Postcards from the Creative Journey

Every Picture Has A Story

Shearing Sheep at Melvin's Farm

I don’t make many portraits so portraits are special. We spent an afternoon photographing Melvin’s machine shop while Melvin, Kenny and the sheep shearer (and his sheep dog) took care of shearing Melvin’s sheep. When we accomplished our photographic mission for the day, it came time to take our leave of Melvin’s farm. Just before we left, the shearing was completed. The three men stood by the shed and were resting from a day’s work. Melvin said that without the dog, it would have taken three more men to herd the sheep to the shearer. It was at that point I asked the men if I could make their photograph. Fatigue played a role in their not wanting to move and being able to sit still for a long exposure.

After I put my camera gear away, I came back to shake hands with Melvin and wish him well. He stuck out a huge mitt of hand and I gave him my best firm grip, double pump, look ‘em in the eye handshake. I have shaken hands many times, but this was the most memorable in my life. Melvin’s hand was huge, strong, and covered with lanolin from a day’s handling of wool. The combination of a muscular hand hard and strong from a life time of farm work made incredibly soft by the lanolin was a tactile experience that transcended an afternoon of photography. 

A postcard is a picture and a story. ”Postcards from the Creative Journey” should be a picture and a story about the picture. It’s taken me a couple of years to figure that out and more posts like this will be a lot more fun for you. Photographs and their stories will outnumber ruminations on photography. Photographers are more enthusiastic and interesting when talking about their photographs than talking about photography. 

Advantage: Low Tech

From "Objects in Mirror"

A GPS gives you directions. The little red triangle keeps you focused on the road right in front of you making sure you do not stray from the computer calculated route to your destination. A calm, synthetic voice warns you well in advance of any turns you need to make. You will get to your destination precisely and exactly as calculated by the computer. Your attention does not need to move much beyond the dashboard and the little red triangle.

A map lets you dream of alternatives. That paper map forces you to look at your surroundings and become aware of the land and scenery around you. Lakes have real shapes, road types are different colors. You are looking for land marks outside of your vehicle to match with the marks on the map. Awareness of what is around you makes you concentrate on your surroundings, not a little red arrow on your dashboard. The land, not the road is the center of your attention.

The red triangle gives way to your imagination plotting alternate routes to where ever you might wish to go. You can take secondary roads, gravel roads and if you get far enough away from civilization, Forest Service Roads. Paying attention to what is around you is one of the joys of using a paper map. Technology takes away the possibility of serendipity. Getting lost is a great way to find things you were never looking for. 

Looking and Seeing

Broom Closet, Victorian Lady, Cary, NC

There is a difference between looking and seeing. Civilians* look. Photographers see. There is a great difference between the two. Seeing encompasses a bit more than observing the scenery. When you see a scene, you will be moving your head around a little bit, adjusting your point of view to eliminate converging lines and interferences among the things in front of you. You begin subconsciously moving around a bit to arrange things in a pleasing pattern. These are things that a photographer does. Civilians will just give you an odd look. Your long suffering spouse or companion will shrug their shoulders and say, “He always does that. He’s a photographer.”

That’s because photographers become the camera. Photographers see as a camera sees, not as a person sees. That is one of the things about being a photographer. You can’t turn it off; you’re always seeing. I had a conversation with a photo journalist this past summer. She was getting ready to go on vacation. “Taking your camera?” I asked her. “No, absolutely, not” was her reply. “If I take my camera it’s just like going to work every day. I will be moving the kids around, turning everything into a photo shoot. That’s not a vacation.” When it’s your job to be a camera you will see everything as a photograph.

*David Grant Best refers to those people that are not photographers as “Civilians.”

Solving The Photographic Problem

Victorian Lady, Cary, NC

I have the mind of an engineer, so no matter what experience comes to me in life, I will tend to attempt to solve the problem in an engineering manner. If I have to do something photographic, I will organize the activity as a project manager would. That’s my lot in life. It’s just who I am.

Each photograph is a problem to be solved. What do I want the audience to feel about what I am about to photograph? What vision do I want to share? What do I have to do to make that statement? What technical hurdles need to be surmounted to make an image that perfectly expresses my vision? Each photograph is an individual problem and demands a solution crafted to achieve the desired result. It requires the experience and skill of the photographer to approach each photograph with new eyes and a new approach to solving the problem. 

Photography and Art

Two Rocks, Long Canyon, Burr Trail, Southern Utah

I support local arts organizations by participating in their annual photo lotto events. I call them photo lotto events, the organizations call them juried exhibits and their main function is generating cash to fund the local arts organization. Supporting the arts is a good thing. I send them money and digital files and their juror decides if my photographs are worthy of exhibition. Selection in these events is a crap shoot and winning award money is a real long shot because you never know what the juror is thinking that day, their criteria for acceptance and what other artwork was submitted. With all that variability, it’s a big game of chance.

I have noticed over the years that my photographs are better received by arts based jurors than by photographic based jurors. I’m not sure why that is, but I do suspect that because I am not on the cutting edge of the latest and greatest photographic equipment, presentation, trends and fads My work suffers in comparison to those that (as Huntington Witherall precisely describes) proudly and enthusiastically run on the hamster wheel of photographic progress. Not being “with it” in the world of photography does not seem to be a big issue when the jurors are more used to the traditional art media. 

The above image has been published before as part of the photo safari blog from 2013. Check this out to see what it looked like "pre-photoshop."