July 25, 2021

Photography Was Once A Wonderful Job

Instead of photography being a means to sell your hard earned unique imagery, your vision of seeing your photos in magazines, ads, travel magazines etc, and receiving fair payment for your hard work, you now send your images to one of the mega agencies, who then sell your images as Royalty Free photographs for they have eliminated Rights Managed imagery as a viable product.

With Rights Managed your image was protected by the contract the magazine, news paper, businesses etc, signed.

RM is too complicated compared to royally free where they have created a automated system, tiers of pricing and the costumer just has to choose his poison and then enter his credit card.

All image creation now is not considered art but a product to be sold in volume just like lettuce, wine or beer.

Rights Managed imagery is too costly to sell and monitor a photographer's sale and protect the image from being exploited for other purposes.

So why not just give the photographers income a lower percentage rate of the take and just sell RF imagery.

And that is the new way forward where the agencies sells images in volume and then gives the image creator next to nothing for his hard won image.

Rights managed has been put on the dusty antique shelf to be looked at but never bought! For the only way to make any money at stock photography now is by allowing buyers supreme control, dictating to the agency what they are willing to pay for an image that used to sell for hundreds, thousands of dollars but now sold in volume giving the photographer pennies on the dollar. Oh don’t worry about the mega agency for they are making big profits on volume sales giving the photographer his $1 sale sinking the artist further into muddy waters of poverty!

Frustration having to join a mega agency that could care less about your background as a photographer for you are paid just like the rest of the run and gun photographers with their sell phones clicking away for there is no time to wait and set up your tripod and compose a unique display of mother nature, these new breed of photogs get a kick out of seeing their images in print and who cares about the money.

Selling your images used to be managed by your photo agency. Now your images are sold by technology. Check a box on the mega site, a multitude of prices will come up, you say yea or nay and the images is sold or not.

The mega agencies now take 80% of the sale and you get 20% of the sale.

I am sure as we move through the upcoming years that will change also. For these wealthy money men and women don’t want the slightest amount of income to go anywhere but in their own back pockets.

Being a photographer for over 40 years I have seen the gambit of good times and bad times. And now there is no other way to describe the pricing structure of images created by the photographer as steering their hard fought creation of images to be sold for pennies on the dollar while the wealthy owners and investors rake in the millions of dollars a month while the photographers starve and shop at Value Village.

Now photography is just another means of profit for the wealthy while the image creators end up scrounging for a living wage. What we have here is an illusion of business, a facade of caring about their photographers but really photographers nowadays are just used and discarded like dirty rags. It is an illusion that these wealthy investors care about the artist, what they demand is a return on their investments from this particular mega agency. They could care less about the measly income of the photographers that make them big time profits through volume sales. They should be thankful their images were accepted in the first place.

This is just like any other business controlled by the wealthy, they don’t care how much these worker ants have to do to capture these magnificent
landscapes and what they had to endure to get the classic image, all they want to know is how much they will make off the backs of these artists!

These men and women should be thanking them, the editors of these mega mouthed symbols of greed for accepting images from snap shooters, phone shooters and camera shooters and the funny thing is that the industry has made photography a simple product to be advertised and sold cheap as if the buyers were watching wall street and saw the cost of a product hitting rock bottom.

When you have excess of a product, photographs, you have two choices lower prices or create packaged deals with news organizations, magazines, sports, medical industry, trade etc.. And this will bring in more income for the photo stock owners, for volume sales will lower the percent the photographer receives.

The new economy of trying to sell your image creation has changed the atmosphere of making images. But this should not stop anyone from making images for personal use, assignment use or agency use.

Pick a subject any subject and begin to study and explore the scene or object to see if this would be worth while to make an image of.

You must create your unique perspective in image creation by making images every day and night.

You have to start somewhere whether it is big or small baby steps. Get up early and get going. Explore your small town seeking imagery that inspires, motivates you to want to make more and more images that are calling you to become a photographer.  

Exploration of a scene is your highway to seeing life in a different way, a more respectful way and with more interest in your reality you want to create.

