I took a wander round Loch Kinord yesterday and passed this building. I find it a very photogenic building. I always think it looks like a school house, but it is a private chapel built, perhaps, on the site of a 16th Century chapel. From the Canmore website:
" A chapel was built near Meikle Kinord (NO 44 98) in the 16th century to serve the castle in Loch Kinord (NO49NW 16). There is now no trace, but the sites of chapel and graves were pointed out before 1858, and the walls and gravemounds were remembered by older inhabitants in 1910. A Medieval font of rough granite, 5 feet 2 1/2 inches in circumference, was found near the site of the chapel. J G Michie 1910; J Stuart 1868. No trace of chapel or graveyard, but it is believed locally that the private chapel at NO 4407 9891 occupies the site of an older chapel. This later structure built c 1880, was converted into a museum in 1912 to house the oak canoes etc found in the area, but is now used only as a hay-store. Visited by OS (N K B) 12 November 1968."
Mr and Mrs Charles Wilson, who built Dinnet House in 1890, also built the old chapel at Meikle Kinord in the same year. Although never consecrated, the building was used to store local artefacts and in particular, one of the old Pictish canoes from Loch Kinord. When Mr Wilson sold the Kinord Estate to James C Barclay Harvey in 1896, Mrs Wilson was so irate that she hurled all the historic relics out on the moor. The Wilsons took the canoe back to Lincolnshire when they flitted, but because it was too long and bulky to go on to a railway wagon it was allegedly sawn in half. (p.114)
Here we are then, I've done it. I posted something every day in March. What was the point in doing that?
I didn't plan to do it. I was just writing a post and wanted to see if I could keep going all through March. So there was no agenda, no purpose really and that, for many people is what is wrong with blogs. Many have no point, nothing to say, boring content. But yet, writing a journal is seen as a great way of exploring ideas, a way of staying focused and motivated. So why not the same with a blog?
Well, a journal is private. A blog is for sharing. That fact alone alters the content in a blog from the more personal, reflective entries in a journal. In essence though, they both involve writing.
If you Google 'what's the point in blogging?', most answers refer to getting business or getting customers to your website to sell stuff. Other answers refer to sharing ideas, about communicating.
I started my blog to talk about photography - to explore photography and photographers. I soon realised that, like other creative people, I had 'flat' periods when I had no inspiration, no ideas, my mojo had gone. It was difficult to write enthusiastically about what I was doing in photography when I had essentially lost my confidence to produce anything remotely worthy of sharing.
I started to write about this lack of creativity which led on to inspiration and how to overcome a creative blockage. I soon realised I was not alone in feeling 'stuck', in feeling useless. The blog was good for getting that feedback.
At times the blog just became another place to share my photography.
Rarely did I teach anything. Rarely did I solve other people's problems (mainly because I don't have a big enough audience nor do readers see me as an expert at anything!).
I tried to start conversations by asking if what I'd written resonated with anybody or irritated anybody. Nine times out of ten, those requests for feedback were met with stony silence. What did I expect? I read blogs but seldom comment because, well, you know, we're all REALLY busy and time is precious.
So far, for the month of March I've had 2,401 views. I have a wee audience but they're a silent audience in the main. Perhaps that lack of comments, that lack of a conversation is why so many people give up blogging and turn to Twitter, for example, where conversations are regular and is, to my mind, Twitter's strength and purpose.
For me, blogging every day in March has made me realise that it is good to sit at the end of the day and jot done some thoughts about the day past, thoughts and maybe the odd idea or two. I'm going to try to do this and some of these journal entries may end up as a blog post. As I said in last night's post, I'm going to do a sketch every day in April. That sketch may just be a doodle but that doesn't matter. What matters is I sit down for a period of time and create something.
So, to conclude, why don't you try doing something (or stop doing something) every day for a month? Blog about it. Share.
And on the subject of sharing - they say you should leave your audience laughing:
It's good night from him, and it's good night from me!
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.
Some more useful hints from my old Photography Diary 1977, this time regarding taking portraits.
Statistics show that 90% of all amateur photographs are of people. Very often these photographs become treasured records of the past, a factor which is rarely appreciated at the time to judge by their quality. The inexperienced photographer who wishes to achieve something better than the average snapshot portrait should keep in mind the following points.
Try to have their subjects looking their best and don't force them into being photographed when they are not ready.
For colour portraits of women ordinary street make-up, carefully and moderately applied, is quite suitable.
