Photography

Oct

2011

Looking and Seeing

Quite often as I read books, articles, and ebooks that attempt to teach me some of the art of photography I come across a section that attempts to give me some ideas on how to learn to “see” better. The instruction is well meaning and often helpful but something about it usually leaves me a bit flat. For the longest time I could not discover what about it was leaving me feeling this way. Then, after watching this interview by master interviewer Charlie Rose of master photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, something started to slowly dawn on me.

You see, Cartier-Bresson attempted to communicate to Charlie Rose a basic tenet of his method. Granted, he could have done better and Charlie could have listened better, but it is in there. Repeatedly the Frenchman stated the key was to stay present, sensitive, and receptive.

He was attempting to describe to Charlie what Charlie was not being at the moment: present, sensitive, and receptive. When we are in this state the world presents itself to us. We don’t have to go seek it. It is a state of mindfulness that stays open, saying “yes, yes, yes” to that which is presented to it. It is a very subtle difference but one that I think makes a crucial difference in how images are made

There is a difference between “looking” and “seeing” and that difference is one of activity and intention. Looking is active. It is a search. By looking we are actively searching, attuning our eyes to the light and seeking. We are going into our environment to come in contact with something, or someone, and photograph them. Seeing, in the way that Cartier-Bresson was doing it, is not active; it is receptive. He is open and waiting, staying present to the moment. The only action comes when he presses the shutter release button. It is a meditative state, I believe. I think Cartier-Bresson meditated his way through the creation of the photograph.

This is why, I believe, he is so resistant in this interview or take credit for the images. He didn’t do anything; he not responsible. He simply prepared the environment, both internal (by preparing his mind to be receptive) and external (by placing himself in optimal environments) and remained receptive and responsive. Then all that was left to do was obey the muse a press the button when she instructed him to.

So, while all those exercises in the instructive books I read will teach me to look really well and will be helpful in increasing my ability to notice, in the end I will need to learn to be present, sensitive, and receptive. Only through this will I be ready to receive the photograph.

Oct

2011

“Aha!” Moment: On Using Manual Exposure Mode To Create Drama

Ever have one of those moments when a realization just hits you and you want to slap your forehead in one of those “NOW I get it!” moments? I just had one.

Ever have that feeling just moments after that “Aha Moment” where you feel a bit silly for taking so long to “get it?” I just had one of those too.

I guess part of the fun of photography is that there is so much to it that the learning just continues and continues. Sure we can get really frustrated during this lengthy process, but bored? No, not me. And hopefully not you either.

So, what did I learn? Well, I learned about the benefit of using manual exposure to create dramatic effect in images. It has been a long slow process getting to this point but I believe it is finally beginning to sink in, slowly.

Let me walk you through my process so that you follow what a significant, yet simple, realization this is. And also one that shifts a paradigm for me in terms of thinking about making, taking, creating images.

1) When I first started to explore photography seriously a friend suggested I shoot in Manual Mode, so I did. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Manual Mode it is the mode where the photographer makes all the exposure decisions in making the image. The photographer (me!) chooses the shutter speed and aperture. By contrast, the Full Auto mode of Program Auto, and the semi-auto modes of Shutter Speed Priority and Aperture Priority, allow the camera to make its bazzilion calculations to determine the “correct” exposure and then set the settings automatically to match that exposure. The problem with how I started using Manual Mode is that I depended 100% on the light meter reading in camera to determine exposure. Sure, I might increase or decrease the exposure by 1/3 of a stop for one reason or another, but mostly I was wildly spinning the dials to match the cameras idea of a “correct exposure.” It was fun and I felt all pro, but I missed a lot of shots because I was busing messing with the dials. So I began to wonder why I was using the camera this way.

2) So I switched to Aperture Priority. In this mode I chose the aperture and the camera did its bazillion calculations to determine “correct exposure” and then set the shutter speed automatically to achieve this exposure. Great. Now I was controlling some of the aesthetics of the image (namely depth of field-or the area that is in or out of focus). Sometimes I switched to Shutter Speed Priority where I chose the shutter speed and the camera did its bazillion calculations and set an aperture to create “correct exposure” but 95% of the time I shot Aperture Priority. Sure, sometimes I fiddled with Exposure Compensation but, you know, just 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop over or under exposed based on whether my subject was backlit or not.

