Why I am slowly using Flickr less and less, sadly.

CaixaForum - foyer, a photo by James_at_Slack on Flickr.

I am sharing this image direct from my Flickr photostream. It appears on the very first page (p.37) and I took it when on a holiday in Barcelona, April 2006. This is where I saw the Diane Arbus exhibition which made me decide to go straight back into photography and to never neglect being creative ever again.

But back to Flickr. I, like many other people, set up my Flickr page for the simple purpose of allowing friends and family to see holiday snaps. The idea of e-mailing a link to friends who could then look at my snaps seemed a great idea to me.

I now have 3,555 pictures on there and often consider deleting most of them. But then I stop and remember that those images tell a story and some people still enjoy looking at them.

Since Yahoo took over Flickr, images from other photographers now take so long to appear on my PC that I barely use it anymore. A real shame which no amount of complaining to Yahoo is going to change. (They have also killed Tumblr for me for the exact same reason.)

Tomorrow, I will no longer be able to share my images direct from Flickr to Blogger as Flickr/Yahoo have decided it's not in their interest to allow that function. So no doubt I will use Flickr even less now, so time to find some alternative.

Anybody feeling the same way? Maybe you have better broadband than me.

I know many get disappointed by the lack of constructive and helpful critique of their work on Flickr but that was something I never expected anyway. I met some fine people on Flickr but twitter and Facebook do that now.

Loch Ainort, Skye

Loch Ainort, Skye, a photo by James_at_Slack on Flickr.

When I first heard about Flickr I thought it was a great way to allow friends and family to see some holiday snaps. So I joined - in Novemebr 2005! How time flies.

Then, I just saw it as a place to store photos as I slowly worked my way back into taking photos. There was a long gap in my life when photography played no part. Let me explain.

I got interested in taking photos during Wednesday leisure afternoons in secondary school. So I reckon I was about 14 or 15. I remember one art teacher in particular who was so surprised and pleased when he saw my abstract images that he called all the other art teachers into the room to see them.

That one moment when I felt I had done something that others had liked, others that I had respect for, has stayed with me. I wanted to learn more about photography and get better at it.

But sadly, finding work, starting a career, gaining qualifications, buying property, getting married and generally finding my way in the world, saw photography take a back seat.

It was after seeing a Diane Arbus exhibition in Barcelona and the increasing availability of digital photography that got me back into taking pictures. Flickr was just a perfect place to put my pictures but also to get in touch with other photographers.

Sadly, since Flickr was bought over by Yahoo recently it has become almost unusable if your broadband connection isn't top notch. I still use it though and have a wee look at any activity on my photostream.

Today, for reasons that are never clear, the above image of Loch Ainort, Skye, taken back in 2009, is getting a bit of traffic.

I doubt I would take an image like that today. There is nothing majorly wrong with it (technically flawed and harsh light) but some other images in my photostream are very bad. I have given some thought to clearing out the duds from my 'stream but decided not to because there is a history there, a story of me and aspects of my life. Some truly awful images can somehow bring pleasure to some people like this one, so to hell with it I say. This was what my photography was like and if that disappoints some or think I'm foolish to leave bad images up on line, too bad.

I'd be interested to hear of anybody who has actually decided to clear out their photostream and why.

Alex Boyd - Scottish artist and photographer

(Photo of Alex above by © Carl Radford)
(All other photos © Alex Boyd)

I can't actually remember when and where I first came across Alex and his work. More than likely it was via his Flickr site where I saw his Sonnets series and I was impressed by what I saw. Very quickly, you sense Alex is friendly, helpful, knowledgable and passionate about art. He is an interesting guy, clearly talented, successful and doing a great job of getting his art seen. He his currently mastering the more fiddly and tactile aspect of photography - wet plate collodion.  I wanted to get to know him and his art better.

I did some homework and I could quickly see that he had been interviewed in the past and had explained and answered many of the questions I would have started with here. So, readers, once you have read the interview with Alex, go back and check out these other links.

JDD: Wet Plate Collodion – why the fascination and interest?

AB: I had been familiar with ambrotypes, glass plate negatives and tintypes for many years through my work in museums, but had never thought it possible to actually produce this kind of work myself, although I was aware of contemporary artists like Sally Mann who had been working extensively in this process in the US. 

