basic rules to editing

I found this on the wonderful blog Ground Glass by Cara Phillips.

If an image is in your edit because just because you personally love it, dump it. If it is an image you always have to explain to people, dump it. If you have it in because you think it is important for content, dump it. If you have to keep trying to find a way to make it “work in the edit,” dump it.

important words

"Somebody said recently that the best thing a student could do was to get in some shows and publish a book, but nothing about becoming a human being, nothing about having important feelings or concepts of humanity. That’s the sort of thing that is bad education. I’d say be a human being first and if you happen to wind up using photography, that’s good for photography." - Henry Holmes Smith

portrait session that made me think

Today I photographed an artist named Jonah. This was different than any shoot I have had before. I met him at the perfect time in my journey because I am just now starting to question why I photograph. What purpose am I taking pictures of all these people? While I have no answer, he provided me with many things to think about, and that is the best gift of art. To make you think. To ask you questions you either cannot answer or have avoided.

So, why do I take portraits? A part of it is selfish: I photograph to meet people and hear their stories and in doing so, I feel more whole and alive. Everyone has a story to tell - everyone. The question is how do I incorporate and weave my own story in with these stories that I hear and witness. What questions can I ask an audience? In the hour, or two, that I meet, talk, and photograph these people I build a friendship and connection, so I also photograph the connection between the person and myself. I strongly believe that there is always a connection to another human being, regardless of race, age, religion, and so on. Thus, it is important for me to some how represent someone's story, but also weave into the photograph my own story and how we have a connection. I give a piece of me to whoever I photograph and, hopefully, they give a piece of their self to me. A part of who I am today and how I think is because of all the people I have photographed. It is much more than just taking a photo. In fact, thinking about it, I would say taking a photo is secondary to the connection and bond we form in those few hours. The photo is an expression of that connection. During those hours, I learn about life. The problem that I believe I face is that I haven't learned about myself; it has mainly been about trying to portray the other person. I attempted to take myself objectively out of the picture. Truth is, that isn't nearly as interesting. Since I aim to photograph the bond and connection I have with the person, that it is vital to show both the person and myself in the photograph. How I do that? I have no clue!

John F. Kennedy

J.F.K. was extremely supportive of the arts and perhaps the last President to truly understand the importance of art to society and to education. Art is not a frivolous activity like many business people might think.

"I see little of more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him." (John F. Kennedy)


and just for fun (and of great importance)...

"The highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself and let the chips fall where they may." (John F. Kennedy)

decoding art and literature

I don't give myself enough time to decipher literature and art. It takes patience, determination, and time to break the code of good art. I throw it away because i don't understand the work quickly (or look for the answer to what it means so i don't have to spend time struggling to figure it out). This is possibly a habit of the modern era where we have instant messaging, email, cell phones, and other instant gratification devices. My generation (in the United States) has basically been raised since birth to expect instant gratification. In some regards, it is out of survival; we are bombarded with images and text everyday and our brains have to be able to sort through and decipher very quickly their importance and meaning.Subsequently, I need to retrain my brain to slow down, think for myself, and allow myself struggle through this process because in the end it is much better for me to have struggled to find an answer, than to have moved on, or seek the answer that some other person has realized. Life is much easier to understand when you slow down.

The Photographers Journey

The mollusk-shell of civilization, in which we more and more completely enclose ourselves, is lined on the inside with a nacreous layer that is opaque, rainbow-tinted, and an inch thick. It is impossible to see through it to the world; it works, rather, as a reflecting surface upon which we cast the self-flattering outlines and the optimistic tints of our preconceptions of what the world is. (126)

This elegantly crafted opening paragraph to the essay “The Unforeseen Wilderness” by Wendell Berry in the book The Education of a Photographer is, at first, surprising to read in a collection of essays about photography. Yet this essay, to me, is one of the most powerful and inspirational essays in the book. It clearly defines the purpose and journey of a photographic artist.

The opening paragraph is a description of man who has surrounded himself by his own construct so that he feels protected. Berry states a tourist photographer is like one of those people in that “mollusk-shell” who looks upon the world with “our preconceptions of what the world is.” The tourist photographer photographs “only what he has been prepared to see by other people's photographs.” In doing so, he actually doesn't truly go to the place and experience the place for what it is; he, rather, experiences the place he expects it to be and takes photographs that he thinks he is expected to take (such as a picture of he and his family in front of the Eiffel Tower). It proves he was there without actually having experienced being there.

