… I care more about a lens’ speed and weight than its sharpness…
Jun 182009
Jun 152009
… One of the reasons I love B/W is that I don’t have to deal with color corrections 
Jun 112009
posted a few of these before, but I am just a sucker for well-done stop-motion. This one is cute, worth a look:
Jun 042009
A few days ago Mike Johnston of TOP (The Online Photographer) ignited a firestorm of controversy by espousing that beginning photographers should spend a year shooting with nothing but a Leica, one lens, and one (black and white) film in order to hone their skills of observation, composition, and vision.
This generated such a slew of comments he had to write two followups, clarifying his position.
Now, without starting my own debate, I agree with what he is saying – and it got me thinking. Essentially this exercise boils down to the value of limitations as a teaching and creative tool.
Nowadays taking a photograph is easy. Point and Shoot, nothing too it. But we don’t want to just take photographs. We want to take *good*, nay *great* photographs. And *that* is very, very hard! And often, the very things that make it easier to take a picture, make it harder for the beginner to take a Great picture. They become crutches, and the learner goes along relying on said crutches which is fine for a while, but hamstrings him when it is time to “move to the next level” as it were.
And I think that much as Mike is saying – a great way to move past these hurdles, is to actually impose limitations on ones own work. Limitations force us to figure things out. They don’t allow us to rely on crutches. The make us use skill to compensate for limits. And of course, no one is saying you have to limit yourself forever, but it can be a valuable teaching tool. On this very blog, I’ve espoused taping up your zoom to a single focal length to improve your compositional skills and learning to “see” in a particular length.
And yes, I’d even say it’s not a bad idea to spend an entire year shooting with nothing but a leica and a single lens.
These things are all limitations – self imposed limitations – but they all serve the same purpose: to push us beyond our reliance on the camera as a tool, to force us to use our eyes and our brain to compensate for the shortcomings of our gear rather than our gear compensating for the shortcomings of our eyes!
So before you knock it, try it. Stick on a prime lens and shoot with it instead of a zoom. Turn off your autofocus and auto exposure. Heck, put on an old manual lens that won’t do ttl metering and use the sunny-16 rule to train yourself to estimate exposure. And shoot with a leica for a year.
It’s the limitations that we impose on ourself that train us to overcome the limits that our gear imposes on us.
May 062009
WARNING: this article may be rambling and disjointed, as it’s just kind of a stream of consciousness of some things that have been kicking around in my head the past few days. Further disclaimer: while I am talking about film/digital this is not a film vs digital superiority debate.
One of the non-photography-related blogs I like is Seth Godin’s blog (for those who don’t know Seth is a *legitimate* marketing guru, (unlike the “OMG use Twitter to make millions types), and posts various thought provoking comments/thoughts on his blog every day)
Yesterday I read the following on his blog:
Email is dying because it’s free. If you can send an email for free to 100 of your closest friends, instantly, you probably won’t abuse the privilege. But someone else will because they might define ‘friend’ differently than you or I.
100 times 100 is ten thousand. Spam.
So now, people don’t reply when you send them a resume, because it costs too much to do that ten thousand times.
Twitter is next. The paradox is obvious: to grow, you need to remove friction from the medium. If it’s not easy and free to use, people won’t. But then it gets big and it becomes profitable, so people use it too much.
The churn rate at twitter is reported as more than 50%. That’s because of lack of friction as well. Easy to get in, easy to get out.
Stamps are underrated. Friction rewards intent and creates scarcity.
I like that quote “Friction rewards intent”
It also made me think about Alec Soth – Recently I also had the opportunity to see Alec speak, and he opened his piece by talking about a recent “crisis in photography” that he was going through. Albert over at dragonballyee.com has a nice summary/analysis of this, which I will summarize/quote instead of trying to write out my own long winded piece
In short – photography is suffering from “information overload” much like email or twitter. There are 4 *million* pictures uploaded to flickr every day, the vast majority of them snapshots – fragments. Digital cameras give us this capability, they remove the “friction” from the medium. Cameras are ubiquotous, there is no “investment” involved in taking a picture. *anyone* can literally take a picture of *anything* without even having to think about it.