It wasn't until I was asked to exhibit with the Scottish Photographers group alongside Carl Radford that I became aware that someone in Scotland was actively creating their own wet plate images. A few months later I had a chance meeting in Glencoe in the Highlands at the foot of Buachaille Etive Beag with Carl, and it led to us talking in more depth about wet plate, and he convinced me (without having to use too much persuasion) to become one of his students. During that weekend workshop I became convinced that this approach to photography was one which I wanted to pursue further - I had never become more emotionally invested in the creation of images before. Other than Daguerreotypes, I had never seen images which looked so visually arresting - wet plate portraits and landscapes have a tangible almost three dimensional quality to them.

Why do you want to make the process of photography more challenging?

I think that question is relative to the individual. As I've evolved as a photographer I've found that my methodology has taken on a slower, more considered approach. Instead of taking 300 images in one day, perhaps I'll make 3 or 4. I went from the sheer adrenaline of shooting gig photographs, to landscape photography, to very slow landscapes with long exposures, to collodion. It may change, but at the moment I'm largely uninterested in the quick fix of the digital image - I want the involvement that this process brings. For me making images any other way would be more challenging.

  

Why make photography less instant?

Wet plate collodion much like any other process is one which comes with strict limitations. It isn't just the cumbersome equipment itself which presents the biggest obstacle, or the chemicals, or the technical knowledge required to create images, but the whole reason of why I'm making an image in the first place. Collodion has really forced me to sit down and re-evaluate what I'm doing as an artist. Every image is therefore the end result of a rigorous cross examination process. I learned a lot from photographer and explorer Thomas Joshua Coopers approach to photography - he would travel to the most extreme edges of our planet with only a handful of glass plates, and this would force him to focus his mind on what he was trying to achieve. The downside however is that I'm not as prolific as I could otherwise be, but I'm happy to work at my own pace. 

What are you hoping for from the results?

Introspection and inspiration. I don't know if I will be working with wet plate in 10 years time, but for now it makes sense. Maybe when I look back on this period I will understand more about myself and my choices. That would be enlightening, as now I have no idea!

Are you not just being trendy?  Is it a fad?

The wet plate community has grown immeasurably in the last few years, which is no doubt why it may be perceived as being 'trendy' - due to the increased exposure it is receiving. This expansion has been in part due to the more widespread teaching of the process in Europe by people such as Quinn Jacobson, Kerik Kouklis or Carl Radford. It's also easier to get your hands on the chemicals required, but crucially it's access to the knowledge required to make your own images. For many years Collodion based photography was the preserve of a small group of wealthy middle class Americans, however in the last ten years all of that has changed as people have begun to share the secrets of their craft, and the price of workshops has dropped. At present I can't say if it's a fad or not, but I suspect not. It's very early in the rebirth of the medium and people for the most part are still finding their feet. As a result there are only a few established artists who are pushing the format forward in any meaningful way, but those who are will leave a long legacy.

I think wet plate collodion works best with portraits. You’re known for your landscapes. Can we expect to see more portraits from you in the future?

I've never really worked much in portraiture in the past so I don't really see why that would change now just because I'm using a different process. I would however agree with you that wet plate is ideally matched to portraiture due to its immediacy, and a survey of the modern community reveals that the majority are producing works of this type. When I was taught by Carl I too produced many portraits, however this was more to do with the workshop environment. To date I've largely eschewed portraiture altogether in favour of a return to landscape. That being said I have spent the last few months working on a project called Lux et Veritas which is based in portraiture - hopefully I can complete it in the coming year.

Does your recent wet plate work have any commercial potential?

It all depends on the viewer and the market I suppose, but it isn't something I'm particularly concerned with at present. My current project Low Lands is not as commercial as Sonnets, and it remains to be seen if the public or collectors will respond well to my new collodion work. My perception at present is that museum curators down to ordinary members of the public just can't get beyond the process itself to view wet plate collodion images objectively on their own merits. It's my hope that perhaps in a decade or so they will be able to view these images in a more considered way. 

Do you wish you had been born in another time in the past? If so, when?

