Postcards from the Creative Journey

Lookin’ Good

Driftwood and Rocks, Maui, Hawai'i

One of the keys to successful photography is the ability to know what looks good when photographed. A skilled photographer must be able to see as a camera sees in order to avoid that “who took that photograph with my camera?” moment we all experience. The human eye sees differently than the camera because it is connected to a brain that inconveniently forgets to see things it should and sometimes sees things it would like to be there.

The pre-visualizing types have this under control because in addition to seeing as the camera sees, they add the “here’s how I am going to process that image when I get home” part of the creative process. So, for them the whole joy of discovery is a done deal at the time they make their exposure and all they have left is the work of making their vision a reality using the tools they have under their command.

According to my highly regimented, intensely ordered and obsessive image numbering system, this image is labeled #400. Is it actually 400, or more? I'm not going to go back and count. I feel the same way about a birthday I just celebrated. It's kind of milestone but I really don't want to go back and count them all.

An Artist… With a Camera

 

Dry Wash, Utah

from "Luck of the Draw"

I like to think of myself as a photographer. My art starts with a photograph and does not venture too far from its photographic origin. I use my camera, associated equipment and software as the primary tools for creating my art. I have been trained in these skills and practice these skills to produce photographic art.

I’m beginning to see a lot more variety in photographic art. More artists are using cameras and software in creating their work. The difference I see is that the camera is just another tool to these folks. I refer to these folks as “an artist with a camera.” The written word does not do justice to my description. So, please read that phrase thus: “An artist (Long pause) with a camera.” I suppose these artists might consider the camera in the same light as paint brushes, chisels or a loom. It is another tool to help them create art, not the (only) tool used to create art.

I’m OK with this trend. One has to leave their comfort zone to learn anything new, or advance themselves. It’s just that I’m not ready to accept that just because you are a virtuoso in one medium, you should be considered a virtuoso as a photographer.

 

Fixin’ to Get Ready to…

Chewuch River
from "Elements of Change"

Here in the American South, we are accustomed to hearing people talking about “Fixin’ to Get Ready to...” For those of you not familiar with this phrase, it means simply means that preparations are in the offing for some event. No progress has been made, but soon something just might happen.

So it is with the 2014 photo safari. The safari is that annual activity where Brooks Jensen and I go out and pretend to be Fine Art Photographers. I’m fixin’ to get ready for this event. We’re not sure where we are going to wind up this year because of all the forest fires in Central Washington, but we will wind up somewhere making what we think are Fine Art Photographs.

One of the things I’m fixin’ to get ready to do is how to do my daily blog updates. I have always blogged from the field. (Really. Go on back and look in the archives during the month of September.) This required my laptop and photoshop. The laptop is now old, underpowered and really heavy. This year, I think the blogging duties will be handled by my trusty iPad mini. I have everything I need for blogging in one thin, smallish electronic gizmo. I’m hoping I can figure out how to use that device to create a blog post (with a photo or two) to let you know what's going on during the trip.

Seeing as how we are going to be heading out in about a month, I think I better do a little bit more than start fixin’ to get ready.

The picture in today’s blog is the Chewuch River near Winthrop, Washington. The photograph was made in 2008. The aftermath of the “Thirtymile Burn” is very evident seven years after it devastated the Methow Valley. 9300 acres were burned that year. This summer’s fires were much larger. I don’t know how that will affect our photography. A minor point to those whose lives were devastated by these fires.

Obsessing Over the Details

Facade, Charleston, South Carolina

Stuff that excites the very specialized only excites the specialized. Many people are not aware they should be impressed when they see something. I think this applies to all sorts of things where aficionados obsess over minutiae and describe their view in the most arcane terms. Read a wine review. There are all sorts of descriptions for how a wine tastes, smells and looks. Beer is rapidly approaching this level of specialization. “Black and White photographers” rhapsodize about the intricacies of tonal separation (especially in Zones II through IV) and I think there is an entire sub-culture obsessing over bokeh.

The average person (and there are quite a few of those) thinks wine is red or white, beer needs to be pale and cold and wonders why a black and white photograph wasn’t made in color.

Being a “photographer’s photographer” is nice, because your talents are appreciated by those that know what it takes to be good, but that’s a really small number of people. If you can appeal to your fellow photographers as well as the person on the street, then you have something going for you.

 

Why Only One?

Skjermo School,

Divide County, North Dakota

I congratulated a co-worker on his recent success in being recognized for winning a prize at his photo club gathering. Then I asked if the event allowed only one image per photographer. He said that was the case. I understand the multitude of issues when there are many photographers to be evaluated. There has to be a limit to the number of images that can be reviewed at any one time before the juror (s) goes bonkers with image overload. The problem I see is that by submitting only one image, we do a disservice to photographers by training them to focus on making just a single image. I’ve stated before in this blog that good photographs don’t show up by themselves. They show up with friends, as part of a group of photographs of a single subject. Groups of photographs are the reflection of the concentrated effort of the photographer to fully explore a situation, a location or their feelings.

While not even close to a perfect analogy, I liken having a single photograph judged to having a writing contest where the contestants are evaluated on a single word. One needs more than a single word to evaluate an artist’s contribution just as one needs more than one photograph to evaluate a photographer’s vision.