Photography is power over matter. The ability to stop time, freeze a subject in a scene that will remain still forever.  It has a godlike quality which is the attraction to photography for most people.

The few see photography as a means to express themselves through a visual medium that can change the reality we live in. War photographers are willing to get right into the battle field making images of the terror of violence and the corruption of nations.

We used to rely on our memory to keep the picture in focus but eventually the subject fades and you have lost an important visualization of a family member or friend.

Now with a click of the shutter you have captured the infinity of motion into a 1/4 of a second by pressing a button on your camera at the right moment. These still lives are a good way to study the end result and to understand the elements that were present that made you stop and look and then bond with your subject that made you want to make the photograph. 

By studying the image you will see the flaws of composition and the exposure too dark but this is just what you need to grow and become a better image creator.

 July 7, 2021

Good photographers spend their whole lives making images through their own unique, personal vision receiving the attention of others that admire their hard work.

These photographers are focused individuals that invest their time and efforts in traveling and making pictures of the world.

Photography once gave the image creator a great income, a 50/50 split with your photo agency. The owners of the agency respected their photographers and the efforts they went through to capture the perfect lighting and composition of their chosen subject. And they paid the photographers their fare share.

The agency demanded a decent price for each image submitted and made sure that the companies paid on time. All the image creators had to do was travel and make iconic imagery. Believe me when I say it was the best of times making lifelong friendships with your fellow stock shooters, learning about their techniques in creating beautiful images and enjoying stories of their travels and mishaps.It was really a feeling of family and our photo agency made it so.

In this new era of photography where everyone is a photographer and images are a dime a dozen it is very hard to make a living from something you love to do.

Photography was once assignments, until editors realized the bursting need for all sorts of unique individual imagery.

But if we jump to todays photographer I am amazed that anyone of them could make a decent living shooting something they enjoy.

Once upon a time when you were out traveling, most of the time alone, you were energized to seek out the best landscape, people, city images both in morning light and sunset light.

Your ability to sense a possible classic image in the scenes before you allowed you to slow down and use your intuitive perceptions to find the time of day to be present with your camera.

The freedom you experienced seeking your personal image revelations made you more aware of mother nature and people.

Now everything is shot with an I-Phone and the overwhelming amount of subject being taken literally damages the photographers ability to be noticed.

The unbelievable saturation of all subjects limits the photographers ability to compete especially if he is asking a decent price for his efforts.

Photography now has been reduced to a run and gun formula of snap, snap, snap hoping one of the images will expose a decent light on the subject easily forgotten.

If a photographer has the guts to stop and take in the beauty of mother earth, I mean really see your subject before you that has the potential to give you a reward for hiking up a steep mountain trail then you shouldn’t worry about whether your image creation will be noticed by the Royalty Free agency just be yourself and do what you love to do!

When I begin to feel natures real presence, a scene beginning to shape my visual senses that are present, aware of a subject beginning to evolve before me, angles begin to build a sensory purpose trying to move me closer or further away, patterns beginning to mold a landscape that has depth and beauty if you don’t turn away in these anxious moments of awareness, you feel your need to begin building a scene placing necessary objects and light into your vision of your final image creation. And by taking your time to really see the landscape before you, you decide to stay where you are for the potential subject is just starting to be revealed and you begin to see with open eyes. 

When we ignore the distractions in us and around us and focus our energy to grasp the essence of the scene presented and control your wondering eye that wants to move on trying to keep pace with your inner clock that sets time limits at work and now wants to limit your freedom in a valley of magnificent beauty just waiting before you to be revealed if you look hard enough.

Listen to your intuitive perception that is seeking beauty in the reality we live in, one of confusion, one of a disruptive force of greedy wars that exploit the citizens of the world for profits over human beings.

When you are in tune with your environment you can shed the politics of lies, shed your inner desire to move on beyond the landscape demanding your attention.

Where is your steady need to express your inner self through creating images that reflect your own personal vision?

The subjects are there right in front of you if you can just pause from this hectic pace of monied interest and just be precent before nature’s beauty.