It's probably quite obvious, but I'd love to have interacted with the luminaries of the Fin de siècle such as Wilde and Whistler, or have witnessed Weimar society first hand, I'd like to have lived through the first wave of photographers who struck out from the UK to photograph the world, such as John Thomson or Alexander Gardner. 

What part, if any, does your family background, your nationality and upbringing play in how your images turn out?

Growing up in Scotland I was acutely aware that my accent (which I'm still quizzed about on a near daily basis) and general worldview marked me out as slightly different. When I first moved to the UK I lived in several different places in the first few years, and found it hard to adapt to my surroundings when I finally did settle in Irvine on the Ayrshire coast. I generally rejected life on the west coast of Scotland and clung onto my German roots, becoming quiet and insular in the process. As a result of this I became fairly obsessed with ideas of self and identity, and my place in the world, and that has fed into anything that I've done subsequently. The Sonnets project is probably the most obvious example of this. I'm using a very clear motif from German art (the rückenfigur) to explore ideas of identity in some of the most well known landscapes in Scotland.

You appear to me to be someone with a clear and confident individual style and taste, not only in photography, but in music, film and literature as well. How did that go down with your contemporaries, at school say for example? Did you meet like-minded people at school/university? 

When I was younger I tended to be more introverted, and spent much of my free time reading anything I could get my hands on. Whilst at school I was aided by a rather brilliant librarian called Alison Sinclair who managed to acquire anything I wanted to read . From Goethe to Gogol I managed to develop my own interests in literature, and was aided by a supportive English Teacher called Anne McGowan who first introduced me to poet Edwin Morgan, and a Mr Fleming who introduced me to Kurt Vonnegut. These influences coupled with my time in the Art Department learning about the great American landscape photographers really did give me the foundation from which to begin to create my own work. In respects to my contemporaries I think there was a lot of indifference to anything other than the here and now, but that was to be expected given life in a little town on the West Coast of Scotland.  University of course was much different - it was good to meet people who had similar interests, but even better to find people who challenged my views and preconceptions. 

How important is it for photographers to be with other creative people?

I think it's important that there is a constant exchange of ideas between creative people, and for photographers to create work which reaches out beyond the usual role that photography fulfills. Most of my own projects have come from being inspired by literature, film and from visual artists - I don't really want to repeat the work of other photographers. 

You have exhibited in some high profile places; you have collaborated with some high profile people. How do you achieve that? What can other photographers start doing to market and promote themselves as successfully as you have done? 

Once I left home I lived pretty much hand to mouth for many years. Some of the places I lived in leaked badly, and some had walls which had gone black due to damp and mold. I was constantly ill. I wouldn't have money for anything other than the most basic food. Living in those kind of conditions can really push you hard to want to succeed, and as much of a cliche as it is to be a 'poor starving artist' it did give me the motivation to get out there and make images. I was lucky to have the support of my wife, my dad and my friends, who amongst them helped me to get out to locations, model, and even move and hang entire exhibitions. As for high profile names, I made a list of people I wanted to work with and wrote to many of them. Sometimes it worked out*, and sometimes nothing happened. I had nothing to lose. The important thing was having the ambition to get out there and believe in what I was doing. Nothing much has changed in that respect. 

What are your thoughts on the future of photography?

There will be an ever increasing demand for so called 'alternative' processes as photographers try desperately to mark themselves out as artists in the face of what they perceive as the soulless nature of digital. This misguided view, which I'm seeing becoming ever more prevalent, is producing a wave of increasingly dull imagery which hides behind the processes themselves. Beyond that I don't know - photography as a medium is generally losing its importance, but will always have the potential to communicate something vital to the viewer. That will keep it relevant I feel. 

What would be the best thing anyone could say about one of your photographs?

I think the best reaction for any artwork is to inspire others to create their own. Praise passes quickly and in the end doesn't really stay with me - I just wish I could say the same about negativity, but I'm just happy that people are engaging with what I do.

Is there a photograph you wished you had taken?

There are many, but the one which immediately comes to mind is an image by Harry Benson of Willy Brandt taken in 1961 when he was Mayor of West Berlin, a city in the heart of crisis. 

Its a deeply resonant image, and in it I see a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. There is a similar feeling in his image of exiled Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Benson really was the master of capturing such moments. 

