Photographing while drunk or stoned

[Dan Harbour]

How many of you actively photograph while inebriated?

How are your results?

[Richard Littlewood]

Dan, are you with the police?

[Chad Jarvis]

I do. Doesn't usually help technically. I inhaled last week just before taking a lovely rushing water shot...with my pack in it. I don't do stupid crap like that when I'm not stoned, but it does modify a little something in the normal patterns of thought. That's not an endorsement, just an observation.

[Steve J Murray]

Drank beer one time years ago in a hot summer night in the darkroom. Then "accidently" left the top off a fresh 500 sheet box of 8x10 Poly F paper when turning on the lights, ruining several sheets on top and leaving a black edge on the remaining 400 plus sheets, just to remind me how stupid it is to drink beer in the darkroom, no matter how hot it is. Shot a friend's wedding while partaking in the free booze at the reception (over 30 years ago). Photos turned out fine. Everyone else was bombed too, making some interesting photos!

My personal opinion is that alchohol dulls the senses, narrowing one's awareness, and limits one's creativity. There is that idea that things that seem interesting in a particular altered state, only seem interesting when you're in that particular state.

If that's true then photos taken while drunk would have to be "appreciated" by someone who was drunk! There's a thought! You could do an entire show photos taken while drunk, and then require all viewers to have several drinks before viewing the show.

[Philippe Gauthier]

I never do. Given all the mistakes that you can do in LF when you're distracted, I wonder if I'd get any useable result at all. At least with alcohol, it makes you too numb. Perhaps it could be different with say,
pot, but I never tried that combo either.

[Robert Musgjerd]

If I inhaled befor a shoot I don't think I could muster up the motivation to gather up my sixty some pounds
of equipment besides there is no better high than a good shoot.How about you Dan?

[Richard Littlewood]

I'm with you Chad, and also during printing.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

William Eggleston does exactly that. Doesn't work for me.

[Donald Brewster]

I have a hard enough time doing photography while completely sober. I save the vino for when I'm done.

[bob carnie]

Actually , I have some clients that prefer to drink and inhale during a darkroom session, loud music , lots of chatter, and we just spend the evening making prints. the results seem to work for us.
Popping a few Old Milwakkes and listening to Green Day , Rush, Zepplin and Hendrix at full volumne is my prefered method of printing. May not work for others but I love it.
Right now I have two blown speakers(2nd time) so I have to listen to a crappy portable until I can get the big boys hooked up again.
tenants in the building hate my shop because of this so I work on technical work during the week and save the weekends and evenings for the fun prints.

[Alan Babbitt]

I tried photography while on Acid several years back. I took a whole bunch of photos of the things I saw but for some reason the photos just didn't match my previsualizations.

Perhaps I shouldn't have used that alkaline fixer...

[Kirk Gittings]

The trouble with photographing high is that the photographs only look good when high also. So it becomes a major commitment to get loaded every time you want to view the images .

Trust me, we experimented heavily with "alternative state" photography in the late 60's and early seventies in New Mexico. Taos and Dennis Hoppers house in particular was a center for "alternative state" photography.

[John Layton]

Yeah - and if you want to see some great action as you crank the volume, especially with Led Zep, just look through your grain magnifier as you do this! Talk about moving images!

[John Layton]

PS - lesson learned - go easy on the volume, and especially the base, while printing! Bob - got that?

[Brett Deacon]

I hate to point this out, but this thread is in violation of Section 105 of the Patriot Act.

[paulr]

"I tried photography while on Acid several years back. I took a whole bunch of photos of the things I saw but for some reason the photos just didn't match my previsualizations."

what a shame!

it doesn't work so well for me either. i like to have a couple of drinks in the darkroom sometimes, but not while photographing. and weed just saps my motivation. i tried using it to get unblocked for a writing project a while ago, and ended up spending a whole lot of time just staring at things.

it's completely individual, though. i have climbing partners who like to rock climb while their tripping on mushrooms. i can't imagine doing it--it's enough for me when the rocks aren't moving on their own. but thsese guys love it. so to anyone who hasn't tried photographing drunk or high, i'd definitely suggest trying it at least once. it worked pretty well for the beatles.

[Richard Littlewood]

Only if you are American.

[Michael Gordon]

"So it becomes a major commitment to get loaded every time you want to view the images ."

Some people have no problem with that level of commitment.

Old Milwaukee? My God....

I'll only photograph or print while inebriated if I can be nekkid at the same time.

[Mark_3632]

Gave up Stoned shooting when the munchy stash started taking up important room in the camera bag. When you are faced with deciding which will be more important lenses or twinkies, on a photo outing, you know you have a problem.