William Eggleston made an art form of elevating photos of the mundane to the extrordinary. but what happens now when you can take a random selection of snapshots from flickr, mix them in with Egglestons’ work and unless you were an art historian probably couldn’t tell the difference. Alec pointed out Flickr’s 2 *billionth* (with a B) photo, and how it looks remarkably similar to an Eggleston.
We have accepted that Photography as an art form can make the mundane extraordinary, but what about when the mundane is just mundane? And if so, is this particular aesthetic losing meaning in the realm of photography – largely discredited because of the medium itself?
How are these “random snapshots” different than the work of the “masters”? or are they even different at all?
does the sheer volume dilute the meaning of the medium?
Of course the 1,000 pound gorilla in the room is *digital*. Film provides “friction” to use Seth’s term. There is a *physical* limitation to shooting film that provides constraints, both physical and otherwise. I’ve hear of digital wedding shooters coming home with 8,000-10,000 images from a single wedding! try doing that with a Hasselblad! It makes me wonder if they are even *looking* at what they are shooting or just pointing their camera at everything in sight and holding down the shutter in burst mode until the card fills up. But in essence, why shouldn’t they? there is no penalty for doing so – no film to pay for, develop, make contact prints (or scan), print etc…
No friction.
The best photographers will tell you that they are always shooting. always carry a camera, always be making photos. But that presumes that we are *thinking* about the photos we make – that there is intent, purpose. When every click of our shutter costs a nickle, or a quarter, or 5 dollars we think alot more about what we point it at when we click that button.
What happens when the friction is removed from that as well? On one hand it’s a great thing – now we can Always Be Shooting without hesitation or worrying about film, but what happens if and when we stop *thinking* about what we are shooting? does it change the meaning of the activity?
Have you ever gone to a tourist spot, and seen hordes of amateur photographers standing in the same spot, taking photo after photo of the same subject? It puzzles me – why take 27 photos of the exact same thing?
No Friction.
Medium and meaning, meaning and medium.
Where I think this is going is that while there is no question that digital has changed the way we “do” photography, the question is: has it actually changed the *meaning* of photography in and of itself?
I don’t know the answer to that question, or even if there is one. But it’s definitely something to think about, particularly when thinking about purpose and meaning in one’s own art.
Apr 062009
Saw this on the Flicker portrait group, was too good not to share:
By Cheryl Jacobs, out of Denver
These are my thoughts, nothing more and nothing less.
I get asked all the time, during workshops, in e-mails, in private messages, what words of wisdom I would give to a new and aspiring photographer. Here’s my answer.
- Style is a voice, not a prop or an action. If you can buy it, borrow it, download it, or steal it, it is not a style. Don’t look outward for your style; look inward.
- Know your stuff. Luck is a nice thing, but a terrifying thing to rely on. It’s like money; you only have it when you don’t need it.
- Never apologize for your own sense of beauty. Nobody can tell you what you should love. Do what you do brazenly and unapologetically. You cannot build your sense of aesthetics on a concensus.
- Say no. Say it often. It may be difficult, but you owe it to yourself and your clients. Turn down jobs that don’t fit you, say no to overbooking yourself. You are no good to anyone when you’re stressed and anxious.
- Learn to say “I’m a photographer” out loud with a straight face. If you can’t say it and believe it, you can’t expect anyone else to, either.
- You cannot specialize in everything.
- You don’t have to go into business just because people tell you you should! And you don’t have to be full time and making an executive income to be successful. If you decide you want to be in business, set your limits before you begin.
- Know your style before you hang out your shingle. If you don’t, your clients will dictate your style to you. That makes you nothing more than a picture taker. Changing your style later will force you to start all over again, and that’s tough.
- Accept critique, but don’t apply it blindly. Just because someone said it does not make it so. Critiques are opinions, nothing more. Consider the advice, consider the perspective of the advice giver, consider your style and what you want to convey in your work. Implement only what makes sense to implement. That doesn’t not make you ungrateful, it makes you independent.
- Leave room for yourself to grow and evolve. It may seem like a good idea to call your business “Precious Chubby Tootsies”….but what happens when you decide you love to photograph seniors? Or boudoir?
- Remember that if your work looks like everyone else’s, there’s no reason for a client to book you instead of someone else. Unless you’re cheaper. And nobody wants to be known as “the cheaper photographer”.