The more images you make the more your visual senses will rev up your photographic eye. Do not allow yourself to be taken over by the imposition of time.

The feeling that you must move on, keep moving without a purpose. You have the talent to make good images. You must accept the fact that not all your images will be great but they will lead you further down the path of knowledge and through experience you will see your subjects on a personal level with details adding to the brilliance of your creations.

Image creation is studying your objective and using your unique inner perspective to compose your photograph with details that enhance the image but also reveal your unique inner talent.

 

June 24, 2021

The End Of Stock Photography Revisited

Photography was once a wonderful job where you had the freedom to travel and photograph people, cultures, landscapes, still life, mother nature, abstract subjects, food, clouds and everything under the sun.

And through photography the image creators experienced the world first hand, the good, the bad and the ugly. There was respect for the photographer and the photographs created imagery.

Back in the old days film was the golden egg and you had to make images through your inner perception of light and composition, bracketing images under harsh lighting situations. You really had to be careful with your exposures making sure you kept the highlights and shadow details.  Photography was a career, the best career you will every have. You were paid well for the images you made.

In the beginning of stock images photographers were welcomed to send their images to the photo agencies or drop them off in person if they happened to live in the same city as their agency. Back in the 80’s these new breed of agencies split the sales 50/50 and then had photographer meetings where the editors gave the photographers insight on trends, subjects that were becoming popular. These new breed of photo agencies respected the images that all their photographers created. They wanted originality in their photographer’s creations that would sell for a high price.

They respected you and you respected them. But the whole stock photo business slowly became a tidal wave of new and inexperienced photographers giving their images away for peanuts.  

They were conned into believing that a new means to sell your hard earned work was being developed and your images would be put on a disk and sold to companies that needed original subjects to sell their products with, this became the new means of exploiting photographers hard earned photo creations and was called Royalty Free images.

This would be the virus that would eventually undermine a photographers ability to earn a decent living wage through the making of images with meaning and purpose.

And once digital cameras became the leader of making content, film was abandoned and creating photos became taking photos and millions and millions… of eager photographers began blitzing agencies with imagery that was just good enough to be submitted and accepted and as image volume increased and the payment for the efforts of these young men and women photographers slowly over time was reduced. Instead of a 50/50 split it became 60/40 then 70/30 and now it is 80/20 and because of the competition between getty, shutter stock, alamy and adobe, images are given away for free or pennies on the dollars.

The photographers were and are being scammed for their hard earned efforts and volume sales, no matter how small adds up to profit for the investors and the owners of the agencies.

You can’t make a living earning almost nothing and expect to survive in this greedy arena of powerful wealth that is addicted to the exploitation of photographers.  

When you look back at the old days of photography it was based around film, and film was expensive so there wasn’t as many photographers seeking fame and fortune. But digital cameras changed all of that and made everyone a photographer with no need to think and compose your subject by listening to your inner intuition giving you the details needed to make a great image.

Images are a commodity and they are sold cheap because volume in the stock photo industry is the nectar of honey bees moving money up the ladder into the pockets of owners that couldn’t make a decent image if they tried.

A photographer in today’s climate of selfish greed loses his ability to make a decent living doing the only thing that makes him feel part of the world culture.

They give their life to create photographs with purpose, putting their welfare at risk, their determined effort to show the world what is actually happening in all countries across the globe run by dictators, oligarchs that see only a cash cow to be exploited at the expense of the people. These criminals don’t care
who gets hurt as long as they get their fare share of
the loot.

In the past photography was about slowing time down, allowing your inner vision to really see the landscape in front of you and not to ignore the subtleties that were forming that would enhance your image creation.

Nowadays it is a quick click and you're moving on approach to image taking.

When you look deeper into time well spent, when you are really present in the compositional flow with your senses, feeling the connection with the subjects illuminating presence forcing you to dig deeper in the exploration of your own inner mind and the external reality shifting to accept your inner vision, now you are becoming a real photographer.

Reality becomes an illusion if you seek images through shallow constructs that will not inspire anyone looking at your images.

