July 11, 2017

When do you feel at your best?  When do you wish photography wasn't an obsession?  When you create images are you mad to be present?  Do you wish you were somewhere else?

I feel at my best when creating images when everything seems to jell, my exposures are true to the subject, I am only thinking of my interaction with the subject and I am at peace knowing I am where I should be.

Connecting with your subject is the key to success.  You must have an open mind and an intuition of what makes you happy and what do you like to create images of.  I am a generalist and I am drawn to an infinite assortments of subjects.  Sometimes when something catches my eye I will pause and decide if I want to make an image of the scene.  I believe you must try even if you are a little bored.  Once your in making photographs mode I usually find my interest warming up and I begin to really study perspective, focus and composition.

Allowing yourself to be present and making a connection with your subject is all you can ask of yourself and nature. A purpose created in your mind concerning the subject begins the hunt for the image that is waiting to be found.

Life is about connecting on a personal level with your subject.  Not haphazard blitz of a subject expecting to create an image interesting to other people by numbers instead of a two way street of intense seeing.

Intuition is the foundation for great photography.

Victor Hugo, "Form is the bee brought to the surface."

Connection to your family, friends, your work mates gives you a feeling of invincibility.  With their support you can accomplish anything.

But we are becoming disconnected from each other.  No longer a friend in front of us but an image of him on a handheld device.  This removes you from personal relationships.  Everybody knows, what everybody knows.  But this is a show now to be heard.  A game we play to become liked.  It is not real.

Photography gives you the means to get more personal.  By camera use you connect more with people and nature.

It is not a quick snap shot from your cell phone.  That is once again a surface relationship, without understanding your subject.  You must be intuitive to find the core purpose of your subject.  We live in durations of time.  This duration can be used to create images you are proud of or quick snaps of a subject that moves on in your mind without contact. Having to many durations confuses the sense and we retreat into a standard emotional response and we lose the beauty of being present.

In disconnection we move in waves of consciousness without being aware of our place in this world.  We form judgments so we don't have to think.  When we see an interesting subject we blitz it with motor drive noise and then lose contact with a beginning relationship.  We move on and take another dinner meal and post it online.

Formal judging before knowledge is an indication we are not interested in making photographs but instead, we shoot to create memories of our past moments so we can discuss them with everybody.

Judging your subject loosens the tethered presence to a outer interpretation of your subject and this notifies the subject that you are only interested in a quick mark and then blow this joint.

But if you examine your abilities and your perspective on your close reality you will find yourself driving at speeds necessary for success.  Sometimes your have to act quickly as opportunities present themselves other times it is the slow knowing of a composition that expresses your deepest concerns.

But what usually happens is a break in your framework your concentration flutters as your ego leaves it's perch and moves onto more shallow affairs.  And you find yourself doubting your skills and abilities.

waters edge
the light building
alone, the waves
ripple across
dark sands
illuminating them
with sparkling eyes,
seeing for the first
time a perspective
that is yours and
no one else's

Henri Cartier-Bresson, "For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which--in visual terms-- questions and decides simultaneously.  In order to "give a meaning" to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what he frames through the viewfinder.  This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, sensitivity, and s sense of geometry. It is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression. One must always take photos with the greatest respect of the subject and oneself."