What question should I have asked you and what would your answer be?

Talisker Bay on Skye. That's where it all made sense.

I would like thank Alex for the time he took to answer these questions and for the quality of his answers. I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I did. Feel free to comment and share. 

* http://bowiezone.com/#/alex-boyd/4553432882

Lucy Telford: Wet Plate Collodion enthusiast

I am a member of a local photography club and for the third year running we have come together and put on an exhibition as part of the annual NEOS extravaganza.  We had a preview evening and that night I stood, for a long time, in front of some pictures that oozed feeling and soul. They were by fellow club member and Flickr contact Lucy Telford. Some of the pictures were taken without a camera, some with modified shoe boxes, Diana cameras, old film cameras and, her current love, wet plate collodion.

Lucy recently went on a wet plate collodion course with Carl Radford where she was, not only in expert hands, but she met some great photographers, such as Alex Boyd and Deborah Parkin.
Lucy shared her knowledge and showed us the equipment she uses in a talk to the club last night and it was both interesting and informative without being boring or over her heads.
I recently asked Lucy if she would kindly answer some question I wanted to ask her and I'm delighted to  share this Q&A we did. Enjoy and check out her work. Thanks Lucy.

(JDD) Wet Plate Collodion – why are you so interested in this?

• (LT) During the last year I have been searching around for photographic processes or techniques which enable me to make visible the way I see things in my mind's eye.  I have “tried on” various different things – 35mm film, toy cameras, pinhole cameras etc etc.  I had already come across examples of wet plate work on Flickr (my contact Allan Barnes) and been very taken with the look of the images, they are somewhat dream-like and timeless.  The more wet plate images I looked at and the more I got to know about it, the more interested I became.  Plus, well – I just like old things ;-)

• Do you want to make your images more challenging?  

• I presume here you mean the end result?  Yes, maybe.  In a way.  But no more than I want to make any of my pictures challenging.  I am not very interested in images where what-you-see-is-what-you-get.  I prefer there to be an ambiguity.  I would hope that people might emotionally engage with my pictures and begin to interact and interpret.

• Will using wet plate produce better results and/or more personal results?

• I am hoping that the more I do it and the more competent I become, that it will be a process which I use frequently.  I believe that it is a technique which suits my way of seeing.  More personal?  Yes, maybe.  The process is slow (compared to digital) and so invites ideas of constructing photographs which is something I am thinking of for the next year.

• Old Cameras – why the fascination?

• Well, for a number of reasons.  I actually think that old cameras are quite beautiful in themselves.  I like old stuff :-)  I am not mechanically minded, unfortunately, but there is a delight in the (relative) simplicity of these cameras.  They are made to be mended.  I also like the results I get from them!

• Why make photography less instant?

• Because I find that I work too quickly and don't engage my brain so much when I use a digital camera.  I prefer to slow down and think and I can do that more easily with a film camera which only gives me 36 or 12 exposures.  Nowadays, so much of life is fast-paced and instant and I'm not sure that's a good thing. 

• Is this not just being trendy?  Is it a fad?

• No.  I am not sure that I know what IS trendy in photographic circles!  For me it is about experimenting, trying different things out and seeing what suits.  I honestly struggle to get the results I want from a digital camera so I don't use them.  Maybe this says more about my incompetence with digital cameras...

• When I see your images made without a camera, it seems to me that you want to create images that may be in your head so you may even move onto other 'tools'/mediums?

• Yes.  :-)  You are clearly a mind reader James so you know the answer to this already ;-)

• Photograms have been used for a long time now and I wanted to have a play around with the medium.  There is no rule which says that a camera has to be used to make a photograph.

• Are all of the above more the a scientist in you coming out?

• Err...no!  Although I have been surprised at finding how interesting old lenses etc are to me. 

• Are you more interested in the mechanics of photography than creating art that expresses you and your feelings?

• No, definitely not.  The mechanics of photography don't interest me much.  I am not entirely sure why the things happen as they do...I just accept it!  For me it is all about making images which express a mood / emotion. 

• What is your background?  School successes/university/occupation – does it matter do you think?