3) Then one day I was shooting the Dia de los Muertos parade here in Albuquerque and the light was waning in the evening. Soon it was dark and so out came my flash. I popped it on the camera (gasp!), left the aperture right where it was (wide. open.) and set the flash on auto-through-the-lens-trust-me-I’m-Nikon-and-I-won’t-let-you-down, and tried to photograph a lovely person who had volunteered to be photographed. Kablooey!!! I nuked them into next week. My friend Marc, the camera whisperer, took pity on the poor soul in front of me and took the minute or two she was taking to regain her vision to help me out. “What are you set on?” he asked. “Oh, no, no, no. Set your camera to manual, f8, 1/250th. Start there and dial it in. Always set your camera to manual and start there or else the camera will try to make the black of the evening into middle grey and everything will be over-exposed.” “Oh.” I said. So I tried to burn that advice into my memory and it has helped. It’s not the only way to do things with the flash, I know, but it was a good learning for me. And I did finally end up with the image to the right.

4) Then this spring I had the opportunity to take Joe McNally and Dave Hobby‘s Flashbus Tour workshop and I was struck by the direction that Dave Hobby takes with his flash photography. His first bit of advice was 1) set your ambient exposure in manual and 2) layer your (strobe) light on top of that. “Hey, wait!” I thought, “there is that manual thing again.” What struck me most was that he often stops down the ambient light by 1 or 2 stops, leaving a little light in there, and then adds light with his strobes. And here was the key piece, he was not listening to what his camera is saying is a “correct exposure.” He does a quick peek at what the camera thinks is good, stops the exposure down 1-2 stops with his shutter speed, and then begins to add light with his strobes.

5) And slowly, slowly, slowly that awareness that we need to sometimes NOT listen to our camera’s idea of a “correct exposure” has begun to sink in. And I finally “got it” today when I saw this image by Gael Turine. Had the photographer not been shooting in Manual Mode and not chosen to “underexpose” the image (or had he followed a light meter’s direction on what is a “correct exposure”) then lots of what we see as black would have been exposed to make it look middle grey, and the lighter parts of the image would have been overexposed to the point of having no texture, making the image look completely different and less interesting.

And so there is my “Aha!” moment. Simple, but counter-intuitive if you’ve come to trust the light meter in camera to determine exposure. Time perhaps to throw most of that direction aside and play with stopping the exposure down or up. Time to start to play outside the limits of 1 stop over or under exposed and see what fun there is to have. (I actually wrote this article before I shot the images for my previous post on the Balloon Fiesta. All of the black and white nighttime images in that post were “underexposed” by about 2 stops.)

Note: the image at the top of my son daydreaming during his dinner was shot in natural light and I stopped the exposure down 2 full stops from what the TTL light meter told me was a “correct exposure.” Why not compare the two exposures below. The top image is stopped down 2 stops from what the camera’s light meter thinks is the “correct exposure” (bottom image).

Sep

2011

On The Hunt (on not turning your photographic subject into prey)

I can’t help but keep noticing the language we photographers like use when describing photographing: shoot, shot, capture, get, take. Sounds a little violent, doesn’t it? With this crowd I feel a bit like a hunter.

I think it comes from a mindset that the world is out there and I need to go get it, take it, capture it, shoot it. It is a predatory mindset. I understand it and I know it is part of the nature of photography. I also think we need to be careful. Predatory mindsets are singularly focused and tend to dehumanize and devalue its prey (whether human, animal, vegetable, or other). Predatory mindsets tend to decrease the respect felt for the object. In photography, as in hunting, the value the subject becomes decreased to only the value that the photographer gives it, not its inherent value, or the value to itself. I know this is not what most photographers intend, but it happens. A lot.

