Thoughts on Photography

Photo Snobs?...I think not

The comments from my last post about Photographic Angst were so darn good that I've decided to pull some of my favorite quotes.  Hard to believe someone actually considers Lost In Focus photographers and visitors to be snobs.  The comments I received were exactly what I would expect from people who are passionate about photography, yet completely clear about our place in the craft.  Here's what you had to say:

Jeff

I do strive to create significant work - I don't think there's anything wrong with that. By "significant" I mean good, interesting, high-quality. What's wrong with that?

Jude

...if one was complacent they would never progress and become even better. I also don't think it's wrong to expect "significant" work from yourself. The key, my friend, is finding work that is significant in your own eyes.

Craig

I'm not sure I agree with the assessment that the internet has caused new photographers to think that they need to always produce significant work...Any pressure one feels is, I think, self-imposed and not an intrinsic quality of the digital/internet photography community.

Kal (himself and quoting others)

...much of that self-imposed pressure may create angst, it is driven less by our need to create significant work as measured by our own standards, but by those of others..."photographs are the dead leaves of life"...after I am gone, they will tell my story.

David

You should be driven by the need to produce original work because you have a unique vision...Great photographs don’t come by that often you’ve just got to be ready when they do.

I consider myself lucky to have found a group of photographers so diverse, yet so passionate about photography.  Better yet...everyone has opinions!   Let me finish with what was my favorite comment from the post.  It is something that I think captures the spirit of the photographers and visitors to Lost In Focus:

Do I think I need more by way of experimentation, etc? hell yeah!

Do I think I need to improve in 100's of ways? um, duh .. of course!

Do I think I own the visual world? are you kidding? it's got my name all over it ;)

- Jude

 

Photographic Angst

angst:

Pronunciation:

      \ˈäŋ(k)st, ˈaŋ(k)st\

Function: noun

a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity

I had an interesting exchange with a fellow Pbaser a couple weeks back.  She is a PAD'er as well as a sometime visitor to another community I'm involved with over at lost in focus.  I won't go into the details, but she made an interesting insight about this "lost in focus" group I am a part of.  The group was born out of a desire to have a more legitimate community of photographers willing to provide honest feedback to each other versus the shallow (my words) community predominant on the Pbase website.  This is well trodden ground, so I won't go over it again here. 

Anyway, she made a comment to me about that gave me pause.  Here is what she said:

"... I get the feeling that you and the others in your group think that you need to be "on" all the time; producing exceptional work at every press of the shutter. Conversely, I think that the age we live in and the internet in particular has made it possible for new photographers to think that every work they make should be significant. This is a visual culture and we photographers feel like we own it... or, should own it...."

Anyway, I don't want to go off on a philosophical discussion about whether or not she is right (I happen to think she is).  But it does cause me to consider my own motivations and the lack of joy I seem to have been getting from my photography over the last couple of years.  Could it be that my self-imposed need to create "significant" work has had the effect of sucking the last bit of enjoyment (and maybe even the  creativity) out of my photography?  Should my hobby cause me angst? 

 

Just a thought

I'm just back from a week long business trip in Boston.  It's lunchtime and I'm surfing my favorite photo websites.  I had a thought I figured I should capture.  It was inspired by a photo posted on Luminous Lanscape.  (one of the best photo resources out there).  Anyway, the photo is of a very mediocre, very predictable landscape. 

So I began to wonder...why did they post this photo on the front page?  Someone obviously liked it.  So I figure, maybe I'm just not looking at it appropriately.  Okay, let me try a little harder to like it.  Well, it's got nice wavy lines, and nice color contrast.  The sky has some interesting clouds...but it's just not doing it for me.

Well, then it hits me.  If I have to look for a reason to like something about an image, it's not really that good.  This isn't to take a shot at someone else's photography.  I created a photo just last week that I have to try really hard to like...so in the end I really don't like it that much at all. 

