| February 2022 |
March 2022 |
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1
HT1092 - I Just Want to See Some Photography |
Where on the internet do you go if you just want to see some inspiring fine art photography? All I find on YouTube are camera reviews, technical tutorials, and even a search for "photography gallery" just returns a bunch of videos on how to get your work into a gallery. I can't even find slideshows of work. Instagram is a joke; Facebook is a clutter, and major digital archives are mostly repositories that are difficult to navigate. |
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2
HT1093 - The Incredibly Obvious |
It seems to me that in artmaking, the terms "interesting" and "surprise" are reasonably interchangeable. Not every photograph needs to be unique, but if they are incredibly obvious, there simply isn't much to hold our attention. Think photographs of sunsets and waterfalls — they are beautiful and obvious and disposable. Most are certainly not memorable. |
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3
HT1094 - Where the Money Comes From |
One of the problems of photography these days is that there is no system that provides financial support to photographers for the production of artwork. Because most photographers can't sell photographs as a means to fund their creative life, they turn to the tangential ways like conducting workshops, producing YouTube tutorial videos, and camera reviews. |
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4
HT1095 - Prints, Prints, and More Prints |
When I started attending workshops in the early 1980s, the most prevalent activity during the workshop was looking at prints. By doing so, the true purpose of the workshop became learning how to see photographically. That's still the best reason to attend a workshop. |
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5
HT1096 - Motivations of the Consumer |
It's a valuable exercise to look at your own work and think about it from the point of view of your audience. The most fundamental question that the audience will always bring to a viewing experience is WIIFM — "What's in it for me?" How will looking at your work make their life happier, healthier, wiser, more fulfilling, more fun, more complete, or more secure? |
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6
HT1097 - Acquisition and Dispersal |
Is artmaking of form of acquisitiveness, a gathering, a hoarding of trophies and accomplishments? Or is artmaking a matter of sharing, dispersing, connecting, and letting go? If your objective is to accumulate a collection of treasures, how much is enough? If your objective is to share, what are you doing to facilitate that? |
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7
HT1098 - How to Spend $4,000 |
Let's say you're tempted to upgrade your camera to one of the new top-of-the-line models. After you sell your current equipment, let's say you still have to spend $4,000 for that new camera. You have a choice: you can spend $4,000 for the new camera body, or you could print and giveaway to 400 lucky recipients the best images of your creative life and legacy. And, by the way, I wonder how many photographers actually have 400 images that they would include in their favorites from their photographic life? |
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8
HT1099 - Obsolescence |
Technology implies obsolescence, but in my opinion obsolescent hardware is a much greater issue and more dangerous threat to the preservation of our artwork than is obsolescence of software. It's much more likely that my zip Drive will lose relevancy than my JPG files will. |
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9
HT1100 - Beware Your PDF Reader |
There are lots of apps that can open a PDF document, but they are not all alike. You might be missing some important features built in by the publisher or photographer that simply aren't features your PDF reader can interpret. For example, all our PDFs can be viewed full-screen with transitions between pages. Not all PDF readers can do this. Use the PDF reader that is recommended if you want to view all the features of the publication. |
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10
HT1101 - An Image is Media Agnostic |
In my way of thinking, a photograph is a physical thing whereas an image is media agnostic. Furthermore, I think this is why an example of "fine-art" can be either a photograph or an image. |
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11
HT1102 - Sky Replacement Assets |
Now that we have the power of the Sky Replacement Tool in Photoshop, I guess we need to develop an asset base of sky images that we can use. The first place to look is in your Lightroom catalog. Next, look up; there is a new sky every hour right above our heads! |
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12
HT1103 - Your Natural Vision |
We each see differently and we each have different strengths in seeing. A powerful tool is to know your strengths and to also know your weaknesses. That way, you know the kinds of situations you can trust and those you need to be a little more careful with when photographing. |
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13
HT1104 - It's All Been Done Before |
Virgil Fox, that great classical organist, announced to the audience in his album, Bach Live At Fillmore East, that "Bach and Shakespeare have felt everything." As I've grown older, I've come to realize he was probably right. There is nothing new under the sun. |
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14
HT1105 - A Private Joy |
I recently discovered that I'm not as odd as I thought. I have a small number of images that I don't (and haven't ever) shared with anyone that I think are simply marvelous. They mean a great deal to me, but I know they wouldn't mean a thing to anyone else. I keep these image private. And much to my surprise, I find I'm not alone in this. |
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15
HT1106 - The Highest Compliment |
When someone compliments you on your lovely photograph of a sunset, or a beautiful landscape, what are they actually saying to you? Because they recognize the subject as a beautiful scene, aren't they really complimenting your photographic craftsmanship? |
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16
HT1107 - The One and Only You |