- Gimmicks and merchandise will come and go, but honest photography is never outdated.
- It’s easier to focus on buying that next piece of equipment than it is to accept that you should be able to create great work with what you’ve got. Buying stuff is a convenient and expensive distraction. You need a decent camera, a decent lens, and a light meter. Until you can use those tools consistently and masterfully, don’t spend another dime. Spend money on equipment ONLY when you’ve outgrown your current equipment and you’re being limited by it. There are no magic bullets.
- Learn that people photography is about people, not about photography. Great portraits are a side effect of a strong human connection.
- Never forget why you started taking pictures in the first place. Excellent technique is a great tool, but a terrible end product. The best thing your technique can do is not call attention to itself. Never let your technique upstage your subject.
- Never compare your journey with someone else’s. It’s a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never “arrive”. No one ever does.
- Embrace frustration. It pushes you to learn and grow, broadens your horizons, and lights a fire under you when your work has gone cold. Nothing is more dangerous to an artist than complacence.
Mar 262009
I started writing this article the other day, and saved it as a draft… sketching out the ideas I wanted to touch on etc… Then today I see THIS ARTICLE by Chase Jarvis, and I am glad I waited to publish my own, as his touches on some similar/complimentary themes that I would talk about as well!
I’ve been reading a book called Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
And that’s what we are doing. As photographers, we are selling a service, not a product. The “photograph” itself is not what we offer – anyone can make a photograph. We are selling our *creativity*, our *skill* and our *vision* in creating that photograph. I think it’s an important distinction to make, as it seems that the market becomes more and more “commoditized”
Look at it this way – when you hire an architect to design your office or house, you are not “buying a house” – you are paying for the creative vision of the architect. You are paying for the service that his experience, creativity and expertise brings to the table, and how it facilitates your own end product (the house). And that *service* is what makes all the difference in the final product (Think “generic housing subdevelopment” vs Falling Water or The NYC Apple store – they are distinct because of the vision and services of the Creatives involved.)
So what does this have to do with Chase’s article?
chase makes the point:
For the first three quarters of my somewhat short career in the business of professional pictures, I was the worst offender. Client said “that looks great!” I called it a wrap, tossed my camera to my assistant with a point of flair just like you’d find on a button on the suspenders of a waiter at TGI Fridays. Ugh. For years, I thought my job was done when the client was happy. But now…
…now it’s when the client says she’s happy that I really start to work hard. That’s the starting point.
Bingo! I agree 100%
In essence that shot (the one the client is happy with) is the “product”. Don’t be satisfied with that – you aren’t selling a product. You are selling a service, you are selling your vision, your expertise, your creativity. As Chase says, go beyond – give them what they didn’t even *know* they wanted. The more our industry becomes about selling a product (photograph), the more mundane it becomes and the less we are worth as photographers.
Don’t sell your products. Sell your services.
Mar 252009
It’s times like this that almost make me wish I were a Nikon shooter.
Almost.
But seriously – I’m going to go out on a limb, and say that if you shoot or are planning on shooting CLS – this book is your bible. No joke. I doubt there are many photographers on the planet using CLS to better effet than Joe McNally – and this book gives you a front row seat inside his head, breaking down each shot, each though process and each lighting decision so by the end you are left going “oh yeah, that makes total sense”.
remember the old Bo Jackson slogan from the late ’80s “Bo knows Football”?
well this is “Joe knows CLS”. For realz.
The book starts out with a brief discussion on “The Gear”, what Joe uses and why. Good stuff. Joe also talks about why he uses CLS – next time you hear a PhotoSnob opining on why TTL flash is for losers, or how it limits creativity – smile and hand them a copy of this book. Pretty hard to call Joe McNally Un-creative…
But the real meat of the book is, well, the rest of it – starting with one light setups, then moving on to two and more, Joe gives a blow-by-blow, play-by-play account of the creation of some of his most striking images. From concept to setup to trial and error lighting schemes, Joe walks you through his head as he creates the light for all kinds of awesome shots. Talking about both How and Why, he takes you inside the setup of some absolutely fantastic shots and how they are lit. Each short chapter deals with a particular assignment, a particular shot. From positions to modifiers, Joe breaks it all down.