It's that initial reaction of "wow" that I'm going for with an image.  If it doesn't have that...it doesn't have a chance of being a favorite for long.   Given that I've started back up my PAD, I expect to have MANY photos which do not have this "wow" factor...but sometime soon I'll get one.  And that's the fun of it. 

Hmmm, I don't suck at this.

On Monday, I captured a moment of motivation and grabbed my camera bag on the way out the door to walk the dogs.  Along the way, I thought about reasons why I haven't been creating images much lately.  A laundry list of excuses filled my mind: I got married, I am working a lot harder, I'm trying to write a book (not about photography), I'm trying to learn French, I'm just a lazy guy...

What a horribly mediocre way to live; running around with a head full of excuses.  So I spent some time thinking about when I was my most creative with photography.  If I could just put myself back in that place, capture that creative mindset again, I might do some interesting work. 

All of this internal dialog took place within a span of two blocks.  And there I found myself...thinking the unthinkable.  I am going to restart my PAD project on Pbase.   WHAT!?  Yep.  The point at which I was most creative was the point where I was taking my camera out of the bag every day.  I was always looking for photographs, thinking about photographs, or reading about photographs.  Most importantly, I was constantly making photographs. 

So I started my PAD on Monday.  I have given myself a little wiggle room to not necessarily post a photo everyday, but I am thinking seriously about tightening that up.  I will post another photo tonight.  A photo I have not taken yet, or even thought about. 

Just for fun, I went back and compared my very first PAD photo from March of 2005 to the one I created Monday (more than two years later).   And I thought "hmmm, I don't suck at this."

PAD, March 1, 2005 (a bit embarrassing, but this is where is started)

 

PAD, July 23, 2007

Concert Photography - What I learned on My First Try

It was 9:30am on a Wednesday when my plane lurched into the air.  I had two hours of uninterrupted time to think.  The flight from Charlotte to Toronto always surprises me with it's brevity.  OK, time to get down to business.  How the heck am I going to shoot concert photos.  What are my shooting conditions going to be like?

And so that's how my day started, on May the 23rd, as I made my way to see the big CD Release Party for the Year of the Monkey 68 project that my friend Ron had been working on for two years.   I just couldn't miss this party.  Plus, heck, I really wanted to try my hand at shooting concert photos.  Since I was "with the band," I knew this was going to give me a rare opportunity to get right up to the stage and do whatever the heck I wanted. 

As the clouds passed by underneath, I put together a list of challenges that I would have to deal with:

• low-light shooting conditions
• extreme backlighting
• ever-changing lighting conditions
• ever-changing light color
• unpredictable subject movement
• inability to see exposure settings well with crowd and lighting issues
• lack of time to think much about exposure issues after the concert starts

Hmm, this is definitely not an environment I had any experience with.   I was going to have to learn quickly.  It dawned on me that my best chance at getting good photos was to allow myself to be free of exposure concerns and just spend my time finding the best compositions.  To do this meant that I had to automate the exposure as much as possible.  After careful consideration, here were my decisions:

• Set the ISO to 1600.  The 5D has amazing low-light quality and this was one instance where I was going to need it.  To capture a moving subject, I needed a higher shutter speed to avoid motion blur.   A high ISO was my only option.
  
• Set the metering mode to "center-weighted".  This is a great metering mode for backlit subjects.
• Leave the 24-105mm lens in the bag and shoot the whole concert with the 85mm f1.2 lens --  I decided that I wanted to separate the individuals I was shooting from the background on a small stage, and only the way to do this was with the shallow depth-of-field offered by the 85mm lens.  It would also make things simple for me as far as composition, because I would have only one focal length, I would have to move myself around to change the look of the images.  Since I had free reign to do so, I decided this was a good option.
• Set the exposure dial to Aperture Priority mode and try to keep the aperture around f2.2-f3.5.  This will give me sufficient depth of field and terrific sharpness, while softly blurring the background.
• Set the shooting mode to "continuous" so that I could rapid fire images when I needed to. 
• Remove the UV filter.  With all of these lights coming from all these angles, the UV filter would definitely cause a flare or ghosting problem. 
• Put all the extra CF cards and batteries in my jeans pockets, so that I wouldn't have to lug my bag around with me or miss a critical moment because I had to chase down my camera bag and make these changes. 

