Where did you take that?

Ah yes, the predictable question asked of photographers when they show an image.  Interestingly, painters do not often receive that eternal question.  Why?  Candidly, many viewers do not recognize photography as art.  They see a camera as a means for recording people, places and events for the purposes of “making memories”.    A major reason for these points of view is that nearly everyone has a camera and uses it to “take pictures”.  In fact, when a photographer shows a very good image, many viewers want to know its location because of the belief that they could do the same thing.  On the other hand, very few people paint after they complete elementary school.  Naturally, they view photography as lower on the “food chain” of visual crafts.

Those of us who pursue advanced or professional photography likely started out with similar beliefs.  However, after becoming deeply involved in the craft, most of us found that becoming a fine print artist, commercial photographer, photojournalist or a portraitist requires developing a high degree of skill very similar to paint artists. 

Of note, digital technology further deteriorated the public perception of photographic artistry because it “seemingly” made our processes easy and automatic.  Again, any serious photographer understands the hours of learning, the culling of poor images and the constant rejection makes the digital craft anything but automatic.

Those ancient ones of us who started out with film understand that there are more hours spent in the darkroom than in the field (serious photographers typically processed film and made their own prints).  Similar to film photography, digital processing of raw files are critical elements in the creation of fine quality images by skilled practitioners.  There are very few “everyday photographers” interested in pursuing these portions of the craft because “it’s a lot of work” and clearly “not much fun” for them.  You know, like painting, carving sculpture and other crafts. Interestingly, many of us love processing images as much we enjoy camera work in the field.

As I painfully and slowly progress in photography, it is occurring to me that where I go to “make images” is not as important as the need to improve my vision.  Lately, I am most satisfied with the photographs that I’ve made within 50 miles of where I live; even in my own backyard which backs up to a beautiful creek.

So, what’s the “so what” of all of this.  For one, I am starting to exclude locations on my fine prints.  For me, this mindset change enables me to focus on “seeing and noticing” rather than recording.  The next step is to “stop taking pictures” and instead, create images based upon my emotional engagement with the environment.  This includes pursuing abstract concepts such as luminosity, contrast, color, geometry and atmosphere (many thanks to Alister Benn for teaching these “tags).  Therefore, “where I pressed the shutter” takes a back seat to the vision of my “mind’s eye”.  From now on, when people asked me where I “took a picture” I will answer them with the one word question of: “why”?

Alister's Vision

For the last 18 months or so, I have been studying the works and teachings of master photographer, educator, writer and thinker Alister Benn. Alister is an award-winning Scottish landscape photographer who has a phenomenal YouTube Channel, operates a website, leads workshops and makes outstanding images. What attracted me to Alister was his contrarian approach to photography, especially the educational side of things.  He once had a student ask him to comment on one of her photographs. Alister asked her what she thought of her own image. His point is that the photographer must internalize their own work and ask themselves for evaluations rather than some outsider who will tend to emphasize negativity. Alister discusses how camera clubs, workshop instructors, etc. have the habit of telling an artist “what is wrong” in their work rather than to help them become more “expressive”. When I read that, I immediately realized this is someone that I wanted to follow. Alister speaks of his own struggles with photography at a time when he felt pressured to make images to please others or to get “likes” on Instagram, 500PX and other social media sites. In fact, he went off to the Gobi desert, where he had only sand dunes, light and shadow to challenge himself to be more creative and expressive with these simple elements. He emerged from that experience with not only a different perspective on photography, but a transformation of his life. I found this humbling in that a man actually puts his life on pause and goes into the wilderness “to shake the devil off”…. Wow!  Alister’s photographic teaching emphasizes “five tags”: Luminosity, Contrast, Color, Geometry and Atmosphere. He also teaches an understanding of transitions, distractions and consequences in image making, whether it be shooting in the field or processing in “Lightroom”. These are creative surrogates for the worn out “rules of composition”. His teaching of editing and processing utilizes the photographer’s emotional intent rather than mere technical movement of the “sliders”. Employing these teachings has enabled me to scrap many of my “old ways” and freed me to approach image making by engaging with the landscape and expressing my personal vision.  In addition, my image processing has a better connection to my work in the landscape.  Alister calls this Expressive Photography. I highly recommend his E-Books, “Luminosity & Contrast”, and the “Color of Meaning”, which can be found here: https://expressive.photography/education/

Let the Bubbles Come to you

There is a time in every photographer’s experience where we run out of ideas or creative concepts. It can be frustrating because, by nature, we want to have a continuous flow of eye-catching images. I have spoken to many artists in different genres and to a person; they speak of these periods of creative vacuums. Writers talk of “writer’s block” and other artists try to avoid clichés or imitating the work of others.

