Tom Meyer
(K=3514) - Comment Date 11/2/2000
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There's a big difference in the way I work now, as opposed to my earlier creative output. There was, of course, an even earlier period, before I understood the potential of a visual metaphor and the object photographed dictated technique.
Photographing in this purely representative way, changed at an abrupt point into illustrating a concept, or trying to evoke some intangible quality.
Then I began to imitate myself, as was pointed out to me by a friend as I contemplated another view of whatever. "You've already made that picture", he said, knowing I had never stopped in that spot before in my life.
That's when I made a conscious change to a totally different approach to photography. From large format, natural light, no people, in color to medium format, strobe light, people in studio, no props, monochrome. Since then, I have made several radical changes in approach, but not waiting to stultify before doing so. This is what, I think, maturity has brought me... some psychological insight, patience with idea developement, and a willingness to do something entirely new at any moment.
I do through out some older images, not because they're embarassing, but because their bad.
And I'm not doing anything at the same pace I did 20 years ago, thank god. Making love is a lot more fun for me (and my partner) now, and I think my success rate in images is better, too. Perhaps I don't make as many photographs, but since my percentage of hits is better, the effect is about the same, although cheaper and easier to edit (!).
I am much more tolerant of different styles of work (I'm pretty varied myself) and slower to condemn techniques and results I don't "get" at first (see above "maturity" observations).
Adapt or perish, seems like a good cliche' to end with, I'll be back to see what other experiences are revealed, good topic, Altaf... t
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Brian C. Miller
(K=390) - Comment Date 11/2/2000
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(previous intelligent and well thought out and deeply philosophical answer eaten by ravenous internet beastie. "Server not found" and "Page Expired" my foot! An answer an hour to compose gone in a single click.)
Depends on definition of "growth" and "direction of growth." If a person is seeking mastery, then repetition is essential. If a person is seeking diversion, then repetition may be no advantage.
What I seek to master is the production of what I term "good medicine." To that end I use photography.
I look at earlier photographs, and I see what works and what doesn't. Some of the ones which "work" I would do differently now, say use a blue filter instead of a red filter.
Equipment also influences what I produce. When I started, I only had a normal-angle lens. Then I bought a telephoto. Then I bought a wide-angle. The most recent purchase is a 2x focal length converter. I now live in an apartment where I can set up a decent darkroom, and that is a major influence.
Technical expertise influences what I do. When I first started out, a local lab developed and printed all my film. Now I do my own black & white. I still use a lab for color, but it is a lab with much higher quality standards.
What does this do for my vision? It enables me to better render what I want to render. I know have a far better idea of what is photogenic and what is not. I can say that something will look better at this time than that.
Repetition is essential to the mastery of anything. A master pianist has spent many hours with a piano striving to produce a certain kind of performance. A master photographer has spent many hours striving to produce a certain kind of image.
I think that if a person feels stagnant with photography, then they have mistaken the shoes worn during the journey for the journey itself and its destination. A pair of shoes is not the journey itself, but part of the journey. The camera is like a pen, creating a visual poem. The better the poem, the shorter it is. The best visual poems have no words.
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Conrad Hoffman
(K=287) - Comment Date 11/2/2000
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The awful truth is that some of us have to make a living and have far less time for photography then we'd like. When I was a teenager back in the early '70s I shot far more film, was involved with a greater cross section of people and events, and had more physical energy to persue this stuff. Today my technical abilities are better, my eye for composition is better, my equipment is better, but I'm no longer "in practice". There's no substitute for shooting and processing several hours each day. I do my best work when involved with something else, be it a sports event, wedding, theater, or whatever. I've never been terribly successful going out just looking for something to "interpret". Like most things, there's a growth curve that begins quite steeply. After going up that curve, it's not unusual to flatten out. The trick is to cause some change in ones life that results in a jump to a higher level. I've managed that in many ways, but not yet photographically. The question is excellent, as it makes me realize that I need to actively drive this- if I keep doing the same old thing, the same old results are inevitable!
