September 19, 2020 

Are You Present In Making Images   

Is the ability to capture a scene, or a person in a scene with artistic talent and then have the images history represented in a book and then as you age your memory reminisces about the time that image was made as you recollect every detail including why you choose that particular angle? 

We fear time and yet we allow our fear to be controlled by a physical distance that our minds perceive when we travel between objects in our physical space. Without image purpose you can walk through the greatest landscapes and not see the beauty before you. 

If truth be known we are always at a distance from our outer goals and the distance we travel we never reach our destination. But isn’t life a journey and in that journey who wants it to end by accomplishing all your visual goals in one life time. Take chances, embark on your own originality, your unique perspective. Don’t run through life, keep a steady pace and listen to your inner voice to live life in awareness and not blindly by the overwhelming intrusion in our lives by social media and corporate power.   

Or is there something else going on that attracts someone to photography?  You the photographer have a certain power, an ability to document the world in all its horrors and pleasures. 

This ability to take from the physicality of existence, another piece of a puzzle, creating an original image, an expression that can’t be duplicated, but can be admired through your lifetime, is just one of the powers in photography’s addictive nature.   

It is a means to describe the world through your own personal vision whether it is snap shots of a scene or an in depth study of a person or place, a subject that you are attracted to and want to be immersed in because it has a meaningful potential for yourself and you hope others. 

This feeds your ego and any image no matter the content brings to the image taker a since of power over the external world.  We are trapped physically in this reality but a photograph takes from the scene a conduit to self praise and awareness. A photograph conquers the infinite details overwhelming the person behind the camera, by reducing your visual sense to a fragment of the scene that caught your eye and the hunt is on for you to capture it not with your physical abilities but with your ability to reproduce a duplicate of the scene that caught your eye through the technology of the camera. Your creation is your red badge of courage, a symbol of your inner world materialized. 

This gives one a sense of freedom and control over his selected scene either in nature or city life, and doesn’t allow oneself to be intimated by over studying a scene that would tie up much of your time to untangle an image that could possible reflect an outer representation of your inner being. This is what a good photographer demands, his time is precious especially when one is creating an image, a voice for the subject presented. 

But because the majority of people take pictures as a means of enhancing memories they are not immersing themselves in the scene looking for that special detail, that composition that reflects their inner artistic expression.  

What is it that demands we take pictures of our lives, is it a means to document ourselves, our family, our friends, our lifestyle, our reflections, our exterior importance, are we so full of our ego's manipulations that we are addicted to taking a picture of anything just to showboat our external facade that we were there? We were there but were we present in our inner unique perspective? Or did we lose interest in the external world because the intellect we have trained like pavlov’s dog doesn't care about your connection with the physical space surrounding you, that is calling you to see deeper beyond the narrow myth of human conformity and become an individual with your own unique insights.  

We seek to become the stereotypical reflection in the cameras eye rather than becoming our inner truth through a unique inner vision of the reality we think is always stable. It is anything but stable and is always changing and creates in the photographer a vital significance that needs exploring without prejudice, for if we want to create great images we must be open in our minds eye to seek all the subjects that instill in us a universal acceptance of man in nature, your inner world through external expression.  

 A photograph is a message to ourselves that we were present in the photograph even though we were't seen. But our presence is insinuated by the image that we created.  We can describe the image through the lens that framed the picture. Proof is our recollection of the events that led up to scene being captured. The details visualized to create a cohesive composition.  

Can we really state we were there taking the photograph from a picture that doesn’t expose your presence in the scene? Or a least a symbol that is your unique signature. 

Photography is more than just being present behind the viewer. Photography is interacting with your subject, it is immersing yourself into the scene looking for artifacts in the physical space that you are connecting with, that intense will to find in the infinity of life a moment that can reflect a universal awareness of nature’s beauty and human dignity. 

You have the intuitive senses opening the locked doors we all feel guilty of, hiding our talents, afraid of criticism and having your images misunderstood. 

You must ignore the external jealousies by those that want to tear down your art because they are trapped in the mud of life where they have nothing to become for they are what they hate, their awareness of the world through someone else’s unique perceptions. 

You must bond with your instinctive understanding of the scene and look for a subject that is a reflection of your inner being.  

If the only proof that you were there and did take the picture is the picture itself then we are relying on a statement from you about the picture but in reality we have no proof you took the image.  We listen to you because you used words that depicted the scene and suggested your presence behind the camera but we still have no means of truly saying you took that picture. 