It is easy to create a superficial photo which leads to
mediocrity, a false expression of your true inner abilities.

It is what you bring to the scene before you that will make or brake the illusive vision that is dying to be revealed.

Photography is still a beautiful way to express yourself. Don’t think about the money but your own immersion into the external world full of subjects that need your visual expertise to show others who you are and what is truly happening in this corrupt world of the wealthy oligarchs.

 May 26, 2021

Photography Blog

Photography once upon a time had depth and purpose exposing the hell people lived in all over this world. These photographers risked their lives to photograph history and to try and change the corruption of governments including ours that tentacles all over the world.   

There are still photographer working at news agencies that try and give the people the truth but now most people get their news from talking heads and web sites that promote violence under the mask of freedom for the people but the people they are referring to are not colored but white and their propaganda is a lethal weapon spurring violence and death around the world.

Everything in its place, nature and man intertwined in the beauty of existence. If you think you can create the perfect photograph think again. Perfection is an illusion of your ego.

The challenge today in photography is fighting conformity, the redundant image seen thousands of times over and over again, a cliche of our shallow existence as social media dulls the inspired brain and seeks conformity of thought.

Photography is undermined by the ease in which anyone can take a photo and upload it for free to the stock agencies.

What use to be a good living creating images now is just chump change as the stock agencies get more wealthy off the backs of the newbies of photography.

A photographers independence, his shooting style is not scene in the news media, the public eye but now seen only in a family album.

What we have in today’s manipulated society is an attempt to exploit subjects without connecting on a deeper level with the person or scene in front of you.

If you had a dream of becoming a professional photographer better think again.

The saturation of images being produced has reduced prices and the ability of photographers to succeed in this crazy world of stock photography.

With their scam of greedy motivation for power and money the corporations make sure that the image creators can’t make a living doing something they love for there is no viable way one can survive when images are sold for pennies.

Could you ever believe that the photo stock agencies would be reduced to a handful of monopolies undermining the photographers ability to make a decent wage for their efforts by reducing his income, lowering the split of sales now at 80% for the agencies and 20% for the photographers and surely that will also go down as more and more people seek a means to stimulate their egos not realizing they are being scammed by the agencies to do their work for them and allow them to keep all or most of the profits from your hard earned efforts.

It seems we are back once again in the days of criminal wealth that converted into a legitimate business but still seeks a pay scale that gives them the power and the image creator a wage below a sustainable income.

The impact of cell phone cameras and the ease of programing your camera to do the work for you creates a massive amount of images that undermine the artists ability to make a decent wage for his/her family.

Photography is moving toward a technological break through whereby the corporations won’t need us photographers much anymore because all images in future publications will be digitally created, looking as real as any other photograph now being created.

Now that would undermine any possibility of making a decent living in photography especially for studio photographers. Lets face it, our reality is breaking apart and we are being replaced with tech savvy people that can create people on a computer.

Technology is convenience, you don’t have to think but have someone else do the thinking for you.

It used to be a way of life for a photographer. A means to express oneself and being paid well for doing it.

Photography is more of a hobby now and your financial return on the images you create by uploading them to the goliaths of stock photography won’t buy you a home or feed your family. You will have to work at two maybe three jobs to make a living in this world! But it certainly won’t be in the artistic realm of image creations.

There is no way you can make a living by submitting your images to photo agencies now in this overloaded spectacle of the old run and gun approach to taking photos. There are billions of images taken daily and very few have a depth of character that creates a meaningful purpose allowing people to see and feel the underlining reality that is hidden from us by the criminal elites that spew nonsense and contorted truths to sidetrack people in believing life is good and all can make a name for themselves. Yes, on the unemployment line.

But if you are one of the few super stars of stock imagery, producing model released photos of the current fads in marketing then you could make a comfortable living. But you have to remember you can easily be replaced by photographers with a good visual sense that could make the same quality images on the cheap just to get exposure.

And don’t forget your time as a photographer is wearing down to a crawl and finally a stillness in the air as one still makes images not for the agencies but only for themselves.
 
