Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 48

Thread: An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

  1. #1

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    Before you read this you should read the question I posted on December 12 titled ? An Unusual question for you?.

    The reason why I love this website is because of the experiences, commentary, and knowledge that people bring to these pages. It is rich and invaluable. Thank you.

    However I think some of you may be off topic. My questions are not why I carry 160 lbs of gear or why it is so heavy, but rather how can I be more productive and creative in the field. There are very few, if any books that speak to this topic, yet this is really what photography is all about. The equipment is secondary for once you have it then you must do something with it and that is very hard.

    I believe that imposing a goal of 1-6 exhibition quality images per day is absolutely essential for you to grow as a photographer. It forces you to start to think about how can I obtain such a goal. All of a sudden one image per week is no longer acceptable and now you are forced to move outside of your comfort zone. Your mind becomes filled with frustration and self drought. After many failures you will start to ask the question am I really an artist or just a fool running around with expensive gear. You are now in a crisis. Only then do you really start to innovate and truly create, if you survive.

    Let me drive this point home by introducing you to another side of myself. I am also a wedding photographer. Four years ago I changed my whole approach and offered four packages starting at 300, 500, 700, and 900 excellent photographs. Excellence here means not only excellent images, but also excellence in coverage. The next thing I did was to tell my clients that they could keep half the fee until after inspecting the final product. If they did like it then they do not have to pay. This kind of sounds like 1-6 exhibition images per day, but it is even worse because brides have unrealistic expectations. When I first instituted this changes I can assure you my income went into a noses dive. This year I have exceed all my expectations and booked 62 weddings and will shoot over 24,000 frames of film. So far I have had no unhappy brides and I have received over $1600 in tips. Four years ago I was an introvert. Today I have become a extravert and I love pouring film over humanity. Yet, each time I shoot a wedding I still sweat bullets which forces me to learn and grow as a wedding photographer. If I fail to grow then I can assure you I will not get paid.

    So let me repeat my question. What methods and techniques do you employ to insure success? To increase your productivity? Do you have any untested ideas that you would like to share with us. Here are just a few of the many things I have done to move closer to my goal of 1-6 exhibition images per day.

    1. I now use a llama. A llama lets me get lots of gear into wild-prestine remote areas. Hershey allows me to set up a comfortable camp, carry 10 lens, a polaroid system, a big tripod, and many other things. All of this adds up to a very versatile system. Once we start to shoot film, Hershey carries everything (about 50 lbs) and I stay fresh, energized, and very productive.

    2. I use color neg film. I then print it on Fuji super gloss crystal archive papers to get cibrachrome colors. Most people think I use chromes because of my colors. The reason I use negs is because I can record up to 11 stops of total light and 8-9 stops of dynamic light. This allows me to shoot later in the morning and earlier in the evening. I can shoot rings around people who use chromes, 4 stops does not cut it. I can also do contracted development with my negs: n-1, n-2, n-3, and n-4 just like you do with b&w film. In fact, I contend that I can take on higher contrast scenes then those who use b&w film with my color negs. This has made me extremely productive.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Posts
    108

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    Personally, I have learned a great deal from Galen Rowell's books. Instead of talking about the techno-babble regarding equipment, he focuses on translating human experiences into photographic images. His most recent book, "The Inner Game of Outdoor Photography", is a compilation of various articles he has written over the years.

    Even though he shoots with different tools than I, he describes the process of capturing emotional images, not the mechanics.

    I recently took a 3-day workshop in the Eastern Sierra Nevada with him and 12 other students, and most people were asking the same old 'what aperture would you take this image with' and 'what film do you like to use'. Productive questions for some, but the reason he has been successful as a photographer has more to do with searching out and anticipating great photos. Keep in mind, most of his best photos were taken with a manual-focus Nikon from the 70's, and an older manual focus 24mm lens. Not exactly an equipment snob.