As my plane touched down in Toronto, I was feeling pretty confident about shooting at the concert that night.  I'd pretty much left myself only a couple of issues that would have to be dealt with on the spot.  These were:

• white balance
• exposure compensation

Well, luck was shining on me this day.  After spending 40 minutes in an alley shooting some portrait photos, I hung out in the club and listened to the band doing their sound check.  The lucky part was that the lighting guys were also doing their thing, so I had a full 30 minute practice session with my camera.  I shot photos of the singers under the same type of lighting conditions I would see later that evening.  This practice was helpful in a number of ways.

First, it confirmed that I would definitely need 1600 ISO to get the shutter speeds I wanted at the f.2.2-f3.5 settings I was after.  Second, I realized (yet again) that nothing looks more beautiful than a portrait style photo with the 85mm lens.  Third, I was amazed at just how well the center-weighted metering handled the backlight.  It wasn't perfect, but was easily corrected with EV adjustments.   Fourth, I realized that the many colored lights were going to make accurate white balance an impossibility.

Lucky for me, there was a 4-camera video crew at the show setting up to create a DVD of the event.  Knowing how friendly Canadians tend to be, I just wandered right over and asked them in my ignorant southern drawl "do y'all have to set white balance for these cameras?"  Minutes later, I had one of them holding up a huge white card blasted with rays from a big tungsten concert light they had brought with them for just this purpose.  Problem solved.  My white balance was set for the evening.  Thank you video crew.

Now I only had two things to think about while shooting.  Composition and EV compensation.  Heck, it's time for a beer, I can do those things with one hand tied behind my back.

So, after a few beers, here's how it all went down.  I wandered from the balcony to right in front of the stage to get multiple angles of each singer as they performed.  I would adjust the EV up or down based on skin color/outfit to make sure the center-weighted metering was accurate.  Other than that, I wasn't having to think much at all about exposure settings.  I spent all of my time thinking about where to take the shots from.  I wanted to isolate the singers as much as possible, but not always.  I came away with a handful of shots that I am happy with.  Here are a couple, with the settings included.   (click on images for full-sized version)

1/250 sec, f3.5, -1/3EV

1/400 sec, f3.2, +-0EV

1/320 sec, f4.0, -2EV

1/125sec, f2.8, -1EV

1/320, f3.5, -1EV

1/160, f2.2, -1 2/3EV

Some of the things I learned from this outing that I would do differently:

• I would include more shots with a crowd in the foreground
• I would try to get more shots of the band members individually
• I would make sure to get multiple angles of every singer and band member

To see more from this photo shoot, you can visit my gallery HERE.  To hear some of the music from the CD visit the Year of the Monkey My Space Site.  To BUY the CD (complete with my photos on the front & back cover!) visit the Official YOTM Site. 

Pay up or put down that camera!

So much for "land of the free"...

Consider this absurdity being considered in NYC according the the NY Times.

For an interesting discussion on today's NY Times article, go HERE. 

I would expect as much from the dictatorship formerly know as Chicago, but NYC?!  What a shame. 

40 Minutes in an Alley Changes Everything

"I don't do people shots."   I've said this so often, it has become a mantra for me.  I have never considered myself to have any skill with portrait photography, so I just avoid it altogether.  Well in a span of 40 minutes last week, that all changed.  Here's the story...

On Wednesday, I flew to Toronto to attend (and shoot photos at) the Year of the Monkey 68 CD Release Party, co-produced by my good friend Ron Lopata.  The CD is a compilation of Canadian artists, some well-established and others up-and-coming.  My photos are on the front and back covers of the CD as well as on the website, so there was no way I was going to miss this party. 

