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Tuesday, 21 January 2025

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Mike, this post should go into the All Time Best box. Excellent Observation

In the 1970s, I bought and read Ansel Adams’s entire Photo Series books with the hope (and expectation) that my photography would improve. Much N+1 and N-2 processing later, my pictures were unimproved. Reading Minor White’s interpretation of the Zone System and his theories of photography were even more of a waste of time. Looking back, it is clear that I learned from looking at prints. Though it may be old hat, it is my opinion that the left-brain / right-brain construct is applicable here. (It was once argued that language functions reside in the left lobe, and intuitive – perhaps artistic functions – reside in the right lobe). I need to engage my left brain to write an artist’s statement. However, the pictures that I value are ones that I took when I was most able to ignore my left brain (after it helped me determine the correct exposure). To summarize, I don’t accept the argument that one must work from an idea to take meaningful photographs if the idea must be expressable in words.

The Friedlander story highlights a weakness in one argument I’ve seen recently, including here. That is the notion that a photographer should specialize in one kind of subject and the correlary that a photographer who doesn’t do this and instead “shoots everything” has no center.

Friedlander’s body of work, however, is almost precisely of the “no primary subject” sort. He photographed everything. What gives his work unity is not his particular subjects but rather his own way of seeing any subject.

Also in this post I read that feeling lost, casting around for a focus, and o on is a sign that you are on the wrong track. I’m not so sure. Rather, I think that having periods like this (though not an entire career!) is a normal part of the life of most creatives. It isn’t a steady, always on target, unified process. It is more like a series of skips and leaps, digressions, periods of frustration, new foci, and so on.


There’s a lot more that could be said/written about this, but I’ve perhaps written too many word already.

I've enjoyed this series, and had thought to comment on one of the earlier posts, but didn't have time. Just as well I waited, since this one resonated even more for me. The bit about the photographer/small plane pilot in particular reminded me of my own co-mingled pursuits.

For me, photography, natural history, and cultivating relationship with place have been the three mutually reinforcing strands that have kept me going for over 20 years.

On the photography side, of course I like to have aesthetically satisfying photos. Those haven't been an everyday thing in my experience. If that's all I was going for, I suspect I would have lost interest along the way. However, since photography is also support for my natural history interests, I'm motivated to document what I'm seeing.

Sufficiency for basic documentation (to be posted on iNaturalist.org or on my website as part of a photojournal) is a much lower bar, and one I can easily reach. Once I clear that bar, I often find myself continuing to strive for 'better', with the efforts occasionally resulting in something aesthetically compelling for me.

Since I'm out daily taking pictures for documentary purposes, I'm in the habitat of looking for photos with my camera, and am more often receptive/available when the compelling shots show up. (I experience myself as much more of a finder/receiver of photos than one who envisions/creates them.)

The majority of my work is not based on 'ideas'. I did one series once of cemetery angels, interspersed with my usual methodology but tired of looking for a specific subject that fit the idea.

I call myself a visual omnivore because I photograph a variety of things I am attracted to. I rarely go out with the specific intent of 'getting a photo of' this or that. I go out for a drive, a walk, or a hike and I take my camera, just in case I see something. What 'catches my eye' as you say. It could be the way light falls on something, its color, reflections, and the way it is situated to make a well-composed image. Some aspect of it that asks to be noticed and photographed.

Today I was walking for exercise in the field house of a local college and at one point walking around the track I spotted a ball on the floor inside the netting that separated the track from the basketball courts in the center. The skin of the ball was torn and the netting was partly lifted in an inverted V that framed the ball. I didn't have a camera but did have my cell photo and made a photo with that. No 'idea', just looking deeply.

I'm not alone nor is my approach original. I have a video of conversations with Jay Maisel whose personal work approach is much the same. It is more about curiosity than 'an idea'. Ideas are fine for journalism or commercial work but I feel curiosity is a better basis for meaningful images. The world around us is full of things that are visually interesting if we make a habit of being open and noticing them. There are times I will make no photographs for days or weeks but it because I am distracted and not being curious. You don't need an idea or a prompt. My advice to any aspiring photographer is 'be curious', and have a camera handy even if it is just your phone.

Ideas are easy - these days the doing takes far more effort. Also I find dragging a DSLR more of a chore the older I get, and have never really warmed up to using my phone for pictures.

Here's a current project that I'm working on: Every day, going to work on my bike (bicycle), I stop at the same point and take a panorama picture overlooking Copenhagen Harbour.

The composition is the same every day (I use a faux XPAN App and the 52mm lens on my iPhone) - the only thing that I vary is the vertical position of the horizon in the frame, depending on whether the clouds or the water is more interesting on that particular day.

I don't know what will come out of this - possibly a zine - but I intend to do this every weekday for a calendar year. It's a very "easy" project for me, since it takes me about 90 seconds to stop, take the picture, and ride off again, so I certainly expect to be able to keep up steam until 03 DEC 2025 :-)

Ideas are the currency of philosophers, not photographers. I see it. I like it. I photograph it.

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