It is usually better to avoid or discourage women from wearing dresses of very vivid colours as this can adversely affect the colour of the complexion. Touches of a vivid colour can be added by way of scarf or hat.
I'll spare you the other 9 points, good though they are. I fear the dreaded lurgy is lurking in me and I'm off to bed.
The design of the diary cover was by Iain Love but there is no mention of who wrote the text inside.
There is a section in it called 'Photography with a Purpose' and it starts:
The novelty of owning a first camera is usually enough in itself to keep it in frequent use with subjects ranging from family portraits to scenic beauty or anything else that strikes the owner's fancy. The results may not be all that is expected, particularly if the camera is an expensive model, and it is at this stage that interest in photography can rapidly diminish. This can happen even to the photographer who has reached a high standard, but who arrives at a stage where the search for and recording of photogenic subjects can begin to pall, or, worse still, no longer seem worth the time, effort, and expense. It is all too easy to accumulate a large and miscellaneous collection of transparencies or prints of excellent pictorial merit and finish up putting them away in a drawer. Experience shows that this can happen to the most enthusiastic. In this situation you should start thinking seriously about applying your camera skill to some purpose. Given a definite project, it is surprising how quickly enthusiasm can revive. Projects can offer both interest and a challenge to one's skill and imagination. There is the double reward that the results may well prove of interest to others whether as a slide documentary or as an album of prints complete with text and captions. If the results take the form of an illustrated article, it may even prove saleable.
If only I had read that and acted upon it in 1977 instead of 2007 .... who knows? :-)
When I decided to learn how to play the guitar, way back when I was a teenager, I did what many budding guitarist did and learned to play by copying my 'heroes'.
As a matter of fact, I still do. Recently, Yvonne wanted me to learn the Civil Wars' 'From this Valley' so she could sing along. Few hours later I was playing the song and she was singing along. Great fun and a sense of achievement.
During my drive to work this week I was wondering why I never approached photography that way? Why had I never studied a photographer who I admired and then tried to copy the image? Perhaps then, try to emulate the photographer's style? That could lead on to trying to work out what was the thinking/purpose behind the photographer's images? If I could grasp that then maybe I could move closer to my own thinking?
I just took photographs. It never occured to me when I was a teenager taking photographs to copy other photographer's work the same way I was copying guitarist's work when I was playing the guitar.
Odd that.
I do sometimes combine songs I used to play or can play on the guitar with one of my images, like the image above.
The title comes from a documentary on Henri Cartier-Bresson which I recently watched again. I'm looking back at photographers I admire to see what I can learn from them or what may inspire me to help me move forward with my photography.
Bresson's work is well known and he is often considered one the best photographer of all time. Watching the documentary again, it was interesting what lessons I actually took from it.
We all know that, 'decisive moment' phrase and his images are testament to the joy of geometry, when everything seems right and balanced. He had a questioning stare. He could sense there was an image there - it was just a matter of looking and waiting.
There doesn't seem to be any real, deep messages in most of his images. They are celebrations of beauty of form and emotions. He saw, he felt and captured that moment as everything 'clicked' into place.
He also often shot was amused him. That simple - he looked, saw aspects of life that amused him and he captured these at just the right moment.
His images aside, what I was inspired by as much as, if not more by, was the way he lived and embraced life. He was clearly deeply moved by classical music. Drawing and painting was a real passion and something he continued to do all his life. He read poetry and most of his friends were artists. He had a huge respect for maths and mathematicians. He lived one day at a time, grateful for all the joy and pleasure that day brought. His fantastic portraits captured his love for his friends and his respect for their talent and work.
The lesson I took from the Bresson documentary is to engage with life - all aspects of life; to be curious, always looking and questioning. Make more room for science, literature, poetry, music, theatre, art, friends and family - probably at the expense of photography - to improve my creativity and perhaps my photography.
I've talked about this idea before - that if you want to improve your photography, then embrace life more. But watching Bresson was like some kind of reassuring proof for me.
This blog needs some attention. Slow restart starts today.
Since the last post way back in August, my main job, as a secondary school teacher of History, has consumed not only my time, but also my energy and thoughts. Clearly, this is not a healthy state of affairs but I'm not here to seek sympathy. There's nothing much I can do about it but get on with it as best I can. Thing is, it shouldn't be an excuse to stop doing the the things I enjoy.
On many occasions I thought I should really get a blog post up.
