December 30, 2020

Language like pure intuition moves experience into the abstract away from the finality of grounded reality, this reality defies words.

Life begins with blood and the stillness of death for in birth we are condemned to die.
What supports us in our time here on earth? I believe it is photography and poetry. Others have their own personal revelations of the art they wish to explore and share.

I feel we are being numbed to the natural beauty that surrounds us and we are as photographers looking for details that skim along the surface of a scene and doesn’t do the landscape justice.

I think technology is a landslide covering us with an intellect unable to break free from it's conditioning and seeks simplicity of thoughts reflected in the careless photos being taken of redundant subjects.

If the photographers looked deeper into the scene they could have made a statement of its beauty and not a surface reflection of inconsistent details.

What are your mental sticking points, details that demand you create an image of? You do not want to be conditioned to repeat snap shots that have no interior and exterior purpose. Look inward to find what your interests are. Do not be lead down a path of spewing hate for other human beings because of your childhood conditioning. Open up to the world’s beauty and the beauty of all races living on the same planet. Photography is your conduit to a broader acceptance of your inner vision and the external subjects that can bring you deeper into the creation of great unique images. Let go of self doubt, your anger is toward your lack of empathy with the world.

The world is not a play field to be demeaned by callus actions.

Seek your vision your connection to everything around you that has been waiting for you to open your eyes, your personal truth expressed through your photographs.

Photography has become frozen tv dinners. Just put your dinner in the microwave and wait a few minutes and your done.

You see something in the scene that catches your eye but you don’t really know what you're looking for, the subject before you is
overwhelming your senses.

It is intimidating to just be present and wait for those moments of light without trying to copy an image you saw in a magazine and besides you are on a tight schedule so you just better start snapping pics of anything that looks pretty.

Cameras are already set to take the pictures for you without your thoughtful input.

We get conditioned as we grow up to perceive reality through the eyes of our parents and friends. But art is not seeing through another’s eyes, it is your responsibility to break free from the copycat imitations and create unique images that you found, studied and made.

We should not fear our individuality we should embrace it.

Photography steals from reality its continuity and an overall scene is reduced to a segment of the landscape, person, architecture, animals, street scene, violence, wars, climate, poverty, criminality, religion etc…

And because the camera captures external reality that surrounds us we see a stillness in the image but also a purpose, a reflection of your inner skills to make something in changing light.

History is a liars paradise for in our life path any words written down became truthful voices describing the times of our ancestors our grandfathers, grandmothers, mothers, fathers their lives were told through authors good or bad, newspapers, books, schools, preachers chasing a buck.

But we know now that this was a con game to divert the criminality of our elected officials, our police force, our military, our justice department, our land owners, our billionaires, our taking land from the indigenous tribes, the slavery of innocent human beings taken from their homes all in the name of the united states of injustice etc…

But now we have phone cameras, small cameras, big cameras, video cameras where everything is documented and the truth shines through.

Of course not, the rich’s propaganda machine is constantly spewing out misinformation in order to confuse the populace into believing that their lives are as they should be. Creating tension and anger toward different cultures, other human beings trapped in the same mess as all of us as the elevator of money goes up but never down to the people who need it the most!

Lets face it, the touch of money is addictive and in this addiction we lose our moral values and become addicts of exploitation.

If you listen to the fluff of false inaccuracies on the tv networks news these talking heads that give us only bits of truth to keep us placated by creating hateful cliches, the result is undermining our openness to accept all peoples instead of blaming others for our predicament when in this absurd reality of wealth the rich are the culprits of criminality, oligarchs that own the world! As we sit silent lumps on a log without the courage to stand for justice and not the stealing of our planet for profit over human beings.

We try to hide our lives in abstractions to extend our life in hopes of painless illusions of self worth. But we don’t look at ourselves through our own intuitive inner vision but we more often than not listen to outside voices deciding our future for us. This eliminates any chance that your true voice will be heard, your true vision seen through photography, writing, paintings, etc… all pushed aside so you are forced to live a life under the thumb of the powerful propaganda dictating to you where you belong and what your life will be.

You must attempt to over throw the disconnected life experiences in your earthly conditioning because that is the great barrier we must overcome if you want to become an individual with your own unique visual purpose.

What is photography to you? Is it a documentation of your life? A glorious means of expression? Is image creation an expression of self?

Photography for me has been a way of life. A destination of seeing nature and humanity in a new light.

Photography has a god like ability to stop time, freeze it in a frame that allows you to look back in time to see how your photographic instincts matured and your images got better and better.

Photography takes from our external world pieces of our reality and stills the rushing of our lives toward death!

If you find yourself taking pictures of certain subjects and ignoring other potential scenes you are in a narrow minded fear of change. Broaden your horizon seek your path within yourself and then look outward at the beauty you have missed.