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Joseph Wasko
(K=475) - Comment Date 11/2/2000
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Well, my equipment has certainly gotten better over the years. As for my skill and vision, I just don't know. I think that we gain a better understanding of our culture over time. We may not be at the cutting edge of "hipness", but I kind of think that we get a better feel for what is worth remembering and what is worth forgetting. All things pass with time, including us. Knowing this, it is really extraordinary to find anybody interested in anything. It seems like a losing proposition. But for a photographer, this is fertile ground. There are many transitory opportunities, and they should be worked. Over time, they will gain soulfullness and value. Let me give an example. In the late 1960's and early 1970's I was a Graphic Arts undergrad. I was also a sports car enthusiast. I have hundreds of negatives (many poorly exposed) of car races from that era. I have fought the urge to edit and trash them. I am glad I didn't. I get a real kick out of them now, and they cannot be duplicated. They have a soulfullness and some value. They were very ordinary at the time. The motto- "you don't really need a great vision, you just need to work and do the best you can". I certainly intend to. Just think if Matthew Brady decided to break all of his Civil War plates in 1880 because war was out of vogue and times had changed. And remember too that Matthew Brady was doing a very ordinary thing for a photographer in the 1860's.
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Todd Frederick
(K=529) - Comment Date 11/2/2000
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Yup...I'm gettin' a little hum drum! Help!
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Brian C. Miller
(K=390) - Comment Date 11/3/2000
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Well, Todd, look at it this way: at least you can carry a tune and keep a beat! :-)
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Mats Flemstrom
(K=105) - Comment Date 11/3/2000
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I cannot see any "improvement" in my own photography as I age - but do they ever change! As a sidebar to my own "development" I had the unusual experience of losing all of the first 25 years of my work (negatives, slides, the works). This forced a real re-think of the whole process - my first thought was that I could somehow re-create the "past". A bit silly but predictable, I think. Then, once I had decided to start again ( at the age of 45) it was a very different "style" that emerged. A new more ironic, wistful style emerged. Obla-dee, obla-day.....
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Pico diGoliardi
(K=1327) - Comment Date 11/3/2000
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One observation about simply being older. Above all, the most striking difference is how I "fit into the world" today compared to, say, when I stared in the sixties. Today if I'm in the middle of a street with a tripod, I'm as likely to get friendly smiles or waves as I was to get the finger or have my ass run-over back then. Conversations spring up naturally, regardless of the age of the other person. It's a friendlier-looking world when you are 55 years old, mildly handicapped and bald compared to a muscled out, caucasian, long-haired FREAK taking news pictures in, say, Montgomery, Alabama in 1964.
But I am off to Trinidad this weekend for some rainy season work. It will be interesting to be an outlyer again - a member of the 2% racial minority, standing in the middle of a street with a tripod. I'll let you know how it goes this time.
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Jack McVicker
(K=1704) - Comment Date 11/4/2000
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Experience, equipment, film, processing times, all have changed for the better and with the changes have introduced new working methods and standards. Tasks that would have been time consuming are now performed almost perfunctory and with different attitudes to form, composition, proportion and perspective. The ability to adapt and absorb new technology will create new opportunities and, hopefully, shape and alter pre conceived objectives. The advent of digital and it's increasing influence will dictate a new structure of working standards and procedures. The influence on our own esthetic ideals will vary upon our own perceptions of self education and the need to absorb new technology. The need to explore our own creative criteria will be the impetus for greater self expression and, I sincerely believe, that we all endeavour at our own speeds to keep pace with the social evolution within our own profession, at times subject to the acknowledgement of our peers. It's all come down to evolution and experience and if we learn from each or both.
Regards
Jack.
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Martin Krohne
(K=339) - Comment Date 11/20/2000
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Improvement - yes. I've seen a lot of good pictures over the years and thought a lot about what makes a good picture. So I expose less film and print even less of what I expose. I hold my own counsel more, while seeking other opinions in order to expand my own view. That is, a negative opinion now shakes me up less because I try to understand the other point of view. But my final decisions are based more on drawing out what I was after than what someone else sees. Techniques have come and gone, but my vision has improved (though my eyesight has not). And I am in less of a rush to get there - now valuing the journey more. No, I am not embarrassed by any of the best pictures from my youth, only the bad ones. As to rate of growth - everything still moves too slowly for me, though it is actually moving faster now.
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Lisa Kernan
(K=15) - Comment Date 12/14/2000
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Great question. Also a propos for me because I've returned to my photography after a 20-odd year hiatus. Part of why I abandoned it was the feeling I was "imitating myself" and that as I shot I just walked around until I saw the world configure itself into a "Lisa picture" and then took it, and ultimately had a box full of 'em--so what?? I now believe part of this was youth, and being enamored with composition for its own sake. Now I'm more concerned with having something to say. I am thinking of my photographs as a form of writing about culture. I have yet to see the new work in a finished form so more will be revealed, but at least as a process, I am feeling rejuvenated. I now approach taking pictures as a process of asking questions (of the world). The magpie in me still wants to create boxes full of beautiful images, so that's part of it too--one of the big questions all my photographs ask is can I reconcile my preoccupations with beauty and meaning.
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