One of the things that put me off posting was the negative influence other blog post I had been looking at were having on me. They seemed so deep and meaningful, full of big words and obscure references to photographers, poets and artists I'd never heard of. Made me feel right stupid and ignorant. So I felt I had nothing of interest to say.
Of course, this is daft thinking.
This is my blog and I should be 'me' on here and nobody else.
However, the content should be interesting too! Trouble was, I tended to see what I was doing in my spare time as not very interesting. I was over thinking this whole blog thing I concluded.
Fact is, quite a few people are interested in my work, if the recent CD covers/booklets, messages and print sales are anything to go by. So, I have decided to just do more regular, short and pithy posts that may or may not interest you.
You see, when all is said and done, I look forward to Andrea's blog posts more than any of the other 'deep and meaningful' lengthy blogs. I must be a philistine with a short attention span who likes humour more than debates on 'art' that baffle me, bore me and go nowhere.
I recently tweeted a comment along the lines of: 'I'm just going to keep churning out my stuff and remind myself why I wanted to do this in the first place. To hell with the rest.' I was feeling that there was too much crap getting far too much attention on social media for my liking. Jealous maybe, jealous probably, but it was getting to me so much I just wanted to remove myself from the
backslapping, mutual appreciation environment and get back to me, desperately attempting to satisfy a creative itch.
Like the title of the image of the abandoned church above, my creative efforts are not about social media, they should be about me.
A while back, BBC Four had one of their 'photography nights' which they do occasionally. I recorded them on DVD to watch later. Among the many programmes was one on a photographer I'd never heard of, James Ravilious.
When I saw his images I was impressed, very impressed. They seemed to be carefully crafted, perfectly composed and had a surreal quality to them.
James was the son of the famous painter Eric Ravilious and you can sense the influence painting and in particular, British painting had on James's work.
I find the images of rural life in Devon he did for the Beaford College stunning. The quality of the black and white images is superb, with detail in the shadows and highlights, even when he was shooting into the sun. His compositional skill is what I admire the most. James was a great admirer of Cartier-Bresson and many of James's pictures have that 'decisive moment' feel but also touches of surrealism.
James managed to achieve many candid shots because he had a strong relationship with the community he was photographing. He was accepted and his subjects were relaxed in his presence.
His images of rural life in north Devon is much more than just a record of a way of life in steady decline. They are poignant and beautiful. He captured all aspects of rural life in that area and created a tapestry of scenes of a way life which was disappearing. There was no real narrative I suppose, with a beginning and an end, it just was what it was, before it changed forever.
My own images of abandoned communities lack the sort of people that populate James's images and my images have less of an impact because of this absence of characters. It is for this reason that I pour over his images with a mixture of admiration, inspiration and pleasure but also with some sadness that 'my' characters, 'my' subjects have gone and left only silence.
Today I was walking up a track which had about 6 to 8 inches (20cm) of snow on it. Some people had been on the track days previously and had compacted the snow and their footprints now formed ice. I tried walking on the virgin snow but it was hard going so I went on to the footprints of the previous walkers. It was slightly easier but the footprints were not matching up with my stride so I kept slipping and wasn't having a comfortable journey. I was following in their footsteps but doing it to my stride. This situation made think back on a book I had just read.
In Austin Kleon's Steal Like An Artist, (yes, I know, I'm rather late to this party), he suggests, 'don't wait until you know who you are to get started'. You should just get on with being creative. Study and imitate those you admire and want to emulate; look at their motivations and inspirations to help inspire you. When you try to emulate your inspirations you will undoubtedly fail to create another Bresson, Arbus or whoever it is you're trying to emulate. But, and this was the interesting bit, it will be your failure to completely imitate your hero that will eventually help you find your path, your footing, your style, your voice.
Yesterday I went on one of my rural explorations of abandoned crofts - 'croft crawling' as I call it. Just as I was about to enter a ruin, I decided to try and imitate a photographer Rob Hudson who has been creating an interesting and fascinating set called Songs of Travel. I wasn't sure how he creates these images so I just tried 10 multiple exposures and moved forward at each shot. My results were nothing like Rob's but it did make me think about where and how I could use such a technique. Here's one of my efforts:
So I was trying to walk in Rob's footprints but not hitting his stride and failing. However, I was learning, I was having fun and I thought more about the technique for my situation.
Days are shorter and the harvest is in. Blogs are neglected.