Eli Reinholdsten’s recent post about photographing alone together reminded me of this dilemma. Have you ever been out on a photographic excursion (notice I resisted the urge to write “out on a shoot…” 😉 with other photographers and you find someone interesting to photograph. You ask them if you can and they agree. Then suddenly 5 people are shooting over your shoulder like paparazzi. They are of course paying you a compliment on your sharp eye that discovered such a wonderful subject, and they are trying to get “their” shot at the expense of you and your subject’s agreement. I know I’ve been guilty of this as much as I’ve had it happen to me.

The result often is a startled subject and less than optimal photographs. In that moment of frenzied ~~shooti~~… er, photographing, the subject has been reduced down to an object, the person and their contract with the original photographer has not been respected, and the original photographer’s effort and intent has been passed over. In that moment the quarry was hunted without so much as an afterthought.

I wonder if we could, collectively, begin to speak (and think) of photography in a more collaborative way? Less shooting, taking, and capturing, and more making, co-creating, representing. What if we looked upon photography as a gift to the subject rather than to ourselves and the world.

To get an idea of this put yourself in front of the camera. Notice how you feel. Notice how you are treated, interacted with, respected (or not.) It can be a very subtle thing, but it will infuse the photograph with your soul, or not. That will depend how safe you feel in front of the photographer’s lens. And that depends to what degree you feel like prey.

Aug

2011

Upgrade The Photographer

Also known as “No New Gear For The Rest Of The Year” season.

I’m what I like to call a “retro-grouch.” I’m not really all that grouchy; I think I have an adventurers outlook and I love to try new things, explore possibilities, and learn. It’s just that often the learning, the experiencing, gets all bogged down in all the “stuff” that seemingly goes along with it. I’m reminded of George Carlin’s famous skit about needed a bigger box for all the stuff we accumulate.

Well, photography and specifically the plethora of gear that can go along with this craft is beginning to feel like it is too filled with “stuff” for me. I’m yearning for something simpler. I’m beginning to recognize that my accumulation of more stuff does not necessarily correlate to better, more satisfying images. It doesn’t even necessarily correlate directly to more adventure or more fun either.

Ugh.

I’m not in this for more stuff. I have a house full of stuff. I have cycling gear from my days as a racing cyclist. I have rock climbing gear from my time squeezing rocks for dear life. I have backpacking gear from the time when I carried everything I needed on my back, in one bag. I’ve got lots of stuff and I am recognizing that I’ve experienced this feeling of increasing complexity in the quest for simplicity in each of these previous endeavors. And each time I chose an enforced simplicity and discovered more of what I was seeking.

So, I am beginning by putting a moratorium on new gear acquisition. I need to understand light, composition, exposure, aesthetics better instead. I don’t need another lens (I really want one, but I don’t need one!) This is the time to upgrade the photographer (special thanks to Stuart Sipahigil for the idea and the term “upgrade the photographer.”) This is the time to push my skills, use what I’ve got, and focus on the image, be involved in life, tell the story of my community, fall in love with shooting images rather than the gear used to do it.

So, what is on the docket? Well, simplifying for one. Going light. When I was childless and backpacking a lot I read a book about ultralight backpacking and discovered that camping in this way entails philosophy that completely served my reasons for being in wilderness. I left comforts at home and only took necessities. And you know what? I was more comfortable on the trail and consequently in camp as well. I could move faster, see more, experience more, and still have the energy to dance a giddy jig when I experienced something magical.

I plan on applying this same philosophy to my photography; if I can be less encumbered can I then be more in the moment and better able to make a worthwhile image. Henri Cartier-Bresson did it with a Leica and a 50mm lens. Andrew S. Gibson shot stunning images in the Andes with a Canon Digital Rebel and a kit lens. Why not me?

Secondly I plan on studying. I plan on studying other’s work: Larry Towell, Cartier-Bresson, Norman Mauskopf, Trent Parke, and others. I plan on exposing myself to as many art and cultural opportunities here in New Mexico as I can.

I plan on trying to tell the story of the land where I live. Of starting and completing projects that are of interest to me, about people and cultures that interest me. And to have fun. Somewhere along the line this got all serious. No good. Time for some fun and a return to the excitement and wonder I first started shooting with.

I hope you’ll join me on my little journey. I just know there is something magical in the works.