I actually started photography after my experimental years. Never was a drinker. Hangovers suck.

[Daniel Grenier]

Are you smashed right now Dan? Odd question.... Me, I do the drinkin bit after a good day's shoot (as a reward) but not before, and certainly not during. I mean, 8x10 shooting is hard enough sober - let alone all liquored up.

[Bob Douglas]

Dan,

As operating a camera that requires quite a bit of attention to detail maybe an alternative would be to visualize while in an altered state and document the visualization for completion later while you are clear headed. I believe the important and possibly the most difficult part would be the discipline to write down your observations and thoughts and then be able to later understand the concepts put forth.

Or consider a two person approach one stoned for the creative and alternative interpretaion the the other straight to make the picture.

I'm available as the straight photgrapher ;-)

-bob

[CXC]

To me it makes more sense to go the other way, so I use coffee. I would guess that speed might be even better, but I've never tried it. Has anybody else?

[brook]

Only when shooting weddings : )

[Alan Davenport]

How many of you actively photograph while inebriated?

Never, not even once. There've been a few times I considered becoming inebriated after seeing what I brought home...

[Kevin M Bourque]

A few observations...

Much has been written about "making art" while stoned. A whole generation grew up thinking that you could play guitar like Hendrix of only you took some acid. Nope.

It's easier to create junk than good work. Being inebriated makes it easier to create junk, in my opinion. It may also dislodge the occasional jewel. It's up to you to be able to tell the difference.

In the end, what you bring back from such an experience depends on what kind of mind you had in the first place.

[Bruce Wehman]

Actively photograph, no. Inactively photograph, yes.

[Al Seyle]

Thanks, guys--for reminding me why I'm still stickin' with root beer and fresh air.

[John Cook]

I am of the generation whose sole idea of "drugs" was Vicks Vapo-Rub and Ex-Lax. For obvious reasons, we rarely abused those.

Used to smoke my pipe (with customed-blended Latakia tobacco) until they took it away from me in the Cardiac Care Unit. Still, it was interesting under the dark cloth. And I've noticed my prints much less diffuse, now that the tiny darkroom isn't filled with smoke.

Then there's Jim Beam and Jack Daniel's, but only Apres Photography. Too expensive to imbibe during work. Only when, like the wealthy plumber, I feel flush.

Perhaps we could start a thread about photographing during a senior moment?

[Brian Ellis]

I used to drink a lot of brandy while in the dark room. I wonder why so many of the prints from those years have faded and discolored.

[Paul Cocklin]

"I feel bad for people that don't drink; when they wake up they know that's the best that they're going to feel all day."
--Chairman of the Board

[John Kasaian]

This thread reminds me of a cocktail comprised of burgundy wine and prune juice named the "Glow and Go"

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Are you kidding!?! I get enough comments my pictures look like they were taken while I was drunk/high, even tho I was sober. One is supposed to want to climb the ladder of success UP...not down.. :-)

[Capocheny]

Why???? :)

FWIW, I agree with Alan D. and John C....

John K,

Glow and Go? :) I like that one....:)

Cheers

[Mark Sampson]

I don't think the following quote applies to our discipline, but I am reminded of the advice from the great writer, E.B.White:
"One shot of bourbon, just to get started. After that you're on your own".

[David A. Goldfarb]

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz ("Witkacy," 1880-1939), a Polish painter, photographer, and writer experimented in interesting ways with drugs. You can find his essays on narcotics in English translation in The Witkiewicz Reader, Tr. Daniel Gerould (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern U. Pr.), 1992. He drew portraits, mostly in pastels, under the influence of various substances, and he would write the combination of drugs he used near the signature, so that he could analyze them later. The ones on cocaine are the most angular, disjointed, and unlike his "sober" style. He was most interested in peyote, which he obtained through a French scientist.

I don't use any narcotics in general, and I don't drink while photographing.

[Steve Clark]

In the late 70,s at RIT, the art students felt that pot made time go longer and you could get more done... I was a photo student, that must explain why I never have enough time! LOL

[Paul Metcalf]

Once (drunk, many microbrews). Drove (yup, completely stupid) up into Channel 7's front courtyard area near downtown Seattle (not a driveway but thought it was a driveway) in my '75 Landcruiser (aka tank). Jumped out (I think, maybe more like fell), took some of the best damn photos of their flag and flag pole all lit up by spots (same with liver). But I'll be if the film was blank after development (this was around 2am, sans tripod, B&W TMAX but it really didn't matter). Thought they were going to be good at the time...