A couple of days before flying up, Ron sent me an email asking if I would mind shooting some portraits of one of the up-and-coming artists he is working with.  He said they needed some shots for use on his website and promotional material.  "There will be some time before the show to shoot some shots at the club" he said.   (The Mod Club for anyone who is familiar with Toronto).   I hesitantly agreed, while silently thinking to myself "I don't do people shots." 

At 3pm, Ron and I pulled into the alley behind the club and began unloading his keyboards and other gear.  I  looked around for possible shooting venues, but quickly realized that the bright sunny day was going to work against me for shooting photos outside.  Maybe inside the club, I thought. 

Saying that the club was a bit dark is like calling the Atlantic ocean a "pond."  Even with my fast prime lens there was little chance of getting any well-lit photos inside the club...now what do I do?   I guess I'll have to find something outside in the shade. 

At 5pm, Mike Eastick and I finally meet.  Through his accommodating demeanor and choice of words, I quickly realize that he has a much higher opinion of my potential to shoot portrait photographs than I have myself.  Ron must have told him I'm good at this, because he is treating me like I'm some kind of pro who knows what he's doing.  OK, I thought, I'll play along and see what happens. 

So off to the alley we go.  Over the next 40 minutes I find every sliver of shade in that short alley that I can.  I've previsualized some potential poses and speak confidently as to what I want Mike to do for each shot.  "Can he tell I don't know what the hell I'm doing?" I think to myself.   He couldn't.  In fact, the more we shot, the more he just did what I asked.  At one point, he even stood on a pile of trash in a doorway reeking of urine, only a few feet from a dead rat covered in flies just because I thought it was a good shot (it turns out it's my favorite shot of the afternoon).  What power I have!

Mike came prepared with a change of clothes and neatly primped his own hair in the side mirror of a nearby car.   I wonder if all potential subjects are so prepared?  This was actually easier and more fun than I had expected. 

At the end of the shoot, I felt pretty sure that I could carve out a few usable images.  It was only after I started to post-process them yesterday that I realized that these were better than anything I ever imagined I was capable of.  A professional could easily find things about the images to improve.  But for a guy like me that prefers shooting abandoned wine bottles to people, I feel pretty good with the outcome. 

In fact, I now find myself looking for more opportunities to explore the world of portrait photography.  I even caught myself flipping though some how-to portrait photography books at the bookstore this weekend.  That 40 minute photo shoot in an alley in Toronto has ignited an interest that I have long denied existed.  I guess that's where the saying "never say never" comes from. 

You can see all the photos from this shoot over on my website.  There you will also find the beginnings of the CD release party gallery.   Below is the image from the doorway I described above. 

The Power of Passion

About 18 months ago, I received an email from a guy who was essentially brand new to photography.  He was interested in some of my processing techniques (at least that's the way I remember it).  Given that much of what I had learned about photography and post-processing had been taught to me by other photographers I'd met online, I gladly repaid my debt and answered his questions in depth. 

After responding to his questions, I decided to take a peek at his online gallery.  To be quite honest, I could tell from his photographs that he was just starting out.  Some of his compositions just seemed too busy and his perspective and subject placement seemed predictable.  Without saying so, I decided that he was destined to become a photographer adept at creating really good snapshot vacation images, but probably would not evolve beyond that. (How judgmental of me!)

To my surprise, this guy just kept coming at me with questions and asking for critiques of his images.  I decided to tell him exactly what I thought.  This led to yet more discussions about every aspect of photography.  We didn't always agree, but from our discussions we both understood more about our own photography.  Very quickly, I began to see elements of his photography start to mature. 

Well, it is 18 months after that first email exchange, and I have to say that I have met someone more valuable to my own development as a photographer than I ever could have imagined.  This guy has a passion for photography like nobody else I have ever met.   I have seen him explore different genres and through trial and error take his photography to a level well beyond what I initially thought he was capable of.  He has long since surpassed my own skills and has become an inspiration for what is possible when you have a genuine passion for something.  For that is something he has had from the first day we exchanged email.  His passion has been there since the beginning, and continues on.  I've benefited by just being around this type of enthusiasm and sincere interest in exploring the bounds of creativity.