What a good photograph does is give us a sense of the photographers presence and his creative perspective. 

A good photograph has a deep connection with the subject presented and the inner eye looking through the view finder. We must be present in the scene through our ability to identify with the contours and imaginative visual elements that will eventually make up the foundation for an image you will make. 

We can claim to have seen the landscape on a surface level and our picture represented a general feeling of being there but does it really constitute a connection that has to be made for the image to have a personal insightful relationship with your intuitive expression.   

An image without seeking a true connection with the scene presented is not a necessary confirmation that you were the photographer present when the image was taken. You were not present for the subject but quickly clicked the shutter to capture a souvenir of the scene without being mentally aware, and immersed in the scene before you clicked the shutter button. 

You were a tourist not seeking a relationship with the scene but only a physical representation of where you were that would enable you to brag about the beauty surrounding your snap shot and the beauty that was present just outside your visual frame of sight. 

Just being physically there and not interacting on a deeper level stifles your ability to create a connection and thus an image that exposes your inner sight in a visible presence. We all can get surface reflections off any subject without immersing ourselves deeper into the very presence of their true characteristics that connect with us on a personal level.     

It is like viewing a photo album, your presence in the picture creates an illusion of you being present, when in fact you ignored the natural landscape by turning your back on nature and facing the camera instead of being immersed in the beauty of nature that surrounded you, ignoring the true inner scene to please someone else that didn't want to document the scene in its entirety but to be narrowly selective, just focusing on the human element, ignoring the beauty present by turning away from the image you should have made.  

Your physical appearance outside the scene doesn't constitute a relationship with the scene. Being connected to the scene is more important than being in your present mindset, opening up your visual senses to the external relationship with your inner visual sense which was trying to give you a new view of the landscape and wanting you to feel and see the meaning behind the scene through your vision and not a copy of someone else’s. 

If you can have a focused attention on the scene before you with a perceptive concentration and awareness of the scene you now can immerse yourself in the beauty present without faltering and moving away from the connection made. 

We are all guilty of the run and gun approach to many creative skills.  We are in a hurry to get somewhere and we can't spend the needed time to study the scene and delve deeper into its potential.  Instead we take a couple quick snaps shots and off we go to the next tourist attraction.   

 

 

September 8, 2020

Photography Notes:

Even though the photography industry is breaking apart we must keep our professional standards when making great images and our mission of being present in a great landscape totally immersed in mother nature. 

What the photo industry giants have done is poison the water, making it virtually impossible to make a decent living through creating images that used to be sold for good wages.

Because of the greed of the of the photo agencies trying to compete and claim they are the top agency, come join us, which is a farce in itself, because they have lowered the standards of images being submitted and the worse deal for photographers not being paid a decent amount for their hard earned efforts by eliminating Rights Managed and going with the poverty income of Royalty Free. 

Now this is only for us peons that don’t have the financial backing of the photo agencies glorified editors, to travel with their crew to create images that are beginning to look like all the other cliche images we see in the billions each and every day. Where is the originality of the past stock photographers? The answer is they couldn’t survive doing something they loved for pennies on the dollar. Who in their right mind would want to spend thousands of dollars traveling to exotic places and then after submitting their original intuitive, insightful images find out that their images are being sold for bargain basement prices. How is that supposed to inspire anyone to go out and make more images for that agency when they have bills to pay and mouths to feed and they can’t do it for peanuts? 

But do the super egotistical Goliath’s, the editors of Royalty Free care about the people making them a living. I doubt it for their intellect has shrunk as their big heads have become huge as if they know anything about hard earned image creation.

And besides there are so many shooters now in this world giving their images away basically for free that the pros are doomed and can’t compete in that low ball arena with the agencies reaping the benefits of  signed contracts that allow them basically to sell the photographer’s photos for anything they want while the photographer gets to eat peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

And the young photographers don’t really care they  just want to see their images in print no matter how bad their images were sold for. 

Nowadays everyone is a photographer with billions of images being created on a daily basis.

In this lowering of professional standards we need to maintain our professionalism our insightfulness in creating great images no matter how competitive it is to get any good image sold for a decent price.

We must never lower our integrity and cut corners in order to get an image sold. 