Photography is an addiction where you have no choice but to make your individual life a series of unique images that express who you are.

What a wasteland of talent being pushed aside by corporations unwilling to pay these talented photographers what they are worth.

The take over of photography by corporations is a means of media control, if you look closely at what getty wants for their clients it is poser rock, happy faces and people eating, people sitting together, eating together, hugging, laughing living the good life and where is this good life they speak of I guess because of the corporate profits they make off the backs of photographers doing the dirty work as they vacation on the islands they own but they are moving away from islands and buying land that is safer than having to board a noah’s ark to escape the big floods.

This is a media scam, a conditioning of the population in believing that life is good and we are all happy and feeling good instead of the truth that this world is deteriorating into a man made free for all that pits the elites of criminal behavior and wealth over peoples rights to be free and not mind controlled by the manipulators of ads, making people believe they too can live the high life, bullshit there true purpose is to placate the people making them think that they are living the good life when they live in a massive climate change and vicious storms all created by the polluted air we breath by the corporate criminals, their profits destroying this planet.

I will always keep making images no matter how old I get and I will select my favorite images to give to my daughters and put them in a book so they can see my efforts of image creation before I pass on.

 May 4, 2021

We see an image as a reflection of something we should have taken. A truth we know was real. Even though we were never present we feel like we could have been there because of the beauty of the landscape and the photographer’s intense perspective.

We seek ourselves reflected in another’s image creation. We long for our truth to be present, something authentic. We seek our inner world to be objectified and we demand our place in the universe, a known position to be acclaimed for our photographic beauty.  

Each second of our days become a photograph that gives us hope in the beauty of this world.

Even when the subject is someone else or a different landscape we want it to be ours. This is the power of great imagery, a personal expression looking for revelations of our inner self placed in a beautiful photograph that we can contemplate and feel connected with.

We need to seek to an image that has meaning and purpose, insight into our own personality, not our outer facade but our inner imaginative self.

Whether it is a street scene or a scenic landscape we must identify with our emotional desires and connect on a deeper level with one creation over another that doesn’t represent your lack of focus and timing.

Being human we have our outer counterparts, individuals that have a similar attraction for certain subjects that we also like. We seek those on social media to inspire us to be involved in this world and not a couch potato without any semblance of goals and creative representations, if we don’t seek beauty in ourselves we can never create a beautiful image that represents us in this physical space.

This masquerade of a reality stable and structured, insistent to become one master, the architect of our shaped reality in their own image of greed.

But this reality was created not by a god but evolution of man and woman. Human nature always seeking a fixed motive for living. We still hunt but what we hunt now is profit.

The power over our visual senses is a conditioned life of repeating words infiltrating and corralling your ability to see for yourself your inner intuition represented in your unique vision.

Let your imagination begin your journey to a life of making photographs in your own style.

In order to free oneself from the exploitation by the wealthy that make one believe the purpose of this life is buying things which hinders your ability to see beyond the physical nature of our created reality for profit only, leading you to ignore your own artistic talents, the abandoning of your inner reality waiting to be projected outward to shape your external world to be a place to explore and make images that reflect your inner truth.

Photography is personal, it isn’t about making an iconic image each time you trip the shutter. Image creation is the desire of expressing your inner being with external details that that give the viewer a glimpse of your talent.

The pleasure of photography, its addiction, is making an image that is unique. The image expresses something inside you, you found irresistible to ignore.

That is the key to making successful imagery. You must be connected to your subject in a personal way if you hope to have viewers see your point of view.

You should never expect an audience to see your work as perfect because no matter how great your image is there is always going to criticism of your work.

Discipline in your work is your road to success. You can’t expect to create great images by the run and gun approach by shooting anything and everything. Stop, relax take in the scene before you and just ponder the possibilities.

Being present, aware of your surroundings in a scene give you patience, pre-visualizing your subject will begin the journey to finding your inner expression.

What hinders a photographer in their journey to expressing themselves through a photograph is
there inability to just stop, look, study and explore.

