The Perceptive Photographer

Bernie De Koven is an amazing person that my partner, Lori Kane, has known for a number of years. Bernie is  all in on play and the importance and value of playing in everyday life. He has written more pages on play the pretty much anyone. He has a huge gift for sharing and helping people. I recently stole his his amazing book called the Well-Played Game from Lori. In this book Bernie talks about how we go about playing well. Focusing more on the importance of the community and players over the game, he is able to offer a number of insights into what makes a game well-played. In the end, we learn that well-played games are in many ways the same keys to a well-lived life.

Through his wonder sense of story telling and insights into play, we learn how we can build community based on purpose, safety, trust, familiarity, and conventions. So many of his insights seem like they are directly related to not just playing but also the creative process. In this week's podcast, we examine some of the key concepts that Bernie presents in his book and then how they might be applied to the photographic and creative process.

You can learn more about Bernie over at his site. http://www.deepfun.com.

In this week's podcast, we examine a couple of varied themes and how they all relate to a different way to examine the role of criticism in our creative process.

There is such value in doing the work. The reality of creating is that if you don't do the work, it's not going to happen. At the end of the day, you have to put in the effort to make sure that the work gets done. Without that effort and energy, nothing is going to change or make way for your creative process to move you forward as a creative.

Also, in a conversation with my editor, I also learned how certain phrases, while common to some, are completely without context for others. Part of the job as a writer is to try and find a way to say what we need without relying on regional or generational phrases. Something like the dog days of summer might make sense to some people, and yet remain an unknown to many others. Using these sorts of phrases makes it more of a challenge to convey meaning.

In last week's podcast, we talked about some of the things to consider when submitting to a juried show. In this week's podcast, I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the things to consider when selecting those images for that juried show.

Before we dived in to talk specifically about the type of images, I thought it was worth pointing out that you need to make sure that your processing your images correctly. Specifically, when working with a JPEG, you need to make sure that you don't have any JPEG artifacts or over sharpening of the picture.

When submitting to a juried show, one of the most important things you can look at is the overall composition of your photograph. I think it is important to make sure that you avoid any distractions in the image and that you can successfully focus on the subject and subject matter. One of the best ways to do this is with a grease pen. Print off a couple of copies of your image, and use the grease pen to mark up what your eye is drawn to and how your eye travels across the image. If you find you have been distracted by something, you know you need to correct that or select a different image.

One of the questions that I get asked about a lot is entering photo competitions. With so many contests, chances to win and options out there, it is easy to spend a lot of time, energy and effort on entering these competitions.

I think that you need to be selective when you enter these for a variety of reasons. From cost to copyright, there are lots of things to consider when making the decision on if the show is even worthwhile. Other considerations include who is the juror or jury panel made up of.  What do you get out of it besides the selection processes? What do you need to do if you win?

Once you decide to enter it is important to follow the exact directions you are given, think about the story of the image or images and put your best foot forward. Because most of these are blind reviews, competitions are not a great place to have new work or work that you haven't gotten feedback to be entered. Just because an image isn't selected doesn't mean a damn thing. You often don't learn why you aren't selected so these are critique sessions that you can use to improve your work.

Finally, there are a billion reasons you might not be selected. In many cases, your work might be better than what was selected. You have to just let all that go and move forward. It is always great to have our work acknowledged, but just because yours wasn't this time doesn't mean a thing, asuming of course,  you have taken the time to put out good work. And since you listen to the podcast, I know that is the case. :)

This week's podcast was gonna be about selections for juried show and how you go about picking those. However, over the past several weeks, myself and some of the other instructors, I work with have noticed that there's something strange in the creative space in the classes were teaching. Ever since the election and November, and the inauguration in January, there seems to be something for a lot of creative people that is causing them not to be able to create the kind of work they truly want to.

I think it's important, as John Oliver would say, to remember that this is not normal. What we are dealing with is something different than most of us are used to. In some ways, it's been great because it's allowed us to bring to the forefront some issues that have been under the surface. Issues around gender, race, and misogyny are just some of the topics that have come to light in ways that people weren't probably really comfortable or aware of before.