• I was only ever any good at arts/humanities subjects at school.  Science and maths were beyond me although I am now beginning to appreciate them.  I read English at Uni with philosophy which I absolutely loved.  Being able to spend 3 years reading books, dyeing my hair and going to the pub – what's not to like ;-)  As far as occupations go, well – I have had boring office jobs like most people.  I worked in sales for a publishing company before moving to Germany for a while and then, eventually, when we moved up here I became a recruitment consultant in Aberdeen.  I think that my love of literature does have an influence on my photography, I will often think of a quote or a book and that will sometimes spark off an idea.  I think, inevitably, our backgrounds and interests have an effect on the work we produce.  I like being outside and so consequently I tend to take a lot of photographs of the natural world, nature moves me more than buildings do and that is reflected in what I choose to photograph.

• Who or What have influenced your Photography?

• Other photographers.  Until I got going with a camera seriously a couple of years ago I didn't really know any photographers apart from the really famous ones but I set out to immerse myself in the work of others to see what can be achieved.  I am constantly discovering new (to me) photographers and that's really exciting.  There are many photographers I admire but the ones who have had some influence on what I do are probably Sally Mann, Susan Burnstine, Josef Sudek and some of the Pictorialist photographers.

• Do you have any thoughts on the future of photography?

• Well, it wouldn't surprise me if there were a digital backlash – film is still being used (and not just by me) and I think people are now discovering digital's limitations as well as its advantages.  Everyone is a photographer nowadays and it is easier and easier to make a decent image so photographers have to up their game.  I suspect, though, that as time goes on there will become a greater and greater divide with digital and computer technology veering off in one direction and simple homespun cameras going in the other.  Never the twain shall meet and may everyone be happy in what they do :-)

• Does your work have any commercial potential?

• Lol...not sure about this one!  Maybe.  I think the wet plate stuff could be a goer as far as portraits go.  There can be nothing more unique.  Some people might go for a lomo wedding shoot but it would be stressful shooting a wedding with simple film cameras – not being able to see what you've got until it is too late!  I can see the potential for doing large format or wet plate portrait work.

• What are your feelings regarding digital and video?

• I think that photography is about choosing the right tool for the right job.  I would use a digital camera to shoot a wedding, no question.  I can, in fact, use a digital camera – I know it is hard to believe ;-)  I like using my homemade lensbaby lens on a digital camera too. Video is a closed book to me.  Other than videoing my kids learning to crawl and walk etc I haven't done any so can't really comment. 

• Is there a photograph you wish you had taken?

• That's a difficult one.  Probably one of Sally Mann's photographs from her “Immediate Family” book.

The choices landscape photographers make - but make the same shot.

If you ever get to the Isle of Skye (is it still called that now it has a bridge to the mainland?) and you drive from Portree to the Old Man of Storr, you will come upon this view and will more than likely take a shot, as I did:

Now, if you Google Image 'The Old Man of Storr', the results will throw up very similar images, including the above view, for example:

So, am I guilty of plagiarism? No, of course not because there are 'honey-spots' like this all around the world. Do a Google Image search for Eiffel Tower, Houses of Parliament, Empire State Building, Great Wall of China' Tower of Pisa, etc. and you'll get my drift.
My shot of the Old Man of Storr (the black and white one) I titled 'So you think I should have just kept on driving?' because I was very aware of how cliched the shot was when I uploaded it to my flickr account. I felt the same about this shot I took standing at the Old Man of Storr:

There are many, many more better pictures of this scene on the internet, but I still took it and posted it. Take a look at Billy Currie's one for example:

Billy's shot is far superior to mine so why did I bother posting my effort? Well, I feel by taking the shot and making a decent effort, and then comparing it to others I can learn and improve by considering what my shot didn't have that a better picture did. (Let's not forget the basic function of letting friends and family see some of my holiday snaps!)
Now, here's the thing, I hadn't seen his shot before taking mine. In fact, I can honestly say that I never consciously studied any picture of the scene before going there to take it. I ended up at that spot because the well worn path led me there!