How many blogs have you seen start a new post with apologies like: 'Can't believe I haven't posted anything for x weeks now!' or 'Sorry for not posting for so long', etc.? Well, I'm not going to despite weeks having past since the last blog post. Why post something when you have nothing to say? In my case, I've just been letting myself mull over thoughts and trying to make some sense of them. Anyway...
I've been experimenting with titles for my images. Titles I find difficult. Some say you should let the viewer create their own association/story looking at the picture. I can agree with that but a title can help to hint at the atmosphere of a place.
When I visit abandoned communities and cottages, I genuinely feel that sense of isolation, hardship, abandonment and loss. As soon as I enter a property I can almost see the husband and wife going about their daily routines, trying to keep it all together against rising rents, falling prices and the growing lure of the big city or abroad. Standing at the bedroom or kitchen window I can quite easily imagine how they felt or what might have been going through their minds at various stages of their life.
So I started to give images titles which were essentially the thoughts I had at the time of the shot. The reaction was generally positive which surprised me a bit. Have a look at some of these images here, here and here. Not sure this approach has much mileage though.
Another change I'm working on is how I organise my images. Initially I organised them by location because it made sense and I believed (and still do) that many people search for images of abandoned places by the name of the property or area. That's fine. But at a Scottish Photographers' meet up in Dingwall, it was suggested I organise all the interior shots together and make a portfolio of them. So for the next meet I quickly (last minute everything!) gathered a set of interior shots of places all over Aberdeenshire. The effect of doing this was instant. I saw a theme, a story, a body of work I hadn't fully realised I was creating! Yes, I'm that dumb. In a book I'm working on, I can see me including thumbnails on a page which could have a whole set of fireplaces or windows on it for example.
With such straight forward and useful advice, my approach to my photography has moved on a bit. I just wish I could meet up with more photographers and artists on a more regular basis. Something to work on for 2013.
Conversations on twitter have helped me stay focused on what I want to do and not be swayed off course by being affected by lack of views, comments, likes, favourites etc. Thanks to Rob and Lucy I've stayed on the bus.
And finally some images of a fortunate find. To locate abandoned properties I tend to read local history books, tour the countryside on my bike or in my car and scour maps at home. Some I find by chance when looking for another place and this particular cottage I found that way but better than that, it had some of the best and weirdest graffiti and art work I've ever seen in a ruin.
If you're wondering about the post title read this.
Recently, I changed the title of this blog from 'James Dyas Davidson Photography' to just 'James Dyas Davidson'. The reason I did that was because I asked myself what was the purpose in keeping the blog?
Well, way back, this is was the answer. Essentially it was recording my return to photography. Looking back I think, 'Who would be interested in that?' and of course nobody was. It was good to get my thoughts on 'paper' though.
Reading photography books and blogs, you learn that embracing life and following YOUR passions could make you a more consistent and interesting photographer. Great. That led to this post.
So you go and shoot your 'passion' and soon find many others have the same passion and do it better than you. You need to find your 'voice'.
But you get distracted by requests to shoot the odd wedding, events, promos, etc. You try the odd competition. You try to emulate cool stuff you see in magazines and websites. Essentially, you don't shoot your passion and you don't get the praise and adulation you thought you might and you hit the ground with a bump.
You start to worry again about technical stuff, your workflow and your post processing skills because compared to others, you suck.
Your off again on the right track for a while. It's beginning to all come together. Shame you can't do this full time perhaps? (At this point, for me, illness and time off work forced a rethink.)
Great, it's all sorted - you know what to photograph and why, you will remain a 'hobbyist' photographer and you're getting the hang of social media and websites. Positive feedback and comments begin to flow in you get some work requests. Oddly enough, not in the type of photography you shoot but hey ho.
Time to learn the history of photography, learn about the past masters and to see what has been done and how you could add to that legacy in your own small way. (Many of my posts in 2011 were about the history of photography.)
Your blogs posts get closer to what you want your blog to be but again, 'life' happens to you and you have to deal with other stuff.
You meet or read about other photographers who 'say something in their work' and reflect their age. You want to too, but what are you saying? what is your world about? You askaround.
Your thoughts about what part do you want photography to play in your life is a recurring thought.
You start to get annoyed with yourself for going round in circles and always promising to not go back over old ground or to stand still. One step forward to your goals - always.
But good God! here you are blogging about losing focus again and how you're not going to again!!
Then you listen to this and think, 'I am not alone. I am not a loser. Why don't more people talk about such things as fear, procrastination and self doubt?'
After all, don't we all feel like this?