Thinking to much leads to a snapshot not a photograph. There is always surrounding you an infinity of possible photos to be made, all demanding your attention but where to start?

What do you need not want to photograph? We all have likes and dislikes and they can overwhelm your ability to find your personal reason for choosing this particular scene to create your inner vision.

Good photography is seeing the external reality for the first time and then your eyes widen and you see the inspiration that made you stop and explore this landscape and your composition unfolds and the essence of your photographic vision is revealed.

 April 25, 2021

When you see an image worthy of your efforts you have a choice, be stealth and move slowly toward your subject or observe the changing light and place yourself in a middle position whereby you can create your own personal, original imagery and not the cliche photos of redundancy.  

Being surrounded by potential subjects you must have patience, as you study your visual compositions beginning to change in nature’s warm light.

You have to move fast if the light begins to waver and clouds form and you have just seconds to compose your landscape and click the shutter.

Or rethink your best path to take in getting as close to the subject as possible as the light begins to spread its wings and cover your chosen subject leading your eye to a unique reflection in still water.

Photographers take a slice of reality out of the flow of time in our external, physical existence that is never stagnate but in continuous flux creating unique systems of revelations through nature’s evolution.

You must be present and aware of your surroundings in order to capture those fleeting moments others miss.

Change in seasons, change in weather, change in light, change in understanding, change in becoming more than just a photographer but an image creator that walks through the flow of your time, your possession of time by creating your unique piece of the puzzle before you, not a snap shot but a study of the scene in mother nature or on the streets of cities.

The externality of our existence is elusive, we become cattle hungry for more physical products that amount to nothing while it distracts you and the wealthy steal more of your hard earned efforts without the means to rise up and get to our unique destinations.

You have been suckered into believing that this reality has always been present when in fact it is like all externalities, created for a specific purpose and that purpose is an addiction to power over the people that work not for a god but for the godless rich seeking more and more of your money.

In photography you are a visual hunter examining the landscape before you, exploring angles of possibilities, seeking that moment when everything is flowing with unique light and the scene opens up to your inner intuition and the click of the shutter is such a positive sound and you know you have made something special.

Most photo shooters would have passed by their inner landscape ignoring the possibilities because they were not focused on the present but other worries nagging at them, their mind filled with the over powering need to find things that distract them from their true purpose, so all they want to do is click the shutter and move on without realizing that they just past up an iconic landscape, a pure revelation of mother nature.

It doesn’t take long to capture a subject in a split second, in a reality in constant flux most of us ignore and take for granted. We have more important things to do that have nothing to do with artistic talent but investments that add more cash to our off shore accounts.

That is why great photography is not only a personal means of expression but a means to capture  moments in the flow of time to be forever viewed in a reality still with wonder, questions that are in constant flux. Whereby no scene remains stagnant.

You can come and go to a favorite location to create photographs and each time you find something different, some unique subject that catches your internal vision and you can intuitively feel that if the light continues to get better you will have an image to be proud of.

Reality changes like the seasons change and we ignore the possibilities of change by taking photographs of the mundane images everyone shoots. We refuse to see the seasons as a clue for creating good images. As seasons change your image creation also changes, matures as you begin to get a feeling for the external reality of illusive stability. Our vision is in tune with the outer reality because we have adapted to a world that seems stagnate but is actually in turmoil and ready to explode with color and violent storms, and volcanic eruptions.  

To immerse yourself in the external world is the only way to dig deep into the under currents of living a photographers life rather than just taking images of  surface subjects without depth and a personal vision.

When we create images time changes, it allows us to flow into nature without fear but with a visual purpose.

Our external vision if focused properly can penetrate a different realty than our intellectual conception of it,
our intellect can be a numbing barrier between you and your inner visual senses, trying to get you back to your redundant life style that appears concrete but in your inner reality of self awareness, it is continually in flux.

Our intellect is not your ally but an instigator, a bait and switch normalcy controlling the outcome of your personal vision in seeing a landscape continually changing.

Your mind wants to keep things simple without having you begin to see and feel your power of individuality, seeking a bigger purpose in your life rather than settling for the chaos of redundancy.