Nineteenth century photographers shot the same scene over and over again for financial reasons (people would buy prints of popular places and landmarks) and it was expected of you if you wanted to be known as a travel/landscape photographer. There was a high demand for these popular scenes and photography was a business so they satisfied a demand and flooded the market with views of foreign lands and stunning natural and man-made monuments.
I then wondered how competitive this market was. These early Victorian photographers were exploring and venturing into wilderness and if you found a stunning view, positioned yourself to capture it effectively you could make a bit of money with such a print. Consider then how annoying it must have been to have someone follow in your footsteps and find the exact same point.  El Capitan in Yosemite by Carleton Watkins:

And by Eadweard Muybridge:

You don't have to be any kind of expert to see why some photographs of exactly the same spot can be more pleasing to the eye than others. In today's competitive, saturated market how can a landscape photograph stand out? Removing the subject matter in a landscape photograph (because in this scenario it is the same), what choices do photographers make to help them create a 'different' shot of the same scene?

1. Time of day, time of year and quality of light. Weather conditions also.
2. Your point of view. Are you going to stand exactly where everybody else stands?
3. Your field of view. What will you include/exclude?
4. Horizontal or Vertical?
5. Lens choice - will either pull the subject closer or push it farther away (unless using a standard lens).
6. Camera choice, medium choice, camera settings.
7. People/objects included or not.

Here's a question for you - if you were to include something personal to a classic view, let's say for example a red chair in the classic Glencoe shot and then somebody went back to the exact same spot with a yellow chair, took a shot, is that plagiarism? Or is it flattery? 

On a similar theme take a look at the work of Klett & Wolff

Thanks again to Jeff Curto's History of Photography. This blog was inspired by his Spring 2011 Class 7. 

Getting critique on your work

Knock Castle
Originally uploaded by James_at_Slack

Happy New Year!

This blog has been neglected of late due to many boring reasons. But in 2011, I'm just going to use it as a place for me to 'store' thoughts and ideas. There's so much content on the web now and the number of amazing blogs and sites can be paralysing. I no longer expect many people to read mine but that is not a reason to stop it.

I'm at a stage in my photography where I need to know from others if I suck or not and how to improve. It is not easy to get people to be brutally honest with your work.

Fortunately for me, a fellow photographer whom I respect, decided to spend a great deal of time going through pictures of mine that I had picked from Flickr from 2010 and put on my Facebook page. (The shot which goes with this post is one of his favourites.) Here is my comment to him:

I can't thank you enough for doing that Rob. I'm very touched by the time and effort you've spent. It is very difficult to get critique on your work on the net. It tends to be 'Nice shot' or nothing. I've had some detailed and helpful comments from fellow photographers on Flickr which I appreciate immensely. I'm going to do more of it myself in 2011.
At this point in my life and photography I need to know whether to pack it all in because I'm crap/bland/boring or to keep improving to hopefully get to the next level. I can see what I have to do, and want to do which was expressed in some blog posts (Thoughts from my hospital bed) but frustratingly, the weather, work and illness put that on hold.
I've had time to think about my work recently, to get back on track and I can see that in 2010 I've explored other areas (portraits/fashion/studio) and moved away from others (abstracts) just to see what I can learn. This has also helped me see what I don't want to do and be more focussed and thoughtful about what I do want to do.
I'm sure if all photographers put up a selection of their work they did in 2010, they would see that there were some good shots, others that were a missed opportunity and some that you can't quite understand why you put it up for show in the first place! It all helps to improve your craft.
I need a mentor, I need a picture editor and I need to get out with other photographers more. This may or may not happen this year but what I can do and will do is exactly what you suggest - think more. I'm going to describe the picture more BEFORE I take, i.e. what POV?, what lens?, what settings?, when?, why?

