by successfulbob | photography - art quote, photography education
Great works of Art.
What do most of them have in common? I posit that Michelangelo has it nailed.
“Genius is eternal patience.” Michelangelo Buonarroti
The patience and perseverance to complete the task would be very high on the list. Even works of art that were completed in a very short period of time had in their basis a long time learning and practicing the skills necessary to make that happen. Think of the great photographers and artists that come to mind immediately. All devoted their lives or a major portion of it to learning, practice, perfecting, practicing some more. It’s apparent in the depth of their work.
An artist goes through stages of learning. A child attempting art often starts with stick figures and very rudimentary shapes. As growth and practice occur perspective is added. Shadows create more dimension. Color begins to play a part with mixing, under-painting and differing colors laid side by side to give unusual effects. Final touches of opaque paint give the illusion of highlights and deeper shadows.
A musician starts with basic notes. Chopsticks on the piano. A slightly more advanced simple song. Then scales to train the brain and fingers in motor memory. Study. More in-depth practice until it’s possible to play notes at a speed and clarity for advanced intricate pieces.
Just as the other artists go through their paces as photographers we need to ‘learn the scales’ and add perspective and depth to our work as we advance our craft. There seems to be a tendency to think we are pretty good at making images before we even understand what makes a great image. I know I went through this at various stages of my photography career thinking I was pretty good at this or that. Now when I begin to think I am good at some area of my photography I go out and find those that really are and aspire to learn more.
We can take bits and pieces from other arts to make us better photographers.
As the musician practices scales to create motor memory we can sit with our cameras and make changes to settings without looking at the camera. Confirm it’s the setting we were trying for and repeat until all the controls become automatic.
Learning the vocabulary of our profession is important. You can’t create what you can’t think about or visualize in your brain and you can’t do that without knowing words for all kinds of light, shadow and form.
I guess the long story short is how much are you willing to work, to make mistakes, to study, to practice, to play in order to be able to create better images?
How much patience do you have??
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Мікеланджело; Michelangelo – власне фото (by Qypchak)
PS – Michelangelo made an appearance here last week in the Photo/Art Quote…. and that’s just coincidence.
by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education
I was wandering around the web last night and early this morning searching for a photo/art quote that would work for and found myself uninspired with the quotes I was encountering.
So I gave it a break and decided to check in at a Mastermind Forum I belong to and Lo and Behold!, there it was. Edward Zemba of Robert Charles Photography had posted this little gem from one of my favorite artists with the comment “Michelangelo had it right!”
“The greater danger for most of us is not that we aim too high & we miss it but that it’s too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo Bounarotti
How do you decide what your artistic photographic goals are?
Are you willing to stretch?
To go beyond what you really think is possible?
Or are you safe?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Push it!
by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education
WOW!
Had a chance to experience this quote by Henri in action at the North Central District Professional Photographers of America imaging competition.
“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.” Henri Cartier-Bresson
Two full days working with Thirteen other people viewing print images and digital files. Talk about being immersed in photography. Here’s the way it works. Six people are on a panel and along with a jury chair are working to see that each image gets a fair shake at be judged as impartially as possible. And therein lies my tie-in with the quote.
Being exposed to the shear number of images created and seeing what makers can envision makes me proud to be part of this industry. Moments in time preserved for families. Stories crafted. Fantasies brought to life. Emotions captured and far-off vistas shared. All of these images passed in front of my eyes and were created by photographers sharing their vision captured through the lens.
I salute those who put their images out there for review and to learn how to become better image makers and show what might never have been seen.
What are you creating right now>
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, photography, photography - art quote, photography education
There are often conversations with photographers of whether they are creating art or fine art with their imaging. Some are – some aren’t – but who are we to judge? The point is once we get over whether we are artists or not we need to work, not just dream, to make our dreams happen. Today’s Photo/Art quote from Constantin puts it very succinctly. (especially the second sentence!)
“Art career goals make your career happen. To see far is one thing, to go there is another.” Constantin Brancusi
What are you doing to work on your career and push it into the direction you would like it to go?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, photography, photography - art quote, photography education
Inspired!
Just finished up two days of teaching the Photo-Synthesis program in Chattanooga, Tennessee (that city name sure has a lot of letters!) and I am inspired by how excited the students were. Today’s class was a hands-on follow up to yesterday’s program.
We went out early in the morning and did a little photo safari around the waterfront. I shared my thinking on photographing and gathering textures for use in working with the Photo-Synthesis process of blending multiple images together. We shot for about an hour gathering source materials to work with on our individual computers.
Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to the quote from Margaret. After we spent an hour talking, shooting thinking and capturing textures everyone in the group was tuned into it. As we drove to the meeting room students were looking out the window saying, ‘Wow there’s a cool door! Wouldn’t that make a great texture for the background of an image?” As we took a break for lunch the restaurant we went to had lots of character and everyone was lamenting we had left our cameras back in the classroom.
The point is after just spending the morning absorbed in and thinking about textures and their use we were seeing things that would have normally been passed unnoticed.
Think about it. Just that morning working toward new knowledge and all eyes were now primed to see and capture new things.
“Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand.” Margaret Bourke-White
Sooooo….
Let me ask you an important question.
What are you saturating your brain with?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