[chris jordan]

I once tried an experiment with a fellow jazz pianist along those lines. I drank a bunch of beer and he smoked a bunch of pot, and there may have been some schrooms involved too, and then we sat down at two side-by-side grand pianos and hit "record" on his tape machine. What came out of our fingers was pure creation-- something like I'd never heard, far surpassing the best playing I had ever done-- totally synchronized out-there improvization as if we were telepathic or something. It was an amazing experience.

A couple of days later we hit the "play" button and listened to what we had recorded. It sounded something like a continuous-looped sample of the peloton of the Tour De France crashing in slow motion into the side of an aluminum warehouse.

~cj

[lee nadel]

i never drink enough, so not to shoot but only to get started it's tough with an 8x10 on your shoulder. i'm done for the day!

[Jonathan Brewer]

A few folks owe their existence to several stiff drinks.

[domenico Foschi]

Gave up smoking , period, when all the images in my portfolio looked like crap under the influence. I never printed an image i shot when high. The only positive thing is that the gear doesn't weight that much....

[Matt Powell]

I went through a period where I wanted to try 'creating' when on recreational drugs. Didn't work out so well. One of my favorite portraits was taken on ecstacy, a beautifully lit shot of my best friend leaning on her couch - pure luck as I wasn't really thinking lighting and composition that night. Unfortunately the negative disappeared during a move and the only print I have is tiny.

A difficulty I discovered later shooting on hallucinogens - turns out that the blue butterflies flying out of my coat don't turn up on film!

[John Flavell]

What was the queestion again?

[Andre Noble]

Photographing with a lite buzz is fine.

Full stoned or drunk? Too afraid I'd drop a lens.

[David R Munson]

A couple of days later we hit the "play" button and listened to what we had recorded. It sounded something like a continuous-looped sample of the peloton of the Tour De France crashing in slow motion into the side of an aluminum warehouse.



Hahaha - this reminds me of a drawing I did while on shrooms once. It looked nothing like I thought it would the next day. Mind you, though, the fact that my hands were melting at the time didn't help the process of drawing well. Still, even if it isn't what you thought it would be, the experience was probably pretty awesome.



There have really only been a few times when I've hit some sort of really sweet groove while significantly under the influence and spent a whole night making good images, doing good writing, or what have you. Much more often I'll find that a few drinks or a brownie will help in that it'll just get me to relax enough to stop and really look at things. Photographing/drawing/painting/whatever while completely blitzed is more of a crapshoot and tends to just end up with me getting more distracted than anything else. Still, some cool stuff does happen when you get into the right frame of mind.



Here are some examples of shots I've done while under the influence:<br />
Midnight Dandelions (http://www.davidrmunson.com/ref/athens0001.jpg)<br />
Drinking (http://www.davidrmunson.com/ref/athens0003.jpg)<br />
James (http://www.davidrmunson.com/ref/athens0004.jpg)<br />
Railing (http://www.davidrmunson.com/ref/railing.jpg)<br />
Rope (http://www.davidrmunson.com/ref/rope.jpg)<br />
Steps (http://www.davidrmunson.com/ref/steps.jpg)<br />



I've never gone out with LF when not sober. To me, doing large format seems more of a sober working method. All of the above shots were done at night with my Nikon with Neopan 1600 and a 50mm f/1.2. Those working methods seem to fit intoxiphoto much better for me. There is, of course, always the danger of getting fascinated with the super-shallow focus and spending many minutes looking through the viewfinder fascinated without actually making any images, but I'll accept that risk.



Finally, does anyone else find it funny that people here shy away from actually typing the word "eBay" (often referred to as that auction site), but seem fine with talking about the use of illegal substances out in the open?

[David A. Goldfarb]

(The "eBay" thing comes from photo.net, where your post will be rejected in some of the forums if it contains the word "eBay." I think they also do this on the Graflex.org forum. At least once when I wanted to mention something that I saw "for sale," the words "for sale" were replaced by asterices, so I had to reword the sentence.)

[Mark_C]

Visit your library or at least read the following page: http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/witkacy/witkacy.html and see what Witkacy was able to create. Yes he was a photographer too and used LF gear as well.

I can add that a shot of vodka helps to sharpen your senses and clear your mind unfortunately also by lowering your ability to control your body movements - especially hands-eye coordination (you can film/video yourself and view it later, while sober) - so it can cause more problems instead of improving your creativity. Size of shooter of course matters- I think like in many aspects of photography also in this case less is actually more.

cheers!

[Mark Sawyer]

"Full stoned or drunk? Too afraid I'd drop a lens." --Andre,

If you really want to live dangerously, go shopping in the large format section of Ebay while under the influence...