    I don't want to come across as being a commercial for Galen Rowell. I find faults in most artists, including his work. However, I am intrigued by the process by which he seeks out his images.

    Hope this helps.

    Andy

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Location
    Redondo Beach
    Posts
    547

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    Are you really looking or asking for answers, or are you challenging anyone who cares to respond to point out the rightness or wrongness of your current mindset?

    The beginning of your thread asks 'how can I be more productive?' and your last sentence suggests that you are extremely productive? If you think you've been productive because of your personal style and mindset then it's essentially case closed, because nobody can be you better than you can. Nobody could or should shoot like you except you if the way you shoot works for you, notwithstanding what can be learned from you or any of us from example and/or inspiration and so forth.

    There are many ways to be productive, some I think are going to wear you out quicker than others, and maybe the day will come when you will want to 'mellow out' your style a bit.

    Change, flexibility, inspiration, doing things differently, getting a masterpiece as a result of and/or making a mistake, in other words growth, are the keys for me, not quantity or quotas(I say that with absolutely no disrespect to your position).

    'I believe that imposing a goal of 1-6 exhibition quality images per day is absolutely essential for you to grow as a photographer'...........If this is a reflection of you true beliefs, then maybe thinking this does in fact help you to grow, but only you'll be able to know if it does.

    Growth for me as a photographer takes place when I'm not shooting. Growth for me occurs for me while I'm looking at what I've shot and how I shot it. Sometimes this process is drawn out, sometimes I'll be driving down the street thinking about anything but photogaphy , and an inspiration will hit me!

    Sometimes I'll be sitting at the beach with my wife and kids and I'll 'realize' something that I'll want to try later. I'm racing around the beach begging anyone with 'earshot' for a pencil and a piece of paper so I can sketch out my newfound 'idea', and when this happens, my wife thinks that I've gone crazy.

    Growth takes place for me while I am setting up a shot, and I'm thinking about how it looks, but at the moment of taking a shot, the thinking is over, and all I care about is executing. Its not in me to think about things when I'm shooting, and whether it's right or wrong, that's me.

    Expecting one to six exhibition quality images per day is a hell of a Gorilla to hoist up on your own back! I can't help but think that the day will come when you'll get tired of carrying that Gorilla around, and eventually, the time might come when you will indeed want to put him down, which will probably be a part of your growth process to help you achieve what you want.
    Jonathan Brewer

    www.imageandartifact.bz

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Location
    Redondo Beach
    Posts
    547

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    You grow as a Photographer on the days you don't shoot and on the days you don't come up with good shots, and even though you might have had a day that stinks, think of it as the fertilizer that makes your grass grow.
    Jonathan Brewer

    www.imageandartifact.bz

  5. #5

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    You sure that's a llama your using, and not a weasel?

  6. #6
    Stephen Vaughan
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Bath, UK
    Posts
    60

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    Dear Stephen, my heart rate is increasing just thinking of all the stress you are imposing upon yourself. Does this stress show in the pictures? I work as a professional photographer, and - like you - I have certain commercial demands and motivations (i.e. my mortgage payments depend on a consistent turnaround of quality of work in very short time spaces).

    However, when I make pictures in the landscape, the motivation behind the work is altogether different. My motivation here is to MAKE pictures (not TAKE them), pictures that I can live with, that feel they have been made with a clarity of mind not possible in the commercial world, whether I make them half way up a mountain (usually not), or somewhere close to home (most often).

    Most of us have limited time to make these kinds of pictures, and so there is an inevitable pressure to 'perform'. However, I find that when I have forgotten those anxieties, the picture-making process begins to work faster.

    At the same time as arguing for the necessity of a calm, clear-minded approach as I have, for some artists this anxiety may actually help to generate a flavour in the work that the pictures need. Signs of urgency, or agitation. For some this may be an equally necessary part of the process, reflected in the images.