Aug

2011

New C&V eBook: Andes: Print and Process by Andrew S. Gibson

Andrew S. Gibson is quickly becoming one of my favorite photographers as well as one of my favorite photography writers. I fell in love with his first 2 ebooks, The Magic of Black and White and The Magic of Black and White, Part II soon after he released them. I found they really taught me to “see” in black and white better and produce better overall images as a result, whether in color or monochrome. I return to those titles over and over reminding myself of his tips, suggestions, and direction as well as to receive inspiration from the absolutely stunning images included within.

Yesterday he released another ebook. It is a bit different from his earlier works for the Craft & Vision label in that this is not really an instructional book although the reader will get a pretty clear sense of how Gibson approaches photography philosophically. This ebook: Andes: The Print and Process Series features some of the same images in his earlier works but also delves into the journey that gave birth to those images as well as the thought process behind them.

Focused intently on several journeys to the Andes mountains in South America, Gibson recounts bus rides, exploratory wanderings, encounters with indigenous cultures, witnessing local festivals and really gives a sense of what it is like to wander and photograph the area, the land, the people, and their customs.

What struck me the most personally was the simplicity of Gibson’s gear and how it had a direct impact on the outstanding quality of the resulting images. On his first trip Gibson traveled with two simple Pentax 35mm film cameras with a 24mm wide lens on one and a 50mm lens on the other. On his second trip he traveled with a Canon EOS 350D (a Canon Digital Rebel XTi here in the U.S.) and 18-50mm kit lens. A kit lens!! Brilliant!! Just the proof I needed to be reminded that the quality of a photographer’s gear does not directly correlate with the quality of a photographer’s photographs.

So come take a tour of a gifted and skilled photographer’s images in this wonderful ebook: Andes: The Print and Process Series. If you’re anything like me you’ll be inspired to go out and make incredible images with simple gear.

Special Offer on PDFs
For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code ANDES4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of ANDES, A Print & Process Series for only $4 OR use the code ANDES20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST August 6th, 2011.

Jul

2011

Polo Teaser 3

I’m still working on my series of images taken from the polo tournament I attended a couple of weeks back. It has been a lot of fun editing the images down and I have arrived at about 19 that I want to keep to make a visual story. But I’m a bit stuck as to sequencing and whether all the images need to be included. So, I’ve decided to print them out and sort through them manually rather than digitally. There is just something magical when I can include the tactile element in my decision making process. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this outtake photo. I had originally cropped it down to include only the two players attacking the ball, but I’m finding I’m liking this crop too.

I’ve made this and the other polo images available for sale because the players have expressed some interest. I’m aware the “buy buttons” can be a bit distracting and I do try to keep them off my blog. Instead I prefer to have them on my “Purchase” page but for ease of ordering by my “models” I’m making an exception here. Thank you for understanding.

Jul

2011

Polo Teaser 2

I’m working on my series of images from the polo match I shot 4th of July weekend and have been dying to post some images but don’t want to give too much away. I’m hoping the series can stand on its own. However, I thought I might post an outtake. Here is Diego Flores riding Peanut during one of the chukkers.

Jul

2011

Polo Teaser

As some of you know my wife and I were invited to visit a ranching friend of ours this past weekend and attend a polo match on his property. I’d never seen polo before and was unaware such a spirited and vibrant community existed in the state of New Mexico. Here is an image as a teaser of more to come. I took close to 800 frames while there so hopefully I can manage a decent photo-essay.

Jun

2011

Turn Around and Photograph What Is Around You

My horse, Cometa, and I nap in the middle of a long day. Photo courtesy of my wife, Ana Aragon de Miller

I have been watching other photographers, local friends mostly, as they move through their process in photography. Readers of this blog will recognize I’m particularly attracted to the creative process and how that works out psychologically. Watching my friends, and myself, struggle with the creative process in photography is endlessly fascinating for me. One struggle I have observed many of us go through is what I call, the “loss of subject matter” phase.

The process can go something like this: 1) the person gets enamored with images and image making; 2) the person becomes enamored with and buys a “good” camera; 3) they take pictures of everything and everyone; 4) eventually they get a bit better and become more selective about what they shoot; 5) they begin to grow disenchanted with their subject matter-it isn’t as interesting as it once was-it has been done before-it is old hat; 6) eventually they can feel like there isn’t anything local that they want to photograph and they need to travel to get that feeling back.

