I went down to authorville today to find a quote for this Sunday. John Steinbeck. You may have heard of him. He wrote over twenty-five books. Some of them pretty well known! He also penned this quote and I think it speaks volumes to something we photographers need to spend time thinking upon.
“In art the subject upon which you concentrate is unimportant; it is only the quality of your concentration that counts.” John Steinbeck
Spend some time with this thought.
OK. Welcome back and here are some ideas from me.
We photographers take a shit-pot (please excuse my french) of images and find ourselves disappointed that we don’t have a really strong body of work. I feel it has to do with the ease of being able to make a picture these days and the ease of being able to share them, And, the lack of time and energy we spend on creating any single image. I see many photos posted receiving comments like ‘Fantastic!’ ‘Beautiful!’ And one of my favorites, ‘Amazing!!’
When in reality the image is nothing more than an OK snapshot.
I feel the best images I have been able to create are the ones that have involved planning, thinking, and yes, some serious concentration. I hadn’t realized it quite so clearly before. Thanks Mr Steinbeck for bringing a little clarity to my thinking and my art!
I’m a fan of some of Georgia O’Keeffe’s art and with her inspiration I am using multiple images and this cow skull on the fence that I photographed at the last Arizona Professional Photographers all day event where I was teaching at a Western set town called Canyon Creek Ranch… (should you ever be in the area it’s a fun place to visit with history, jeep rides, horseback riding and more)
Inspired by O’keeffe
I call this process Photo-Synthesis whereby I use multiple images and blend them together to create something that I believe is greater than the sum of the parts.texture on the fence was created with two leaf images and a sheet metal image using differing Blend Modes in Adobe Photoshop.
This image is part of my ‘play to learn’ time. ‘Play to learn time’ is important for growing your skills and stretching vision.
What have you done lately to push your skills to another level??
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – If you would like to have me come speak to your local photography group or set up one on one lessons let me know…
Here’s one of the radio shows I do monthly on KAZM Radio with Mike Taback. We’re talking teaching photography and how people learn about photography, how I teach and two new Lumix cameras GX8 and the G7.
Got a chance to work with my buddy Jack Hillman of Hillman Design Group on another shoot with Sky Ranch Lodge in Sedona, Arizona this past week and we dodged rain and wind to traverse between the eight rooms we needed to photograph for the web site and marketing.
Had a chance to work with LED lighting instead of my traditional flash units to supplement the lighting in the rooms and I like it. Because I had more powerful LED lights from FJ Wescott I was able to see the final image a bit better as I was working. Kicking a little light here and there and seeing the effect immediately was a great way to work.
This is a double queen room. The daylight balance lights made it relatively easy to balance with the light entering the room from outside the window.
Sky Ranch Lodge fireplace and table detail. Simple rooms but very neat & comfortable.
Lamp detail. I enjoy when I get the tell the story of a property in detail images like this. Over the years many properties have tried to show everything in a room in one photo and the message of how wonderful the property actually is can get lost.
The lights I was working with are Skylux LED lights that are designed for studio video work. I pushed them into location lighting for the resort I was photographing. All images were captured with my workhorse Lumix GH4 camera body. ANd the most used lens was the 12-35mm f2.8 Lumix Vario with an assist from the stunning 42.5mm f1.2 Nocticron.
Vinnie has the photo art quote to start the conversation today on Successful-Photographer…
I can’t be sure that this is what he was talking about in his quote but I will take the ball and run with it the way I read it.
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” ~Vincent van Gogh
I take this to mean that you don’t start at the top… but you have to start! Place the brush on the canvas and make the first stroke. Add another. And another. Don’t expect to wave a magic wand and immediately have a masterpiece.
Let’s bring this a little closer to home for photographers. As I coach and teach fellow photographers I often encounter a frustration from them that they aren’t being creative enough. Or things just aren’t happening fast enough. We live in a very “now’ society and often feel that success should come quickly because we have such fabulous tools to work with… There still needs to be basic practice followed by study of the attempt. Practice again. Try new techniques. Blend ideas that have come your way. Practice again. Squeeze the shutter one more time. Practice the techniques until they become second nature so vision can begin to fill some of the time formerly spent on trying to figure out the correct settings on the camera or figuring exactly out how to do exactly what you are trying to do…
I ask you this. What small thing are you working n that will allow you to head toward Great Things?
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
Fotopro tripods are well worth checking out. You can learn about the ones I use and recommend by clicking on the Fotopro Tripods link at the top of this page. If you want to see what other tripods might fit your needs check out the Fotopro.com website. Check back with me before you buy as a Fotopro Ambassador I’m able to get you discounted pricing including complementary continental USA shipping for my followers that you won’t find through retail outlets.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
Cameras Get Smarter -
A High Speed Smart Camera Remote
Best embroidery ever. Give Queensboro a try, get a $20 instant credit to get started by clicking on the logo! They specialize in great quality custom logo apparel and promotional products with the best customer service.
Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