To work through this issue personally, I go back to a childhood experience, “blowing bubbles”. During the summers when I was a kid, we often had those kits consisting of a wand with a rounded portion on the end and a bucket of sudsy water. One kid would dip the wand into the bucket and come up with a large bubble, and blow it through the wand, and it would float through the air. In fact, other kids would often have smaller wands, which would enable the creation of many bubbles simultaneously. Now, the rest of the kids would go chasing the bubbles and try to break them. Breaking the bubbles presented a challenge especially if there was a breeze. In addition, the bubbles would rise out of reach. So, you ended up with a bunch of yelling kids chasing bubbles with most of the bubbles escaping. During one of these games, I noticed that if I waited, I could determine which way the bubbles were moving. Then, I positioned myself in the area where the bubbles went and easily broke a greater share of the bubbles. In other words, I let the bubbles come to me to get an upper hand.

This can apply to artists. When we are seeking ideas, we are figuratively chasing bubbles. During these slack periods, I try to leave the camera at home or at least in the truck. Then I go walking and looking with nothing particularly in mind. This could be days or even weeks. I try to maintain an open mind and let the ideas come in. In photography, lighting is everything. I often go out fishing in the evenings. While doing that, I watch as the lighting changes as the sun falls in the sky. Long shadows, reflections on the water, sunrays and clouds patterns emerge. It is amazing how observing these phenomena with “an open mind’s eye” reveals the building blocks for creative ideas. At those times, the bubbles are coming to me.

Social media sites such as 500px, FStoppers, Flickr, Instagram etc..., provides another means for creative tune-ups. I take at least one day per week and look at the images of other photographers. Most of these sites provide the opportunity to rate and comment on images, which I do. Doing this makes me more attuned to the creativity of other artists. I do not go out and copy the things that I observed and liked. Instead, I try to understand the photographer’s vision and intent in the images that they made. This causes more bubbles to come my way.

A New Venture

After years of using social media sites like FStoppers, Flickr and 500px to share my images, I have finally taken the time (more like becoming patient enough) to implement this website. Whether anyone reads this is beside the point. I get to write whatever i want, whenever I want and as politically incorrect as I want, all under my censorship. The site enables me to showcase my images on my own terms and in my own way.

Photography has been an obsession for most of my life. For me, it was always about the print. Digital technology has changed that kind of thinking in the photographic “community” (today, it seems that everything has to have a community). Because of the speed of modern communications, we are able to capture images and, through our mobile phones, transport them to potentially millions of people worldwide. With the advent of social media, we become our own publishing houses where we display our pictures to thousands of people in a blink of an eye. Conversely, very few people make prints anymore. I have mixed emotions about that.

Digital technology enables anyone to be a photographic communicator by taking advantage of the plethora of digital outlets. On the other hand, high quality, serious photography is diluted with thousands of poor images passed off as competent craftsmanship. This is reminiscent of the development of electronic music in the 1970s and 80s which enabled individuals with no inherent musical talent or training to become prolific composers and performers. The work was substandard when compared to the skilled musicians of the past.

Before the advent of digital, one had to be serious about photography to enter the field and develop the skills to make high quality images. Now anyone who has a mobile phone can potentially produce acceptable quality work as a photographer or even as a videographer without a lot of skill.

Overall, this is a good thing, but it has reduced the quality of what was formerly professional or advanced amateur work. As an example, I had a colleague from 30, years ago who was an outstanding wedding photographer who was booked most weekends from June through September and charged high prices for his stunning work. He put many hours into making his products the best possible. Now brides get Uncle Joe who has a digital point and shoot camera to perform the service for little or no cost, and the output is “good enough”. And, the results are posted on social media, and few families even care about a wedding album which, in the past, was a treasured piece of family history.

What does all of this mean? Right!!!! things change, and I have no right to arrogantly complain about it. Nevertheless, when “want to be photographers” ask me how I am able to make my images so sharp and colorful, their eyes glaze over in boredom when I discuss raw files, post processing and color management…. Go Figure!