We all have been there, tried something and failed and you give up, well that is defeat at its worst level. To let go of your potential for creating beautiful images is a sign of your ego worrying about what others say concerning your image creations. The question you must ask yourself is do you like them, your images, who cares what others say about your work all they are trying to do is confine your artistic talent because they are jealous of your unique vision.

We want our images to be liked for each image taken has the potential to become an iconic representation of a reality constantly shifting.

Image creation in the wrong hands can become a technological curse, a lessening of a photographers ability to make a living. Technology now can create subjects that look real but aren’t. These images are created on computers without a need of a camera.

We are entering a cursed future where any image can be manipulated or created to look like something else.

Lets face it professional photography is obsolete. It started with film being obsolete and then digital cameras became an easy access to beginners to create images that were passable to give to photo agencies and then camera phones sealed the deal, everyone is a photographer and are willing to accept pennies on the dollar just to see their photography on an agencies website.

When you think of the amount of images taken each minute, each hour, each day it blows your mind!

Photography used to be a love of your external world seen through your unique vision of subjects chosen.

There was nothing better than hiking miles into the forest and coming upon a waterfall that burst open your photographic talent.

Now photography is a tsunami of look alike subjects that have no meaning or purpose.

I have said this before but photography is only a commodity that has no other purpose than to make the big photo agencies money and the image creators get duped into believing their creations are worth only peanuts.

But now of course photo agencies are giving the photographers work away of free. What is it about people that they can’t see the greed of money rampant in the demise of the stock photo agencies once a friend of the photographers! Now a bully limiting any chance to make a living off our hard earned work.

The corporations have destroyed any chance of photographers making a living creating stock images and must look elsewhere for new avenues of income. But that will be hard to do since photography is no longer looked upon as an art form but now treated like day old bread.

The absolute bombardment of images taken,
undermining talented photographers to move away from their chosen field because who can compete against the tsunami of photos taken every second, a constant bombardment of redundancy, a narrow belief in ones talent.
 
Your efforts to create your unique vision is not a lost cause for your success is not an addiction to the run and gun image creations happening now, a standard means of ego’s wanting to be seen as prolific and then the manipulation of the image on the computer, but a determined vision to continue doing what you love to do expressing your inner vision of nature and humanity. Your individuality, your path of self realization exists in the photographs you make. Your unique perspective is yours and yours alone.

Yes, you will not be paid for your efforts as before but photography for you is a passion, a statement of expressive honesty, your documentation of poverty, wars, protests all needed to try and break through the wall of deceit by the 1%.

We all want to be liked for what we create. But that is not the only purpose driving the artist. An artist has to create something that represents his internal fight with the external reality governing our lives.

If we keep allowing the manipulation of our minds toward possessing material things then as a race we are lost in the corporate power of greed. We don’t need more stuff we need more empathy toward our fellow human beings!

 

 

 November 14, 2020

Ask yourself why you are interested in making photographs. And remember that now you are competing with billions of cheap images. So making a living at photography is going to get more complicated and harder to succeed.

As with all artistic expression preparation is the key to success. We must be present in ourselves ready to travel miles to feel the elation of knowing the scene you hunted is here, where you stand.

As the light shifts startling your senses you remain calm without nervous energy overwhelming you. You have begun the most important aspect of being a photographer finding that all-important instinctive perspective that will allow you to bring out of the
chaos of overwhelming details your vision of the landscape that is your own personal revelation.

Serendipity for the photographer is no lucky break, you knew the composition you fought to get and now as the light illuminates your subject you press the shutter.

Photography is choice, seeking a reflection of yourself in the image you are creating. Image creation is always a personal involvement with the subject wether it is a street image or a still life it is your perceptual insights into the scene that is present when your image made.

To create your unique imagery you need stamina and a single mindedness that focuses your attention not on the scene per se but on how you are relating to the scene. Are you involved in the image creation or are you in a run and gun mode whereby your mind is filled with many distractions all of which are interfering with your intuitive inner perceptions demanding you stop the rat race and be present before the scene evolving.

Relax, take a deep breath and just open yourself to see and feel the landscape you are in and begin to piece together why you choose this scene and then start the journey of self revelation, your inner interpretation of the scene externalized through your visual senses creating a unique photograph.

The seeds of intuition are already planted firmly in your minds senses. You are aware of your inner universe and you understand that to create great imagery you must see beyond the formalized structure of perception through your intellect and into a feeling of a bonding connection with your subject and a willingness to be part of the scene by immersing yourself into natures miracles. This way you have laid the groundwork for creating a personal unique perspective. For you have made a deep connection with the external physical reality without over thinking its distracting nature but allowing your instinctive personal vision to guide you to your composition.

Great photography doesn’t need to be taken but made.