[jss]

i got the big idea that i would take 8x10 portraits of my house guests at a party i threw. some came out great, but more than half fell victim to mistakes. pulling the dark slide before closing the lens was the most common for me. too many things to think about after a few glasses of strong mojito. maybe the smaller formats are better suited for libations :)

[Ken Lee]

"I'm high on the real thing: Powerful gasoline, a clean windshield, and a shoe shine!"

- Firesign Theatre

[Ken Lee]

As a teenager, I tried intoxicants, but eventually discovered Meditation.

[Capocheny]

How many of you actively photograph while inebriated?

Never, not even once. There've been a few times I considered becoming inebriated after seeing what I brought home...

Hear, hear! :)

As for getting drunk and/or stoned... personally, I can't see any reasons for doing so. Waste of money... money I'd rather spend on equipment and film! But, that's just moi! :)

However, after a day of shooting... nothing like a great bottle of red vino!

Cheers

[Ole Tjugen]

I tried shooting when drunk once, but fortunately I din't hit anything. After that army experience, I've laid off that combination even when only shooting film instead of an automatic rifle.

Stoned? Haven't tried that for better than 20 years, and again I was fourtunate. That time all four films were blank. Or was that from developing while drunk?

As to "Shopping under the influence" I must admit I'm a repeat offender there. But I've got some surprising good lenses that way, late one Saturday night...

[Frank Petronio]

It is a lot more fun to photograph stoned and drunk people while I'm the sober one.

[Eric Rose]

Of all the threads I have seen here, this is the dumbest. Back in the 60's many were under the illusion that they were more "artistic" when stoned. Funny thing was though, you could only "appreciate" their work if you were stoned too. Opening nights were a festive occasion!

[Dominique Labrosse]

It is a lot more fun to photograph stoned and drunk people while I'm the sober one.

Been there done that. Really was alot of fun and some great photos too. Much better experience than the other way round. I have done some party pics while drunk with my autofocus Nikon. But those are just snapshots and not 'photography'.

[jnantz]

To me it makes more sense to go the other way, so I use coffee.

ditto




It is a lot more fun to photograph stoned and drunk people while I'm the sober one.


i remember one time when these people were standing on a cast-stone staircase
as everyone else was walking up, they just stood there like deer in headlights. when we spoke to them they said "this isn't an escalator, no wonder we aren't moving" ..

[Jay DeFehr]

Lots of people photograph with drugs in their blood systems; caffein, nicotine, Zoloft, alcohol, THC, and the list goes on. While we might justly attribute our mistakes to the drugs in our systems, I think it's impossible to credit drugs with our creativity, or lack thereof. I would say there's no difference in my level of creativity, or in the quality of the work I produce, regardless of the contents of my bloodstream, even though I might feel very differently at the time of the respective exposures. Being high doesn't make me a better photographer, or a worse one, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy an altered state of mind.

Jay

[Kirk Gittings]

I had some experience with this back in the sixties. I came to the conclusion though that what looked good to shoot drunk or stoned also only viewed good drunk or stoned. This became a problem with my critiques at the University of New Mexico (where I was studying) because my instructors who were relatively sober during class and did not "get" my altered-state images.

[Ole Tjugen]

Lots of people photograph with drugs in their blood systems; caffein, nicotine, Zoloft, alcohol, THC, and the list goes on. ...

I don't work good with too much blood in my caffeine system.

[Roger Krueger]

Not LF at all, very seldom my manual-as-LF Mamiya Universal. Just too many picky details to get wrong.

But digital? Sure. Especially shooting punk rock--it just feels right. Can't imagine I'd have gone over a barricade upside down with a 1dsII flailing about if I was sober :-)

Shooting street, where my main obstacle is shyness, not photographic skill, it gives me significantly better results.

It's important to me to recognize the difference between "feeling good" and "messed up". Never had much good come of messed up, and hangovers at 40 are a lot worse than hangovers at 20.

I like Twain's "Write drunk, edit sober" maxim. By the time I haul out the big iron, a shot generally is into the edit stage--I've got a digital I like, and I'm going back to perfect the idea on a few sheets of LF--something it's just inconceivable to me to do drunk.

[raucousimages]

I have never photographed drunk but photographing those who drink is fun. On one ocasion I had eight naked people in a grand piano box. Seven of them had shared a bottle of wine. The funny thing was the one sober girl is the one who could not stop giggeling.

[false_Aesthetic]

I know this post is dead but I thought I'd add this:

A bunch of commercial photographers I worked for hated their jobs so much they'd get completely f-ed up (almost to the point of drooling) smoking weed before a shoot.

The images that came out were great but it makes me wonder how good they could've been had the photographers been sober.
----

I find myself loving my Iron City when I'm spotting at the computer . . . but never while scanning. I can totally see myself using a neg as a coaster or worse spilling the beer on the school's Imacon.