Inspiration - Part 1

Inspiration - Part 1

In his article ‘The One Eyed God of Photography can be whatever I want her to be’, David Gibson recalls, as a student of photography, pouring over photography books and absorbing as many different styles as possible. This instinct and desire to take and look at photographs has never really left him. But slowly he abandoned what inspired him and drifted into what he wanted to take. Drifted into his style. We are awash with images now. Sites like Flickr are both humbling and unsettling, Gibson feels. Inspiration should be all around us now surely? But we still lose our way and feel uninspired.
Some photographers lose their passion and lose their confidence which, Gibson reckons, we should take solace from. He also considers Cartier-Bresson’s lack of progression over his career - but then he had an unerring eye when he began!
Reaching his pinnacle in 1958 with the publication of The Americans, Robert Frank spent the rest of his career trying to escape this legacy. He didn’t want to repeat himself. His success became a burden.
Like Diane Arbus’ work for me, Gibson suggest that great photographs make one say ‘Yes!’ ‘Yes, this is my direction. Yes, this is what I want to do.’ Gibson wonders if, ‘..inspiration from one’s own work should never exceed the inspiration gained from seeing the work of others? Our own work should satisfy us only to the point of seeking more inspiration.’ I have no worries there then, that’s for sure. Mostly I feel humbled and inadequate, but at the same time inspired to do better when I look at the work of other photographers. Gibson mention photographers who embrace their demons or doubts to find ways forward. In a child like way, we should continue to investigate, to try different things, plunge into the unknown with enthusiasm and curiosity. ‘Inspiration is innocence reshaped’ - Gibson
We can, and should, find inspiration from anywhere and in any form , not just photography. Inspiration may not be able to be used directly. A song can make you feel a certain way but you may not be able to take that feeling further in photography. ‘Sometimes inspiration can just restore optimism’ according to Gibson. He concludes, ‘Inspiration cannot be taken for granted - you have to meet it half-way.’
My summary from this is to keep going back to the photography books and keep on researching others, keep feeding your inspiration, keep learning, keep trying and above all keep living life.

To be continued.

These notes I made after reading ‘Inspiration’ in ‘Publication’, a biannual periodical produced by street photographers for street photographers (of which I am not one!). (Nick Turpin Publishing)

Finding a 'voice'

I was responding a Flickr photographer's great 'essay' underneath the photo 'Klimt's Island. I was so in tune with what he said that I didn't want to just slap down some instant comment. In fact, he put down in words exactly what I'm going through at the moment, namely, trying to find a 'voice' to my photography.

I have days when I think I may just have something with my photography and there are days when I feel I am just another bland, boring photographer making up the numbers. I have felt like that with other things I have tried in my life but the difference with photography is that I have not, and will not, abandon it as I have done with other pursuits. Inside me there is a feeling that I have something creative to offer and I'm convinced it is via photography.

However, the days, weeks, months and years roll on and that 'voice' has still to appear. OK, many shots have been blogged, used, and explored and, probably like many other Flickr users, Getty are interested in 26 of my shots . This month a CD of a well respected traditional fiddler will use 4 of my photographs, hopefully a book will be published soon with one of my shots on the cover, weddings have been done and a music festival will be shot by me. So, I'm not crap at photography obviously, but where is 'me' in these photographs?

When Rob said - "but the more I try to explore who I am and how that relates to my work, the more confused I become. I know it sounds rather self-centred, but to understand and further my photography I need to understand and further myself" - I thought, "Yes! somebody else going through this." I have read in many places that the best advice successful photographers give to aspiring photographers is to LIVE LIFE. Go to the theatre, opera, dance, movies, museums, concerts, read literature, etc. Also, have a passion or passions in your life - what really interests you? who areyou? These last questions are more difficult to answer than you think I feel. As Rob said, the elusive ‘I’ shows an alarming tendency to disappear when we try to examine it. I often look at other photographers I admire, or even some I don't even know, and I see work I am very impressed with but don't try to copy or emulate them. I just absorb it. Often they are city scenes and/or have people in them - two things I am short of up here in rural Aberdeenshire.

Add to this, the mess my head gets into when I think too much about the technical aspects of photography which I'm still fumbling to grasp. There is so much to learn and so little time to learn it. I now have enough knowledge to now that a particular shot could be improved with a different lens/filter/lighting and it kind of puts me off taking it! whereas in the past I would have given it my best shot. Recently my new D300 had to go and get fixed/calibrated and I was so happy taking my old D50 and 'snapping' away without giving a damn about technical concerns.

One aspect of photography Rob didn't talk about was 'networking' with other photographers, I live in rural Aberdeenshire and 99% of the time I am on my own taking shots. I don't have a network of photographers I could tap into and share ideas (or see what I will never do!) I think this might help me find a 'voice' so I am going to try to work on this somehow. What do you think? Do you network with other photographers (or artists for that matter) and does it help find 'you' in your work? I started this photography blog but failed to keep it up to date (how often have we heard that?) and I am in the process of setting up a website (truth be told, I can't be bothered with it but I will persevere). I need to get my work out there and my name known I guess if I wan't to see if I can cut it.