Our photographic styles have diverged over the last year, but my respect for what he has accomplished in such a short period of time has only grown.  Most of the visitors to this blog will know of who I speak.  But for fun, let me just link to photos in his galleries based upon the way I saw him develop as a photographer.  I think it might be interesting to see how quickly he has evolved.  (use the "BACK" button to return to this page after clicking on the links below)

One of the first images

Another early image

Yet another early image

The first project

A hint of things to come

Another project

A new genre to explore

Yet another genre

A new idea springs

Further development of the idea

Mastery of the idea

There is no way to give Lawrence Ripsher's photography the attention it deserves on this blog or with these outtakes.  The above links only serve as a testament to the incredible growth he has achieved in such a short period of time.  His sincere passion for the craft of photography has yielded worthy results.  At least for me, the photographer who shot that last linked image is completely different than the photographer who shot the first linked image in this post.  I'm thankful that I have been able to see his growth and hopeful that maybe, just maybe, I have captured an ounce of his passion for my own creative journey.  And I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing just how his work will evolve from here.

UPDATE 5/4/2007:

After revisiting this post today and going through the photos one by one, I realized what a HUGE understatement it is about not being able to give Lawrence's photography the attention it deserves. 

I have not necessarily highlight his best images here, but rather just a sample of his progression as a photographer.  He's too young to have a "greatest hits" collection, but already has more than enough images worthy of filling a gallery.  I think I'll spend some more time over at his galleries today getting inspired. 

My Photographic Purpose: Social Commentary

I finally dialed in on exactly what drives my photography.  I've had a number of tries with it before and never truly felt I had zeroed in on what it was that made me want to pick up my camera and create.  In short, my purpose, and I believe my calling in photography is to create images that communicate a social commentary. 

Over my entire photographic journey, I've tried on a number of different hats.  The list includes:

• Travel photographer
• Abstract photographer
• Urban Landscape photographer
• Minimalist photographer
• Wanna-be stock photographer
• Digital art photographer
• Street photographer
• Pet photographer
• Portrait photographer (this one was very short-lived)

I'm sure I'm missing a few, but the point is that now that I have tried on these different creative perspectives of photography, I find I have arrived at a much clearer view of what defines my motivation. I simply love to create and share images that carry a social commentary.   

I like to create images that say something about our time here as human beings.  The images I create tend to say what I want to say in the way I want to say it.  Or they ask a question I want to ask in the way I want to ask it.  Given this, the true test of whether or not I consider my own images or projects successful is to measure the degree to which they communicate a social commentary as I had envisioned that they could.

Knowing this about myself, also helps me to understand why I can quickly become jaded about other types of photography.   For me to be excited and interested a photograph, I feel like the image has to somehow be adding authentic intellectual value.  If it doesn't, I get cranky, dismissive, abusive and downright cruel in my commentary about it (as the few regular readers of this blog can attest).   This is a personal flaw, not a value judgement.  Ok, I just lied.  It is a value judgement...which is essentially my own strong opinion.  And this is neither right, nor wrong.  It just is.    

SO THERE!

Thoughtless Photography

Just a quick rant, to make myself feel better.  I haven't been shooting much lately, but I have continued to browse my favorite photo sites to view other's images.  One thing that happens to me, time and again after seeing images from the many prolific photographers on these sites is that I get BORED very quickly with their work. 

What I see is that many potentially good photographers waste their talent by creating thoughtless images.  They tend to be more concerned with churning out more and more photos than actually creating compelling photography.  In the end we are all left with a pile of crap that isn't worth wading through to find one or two good images. 

My advice, slow down, think and then create.  You'll become a better photographer and the world will benefit from not having to wallow in your garbage. 

There, I suddenly feel better. 
:)

OK, so now you can start the combative comments about how I don't have to look if I don't want to.  Hey, I'm just trying to make the world a better place.  If that means having to flame a few photographers in the interest of greater society, I'll gladly take my lumps. 

OK, full on laughter now from my end, so this definitely has made me feel better.