Not everyone experiences it in this way, but it is fair to say that many of us find the distant and unknown more exotic to photograph than the local and known. Henri Cartier-Bresson, that heralded pioneering photographer, once said,

“To interest people in faraway places-to shock them, delight them-is not too difficult. But the most difficult thing is in your own country. You know too much….when it’s your own block, with such a routine, it’s quite difficult to get. When it’s places I go to all the time-I know too much and not enough and to be lucid about it is the most difficult.”¹

And yet, who better to tell the local stories than those of us who live right here? Whether it is Howard County, Maryland or Albuquerque, New Mexico, or Lubbock Texas, stuff happens there, interesting stuff happens there. I will venture that if you start looking, really looking, you will find something interesting right where you are. David duChemin recently encouraged people to pass on buying new gear and put the money toward buying plane tickets. That is great advice. After all, it’s not in the gear that you will find great images. But it is also not really in photographing more exotic places that you will become a better photographer. Becoming a better photographer happens by seeing with newer and better eyes, and using the camera at hand to depict your vision of what is presented before you. What better place to start than in your own town?

Cartier-Bresson, in the quote above, said he knew “too much and not enough” about the places with which he was familiar. I know it is the same for me. How about you? What if we were to get curious about where we live? Can we really effectively tell the stories of distant lands when we cannot see and tell the stories of our own land?

What is it you don’t know enough about in your neck of the woods? What stories are there that are just begging to be told? Explore what you know about where you live and go deeper than you’ve gone before; explore what you do not know. Challenge your assumptions about your environment (yes, you do have them!) and look deeper at the people living there, their habits, their customs, their celebrations, their losses. What draws you in? What repels you? Provided you will be safe enough, can you explore those subjects that give you a negative reaction as well as those that you are attracted to? There is a landscape, a people (or several), a history, a culture, nature, in everyone’s home town; what is the visual story of that place.

Turn around, get curious about the place you live. It is fine to long for travel and adventure but, if you’re anything like me, you’ll spend most of your days at home. And I believe that is an interesting place. You are more qualified to tell that story than I am as I just past through and skim the surface.

PS. I got totally jazzed about photographing where I live after I started thinking in this way and, wouldn’t you know it, opportunities have begun presenting themselves to me. So, I’ve got a fun one in the works that I hope turns out. Stay tuned. I don’t want to give anything away but I’m really jazzed to photograph this.

PPS. Oh, and for some additional help with making photographs “close to home” check out Stuart Sipahigil’s wonderful ebook. Aptly titled “Close to Home”, it is available for purchase through the good folks at Craft & Vision.

¹. This quote is taken from this video featuring Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work and comments on it that was up on vimeo for a while but has since been taken down. The DVD is available on www.icp.org. The direct link to the video store page is here.

Jun

2011

The Artist’s “Raison D’être”

About a week ago I wrote a blog post about how I inspired someone through my art and I’ve been wrestling with what I really want to say about meaning. I’m not fully sure I’ve arrived at my thesis for this subject but I wanted to turn you on to something written by my electronic friend, Stuart Sipahigil, upon his return home from The Artist’s Roundtable.

Pop on over here to read is post.

Apparently Stuart has found his “raison d’être”, his reason for being, his purpose while at that workshop. What a profound gift, that.

I should know. My day job is in the mental health field and I often find myself sitting with people who are suffering because they’ve lost their “raison d’être due to one reason or another. It can be a painful state.

The challenge then is to try to discover something that has meaning deep inside the person and this journey of discovery can be long an arduous. Stuart was fortunate that he was with some skilled and empathic friends who didn’t answer his questions for him, or relieve him from the hard questions. And out of the questioner came the answer. And what an answer!

How does this relate to creativity. Well, I believe that art that comes from a sense of purpose within the artist is more honest art; the artist creates their own personal work-their vision-when it has meaning, personal meaning, for them. And a good way to do that is to align their art with their personal purpose. After all, isn’t photography, as Henri Cartier-Bresson said, a way of screaming what you feel?