For those who might not know, Dorthea Lang was a photojournalist who documented America during the depression era. Her photographs told the story of the great depression more powerfully than words could have done. I’m confident that even if you don’t know her name, you will recognize one of her most famous photographs taken during that time.
Known as ‘Migrant Mother.’ Photo by Dorthea Lang
The Library of Congress caption reads: “Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California.”
Which brings us to the Photo/Art Quote for today on the Successful-Photographer blog.
“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” Dorthea Lang
“Altering life by holding it still.”
Think about that for a moment.
How do you think about what do we do as photographers? Do you keep a thought such as this in your mind when you are making images for clients? When you change the focus of whatever you do in life to be helpful to others, you end up becoming more successful in the process.
This type of thought also should be shared with your potential clients when speaking about making images for them. Another way to say this is preserving memories but changing the phrasing can contribute to making this powerful message. There’s a line from Zig Ziglar. “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” Sometimes people don’t know what they want in photography until it’s too late. The child has grown up too fast. A family member passes away. Things change amazingly fast in this world of ours and being able to freeze an instant of time is a magical gift.
Do you share those thoughts with your clients? Take the “instants” out of time and alter your client’s world for the better.
I love today’s Photo/Art Quote because it is hitting very close to home as I explore new ideas. The new explorations have received a head-start because I am always trying new ideas and attending classes, seminars, and conventions to expand my photographic knowledge.
I believe the quest is why I am still a photographer today. Photography is a career that I feel I will never be able to master. There is always a new technique, a different way of applying an old idea, and of course, new technology to learn.
Ernst, take it away.
“I am not interested in shooting new things – I am interested to see things new.” – Ernst Haas
“See things new.” What a great thought. I have started to notice more lighting scenarios as I go about my daily business. Here are a couple of reasons I am noticing new ways of seeing and some thoughts for you.
I just took a Light-Painting class with John Hartman. Watching how he was layering (painting) in the light in tiny sections and then layering those images with thought and finesse to create the final image has me seeing in a new way. It makes you hyper-aware of the play of light on a subject and how you want to portray each little nuance of a scene. This technique also makes you pre-visualize how you want the final image to appear.
Making time-lapse videos has changed the way I watch light as the sun dips toward and below the horizon. It is almost as if I see now in time-lapse form. It’s kind of hard to explain, but if you start creating more time-lapse videos, you’ll start to know what I mean. The benefit to seeing like this is when taking still photographs you’ll have a better idea of the ideal time to snap the shutter.
There are more examples, but I’m done for today… It’s time to head into the studio and make more water droplet splash photos. Starting to see some fascinating things frozen in time. Yet another way to “See things new.”
An icon in photography, Ansel Adams wrote quite a bit about photography and created a wealth of quotes to share on the subject. This morning’s quote has to do with thinking about becoming a better photographer. I believe you can accelerate the process if you consciously work at it with thought and purpose.
Today’s quote begs the question. “With what do you fill your mind?”
“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.” Ansel Adams
I find the basis of this quote to be true.
About five or six years ago I started spending more time in art museums and studying specific artists. I found myself drawn to the impressionists such as Renoir, Monet, Degas and Van Gogh among others. I picked up this advice from fantastic fellow photographer Thom Rouse and think I have become a better photographer for it. The study o
What kind of things did I learn? The study of how colors work when placed side by side gave me a new insight to look for those color patterns in nature. I found there were more compositional techniques available than the rule of thirds. Using some of these ideas I began to blend multiple images together to create more painterly images.
An artist I met at the Montmartre in Paris. Monsieur Gorghy was my first full ‘painting’ using a technique I’ve dubbed ‘PhotoSynthesis.’
As you can see from the image above it turns out the impressionists began to inhabit my work. It didn’t happen overnight. Some of it was intentional but I recognized that it worked it’s way into other areas of my work as well. I now try to view different genres of art on a regular basis through books, movies, online and, of course, in museums.
Ansel got it right. I ask again, With what are you filling your mind?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Another wonderful photographer full of artistic ideas is Arthur Rainville You might want to check out some of his very emotive and emotional work.
That’s an age-old question that has been debated for many years and will continue on into the future. I think it is and this is my blog so until I hear from you otherwise, we will proceed with the concept that photography is art, especially as we push the boundaries with composite work and adding paint strokes with programs like Adobe’s Photoshop and Corel’s Painter.
Which brings me to today’s quote from Alfred.
“I am not a painter, nor an artist. Therefore I can see straight, and that may be my undoing.” – Alfred Stieglitz
We all get to times when we doubt our skills and techniques in making our imagery. I feel like I am in good company, and you should too when I realize that even a talented and renown photographer such as Stieglitz showed that he felt not being loose enough in his thinking was a detriment to his work.
What can we do to make it easier for ourselves in creating our images?
I think number one on the list is to study in the other arts such as painting. You learn a lot about color, composition, and feel to add to your toolbox. More tools, More thought equals better imagery.
When you are searching for these extras for your knowledge base you can find them in books, from discussions with other artists, magazines, the Internet and strangely enough even cartoons. I found this wonderful cartoon from the 50’s from Disney with Donald Duck traveling through Mathmagic Land with great explanations of composition. You can see it below. It’s about 25 minutes long and fun to watch. If you don’t have that much time you can see segments of the video in bite-sized pieces by doing a search on YouTube.
I never know what will be the inspiration for the Sunday Photo/Art Quotes here on Successful Photographer. Occasionally something will jump out at me and catch my attention like turning a corner and seeing a snake that makes the heart get to racing.
This week was like that.
And it wasn’t specifically an ‘ART’ quote. But one I believe that can help lead you to make good art. Today’s quote comes from photographer Jill Davidson. It was in a Facebook post. Just the quote and no elaboration. Those are the short quotes I find the most inspiring.
“Luck is hard work, dressed up for the prom.” Jill Davidson
This is a theme that runs pretty regularly here in the blog, and I’m always looking for new ways to express and remind myself that it takes work to become lucky. I know I am extremely fortunate. But I do (almost) always work hard to get there. Funny when I work less I don’t seem to be as lucky. Hmm. I think sometimes photographers come to programs and seminars to learn the quick and easy way to learn a technique. A shortcut if you will. If that is all, they come for they tend to miss the underlying depth and dimension fo the technique and it is a mere shadow of what the presenter was sharing. Please remember that continuing education is great and should be pursued all the time. Learning is a life-long adventure, but it is only the beginning of you being able to create more artistic images.
Are you dressed up for the prom and putting in the work? Or are you wearing your sweats and T-shirt?
Seth Goodin is an author of seventeen books and shares lots of ideas about marketing. I’m grabbing a quote from him that hits the heart of creators.
Art is not in the …eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.” ― Seth Godin
Let’s go to the expanded version from which I pulled this quote.
“Art is what we call…the thing an artist does.
It’s not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human.
Art is not in the …eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.” ― Seth Godin
Show your soul.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – There is one other thought that I believe came from Dean Collins. “Beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder.” Hmmmm, maybe there’s a middle ground somewhere. You decide.
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“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” Dorthea Lang