    At the end of the day, it sounds as though you are making plenty of pictures. The question you maybe should be asking, more importantly, is whether they reflect your artistic motivations, or are they a series of practical excercises in coping with everything thrown at you and making something come what may?

    If you are making six great pictures every day, then congratulations! I think Ansel Adams said to Imogen Cunningham that he probably made one or two great pictures a year (or something like that), to which she replied "one a lifetime".......

    Best w

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Posts
    76

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    I think you make a mistake setting your goal based on a target number of great photographs a day. It's good to have goals, but you'd be better served if you made your goal simply to *be* there as often as possible and to look and see and imagine the possibilities are before you.

    Photography is very much a Zen-like experience--the harder you aim, the more likely the arrow will go astray. You cannot force the arrow to the target; you focus your energy on the target and *let* the arrow find its way.

    You must dismiss numerical production goals. That's good for manufacturing, but not creating. Numbers of photographs mean nothing. Some days we are on, some days we aren't. The important thing is to free your mind and allow yourself to focus, to experience the world around you, and to see without excessive mental burden. A relaxed mind, clear yet focussed on your environment, should be your goal. If you do that, you will not have to concern yourself with production numbers. If you build a place for images to grow, they will come.

  8. #8

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    Don't tell anyone you use colour print film that our little secret. Everybody thinks you need to print slides but of course our prints prove people wrong. It is bad to be a factory but a production goal is important. Yes we have to go with the flow but we can't get anywhere without a goal. I never expect to make that special image everyday however I need to make a lot of images to find that special one. I try to enjoy life and when I can't take a picture I will just enjoy the moment. However we are photographers and photographing our lives is what we need to do. This discussion is really good because this forum is technical and we don't talk about what we actually make with our great cameras. I am doing a school documentary project of my photography program at Ryerson University in Toronto. I can't believe you use a IIama. So does the animal live with you or do you just rent? What film do you use to get massive N- development? Portra? Please e-mail me offline.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Mar 2000
    Location
    Rockford, Illinios
    Posts
    128

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    I find that traveling light and being responsive to local conditions works best overall. For example, if I am working in the desert and a thunderstorm rolls over a mesa in the distance, I know that I can go there and shoot water pockets when the sun is low. Or if the weather reports say snow in the high country ? a quick trip.

    This is a strategy, of course, for one who has very limited time?? Nothing can beat living in the area full time for quality of production, if not quantity.

  10. #10
    Photo Dilettante Donald Brewster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Malibu, CA
    Posts
    359

    An Unusual question fro all of you - part II??

    I don't see why so many are fixated on the llama. My recollection is that St. Ansel commonly used a burro, even indicating that how much equipment he brought depended on how much the burro could carry. Heck, Ed Weston didn't like getting 50 feet from his car. So what? It appears to me that the questioner is focussed on eliminating a lot of variables that ordinarily interfere with the act and process of shooting. He seems to be doing that. He obviously has all the technical tools. Maybe Stephen is asking the how to move between the chaos of wedding photography to the relative calm of nature photography. As to his goals, different things drive people differently in the creation of their art, their vision, their message, their whatever. However, I think that ultimately, as others have said previously, that most of the battle is just showing up. You're there -- enjoy it and enjoy the results whether the photos are exhibition quality or not.

Similar Threads

  1. Unusual Yet General Technique Question
    By Todd Caudle in forum Style & Technique
    Replies: 22
    Last Post: 2-Apr-2011, 09:01
  2. Printing portfolios, 3-part question
    By David R Munson in forum Business
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 10-Nov-2003, 16:58
  3. Unusual Request
    By Patrick_3610 in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 17-Oct-2003, 13:56
  4. Unusual 5X7 film holder
    By Jerry Flynn in forum Cameras & Camera Accessories
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 12-Oct-2003, 08:52
  5. An unusual question for all of you??
    By Stpephen Willlard in forum Location & Travel
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 13-Dec-2001, 01:33

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •