Normally, I write my blog entry first thing in the morning. Today, I had a photo session that was set up for a couple of weeks. A photographer friend recently lost a dear friend and wanted a way to deal with the loss. We all discussed a “grief” photo session. We met at a cemetery that has some very old graves and some elaborate mausoleums and crypts. The weather even somewhat cooperated. It was overcast and a bit cool but it provided good soft light.
As you may have learned if you’ve followed my blog for a while, I’m not typically one that renders photographs to reality and will expose and process my images to fit a particular mood or concept.
While many may find the style I chose to be dark and depressing I believe they are more than that. While they are dark they express the sense of loss most of us feel at the death of a friend, family member, or loved one. This is something I intend to make a longer-term project. It’s always better late than never.
I’ve written about this before, but I believe it bears repeating. My goal is to create art not a carbon copy of my subject.
After listening to a podcast, I started to think about this topic again today. The podcaster talked about William Mortenson and the “war waged against him” by members of Group f/64. If you’re not familiar with Group f/64 click here. The exciting thing is that even the “straight photography” of the members of Group f/64 were not true depictions of their subjects.
Let’s face it, as photographers we alter reality through the equipment we choose. We alter reality through the aperture we choose, through the lens, and through the media we choose.
For me, the greater challenge is to create art, not a carbon copy. I can create a carbon copy by using my cell phone. The art I create can even change from day to day, maybe even in a matter of hours, and is influenced by my mindset. For me, creating art is giving others a view into my soul and thoughts. I believe once you set yourself free to create art rather than a carbon copy you may never go back. Give it a try, experiment, play, test, and try new things. Creating art, for me, is much more rewarding.
Why did I choose photography over many other hobbies and artistic pursuits? It is often a question that I don’t have much of an answer to. Like many others, we took photographs of trips and special events (birthdays, Christmas, etc.). Then in the early 1980’s I received a camera, a Canon AE-1, as a gift. At first, I bought the film, and once the roll was completed I took it to one of the 1-hour photo stores. Eventually, I got into developing my own black-and-white film. It was a bit technical and a bit artistic, and being somewhat of a geek and nerd I liked the technology of it all. As a kid and into early adulthood, I was a huge fan of sci-fi and drawing. I enjoyed technology, yeah I was one of those kids who had a “scientific” calculator I carried around the school.
I watched Star Trek (I’ve still got my Star Fleet Manual somewhere) and learned to use a slide rule along with the calculator. I somehow changed paths and went into a completely different field of work and spent most of my adult life in a field that was far from geeky nerdy. It seemed like the photography thing was going to get me back into that lifestyle since most of the people I knew who had cameras and darkrooms were nerds.
In the early 2000’s I switched to digital cameras but was still pretty much a “reality” based photographer. I mean I did experiment with post-processing but worked to “keep it real”.
I then retired for the first time. I began a real photography school. That changed things for me. The coursework forced me into different genres of photography. I had assignments to produce work that I would have never tried otherwise. It opened my eyes and mind to becoming more creative and not necessarily attempting to replicate reality.
For me, photography gives me the freedom to go from reality to surrealism. It allows me to explore the world around me and then create new visions if I so choose. I can create artwork at home or on the road. I can set up a scene inside or wander the city and countryside. I’m not limited to producing my work at a table or easel. Photography can be instantaneous or a longer process. Photography is both magic and science which as a geek and nerd fulfills that need and also feeds my artistic side of me by allowing me to create whatever I can imagine.
Why did you choose photography, I would love to hear your story.
I spend a lot of time studying photographs. Not just the photographs I take but also photographs from others. Some of the others I know, and some of them I don’t know. I say studying because I don’t merely look at the photographs. By studying the work of others I find styles and techniques I like, things I had not really considered before, and things I don’t like.
It is said the average person spends about 15 to 30 seconds looking at a piece of artwork in a museum. 15 to 30 seconds! I suspect that may be much lower when we’re talking about viewing images on social media or a website and yet there are lots of people willing to give a critique or opinion on a photograph on social media after spending a few seconds viewing it.
Studying the photographs and artwork of others is a way I have found helps me become more creative. I don’t attempt to copy what others have done but use their work as a springboard for my own work, especially if I see something I find compelling. Try it, browse through the work of others, and spend more than a few seconds looking at each photograph. You may be surprised at what you see.
It is often said that we should never stop learning. With that being said what was the last thing you learned pertaining to your art and photography? When did you learn it? I would like to offer a thought. If you haven’t learned anything new about photography and your art creation, you may not be progressing as a photographer or artist.
The last thing I learned about my photography and art was a few days ago. I learned more about the AI masking features in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. I knew the existence of the tools but I was not using their full potential. In fact, there were a couple of options I was not aware of. Prior to that, I learned what is important to me in my photographic art journey which was something I had struggled with for the past couple of years.