I was reading about the Hayden expedition to Yellowstone in 1871. This expedition is notable in photography because it included the photographer William Henry Jackson. On that same expedition, there was a collection of ornithologist meteorologist biologist botanist and a host of other scientists. The scientist spent a great deal of time gathering and classify all the plants, animals, vegetation, and rocks they could find. That process got me thinking a little bit about photography. I think a lot of us spend time attempting to classify photography, and yet artistic endeavors are a lot about exploration.

A lot of times, we attempt to understand our own creative process with labels on the process. But for many of us the artistic process is not about a label. In many cases, we don't want the classification. Much of the artistic and creative process is about wandering and trying to understand elements of ourselves, society, and the way we operate between those two spaces. When we talk about our work with others they are often times looking for very simple buckets that the work can fit into so they can quickly understand what we are doing. But depending on where you are with your creative process, you may or may not have a simple bucket for the work to live in. And that's okay. What is really important is that you spend the time with the chance to explore and understand your work without rushing to put it in a specific bucket.

This past weekend we were helping setup a booth at a local farmers market. As I was talking to a few of the local farmers who were at the market I realized how there approach to farming was something that could be applied to photography. They work hard to make sure that they are developing food in long-term sustainable ways and with a passion for doing things on a scale that keeps them, their families and the planet all happy.

As I talked with them, I realized that our creative life is much the same. We can put in processed (fast food) into our body and it will sustain us for a while but it doesn't have a way to sustain long-term health. If we treat our photography and creative process like it was fast food, we can end up not being able to function at a level we expect. By taking the time to find a way to be creative, without depending on a constant diet of fast food, we can have a more creative life.

I was recently listening to a couple of photographs look at each other's work. One of the photographers was showing some abstract work. The other photographer wanted to know what the image was a photograph of. The first photographer wouldn't say because they felt that it didn't matter to the understanding of the image.

As I listened to them talk, I got to thinking about how we create perceptions of objects and then assign our concepts to those objects. Each being limited by our own understanding of the contents of the frame and our world view. This idea leads me to think about how boredom might cause us to disconnect from work after we figure out what it is. Ultimately to be a good photographer, I believe that you need to be able to step away from the boredom and stay truly connected to the work.

After reviewing some old notes, I came across a list of things I wish I knew earlier in my photography. That old list got me thinking about what I could tell my past self-based on what I know today. Most of the list is pretty simple, but I think I would have liked to know about these things sooner than later.

You will need a lot of skills to be a photographer.

I started off a film photographer. I had no idea how much digital processing I would need to learn. I had to figure out and learn so much about digital printing, editing, and storage. I also had to know all sorts of business things to run a photographic business. Things like accounting, invoicing, and contracts are all just parts of the business side of photography that I wish I knew I needed earlier. I might have paid more attention in class and business to those areas.

Learn how to see and understand tone and color.

There is a lot to learn about how color impacts a photograph. I don't think it is enough to know just how to correct for a color. I believe you need to be able to see and understand how color impacts our understanding. Learning to see blues, greens and magentas can make a huge difference in our ability to create work that we love verse work that is just technically accurate.

Can't learn enough about the subject. The more you know about the thing in front of your camera, the better the photograph will be. It doesn't matter if it is a person, place or thing. Getting to know as much as you can about the subject will let you connect in a meaningful way to the subject. That connection will make for a more meaningful photograph.

There will be days. Some days just don't work out the way you want. The key is perseverance. Sticking with the process and the creativity will ultimately be the greatest reward.

Doing what you love will make less be more. If you are doing what you love to do, you will find that you need less stuff because the creative process is more fulfilling than having things.

I am speaking at Photoshop Week on CreativeLive in May. You can join me on Monday, May 16 and Tuesday, May 17 from 10:45-12:15. I am speaking on building a personalized workflow and creating the fine-art print. You can watch for free during the week, so if you can point your browser over to www.creativelive.com during the week of May 16, you can learn a ton about Photoshop and Lightroom from a great set of instructors.

I have been asked a number of times over the past few months if I was planning on switching camera companies. As if switching camera brands would solve anything meaningful with our work we create. As I thought about what causes switching anxiety, it came down to three things.

Problem Solving (real issue not just a substitute for a problem you don't have)

Expectations (are you blaming your expectations on the gear because you wanted more before your even tried it out)

Vanity (you just like looking cool with the latest stuff)