Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 36 - 40
April 8, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
This Week’s LIDLIPS
36. Make photos even when you don’t have a camera.
37. Don’t undervalue the importance of your monitor.
38. Accuracy is measured by experience not by color space.
39. A camera and a thick dictionary have a lot in common.
40. Just because somebody already made that photograph, does not mean that you shouldn’t.
Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 36 - 40
36. Make photos even when you don’t have a camera
Photography has way more to do with seeing than it does with driving a piece of hardware. Practice your skills as a photographer even when you don’t have a camera. Make mental pictures anywhere at anytime. Study the light around you. Watch the gestures and expressions of people across the restaurant. Look for geometry in the surfaces and shadows around you. Pick a word. Say it to yourself every time you take a mental picture. “Snap”.
37. Don’t undervalue the importance of your monitor.
It used to be that I considered my lenses to be the most important photo gear in my arsenal. Lately I’ve come to understand that my most critical piece of gear is actually my computer monitor. If you take your craft as a digital photographer seriously, you’ll spend far more time looking at your monitor than you do looking through your favorite lens. Don’t get me wrong. I still buy (or rent or borrow) the best glass that I can. Yet, as the world sees it, my monitor has the greatest impact on the quality of my photography. Without a high-quality monitor (and the profile system to go measure its health), I have no way of controlling the character of the color in my images. And, just as an expensive lens is useless until you learn to shoot it, having a monitor and profiler is of no value until you commit to learning the fundamentals of color management.
38. Accuracy is measured by experience not by color space.
A colleague asked an interesting and reasonable question recently. “Was it fair for me to increase the saturation of colors in my photos so that there are now colors visible that did not exist in the original capture?” The teetering point between documentation and interpretation is always a space that stimulates such great thought. Fair? Absolutely. The latest digital cameras still only capture a fraction of what I can see. When there are colors in the scene that are beyond the range of a camera’s sensor, tonality is mechanically compressed. A technological limitation should not be the defining measure for the accuracy of the color in my photos. Rather it’s how my photographs portray my recollection of the experience that is the defining measure of accuracy.
39. A camera and a thick dictionary have a lot in common.
If one believes that reality can be captured, then neither a camera nor all the words in an unabridged dictionary are an efficient trap. It’s not the light-gathering machine or the vocabulary list that convey human experience. Rather it is the efforts of the photographer and of the writer that distill experience into the reality that is communicated. The question of whether the photographer and the writer convey their reality or create a new one remains.
40. Just because someone already made that photograph does not mean that you shouldn’t.
Often there is a great prejudice among emerging photographers (particularly young emerging photographers) against photographs that mimic or derive from the work of other (”famous”) photographers. Curious. I do not recall being reprimanded in grade school for not writing original masterworks. Rather, I often received gold stars for writing just like every other kid in the class. Likewise, if the scene calls to you, photographing a pepper in a bowl or that unique building at Fifth & Twenty-second should not be avoided. In a long life, there is truly very little for which an individual can take sole credit. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. Without knowing, we inspire others and draw inspiration simultaneously. Just as there is nothing wrong with preparing a meal pioneered by a famous chef, there is nothing wrong with venturing into the realm of other photographers. Explore their territory. Experience their vision. Eventually, you’ll realize that you’ve wandered off the established path onto one of your own.
Previous Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School
LIDLIPS 32–35, LIDLIPS 28–31, LIDLIPS 22–27, LIDLIPS 18–21, LIDLIPS 13–17, LIDLIPS 1–12
PixSylated Makes USA Today
April 7, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
There are only a handful of perks in running a blog. Often it’s like driving in a snowstorm… you hope that one of those markers comes along to prove that you’re still on the road. One of those markers just passed - a month shy of our first anniversary. PixSylated is featured in the April 8 USA Today article by Jefferson Graham ‘Photographers eager for flash of knowledge’. Read the whole piece here.
Some of my favorite blurbs:
“People saw these images with beautiful light, and wanted to find out how to do it themselves,” says PixSylated.com publisher Syl Arena. The Paso Robles, Calif., photographer recently did a spread on his blog showing a photo technique with 12 flashes synched together.”
“Hobby, Arena, McNally and other photographers share their lighting tips with shutterbugs all over the globe, and promote their upcoming seminar appearances (McNally and Hobby are teaching at Arena’s sold-out Paso Robles workshops at $1,600 a pop later this month.)”
Now back to the grindstone. I have to publish the weekly LIDLIPS in the morning.
Random Bits No. 4
April 3, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
Cyanotypes, gum prints, carbon prints, and many other photographic processes from the 19th-century are alive and well in the digital era. AlternativePhotography.com is a the clearinghouse to see the latest art and find supplies for many types of hand-crafted photography. The site is celebrating its 9th-anniversary this week. Look for the link to subscribe to their free monthly newsletter. The April edition features an article on running an alternative photography business in South Africa.
Traditional silver-based, fine art photography is also alive and well in the digital era. John Sexton continues to be a beacon of information through his lectures and workshops. John infuses the best that his mentor, Ansel Adams, had to offer with his own lifetime of work as a large-format, black & white photographer. Visit John’s site here.