In case it isn’t obvious, I am loving this book. Even as a Canon shooter, it’s still worth a read just to get inside the head out of a creative person like Joe (and most of the CLS stuff is translate-able to ETTL) I almost consider it a reference book – think about it as a “lighting setup library” – a cornucopia of ideas & light to build on for all of us n00bs.
In short, get it. Srsly.
Mar 212009
interesting photoessay by a french photographer who documented broadway in a series of continuous, overlapping exposures on a holga. Some of the shots are quite beautiful. I found myself stopping the slideshow at points to just study the images.
Mar 162009
Very nice interview/piece on Mario Testino by CNN. Even if you aren’t a fashion photographer, it’s worth a look.
Mar 092009
For a long time, pretty much any advanced amateur/pro photographer carrying a dslr would eventually and inevitably be confronted with the question “Wow, how many megapixels is that?” You can’t fault them for asking though – we had all gotten used to the marketers pushing the megapixel count as a measure of a camera’s quality. You can’t really fault the marketers either – pixel count was an easy way of answering “why should I buy camera X over Y” to the consumer (certainly a lot easier than trying to explain the nuances of dynamic range, chromatic abberation & flare control, lens aperture etc…) Of course, most folks “in the know” realized that there was *far* more to image quality than pixel count. Nevertheless to the chagrin of most pros and enthusiasts the pixel count (and density) kept getting higher and higher… Until now?
In the rapidly shifting world of camera technology, maybe consumer sentiment is coming around – when a blog as big as gizmondo explains why “more megapixels aren’t better” you gotta figure that people are noticing. This combined with a number of recent compact camera launches trimming back their pixel count in favor of better low light performance… and then Olympus declares their complete withdrawl from the megapixel race altogether, setting the max for their SLRs at 12mp!
Could this be a renniasance in camera design? With innovative camera designs like the G1, and sensors like the new Fuji EXR sensor (eschewing pixel count for improved dynamic range using pixel binning) it may just be that a whole new world is opening up in the digital camera arena. Personally I’m looking forward to every bit of it!
As mentioned yesterday, David Ziser’s Digital WakUp Call tour looks to be shaping up to be a pretty great event! I got a sneak peek this past Sunday and if you are even remotely interested in improving your lighting skills or your business chops, you’d be crazy not to sign up. The best part? Chances are, David is going to be right in your town! – 58 locations all in all! Can’t beat that for a lousy 79 bucks.
(in my best TV pitchman voice): BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!!! As a special offer for F/1.0 readers, David is offering 20 bucks off registration if you use the following code: ZEZDWC09. what a guy! Especially considering that just for walking in the door you get:
- Tour Handbook including: program notes, photography, marketing and more
- 2 Hour DVD with extended program content
- $100 Rebate from American Color Imaging
- 1 year membership to WPPI and Rangefinder magazine, a $99 value
- FREE 3 month membership to DigitalProTalkPlus.com, a $45 value
- FREE 3 month subscription to PPA Magazine, a $15 value
- FREE PPA Indemnification (no-fault) insurance for all new PPA members, a $50 value
- Over $2,500 in door prizes awarded each evening
- And a chance to win 1 of 4 Grand Prizes worth over $5,000
Still not satisfied? Ok, how about getting in *for free*. Yup, that’s right – 1 lucky reader gets a free pass in whichever city you choose! How? Well, The digital WakeUp tour is all about Lighting, so how about an “Exciting Lighting” contest! Here’s how it works:
- Create a Flickr account (if you don’t already have one)
- Join the newly created F/1.0 flickr group
- upload your best photos using off-camera lighting to you flickr stream
- Tag said photos with “F10DWC” (for f/1.0 digital wakup call)
- Add them to the F/1.0 group
- Please limit 3 entries per person – if you tag more than 3 images with “F10dwc” I will simply consider the first three tagged to be the entries!
That’s it! The contest will run until noon (EST) on March 25th. After the contest is closed, we will look over the entries and select what we consider to be the best image (based on overall style, composition, technical skill, and creative use of lighting). The winner will be notified via flickrmail, and will have their winning entry featured on F/1.0, in addition to receiving the free pass to the Digital WakeUp Call tour! Costs nothing to enter, so start submitting those shots!
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