Category: Uncategorized

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.

Something I notice frequently both in personal contact with photography friends and through social media, everyday life struggles can really hinder creativity. Current health and political issues have isolated many. Many are reluctant to venture out far from home for fear of COVID exposure, others may be reluctant due to political unrest, something we, or at least I, thought that would be virtually unheard of in the United States. Couple those two issues along with the normal, whatever normal is, struggles of finances, typical health concerns, pressures or jobs, and family life it is sometimes a wonder we can create anything worthy for the past couple of years. At times, it is all I can do to just think about sitting with my wife and dog with a nice glass of wine and watching mindless television.

I’m not sure I know the answer to overcoming these struggles, except that pushing through and creating something certainly will take our thoughts away from the everyday struggles and allow us a few moments of creativity. Take some time today to push through, even for a few moments, and create some art.

This blog post is inspired by a recent conversation in my Facebook photography group, The Digital Photography Forum.

One of the members shared an experience on a couple of recent outings they went on. The basic story is most of the other photographers present were using the newest trend in cameras, mirrorless bodies while she was still using her tried and true digital SLR. She related that she felt she was being snubbed because her gear made a sound, the mechanical shutter, as she took photographs. I can relate to her story.

I want to make something clear right away. I’m not an anti-mirrorless camera body person. What I am is shoot what you have type person. We all get into photography with different goals and budgets. Many of us don’t feel like we should replace gear just when the next thing comes out. Now that that statement is out there I will go on as to how I can relate.

I’m sure that photography snobs, just like art snobs, wine snobs, or every other kind of snobbery have existed for a very long time, but it seems as if photography snobs go through a series of growth and decline, at least in my experience.

Early in my days of digital SLR photography, I started with an entry-level camera and consumer-grade lenses. These were also the days of Yahoo forums, I know ancient history. During that time, I felt a lot of snobbery from photographers who had higher quality gear. They often made you feel like you weren’t a “real photographer” unless you had the “latest and greatest”. Over the course of the next 15 plus years, I have been able to upgrade some of my gear but I have tried to not be a snob when it comes to photography. It may be because I don’t have a room full of the big-name lenses or high-speed low drag gear. I’ve been around those people who have had that stuff and frankly some of them never impressed me with their photography. Conversely, I have been around people who have had entry-level equipment that can impress me with nearly every photograph they take. My thought is, I’m not impressed by what gear you have but how you use your gear and how well you create your art. Impress me with the results, not what you use.

Yesterday, we talked about learning to see. Once you learn to see the details you can start to learn to visualize your images. The photograph I have included above was not completed in Photoshop or Lightroom to give it the blackened background. I saw the flowers and knew the look I wanted, which was to isolate the flowers completely from their surroundings. All it took was a bit of a flash and a small aperture. One of the reasons I say you can start to learn to visualize we all know the frustration of having an idea for something but just can’t seem to pull it off. Another part of being able to visualize is being able to control your equipment to help you complete your mind’s eye vision.

Learn how to use your equipment and be able to control it all the way to its manual settings. Just like any artist being able to control your tools makes creating your art much easier and much less frustrating.

One thing photography has taught me is to see and I mean really see. Photography has taught me to see the color temperature of light, it has taught me to see small details of things that many others walk past never noticing. This gained vision isn’t always a good thing, however. The ability to see can cause me to spend a lot of time working on “cleaning” up a scene once I have taken a photo which isn’t always possible or practical on location. I mean cleaning up by removing bits of debris that I believe distract me away from the intended subject, or stray hairs on a model. It also can cause me to become obsessive about seeing light fixtures with burned-out light bulbs or light bulbs of a different color temperature.

All in all, learning to see the fine details I believe has caused me to grow as a photographer. Learn to see the details and expand your vision, you may be surprised at what you have missed seeing in the world around you.