‘Tell Us A Story 2009′ is the annual photo competition held by the New York chapter of the Advertising Photographers of America. If your world revolves around creating photos that sell things, you should check it out. Deadline for entries is April 16th, 2009. Read about the contest here. Visit the APA|NY site here (and subscribe to their free newsletter). Check out APA | National here.
Color geeks arise! ColorManagement.com recently lauched a blog. It won’t help you get your desktop inkjet to stop making everyone look green. It will give you a sense of what color management means to guys who drive million-dollar printing presses for a living. Always helps to have a bit of perspective.
‘Life’ has once again risen from the ashes. The weekly, then monthly, then occasionally magazine that so many of us grew up with has morphed into a picture-filled website. Life.com is a joint venture between Getty Images and Time, Inc. You’ll find literally millions of photos to look at. Fortunately, they are divided into galleries: News, Celebrity, Sports, Travel, Animals… There are even galleries where celebrities pick their favorite photos. Yikes. ‘Life’ will use the site to publish new photos and articles. Many of the historic photos are available for purchase via download. As a media brand and picture archive, Life is one of the biggest and most persistent. I’m sure they will reinvent themselves when whatever comes around after the Internet comes around. Now that the Life collection is online, many rare photos will come into the limelight — like this one of Joe McNally wearing a tie (one of only two known photos that depict this fleeting event).
Really Right Stuff has published a 2-part article in their newsletter on making tack-sharp images (part 1, part 2). Really helpful info there for guys with long lenses. Don’t know about RRS? They make precision gear for holding cameras in just exactly the right spot. Check out their camera plates, ballheads, pano mounts, macro gear and more at the RRS site. I’ve been a customer for years and would not use anything else.
Syl Arena Patents Anti-Gravity Hair Spray
April 1, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Paso Robles, California, April 1, 2009
Syl Arena announced today that after years of work, his formula for anti-gravity hairspray has been awarded a patent by the USPTO. Arena, who works as a commercial photographer and writes the blog PixSylated, said “It just shows that you never say never. Never ever. There were so many times when I wanted to quit. This is a great day for dreamers and guys with lousy hair around the world.”
When asked why he invested so much into the project, Arena said “It just seemed like the right thing to do. I mean, so many of my friends have that kind of hair that just lays there. You know, on top of their heads. I knew this would be a way to boost their self-esteem.”
In a related announcement, Isaac Newton Hair Products (NASDAQ: ISNEW) announced from their London headquarters that they have licensed the worldwide rights to Arena’s formula. While not confirmed, industry insiders murmured that Arena’s advance on the deal may have exceeded $100M and that annual royalties are expected to be twice that number.
When asked about his future, Arena said that when not working on new ideas for PixSylated, he’ll focus his work on breeding giant chickens. “World hunger is a global problem these days,” Arena observed. “We don’t understand the connection, but chickens really seem to thrive on my hairspray.”
Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 32 - 35
April 1, 2009 by Syl Arena · Comments Off
This Week’s LIDLIPS
32. Be open to your camera capturing realities that you did not see.
33. Just because someone has a strong opinion, does not mean that he’s right.
34. The hardest time to create is when you have to.
35. Look at other photographers’ work more than you look at your own.
Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 32 - 35
32. Be open to your camera capturing realities that you did not see.
Sometimes we just try too hard to make photographs. We juggle the rule of thirds, the inverse square law and depth of field. We fret about focus and exposure. Rather than flow, we falter. Sometimes, it’s better to just push the shutter button. Push it and see what happens. Push it and discover that the camera sees a reality all of its own. Sometimes the camera’s vision is empty. Sometimes its vision is enchanting.
33. Just because someone has a strong opinion, does not mean that he’s right.
One of the great challenges in growing as a photographer is knowing when to embrace what others say and when not to. The world is full of people who will tell you what they think about your work – often because you asked them to and occasionally when you did not. Either way, these insights can be valuable because it’s hard to see ourselves from afar. Understand, though, that the intensity of the message is no measure of its validity. Plenty of people have strong opinions but no clue. If a comment comes back to you again and again, listen to it. It’s returning only because you’re allowing it to come back. It’s returning because somehow it resonates with who you are and who you are to become.
34. The hardest time to create is when you have to.
The writer stares at the blank page. The painter stares at the blank canvas. The blogger stares at the blank screen. Being creative when you don’t have to seems easy. Creating on demand is hard. If you’re blocked, just start. It really does not matter what you do. Starting is the key. Create and don’t edit. Then keep on creating. Your drops of inspiration will merge into a stream and then into a river. Your creativity will be unleashed and flow freely. The difference between creating spontaneously and creating on demand is that the former starts without notice and the latter has to be jump-started. Not being afraid to start are your cables.
35. Look at other photographer’s work more than you look at your own.
Like Narcissus staring at his reflection in the pool, sometimes we spend way too much time looking at our work. If you want to improve your photography, spend more time looking at the work of other shooters. Decode the light. Think about what’s in the frame. Think about what’s not in the frame. Study the gesture, the expression, the nuance. Put yourself in the moment, the situation, the set. Close your eyes and be that other photographer for a bit. Open your eyes and be yourself.
Previous Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School
LIDLIPS 28 – 31, LIDLIPS 22 – 27, LIDLIPS 18 – 21, LIDLIPS 13 – 17, LIDLIPS 1–12