August 20, 2021

Cheap Images

Lets face it photography as we know it is done. It isn’t the competition that did me in for I enjoyed the challenge of bringing something back to my photo agency they could sell, it is the billions of images made each day and the photo agencies selling those images dirt cheap.

As with all supermarket products volume sales is the key to success and now that is the new wave of mega photo agencies that will screw the photographers out of their hard earned efforts in creating a great image by selling the image for pennies on the dollar to anyone and everyone.

Who gets rich, well of course the people working for the photo agency see a glimmer of profit by working for these multi-million-heirs that own a share of the profits off the backs of the image creator.

This beautiful mother earth, the bright skies, the cumulus clouds dancing around in a blue sky but now we have image overload, too much of one subject after another where is the innovation, the unique viewpoint that can give the viewer a sense of the photographers motive for stopping and setting up his tripod and camera to wait for the potential light to burst through and illuminate the landscape before him.

Images are so cheap because of digital cameras mostly taking the pictures for you, there is no depth to image making now for in the past creating images was first, studying your subject and then plan the visual details that will enhance the possibilities of you creating a landscape you will be proud to photograph.

But in todays modern frivolous desires to take images not for the beauty before the photographer but for the fast paste run and gun approach, for time is precious nowadays demanding people don’t stahl around and study your subject but breeze by like a dancing fly snapping pics without depth and certainly not a reflection of your inner unique perspective.

And because of this, taking pictures are as easy as talking on a phone. Oh yeah, that is where must snap shots are taken anyway from your phone and then from your automatic hand held camera.

Photography used to be a job that allowed you to slow down your life and focus on your inner ideas that could be expressed if you would just study the landscape you are hiking through without feeling you should be somewhere else. The here and now is where all good photographers should be. Life is distracting enough with the covid pandemic but as image creators we must still be present in our own unique reality seeking subjects that inspire us and make us push on to find the composition that will enhance our visual senses and the viewers of our hard earned work.

There is an over saturation of images and because of this the prices are dropping to compete with other mega agencies while the photographers get shafted for their hard earned efforts.

And now with the advent of stock agencies giving their images away for free, how is a photographer going to survive in this constant lowering of prices and the ease of surface gleam photos without character supplying every continent on this polluted world with cheap pics.

To make a living in photography nowadays is almost impossible, what once was a competitive market place with dozens of good photo agencies competing to sell their stable of photographers great imagery, has been reduced to four giants of low cost image volume sales. These corporate agencies pay their photographers almost nothing, how does anyone make a living when your images are sold on the cheap.

The new wave of photographers get their egos stroked just by the agency selling his/her image at bulk pricing along with thousands of other photographer's work.

In todays climate of greed, the corporate investors demand a good return on their investment and this undermines the income of the photographers once again as their percent of the sale dwindles to almost nothing.

Since everyone takes pictures and can sell them why go out looking for images if you work for a company.

You can take the images yourself and the company can pay you on the cheap and save themselves a bundle of money. 

It is not empathy, a connection to the scene in front of the photographer that he will study to make the best image possible, oh no, this employee needs to move on quickly keep racing around just to get a few pics that will be just good enough because this employee has a big date tonight and he isn’t going to miss that for some stupid image of a tin can.

And this attitude grows amongst the younger generation, it is basically to get somewhere and just get the pics and send them directly to their photo agency and their job is done without breaking a sweat.  

Without fully grasping the beauty of the scenes before you, you ignored the possibilities starring you in your closed eyes, oh no! you have to hurry through the city landscape snapping pics at anything that moves losing sight of your inner voice screaming at you to slow down and think the photograph through without letting go of your personal artistic vision!

There seems to be no depth to image creation in today's lackadaisical need for the photographer to be seen as the one with an importance vision with blinder on and not the external world one could study for ever and not fully connect withfully mother nature and her beauty now being demolished by greed from the wealthy crooks of me first and you last.

 

 

August 15, 2021

 

Photography Blog Notes

 

In the spur of the moment a potential image forms in your mind, what a blessing, and it can’t be resisted, you see the potential light getting better and you must act immediately for this beauty is greater than your original intuition, you always have to be prepared to move, anticipate a more startling beauty in mother nature and switch gears from your original focused attention to your new subject lighting up like a christmas tree.

 

The excitement of pushing down on the shutter, your creation captured for we are hunters not looking for an animal to kill but looking for those moments that bring you closer to your own revelations of life and your purpose. 

 

Once an image had been taken we used to worry about our exposure, light, composition, lens used, shutter speed, etc…

 

There was always a nervous energy dropping off your film to a lab and waiting a few hours to pick up your film.

 

It was exciting to open the film box and begin to lay your images on the light table. This was the moment of truth and you had no one else to blame for color, details and exposure but yourself. Sometimes you missed the mark but the majority of the time you hit a home run!

 

Fast forward, now a click and you can see your image make exposure changes, shutter speed changes, filter changes and you are ready to make another image now with the right exposure.

 

In the past as one got better and better dealing with the cameras controls one relied on instinct, your experiences in the past made you a better photographer and once you past the test of knowing your light then it was just a matter of composition and timing.

 

Vision is just being aware of surroundings and what your intuition is saying to you. To be a good photographer you must have patience and a desire to be part of mother nature, immersing yourself in the landscape seeking that one and only image creation that will make your journey worthwhile.

 

But now there is a laziness to image taking. Partly because it seems that everything has already been photographed but in reality it isn’t the over abundance of look alike images that is the culprit it is whether you have a unique perspective that changes a simple image into a great image.

 

Because of digital cameras everything is fast paced, the ease in which one can allow the camera to correct exposure, shutter and then take the photo for you. 

 

A good question would be to ask why does the camera need a photographer. Drones are beginning to fill that bill.

 

Now so easy, so fast, so false, without a subject that you can connect with you will not be able to bring to life a stagnant landscape. Just having a camera does

not mean that you won’t have to think and be present in your vision, looking over your potential subject as if it was a friend.

 

Composition is the framework of a great image. If you don’t dig deeper into the subject before you find the flaws and the angles that will maximize the beauty in the scene whether it is still life, a portrait or landscape.

 

We all can shoot the exterior of places, people and things but without connecting visually with your subject you are just going through the motions.

 

What we see, what we feel can be a mind game, the truth is just being present with an open vision in your reality you will create, your thoughts move the external into your visual existence allowing you an original version of the scene in front of you.

 

Timing is everything when you are photographing, being there in the beauty of nature whether it is fog, rain, sun, lightning, snow you name it being present anticipating the composition of the image forming in your mind because you are intensely aware of your surroundings and are there to make great images.

 

First you must travel to parts of this beautiful country that have the potential to allow you to be creative in your composition and exposure by finding unique subjects through openness and respect of mother earth.

 

Mother nature is your friend and enemy. If you go with a preconceived notion of how and where you want to make an image you will more times than not miss the intuitive image trying to speak to your narrow vision.

 

You must open your heart to nature, open your mind, open your unique talent, by waiting for those moments of intense beauty by exploring your landscape, your details formulating into a composition of beauty. 

 

Your inner openness to allow the subject to dictate to you where the best light is, what lens to use, open your mind and allow the external reality to support your efforts as you set up your tripod and with patience marvel at the scene before you and her beauty as you press the shutter and know that the image taken was worth the time to just be present within the beauty of landscape, you are intensely aware of respecting the beauty of the scene given to you with great light and you will leave with no deliberate destruction of mother earth.