So this blog is really about me, my struggles and what interests me, not just photography. Hence the name change.
At school, I did better in the Humanities subjects and art but was ‘persuaded’ to follow a science path because ‘there would be a better chance of getting a job’, which in reality was true. In my late twenties I had a bit of an early 'mid-life crisis '. I knew I was in the wrong profession and needed to get out of the oil industry, despite the good money I was earning. I did OK in the job I was in and became qualified in electronic engineering and applied physics but the company owned me and I was unhappy.
There was a ‘creative urge’ inside me that was being ignored. So I turned to self help books to see how I could move from one career to another. The good thing about reading these self help books, which many people mock, was I started to study with the Open University and gained my Honours Arts degree and got out of the oil industry, did a Post Grad Teaching course and eventually got into teaching.
I became a Principal Teacher and settled into that position, a job I love doing. But I realised I still wasn't satisfying the creative spark inside me that had been snuffed out by guidance teachers and adults who said art was a waste of time and something you can do when you retire. After a Diane Arbus exhibition in Barcelona a few years back, I decided there and then that photography would come back into my life.
The point I’m making here is I became a bit of a self help expert and came to the conclusion that 'Just Do It' is probably one of the best pieces of advice you can give anyone. Stop thinking and start doing - have no worries or fears. Making a complete mess of things was OK as long as you learned from it and progressed. I try to overcome that fear of failure by failing and the only way I can fail and improve is to just get on and try it. Each time I learn from my actions and efforts, my self confidence and self esteem increases (well, most of the time!).
I still struggle with this approach in some areas of my life, for example doing some DIY around the house like plumbing or car maintenance because the consequences can be a bit messy and costly to put right! However, for Lent 2012, I thought I would try hard to think less and do more. (I'm trying hard not to think about what a bad idea this is because I will probably fail!!) Wish me luck.
(Above is a picture I took of the Peel of Lumphanan last weekend. The Peel is difficult to photograph because it is hard to isolate the Peel from the surrounding countryside. I thought I had it when I saw the dusting of snow on it and none elsewhere. Sadly, I didn't quite execute this shot as well as I could have - a bit of a failed shot but I know why and learned from it.)
Last week I was teaching a Religious Education lesson (that’s another story) about worship. To get the pupils thinking, I drew a flower growing from its roots underneath. I asked them to think about their hobbies or what they are passionate about. Then I got them to think of all the outward signs of their hobby, e.g. photography would be a camera, a bag, going to places of interest, taking pictures, processing pictures, printing pictures,etc. and place these around the flower. Next, I got them to consider the more ‘inward’ signs of participating in their passion, e.g. happiness, relaxation, self-confidence, de-stressed, at peace, excited, etc. These were placed around the roots.
The pupils got it immediately - they could see how one feeds the other. If they couldn’t do their hobby then they felt unhappy, frustrated and stressed. Likewise, if they were unhappy or stressed or lacking in self esteem, then they tended not to perform their hobby very well.
It was one of those lessons when I felt we were all having a wee ‘light bulb’ moment, myself included!
(The above picture was just a snapshot taken with the wee Canon Ixus 70 camera whilst I was out for a morning stroll. )
"The D4 is announced. I am convinced more than ever that my photography will improve in 2012 by investing in me and my passions than in gear."
I tweeted this today. It was, as they say, a wee 'light bulb moment'. Let me explain why.
In my previous post I sorted out my top 10 'advice to myself'. The top 4 were:
Know who you are.
Embrace life. It helps creativity.
Always have art in your world.
Shoot what interests you, your passions. Find your voice.
These sentiments mirrored something I remember reading. It was Scott Bourne's free e-book 'Visions' and, as ever, the most obvious, common sense advice can sometimes resonate the most and Scott's words of wisdom kept coming back to mind.
He suggested that when it comes to creativity, most limits are self imposed. It can hamper growth.
Try new stuff and fail with a purpose. Give yourself permission to fail so you can learn from it and eventually move on to a new level of competence. Experiment, jam, brainstorm - just as musicians, artists and writers do, so why not in photography?
Make experimentation, expression, authenticity, storytelling and joy the measurements of your success.
To tell a story in a picture I think you have to have a story to tell. You have to have an interest, a passion in what you're photographing. You need to know and understand why you're making the image. You must avoid trying to be 'new' or taking a shot to please others. You have to be you. It is therefore important to know who you are. What moves you, what angers you, what saddens you. Be engaged with life, embrace it and be a person you would like to know.