Anticipation is the key to a successful image and you must be intuitively present to see the subtle changes taking place as you explore the scene before you.

Don’t be fooled by the stasis of the scene it is changing and the sunlight is moving and shadows can be good or distracting so use your intense awareness of the scene and what you want state in your image composition that allows viewers to see and feel your unique vision.

 

 April 9, 2021

Photography Blog:

Image creation is a magical experience through preparation, insight, determination and intuition.

Anything can become an amazing subject to explore and make images of.

Images just don’t happen they are made. A good photographer enters his own unique world. His/her emotions begin the search for a subject worthy of the feelings that can’t be pushed away, that can’t be ignored.

Whether they are happy or sad these feelings must be expressed and internalized through the outline of a photograph taking shape in your mind a vision forming and then externalized through the image creation.

A photograph is nothing but ones inner world being shown to the world.  We mustn’t fear our inner world being represented through great image creations.

For our truth in life is what we are attracted to in the physical world that dictates to us our emotional states. We must move past the confusions of our externalized world trying to move you closer to conformity of being present and not your visual intuition seeing a subject that represents your inner feelings and your anger at the indifference of wealth as the world crumbles in polluted air and minds.

Photography is an expression of your inner mind and no one else’s.

We must move away from the greedy eyes to your own personal vision of subjects that reflect your inner being.

As photographers we are drawn to certain subjects more than others. Your childhood world played a big part in your older consciousness wanting to return to those early years when everything was new and visually exciting.
 
In some cases your early experiences at creating art were horrendous without mercy and your inner being was crushed but through seeking an outlet for your artistic vision photography gave you confidence to explore your inner fears and create works of art by believing in yourself and your inner talent.

To see reality in its truth you must explore the past and conquer your fears by channeling the external world into a photographic structure, an image that
you make and no one else.

Your unique focused vision is your inner release, letting go of earlier times and people that tried to break you but couldn’t.

When you are in tune with the environment you have chosen to explore you must open your mind to the overwhelming possibilities that are present.

Your subconscious begins its duty of drawing you closer to your subject with little details that will eventually be the foundation of your photograph.

Focused attention leaves behind the hectic pace of everyday life and allows you these moments of calmness amongst the subjects you are drawn too.

We are not robots seeking a subjects that are redundant without a visual connection to ourselves.  

What we like or dislike external to us has been conditioned in us through parents, brothers, sisters, friends, enemies, teachers etc… We need to break through these early barriers and open ourselves to new image challenges that just might open our inner vision to new horizons.

Photographers feed off their own personal vision. We seek imagery that reflects our own unique style. We are not afraid to experiment with light, lenses, shutter speeds, filters..etc, that will give our subject that extra technique and vision that can stun the viewer with its momentous truth.

My fear nowadays is the overwhelming amount of images being taken and posted online, these images are snap shots of passing moments without a visual anchor to excite our senses.

These social media imagery degrade the photographic history of our best photographers. Now anything can be and is used in ads as if the message was anything but what the models were wearing. Every photograph taken now it seems is an ad for some product.

Photographs in todays culture of video games, self praise without self awareness, demeans photography and its original purpose to give people the ability to see the world through the eyes of a photographer giving his life so others can feel the hypocrisy of power, the hate, starvation, wars, climate change, instead of a surface reflection without depth of purpose, an imitation of ones inability to dig deeper into our earthly history and present moments.

A good photographer sometimes needs to put his blinders on and not listen to the repetitious voices of the talking heads and just move forward with their own personal projects that can shed light on the destruction of this planet by the oligarchs that now rule us all.

A good photographer nowadays need to be strong, determined and not allow voices of conformity, to
control your focused independent photography projects.

Don’t be corralled by the redundant visions of security by those that do not want to find the truth of our existence performing for the elites, doing their shallow formulas of mind control.

Keep focused on your independent photography projects.