Like so many of a certain generation of photographers, my early days in photography found me aiming to become the next Ansel Adams, as though we needed another one. Today's generation of landscape photographers may not be striving to become the next Ansel Adams, but so many of them seem to be pursuing the same aesthetic in their imagery that they've become fundamentally indistinguishable from one another. |
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17
HT1108 - Just Not That Difficult |
If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that photography is just not that difficult. Compared to the practice and discipline required to be, say, a ballet dancer, an accomplished violinist, a fine art painter, or almost any of the other fine art disciplines, photography is incredibly easy and mastery comes fairly quickly. So what is it about photography that makes it worthy of being a fine art medium? |
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18
HT1109 - Obviously, Photography is a Fiction |
We like to pretend that a photograph is not a fiction, but it undoubtedly is. Part of the fiction of photography is pretending that it isn't. |
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19
HT1110 - The Costs of Being an Artist |
One of the biggest challenges for the budding photographer is the expense required just to begin. How much does a poet, a pen-and-ink artist, a painter, or even a musician have to spend to get started? Compare that to the upfront expenditures required to be a photographer. And then there is rest of your art life expenditures. Being an artist is not for the economically faint of wallet. |
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20
HT1111 - The Value of Wandering |
Let's say, just for fun, that you wanted to go photographing in Yellowstone National Park. That's a pretty lengthy drive to get there no matter where you start from. Isn't it possible, even likely, that you will drive past miles and miles of potentially wonderful photographic subjects? Why not photograph them? |
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21
HT1112 - The First Fifty Pages |
I remember advice from my English teacher in high school who suggested that it's important to commit to reading the first 50 pages of a novel before giving up on it. Compare that to today's social media consumption of photography where swipe, swipe, swipe seems be the most we can hope for with today's audience. |
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22
HT1113 - By Our Own Bootstraps |
Reading Dickens requires an effort, especially if you are a teenager and have a limited vocabulary. It's part of the responsibility of the audience to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps in order to be rewarded with the novelist's artwork. Photography would be a different and better art form if there were some prerequisites to looking at images. |
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23
HT1114 - Abstracts |
Abstracts require something from the viewer that so many other types of photography don't. That is their strength and their Achilles heel. Without viewer participation, and abstract photograph is just a meaningless mess. |
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24
HT1115 - Digital Picture Frames |
I don't understand why digital picture frames haven't become more popular. I own one that exhibits a roughly 13x19 in image and it's fantastic. It's not cheap, and perhaps that's what prevents more people from using digital picture frames. But surprisingly, I found that showing JPEG's even on my television screen can be a lot of fun and a great way to live with test images for a while. |
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25
HT1116 - Digital Dust |
Here is the link to Rick Beato's podcast which is discussed in this podcast. https://youtu.be/JHlxTiR1zsk. This is a thought about all that work you and I will produce that no one will ever see. Is this sad? Or does it make more sense for us to rejoice in the fact that we had the opportunity to make that work? |
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26
HT1117 - Draft Iterations |
Each time I work with a new photographer on their issue of a LensWork Monograph, I explain to them how the process works. When I get to the part where I explain that we typically go to press around draft number 18 or possibly number 20, they are universally surprised. Working through the preliminary drafts to refine our finished artistic output seems to me to be the essence of the creative process. |
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27
HT1118 - The Essence That Cannot Be Photographed |
In fine art photography, we talk a lot about distilling to the essence. But there are some essences that simply cannot be photographed. Love is a good example. Love is an emotion but it's not a visual thing. We can photograph the manifestations that are motivated by love, the kiss or the hug come to mind, but these are not love itself. And one of the problems that this presents is that manifestations of an emotion can vary by culture. |
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28
HT1119 - Sequencing Logic |
I'm often asked if I have any tricks for sequencing a project of photographs. I always start by looking for the axis of opposites. A sequence can, for example, go forward in time or backward in time; from the outside in or from the inside out; from the left to the right, or the right to the left. Each project can be examined for its axis of opposites and if there is one, that might be the first way to think about sequencing the work. Hint: there may be more than one axis and thereby more than one sequencing logic. |
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29
HT1120 - EW on Composition |
Edward Weston is famous for many things, but one of the most often quoted snippets of wisdom from him is that, "Composition Is the strongest way of seeing." But what does that mean? |
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30
HT1121 - Where to Sign the Print |
Over the years there have been lots of competing ideas about where to sign your photographic print. Here's ago, having nothing better to do than to think this through to my satisfaction, I can concluded that there's only one place that makes perfect sense for signing a print. |
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31
HT1122 - Real World Artmaking |
It's often said that "enough is as good as a feast." But artists will pursue that last 2% of excellence almost at all costs. I just watched a YouTube photographer compare a 24" print made from his new iPhone to the same shot made from his 100 megapixel medium format camera. Can you guess his conclusions? |
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