Shift your senses to become sensitive to your inner projections. We have to free ourselves from the devilish propaganda that instills in us at an early age to be followers of someone else’s vision instead of our own unique expressions, which will lead us into a security of thoughts and actions that demand realization. We must seek our own efforts to become comfortable in our own skin with a plan of attack to crystalize our inner being as an external visionary force.

We must focus our inner energy to move beyond the structures that inhibit our lives and to follow instead our intuitive artistic truth.

When you come upon a potential image you take your backpack off and sit and really survey the scene before you.

Your vision is on the alert. You have entered a scene that is beginning to register something of importance happening, the scene is evolving. You senses are now on alert as you dissect the scene in front of you looking for that detail that will blossom as the anchor of your photographic landscape you are preparing to make, a coherent reflection of your inner insights becoming externalized.

Then your photographic eye senses something extraordinary developing in nature’s majestic light and  you will apply your unique perspective to find the visual patterns that will create an image with power and uniqueness worthy of your visual skills.

Good writers dig deep into the minds for their characters, photographers look deep into peoples characters to make an image that not only represents the person being photographed but also the visual uniqueness of your photographic personality.

Photographers are composers just like writers feeling their way through the beginnings of their composition.

Words can make the reader feel like they are present in the scene when the author is on his game and the words flow just like the photographer who is instinctively absorbed in what he is attempting and having the patience to be still as mother nature opens her visual creation, applauding the effort the photographer took to get his unique image by supplying the light needed.

Both photographer and writer need self discipline to make words ring true and the photographer needs photographs created everyday to sustain his unique perspective and let his inner awareness of himself ring true in his photographs. Both photographer and writer need concentration and courage to sustain their talented vision.

When a writer sits down to a blank piece of paper and begins to fill that page with ideas he relies heavily on his own experiences, his own history and unique environment to help him discover his self and his characters.

A writer needs details that enhance the visual words that will create characters and a story line. Writers research their subjects, the characters that are being realized through their intuitive insights.

A photographer comes upon an infinite array of details in a scene where the writer fills the emptiness of silence with ideas, his words. The photographer eliminates excess paraphernalia, omitting anything that doesn’t contribute to the whole feeling he is trying to express. His visual intuitive senses are in high gear seeking through the scene only those details that will enhance his visual story.

Photographers need to research their visual possibilities narrowing down the details that will eventually create the photograph that you perceived without a concrete realization unveiled.

When you first came upon the scene you didn’t have the necessary visual stimulus to look further into the landscape. Only when you began to eliminate subjects and details that intruded on your unique visual perspective did you see the landscape change and get smaller in your inner revelation focused discipline. Once you see what you want and what was needed the rest of your time is spent in patience waiting for the pristine light to envelope your field of vision and complete your inner feelings externalized through a great image.

The best photographs are the simplest, they state the photographers feelings in a clear and precise way.

It is easy in stock photography to think that anything photographed will sell. And that is true if you have the only shot of a history making event and were able to in split second raise your camera or cell phone and click the shutter. But the competition is so great nowadays, so many skilled amateur photographers that if you are a professional stock photographer then you better not turn in sub-par work. And even then you are losing ground because in truth everyone now has the ability and luck to be in the right place at the right time to create an image that will sell.

I used think that photography took something away from our reality. In a split second we captured a scene and grabbed from your visual perspective, your physical presence, an external witness to the constant flow of time where human beings feel left behind, abandoned until they create a personal image that their families will keep in a precious photo album or a gallery show of your unique perspective each representing another inner viewpoint one in which you feel compelled to make images of a subject hiding its true characteristics and the only way to uncover the mystery subject is to dig deep, studying the subject until little glimpse of possibilities form and you begin to understand the scene and as you wait for the light to illuminate parts of your hidden subject you begin the necessary camera checks to make sure everything is functioning properly.

Technology is more than just tools created to sell products it also hinders the evolution of good photography.

Photography has become an albatross around the necks of professional image creators for a couple of decades now, they have been overwhelmed with the new kids on the block that use gear that pretty much takes the image for them.

This new gear takes away the importance of image creativity. It is no longer about the subject and the revelation of insightful compositions. Now it is about shooting, shooting, shooting without a care in the world about any thoughtful connection with your subject.

Digital cameras broke down the barrier between real photography of the pros and substituted cameras that took the photograph for the photographer.

People now take images without fully grasping the importance of feelings, empathy, confusion, connection etc… all paving the way to demand from you as a serious photographer to stay put, don’t run around clicking away at anything and everything, take your time, quit this run and gun theatrics of importance and just be yourself and make image that called to you to be made.

Snap shots are a penny a dozen now, you must settle into the details the scene presents, study it, focus your attention of the colors, light, time of day, early morning, late sunset, take in all mother nature’s beauty being given to you whether it is people, places, animals, still life, you must stop running away from your subjects.

Immerse yourself in the landscape seek the right light to bring out the surface details and to illuminate the landscape with beautiful texture a unique gift to you from our external reality.