Postcards from the Creative Journey

982 I Guess Bob is My Uncle

This is a continuation of a thread started in Blog Post 980.

I’ve done a bit more thinking and some more research on how to assemble a collection of my photographs for an upcoming exhibition. It is easier and just as fulfilling to use the conception and design with some re-sized images and text for the exhibit. I might have to add an additional image or two to fill in some aesthetic gaps. Not making any major changes also meets the goal of delivering what the curator originally saw when viewing the work on my website.

981 The Importance of Taking a Chance First Published 7/26/2015

The Hastings Building, Port Townsend, Washington

Our last stop on the way out of Port Townsend was a bookstore so I could purchase an Edward Weston book. While patiently waiting at the curb, Brooks Jensen spied a lovely Victorian building on the corner of Water and Taylor Streets. On a hunch, Brooks went into the first floor clothing store and asked if we could photograph the upper floors of the building. Brooks emerged with the landlord’s phone number and called it from a bench outside the building.

Later that day while photographing Neah Bay, the landlord called back. She invited us to photograph the building with the proviso that she could use the photographs to help gain funding to help restore the historically important building. In my haste and excitement to return to Port Townsend, I accidentally deleted the entire morning’s photographic efforts. There is no doubt in my mind some of the greatest images ever made in the history of photography were deleted that morning. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

We returned to Port Townsend and photographed the inside of the Hastings Building for three days.

Two things that helped us most in gaining access to this historic building was asking permission to photograph the building. Without asking we wouldn’t have access to make the photographs. After asking, the second help was having web sites that clearly demonstrated that we were capable of producing excellent photographs. Coupling those two important things with our willingness to help the landlord sealed the deal. Helping other people through your photography is a good way to get the opportunity to photograph special places.

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A similar experience happened on our latest Photo Safari. The small town of Goldendale, Washington has a wonderful small town museum. We applied the same method and were awarded with access to a hidden gem for two full days. 

980 Nothing Might Be Easy As I Would Like It To Be

I composed this post at an alternative computer location because the flooring contractors were well into day five of what was bid as a “two-day job.” The contractors and I have a similar problem. I committed to another job I thought was going to be easy, but probably won’t be.

I was invited to exhibit a collection of my photographs. The curator specified the work to be exhibited. The work was completed a couple years ago and is on my website. I thought, “Great. All the images have been perfected in Lightroom and all I need to do is export to a printable size and Bob’s your uncle.”

Until I went to look at the work on my website (Harmony). The images are fine, the text is wonderful and therein lies the rub. This web presentation and hanging prints on a wall are two different things.

Hmmmm. This might be a complicating development. Stay tuned for more thoughts on this interesting development. 

The web presentation and the exhibition space are not really a good match. I think I’m back to square one, trying to figure out what images will work together and include enough of the images from Harmony to make the curator happy.

I need to think about this some more. I'll be posting on this topic for the next few weeks.

979 How Far Do You Have To Go To Fulfill Your Vision? First Published 3/10/2019

I attended a photo talk a few months ago and the photographer’s description of the difficulties encountered in making the actual photographs with the combined technical legerdemain almost made my head hurt.

The photographs were very, very good, the stories were great and the cleverness and technical prowess to complete the images was impressive. I went away with mixed feelings; impressed with the effort to make the images and the workflow to create the prints, (and the prints were both large and spectacular) but was wondering if the effort would be appreciated by people that weren't privy to the entire photographic process.

It struck me that “civilians” (that is, non-photographers) would only see the image and not be aware of the incredible effort that went into creating the images.

It’s good to remember that the audience is looking at the image, not the effort you put into making the image. The effort put into making the artwork is not relevant to most of the people viewing your image. The success of the image is based on the audience's reception to the image, not to the effort taken to create the artwork.

978 Previsualization in the Age of Digital Photography

Early in my photographic life I was a dedicated zone-ista.  I had my large format camera, a digital spotmeter and previsualized my composition using my Zone VI viewing filter. I was looking for the greatest hit image in black and white that I could  mount, matte, frame and hang on the wall. I was zeroed in on the previsualized single image and my work process reflected that concentration.

My world has significantly changed with the advent of digital photography. I’m no longer looking for the single image, I’m looking for a group of images that work together. My method of acquiring images is less trophy hunting but more like herding groups of images together. I no longer think of single images, but groups of images that can be assembled from my entire digital catalog for publishing in several forms.

Sometimes we don’t know what we’re photographing because we don’t know what we’re going to do with the image captured. With the unlimited possibilities available to us with digital editing knowing exactly what we’re going to do with an image when we capture it might just be a lost art.

977 Depth of Feeling and Depth of Focus First Published 4/4/2021

I think it was Edward Weston who spoke of a preference for depth of feeling rather than depth of focus. The admonition is for photographers focusing on the technical aspects of the craft rather than the emotional side of the task. While we must agree that conveying the thought behind the photograph, having a technical failure really defeats the intent of the photographer. Happily, the advance of technology has made the question, “Will this photograph turn out OK?” superfluous. It is almost impossible for a modern camera to make a technical mistake.

If we can eliminate (or at least dramatically reduce) the physical sources of a poor photograph, then what hurdles must we overcome? The answer is simultaneously easy and tremendously difficult. The answer is we have to come up with original content that will delight, amuse, educate and fulfill the audience for our images. This is a task that is not for the faint of heart. It requires us to be able to communicate out thoughts and feelings in a visual manner.

976 Simple, But Not Easy

An acquaintance asked about having a successful online presence. After a few moments of thought I said that was a very simple thing to do. To have a successful online presence it is necessary to create and publish a constant stream of new, good content and post it online. In other words, it’s a lot of work. 

The idea is simple, but the execution of the tasks required is not easy.

That’s the way it is in life. Goals are simply stated, but the execution of the tasks required to achieve the goal can be frustrating, slow, complicated and difficult.  But isn’t that what life is all about anyway? Maybe I’m old fashioned but great results come from creative thinking, planning, hard work, and execution. Day after day, tasks are planned, sequenced, executed and celebrated. Distractions are dealt with, so the tasks required to reach the goal are completed in sequence and on time.

975 I am Almost Quite Alone on This First Published 5/31/2020

I attended several photographic lectures early this year. After reflecting on the topics and presentations, I think I am quite alone in my working methods. The popular method is, for lack of a better description is “getting the shot.” Guy Tal has a great term for these types of photographers, “Trophy Hunters.” There is nothing wrong with having your beautiful single image hanging on the wall of your house in the same way a big game hunter has mounted heads adorning the walls of his trophy room.

The problem with trophy hunting is simply stopping with the obvious image. It stops when you get the image you have seen and want to copy for yourself. I prefer to use that as a starting point. The challenge is getting past the obvious photograph and using multiple images to tell a story. Be unsatisfied with the first image and continue pushing onward to the next, better image should be the goal. Getting past obvious is the way to get to the real story behind the picture.