One way to improve your photography?

I subscribe to Digital Camera magazine and have done for over a year now. I find it very informative and the CD that comes with it, jam packed with help. Now, I would have thought this was a good thing to do if you wanted to improve your photography but if you listen to some photographers (and you may be one of them), they would never dream on doing such a thing. I heard that 'famous' Flickr photographer Rebbeka say she doesn't believe in getting help from instructional CD's and the like. Why not I say? If I had all the time in the world to 'discover' the oddities and complexities of Photoshop, I still wouldn't do it. No point. Somebody else has and you can benefit from that. I mean, who the hell would have thought to use a 'high pass filter' to sharpen you picture - or even use unsharpen mask! I am so glad the CDs are there so I can cut to the useful stuff and get out to take more photos (and still not be as good as Rebbeka!).

Will reading such a magazine affect what you take shots of? Only if you don't have a ounce of interest in life and your own little passion. True, the magazine suggests a theme for you to shoot every month. I think this is healthy as it can make you take something different to help you on your way to finding your own style. The magazine certainly can improve the technical appearance of your shots - isn't that a good thing? I have discovered photographers I never heard of - some I don't want to hear of again.

One issue I have with the magazine is that it claims to come out every month. Well, the pile I have waiting to be read makes me suspect (a) it comes out every 2 weeks or (b) I need to find more time to work through them quicker! I suspect (b) is the truth. I often say, "You're kidding me" when another arrives in the post and I'm just getting on with the last one.

Any other good magazines out there? Will talk about useful books next time.

The photograph above is just one of many I take in an effort to record abandoned glens and farms which litter the North East of Scotland. It's a interest of mine. Hope you like it.

Camera Clubs - thoughts on them?

Are all camera clubs full of retired men stuck on the rules of photography and taking cliched shots to win competitions?

I joined my local camera club a few years back and, although I met some really nice people, their activites and competitions left me feeling a bit numb. I decided to try it again this year and it has progressed since then with much more interesting talks and more digital acceptance. It can't be easy trying to run a club and please everybody. People take from it what they want and that can be frustrating for the organisers. I joined to try to learn more about the technical aspects of the camera, lights and printing. The print/slide/file competitions left me a bit unimpressed with cliche shots doing well and I thought, "well I suppose I could go out and take some shots to do well in the competitions." Thankfully I saw the error of that thinking right away. At the end of the day, going out to a camera club gets me out of the house, I forget work for a couple of hours, I make some contacts and occasionally, I get some hints and tips. So we shouldn't knock camera clubs. What's your views on camera clubs?

The shot I've posted today is of the last piece of ice on a loch. The water was very dark but I tweaked levels so that it was all dark. I love this shot but it would be met with puzzlement in some camera clubs and I wouldn't submit it in any competition. But maybe I'm the one that's got the closed mind.

Purpose

Whilst in Barcelona on holiday, I stumbled upon a major exhibition by Diane Arbus. It stopped me dead in my tracks. Each picture spoke to me. I thought they were outstanding. This exhibition opened up a dusty file in my memory about photography and me. I took lots of photographs as a teenager and they got praised at school by the art teachers, which encouraged me. However, career guidance at school told me to leave that 'arty stuff' alone as there were no jobs and money in it, which was true generally, but you can't just ignore such urges. Now in my forties, I'm going to satisfy that artistic urge. So essentially this blog will play a part in bringing art and photography back into my life. It will record the things I am going to do to be a better photographer. It will be a showcase for my photographs as well and hopefully it will not get full of the junk my Flickr stream got cluttered up with.

So what have I done so far? I've been taking loads of photographs since Barcelona and trying to learn how a camera works, how to get the best from light and using Photoshop Elements. Many Magnum photographers were asked to give advice to 'budding photographers' and I was pleased to hear them say - 'embrace life'. I liked that and I will be doing much more of that. I have had a Flickr account for three years now and I feel it could be better and get more views. I have a Nikon D300 and D50, the kit lens 18 -50, a 50mm 1.8, and the Sigma 10-20mm. I will write more about what else I've done and plan to do later.