So what is the purpose of this introduction? When and how does she tie into photography? A photographic artist is not the kind of man that sits inside his “mollusk-shell” looking at his own preconceptions of the world; he actually experiences the place he is in. This is a concept that Zen Buddhism calls being in the present. Photography is “an instrument of perception or discovery,” but before a photographer can be “a seer he must be a looker.” He does so by not expecting or preconceiving what a place should be; his mind is blank (another reference to Zen Buddhism): “. . . he does not know what he is going to see, he does not know the next picture. He has entered into the darkness—in order to see!” The concept of going into the darkness in order to see is something I firmly believe in. In fact, those exact words I have stressed before I even read this (something I probably picked up from my readings on Zen). By going to a place with a blank mind, you can truly experience the place and see it for what it really is. Berry states that a photograph must “confront the world alone, and learn to see it for himself: 'first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the most out of they brother's eye.” An artist must go out into the darkness alone in order to experience it because “nobody can discover the world for anybody else.” You must have your own experiences of being in the place before you truly see and understand the world. “It is only after we have discovered it for ourselves that it becomes a common ground and a common bond, and we cease to be alone.” After discovering the world through the practice of photographic observation, the photographer is able to bring back his boon to society in order to share (in photographs) what he has learned. This journey of a photographer that Berry talks about relates closely to the “Hero's Journey” that Joseph Campbell theorizes in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The final step in a hero's journey is bringing back that boon and sharing it with society. For a photographer, he shares his observations through photographs.

Although Berry romanticizes and makes a hero out of the photographer, the essay is beautifully written and is a wonderful description of the purpose and journey of a photographer. This essay should be read by all artists and should be taught to children to understand the importance of photography. Give it to tourists too! They will get more out of traveling. Often when I am traveling I don't take pictures. The reason being I feel like a man trapped behind something and I don't truly experience the place. Perhaps I am scared of the dark and not willing to venture into the unknown. This journey is not just about traveling though. When I walk around my neighborhood after work with my camera in my hand, this is the journey I attempt to take.

The book The Education of a Photographer is an extraordinary book that I highly recommend to any photographer. I tag places that I want to go back and reread and I have tagged so many places in this book that I basically will be rereading almost every essay! Buy the book from Amazon here.

kandinsky's writings

Kandisky was a prolific writer. I am not if the translations are bad or that he wasn't an easily understood writer, but they are very dense and complex readings--which I don't understand a good deal of. Yet, I still find them important and interesting to read (although headaches can occur). For example, he said this wonderful statement in his article titled Understanding Art, "...one should not approach art by means of reason and understanding, but through the soul, through experience." That does not mean, however, that an artist shouldn't have the capability to write and understand his own work. "Reason and understanding are to be found in the arsenal of the well-armed artist, since he must have ready every means that the end might demand"; but in the end, the he viewer "has only to open wide his soul to experience. Then he shall too be blessed."

To understand a great deal of contemporary art today one must understand and read the artists statement, purpose, and process. My question is doesn't that defeat the purpose of photography? Visual artwork should be understood through visual means. Although I reflect upon the late modern artwork of the likes of Pollack whose work was heavily influenced by psychoanalysis; thus, one must understand psychoanalysis to fully be rewarded with the visual complexity of the art. I believe the difference is that the two are different. In the later case, one must understand some other discipline that has been formulated by other intellectuals. The contemporary art that I talk about one must understand by the same artists thesis, so I feel like the artist has a theory and writes about it, then backs up their theory with photographs. If this is the case, then photographs become documents that back up their theories, instead of a work of art themselves.

A photograph, in many regards, should contain an experience that cannot be put into words. That is the epitome of the visual work. Parts can be verbalized, but not the whole experience. This reminds me of a quote from a famous writer (or poet). Unfortunately I cannot think of who it is or the exact quote, but it had something to do with the writers response to a question regarding his work. The writer was asked to clarify or put into different words his work. The writer replied "Do you want me to say it in worse words?" Of course, someone as great as he writes in such a way, that it truly can't be said any different. The same should be of a photograph. It is best displayed in its visual form and not be written extensively about by the artist. If an artist wishes, he can present the viewer with clues to direct their experience, such as a title or very brief background on the artists direction.

quote craziness --- portrait photography...

i have written tons of quotes lately because there are just so many good ones; they are so inspirational. this one is talking about portrait photography.






The duration of a session is one of growing rapport, of a deepening friendship. The camera is hardly more than a recording device for an experience between two people.

-minor white.

shooting for the sake of shooting quote

When the novice photographer starts taking pictures, he carries his camera about and shoots everything that interests him. There comes a time when he must crystallize his ideas and set off in an particular direction. He must learn that shooting for the sake of shooting is dull and unprofitable.

Alexey Brodovitch