can be a tough place unless you can wade through the crap, but that isn’t really what I want to discuss.

In the first instance where the author posted about some members becoming pretentious, my first thought is, don’t become what it is you’re complaining about. It is very easy to come across improperly especially in the written word. I can attest to that as I have done that, hopefully, it is something that I am getting better at avoiding.

In the second instance where the discussion was about “nothing to see here” what comes to my mind is that we sometimes search so hard to “find a scene” to photograph that we miss a photograph. The photograph that was being discussed was of power lines and poles in front of a blue and yellow sunset sky. The power lines and poles were nearly silhouettes. While it may not have been an award winner I did find it a compelling image, but what was even more telling were some of the comments. One commenter stated, basically, yeah it’s alright just don’t try to sell it. At this point, I recalled seeing photographs displayed in art museums with a much similar subject. This is really the topic of this post. Artistic vision is being able to see something that tells a story or relates an emotion or experience. Often, it is a scene that others may overlook. Sometimes it is best to stop, observe, think, and compose.

One of the awesome things aspects of photography is that it allows us to capture memories all the way to making art. Few other hobbies have such latitude.

When I started off with photography in the 1980s it was mostly for capturing memories of life events such as birthdays, vacations, holidays, and other special moments. I quickly discovered I could also work to create some form of art. The photograph I included above is an attempt I made in the 1980s using Kodachrome slide film and street photography. Over the years, especially since I went to digital, I have had thousands of attempts at both. In my Lightroom catalog, I have over 10,000 images. I also have boxes of slides and prints from my film days, which is a project I need to start. In addition to those images, I have another 1,000+ on my cellphone. All this is to say, this is why I love photography.

Get out there, take photographs, make art, capture memories, play, experiment, do serious work, do fun work. It doesn’t matter as long as you just do it.

Challenge yourself, stand out from the crowd. I don’t know about you but I often feel like I am competing with others when I should really be competing with myself. What do I mean when I say compete with myself? Challenge yourself to be better today than yesterday. Don’t dwell on tomorrow or yesterday. Focus on today. Yesterday is past and over with. It is history that can’t be changed. Tomorrow isn’t here yet and speculating too much on the future I may miss an opportunity today.

This mindset not only applies in life but also applies to our artwork. In our artwork, let us not worry about what others are capable of doing. Focus on what you can do. Challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone, challenge your ability, push your limits of creativity to do better today. Do something to meet your daily goal towards greater goals.

When I started this blog, my intent was to challenge myself to become more active in creating new art. I set my goal to write something no matter how short each day. So far, I have managed to meet that goal. This has shown me I can do it, I can rise to the challenge I set for myself. Each day, I start off with a completed task. Having already completed a task makes it easier to take on and complete additional tasks and creative goals. If I can do it, so can you.

What type of photography would you like to be known for? Would you like to be known for any photography?

One of my favorite genres of photography is portrait work. Not necessarily family portraits but glamour and beauty.

I enjoy setting up locations and scenarios. I enjoy setting up unique lighting. I enjoy working post-processing. But, is it what I want to be known for? Yes and no. There is a lot of work to getting these things done as satisfying as they may be.

I would love to be able to generate fabulous landscapes but I always feel a bit disappointed with the results. Do we go for what we find easier to become known for that or do we work towards getting better results in other genres? Do we work to specialize or to become more versatile? This is my quandary.