You may be thinking, "I know all this already"- well, so do I, but in 2011 I felt I didn't stay true to this due to distractions like gear, social networking and other 'side-shows'. In 2012, I'm going to try to make images that are authentic, tell a story and convey some passion.
Am I talking rubbish? Do you think differently and approach your photography in a different way? (I am, of course, excluding work done for clients which have a different set of criteria, often defined by the client.) Let me know your thoughts.
I started this photography blog in March 2009. The entries ended up being more sporadic than I intended. My excuse, as always, was ‘lack of time’. I’m a full time head of History at a secondary school, which is certainly no 9-5 job (or 9-4 as the dumb media portray), so it is usually a genuine excuse. I like being a teacher and will always give it my full attention. So how can I also satisfy the strong need I have at present to immerse myself in my photography much more than at present?
One answer is to be more focussed on what it is I want to achieve with my photography. I have no time to go back over ground already covered. That said, I will go back to ground covered but with a clearer, more purposeful eye. I may in fact, keep going back to one place, to one spot this year. I now see that, as well as perfecting my technical skills that bit more, I can only move on creatively if I thoroughly explore my immediate environment, my homeland. That will entail, not only devouring more historical knowledge, but being more aware of the current economic, political and social situation.
So, to start 2012 and to make sure I don’t keep going back over old ‘thinking’ any more, I have made a list of the advice and intentions I have already stated in my blog posts in an attempt to keep me moving forward as a photographer and a more creative person.
Know who you are.
Embrace life. It helps creativity.
Always have art in your world.
Shoot what interests you, your passions. Find your voice.
Don’t be concerned about what others think of your work.
That said, engage in conversations with other photographers. Network.
Always be learning. Get out of comfort zones.
Remember why you got into photography in the first place.
Keep on top of the ‘business’ side of things.
Be disciplined about archiving your work.
I’ll leave the final words to Bruce Springsteen who said this in his late twenties:
“...as you get older, you can end up in a life in stasis, shackled by memories and hurt. Old habits die hard and patterns repeat themselves and you can unintentionally let past disappointments effect your present and it can be difficult to move forward.”
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.
This is my last day here on Skye in the Highlands of Scotland. A place renowned for its dramatic scenery and beauty.
My wife and I rent a house and have done so for a few years now. I have a set of photos taken on these trips here.
Another thing Skye has is artists of all kinds. There is a very vibrant artist community here. I, naturally, tend to go and visit the photographers who nearly all take landscape shots. This year I have been struck by how similar these landscape shots look- you know, rocks in the immediate foreground, loch or river leading the eye to the mountains lit by either the setting or rising sun, perhaps with some snow. A wee white cottage or a lone dead tree the icing on the cake. Personally, I've yet to capture such a 'perfect' shot and I have no doubt that if I could see one and I was skillful enough to capture it as well as these photographers do, I would take such a shot. But why?
Just to see if I can. Just because it is recording the beauty of the island I visit so often. People buy such pictures. And why not?
Not very original though and in a crowded, networked and technically advanced environment, how do you stand out?
How can you be original these days when there are so many competent and enthusiastic photographers out there (and the numbers keep increasing!)? I was thinking about this last night whilst watching a BBC4 documentary on the great Neil Young who is well known for experimenting, for exploring new forms of musical expression, for putting the music first. Even though one musical 'formula' was highly profitable and popular, it was not to be repeated as far as Neil was concerned - often with disastrous consequences, losing sales and fans. Neil was not trying to make his music popular or interesting, he was making music that interested him, that stretched him, that advanced his craft and got him out of a comfort zone.
Neil isn't short of a bob or two, so having talent, being true to your craft, getting out of your comfort zone and working hard can be profitable, even if you lose fans and friends along the way.
Bland, unoriginal music also survives and makes money - and so does bland, unoriginal art.
Is this how photographers make enough money to live these days - produce the 'goods' that sell but try to be original in your free time in the hope that some people may love your original and personal work? Probably. But I also wonder if other employment is needed such as running courses, giving talks and, who knows, some other part time work.
I enjoyed David Fleet's blog post this morning on the viability of being a landscape photographer (you can read it here, as well as my comment). His post, as well as the Neil Young documentary, inspired this rambling entry today. I hope you followed my train of thought and what I was trying to say. I've said similar things here, here and here.
Please feel free to comment, especially if you are a full time photographer.
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.