Nowadays everyone wants to just take snap shots with their phone and then send the images to the agency just to see if anything sells, and to be honest when you add up your costs to get the image made your travel time, gas, equipment, not to mention foreign countries, you could be talking about thousands of dollars of out of pocket expenses and for what, your first sale was worth less than a buck!  This is an insult to all photographers, it is highway robbery as the agencies makes billions and you reap the benefit of pennies. These agencies should be ashamed of themselves for the scam they are running on the photographer. I wouldn’t be surprised if these mega agencies lower the payment again soon to 90% for the agency and 10% for the newcomers that came into to the stock photo game too late to know  previously how the agency and the photographers worked together. They respected each other and they respected the photographer’s hard earned work they created and the photographer respected the photo agencies honesty and the sales force that made the selling of imagery their responsibility that allowed more time for the photographers to keep traveling and shooting. The sale split in the beginning of stock was 50/50 so the photographer and the agency both got equal pay for the great work they both had done.

Now photographers feel that shysters rule the photography Industry and all these men of avarice want is money and they could care less about the photographers out there sacrificing their lives and livelihood trying to create images that sell. The problem is that the stock photo industry is a losing bet. We now have so called free agencies giving your image creations away for free. Free for the photographers perspective his ego thinking that free is better than nothing, but the agency makes a profit off the images for how could they stay in business.  Someone always makes money at the expense of us photographer peons.

And on social media you have viewers stealing your work and selling them as their own. 

Once a price has been reduced to its lowest possibility you can never bring the price back up to a living wage. For all intents and purposes stock photography is dead. There is no possible way to make a decent living wage when the agency you work for screws you with pennies on the dollar sales.

September 4, 2020

Photography is having the courage to look your subject in the eye, sincerely, honestly knowing your own insecurities and yet communicating your determination by expressing your connection with the subject that eases confrontation and opens up the potential for an image creation that expresses not only your subject’s beauty but your own inner style.

Photography is having passion for creating something that stimulates your inner realizations. It is evolving into your own visual awareness of what you want to externalize.

Your empathy and honesty links oneself with your subject and in those moments of truth, in that slippery time, just for a split second, you are immersed in the infinite universe and you see an expression revealed in beautiful light and you press down on the shutter to create your image.

What is your game plan when you come upon a unique scene are you calm or are you so overwhelmed by mother nature that you end up taking pics of everything and anything without studying the landscape in front of you and familiarizing yourself with your inner vision?

What stands out in the scene that begins to draw you towards it? What is the subject telling you about itself and what details begin to register with you as a natural flowing composition presents itself?

Deep breaths release the tension mounting as you want to start right away snapping photos because you have a lot of other icons you want to take pics of today. First slow down, if you don’t take the time to relate to the subject then your images will be dull, uncomposed, touristy snap shots.

We all have the ability to create works of art. What determines your abilities to create your vision is your unique perspective?

Determination, your steady forward progress, learning the intricacies of exposure, lenses and composition.

Your subject is patiently waiting as you begin to immerse yourself in the scene waiting for the light and shadows to deepen, taking your time to explore and discover a perspective that is original.

What elements in the present scene do you relate to? You are not their to manipulate the scene but express through your skills the beauty that surrounds this present moment.

Nothing remains the same and as a photographer you must be aware of the changes happening right in front of you as you assemble your composition, your camera angle, allowing the light to emphasize your inner resolution, your choice where to make the image from.

By ignoring time and focusing on the scene in front of you, you are connecting with external forces and your inner intuitive vision to will the image into being.

Compositional purpose is your instinctive originality, your unique personality, your novel perspective.

In the past you have tried a lot of technical stuff as if this will automatically create a beautiful image. You must ignore the intellect trying to disperse your energy with ideas that are beginning to jumble your focus and concentration. Take a chance try a different avenue of expression by opening your mind to a natural flow of seeing through your own unique imagination and no one else’s.

Enjoy the beauty before you which is trying to connect with you on a deeper level giving you an awareness you never had before, a true means of making an original photograph through your burgeoning ability to see beyond the standard path of redundant snap shots.

A great image like a great line in poetry takes focused intent and a means to arrange the details of the scene being created with your truth and a strong sense of wonder at the descriptive details of nature that make up the ingredients that make a so, so scene into a great image for you and your viewer.

Photography is seeing the dignity in a moment forever past yet renewed in an ever changing light and experience through the image creation.

Life is continuous motion, a never ending illusion of external time in space.
But when we make an image time freezes and we can view our past moments through photography, for isn’t that the addiction of cameras to stop time and our aging process and make us immortal. Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder but the creator of the image viewed.