If you haven’t learned anything new, or for that matter, relearned something you have forgotten, make that a goal for the next 30 days. Learn something new, and continue learning and progressing. Remember we have at the tip of our fingers access to a whole wide world of knowledge.
I mentioned yesterday that I watched a webinar given by a well-known photographer. During the webinar a question was asked, “is that a composite or in-camera shot” pertaining to a photograph he showed. His first response was, why does that matter? This is exactly what I say about such photographs when people ask, is that Photoshopped?
With film, you don’t hear people asking how the image was processed in the darkroom. Questions such as, what chemicals did you use? Did you dodge and burn? How long did you process the film in the chemical wash? What were your settings on the enlarger?
I’m not sure about others but I work to create art not a copy of reality. As good as my camera is, it still cannot create the art I envision. Sometimes, I underexpose a shot to preserve highlights and then bring up the exposure of the subject in post-processing. Sometimes, there are elements that cannot be cleaned up that get included in a shot that distracts from my vision and those elements are removed in post-processing. Sometimes, the lens is too sharply focused and I envision a softer focus which is achieved in post-processing.
In the end, you either like a photograph or you don’t. If you like it does it matter how it was processed? Likewise, if you don’t like a photograph it also doesn’t matter. It’s all subjective and about the art, not the process of creating the art.
This morning I attended a webinar put on by a fairly well-known photographer. The advertised intent was to teach you how to transform your photography to the “next level”. I watched this video for an hour and the only thing I got out of it was to “follow your own path because if you follow someone else you will always be one step behind. The next hour, which I didn’t really watch was a sales pitch to buy his course on how-to. It was almost as bad as watching the infomercials. I even guessed the price of the bundled course long before they gave the price and kept adding the, but wait you’ll also receive. It almost became comical.
I’ll save you the time and say this, follow your own path. Strive to improve your photography skills each day. It can be as simple as just looking at the photographs of other people. Get out and take photos. Challenge yourself to push your limits. What I found most entertaining with this webinar was the “instructor” said to make your own way all while pushing his masterclass to show you how he creates his work. We may occasionally need instruction but it really comes down to pushing yourself and learning through a variety of sources. Go forth today and create your own way, I’m going to.
Over the past year or so I have struggled to get inspired with my photography. Some of it I blamed on the physical nature of a job I had where I would average 11,000 or so steps in a day, not including the other physical demands of the job. Other times I blamed the weather or my location in the mid-west. In a search to find a way to get inspired, I began to participate in a meetup group. I attended several meetups with other photographers and a number of models. It was fun and it got me out and taking pictures. What I soon discovered, however, was that there were often so many people that I lacked the creativity I desired. There were times when we were literally tripping over each other. Other photographers’ lights were in the way, and you were easily photobombed by others who were moving about the set or location. It was a great way to meet other photographers and make connections with models but the stresses of the actual sessions became too much. I have since stopped participating in that meetup group.
The experience helped me realize what was really important. Getting out there. Not allowing others to set the creative theme or location. In fact, one day after I decided to no longer participate in the meetup group I got in my car and just drove around looking for things and places to photograph.
Getting out and just driving about to look is something I had not done in a long time. The act of photography by wandering about allows me to see in a more creative way. Looking at things more artistically. Imagining a time and place that may no longer exist.
I don’t intend to stop working with photographing people and models but to expand my vision to include as much as I can. There is so much in the world to see and so many more things to photograph, including people. The experience of participating in a meetup group did get me inspired to do more and to think more creatively so it wasn’t a failure it was a kick in the pants that got me to understand what is important to me as an artist.
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Winter time can be a very tough time for landscape photography, especially in the midwest. Nearly everything is some tone of brown. The grass is brown the trees are brown, and the leaves are brown. One must often look carefully for any color. Even if you’re converting to black and white it is all about tones and when everything has a similar tone it is difficult to get much separation. It can be found, just keep looking. This is the time of year to challenge your creative eye.
I used to be able to just point my camera at something and snap a picture and be satisfied. Now, I go out and may take several pictures and get back and think eh! I do believe that it is for the best, sometimes. The reason I say so is because of the photograph above. I was just browsing my catalog of “assets” (as many call their catalog of photographs) and my wife asked me, “when did you take that one?” The photograph above I took just over a month ago. When I took it I thought it was decent. I converted it to black and white, I believed the color was distracting, and the more I looked at it the more I thought eh, it’s okay but. What I found interesting was that someone else saw the photograph and it caught their eye. Now that got me thinking maybe I’ve become too selective. Maybe I am looking too hard for a wow factor and not finding it, the proverbial can’t see the forest for the trees. Maybe it is time for a reset, you know, “have you tried turning it off and back on again?
Photographer Clay 