When the subject is finally discovered and your intense visual perception of the landscape excites
your vision you flow into the dramatic scene as an observer connected through your senses on high alert as you begin to compose your image waiting making changes to your composition as the light becomes intense begins to cooperate with your intent and you feel the moment is near as the sunlight illuminates your unique perspective because you had positioned yourself where you knew the elements of nature would meet your intuitive awareness that drew you to this particular location to create great photographs. 

March 25, 2021

Social Media

Words are lies put in a sentence which look like it has a reasonable truth. But if you rely on a words surface glitter you will be betrayed because words can manipulate you into believing a false witness.

But your depth of intuition can eliminate the lies being presented if you would only listen to your inner voice.

Words can master your inner doubts. Controlling feelings without an answer that is reliable in its presentation.

No truth spoken is not truth, mouthing something from a person of power doesn’t make what that person states is true. More often than not they use words to protect their accumulated wealth on the backs of the working woman and man.

The oligarchs that now control most of the worlds population will use any means possible to defend their rights to manipulate and steal money from the people on this planet. They will not blink an eye to use propaganda to inflate their caring stature and at the same time they are busy preparing for another buying spree by giving money to our politicians for a law tailored for them to vote thumbs up on and that will give the affluent more and more insurance that their way of life, the greed and monstrosity of their shallow principles will be past down to their children and their children’s children while the human race suffers and is exploited for their inability to see the truth and to finally say enough!

Words take from you, your inner self, your beliefs, breaks you apart, dilutes your ability to remain positive under the pressure of someones critical eye. 

We are becoming a surveillance population where they know more about you than you know about yourself.

These word masters can spin anything to make it look
reliable. The truth can seem so right that ones forgets to look at the motive for those words being mouthed. False words always mean to manipulate you to believe in a someone elses greedy manipulation.

If you look closely without taking sides you will find that most of the words used in politics and social media are lies. Their words are not presented to support a cause but their to undermine a cause that could help the American people. If you mark a like to what you have just read you are opening yourself up for the propaganda machine to attract you for your vote by sending you a bait and switch con game night and day.

What is truth and what is false? This living with constant distractions that are purposely posted on news channels. I would hardly call them news worthy, when was the last time any news organization did a report of the wars raging all over this planet, fires burning out of control, people leaving their homes because of climate change, people migrating out of corrupt countries and social media hampering your ability to think independently. You are allowing some other entity to determine your future through a false narrative. Corrupting your ability to see the underlying currents of media’s underhanded manipulations.

This is no longer the United States Of America but the United States of The Wealthy shaping their narrative to impress you, to direct you to vote for something or someone that could give a flying rats ass about your life, for their goal is more massive tax breaks for the very people who need it least, the billionaires!

Words sound good and direct you to a source of reliability, a person or an organization your can trust. You might as well hand your credit cards over to them for you have been scammed to believe in a false witness. Just ask yourself why would someone care about your vote which is meaningless. What they care about is getting one more sucker to believe in people that are taking your money as you give them your support.

The depth of words are shallow graves. How they form in a sentence can become deep explosive mines of greed that con you into believing a snake wearing a suit is offering you a truth.

Social media has one goal, to sell you products you don’t need and to sell advertising for those products you don’t want. By giving them information on your social media site you have opened the flood gates of ads tempting you to buy, buy and buy. What else is America made for but selling our souls to the ad man.

The goal of social media is to allow politician’s trolls to roam freely on their sites and to post a false narrative of what these men and women of integrity will do for you if you vote them into office. These politicians have the nerve to say the words ”for you” they work. That can’t be father from the truth. They pimp themselves out to the highest bidder and who can keep them in office to exploit and gain more payments for their double crossing the people that believed in them. Wake up, trust your inner intuition don’t be duped again by someone that promises you hope but can’t explain how he/she is going to do it. These politician use cliches to makeup their true character facade. They don’t give a damn about the people that elected them, they care for the wealthy that have used their slush funds to promote the politicians lies. If a politician can’t dig deeper under his words and express a positive truth you better believe that they have nothing under the hood but a Super Pac paying them.

When a politician states he or she is doing the peoples work you better believe that they are doing the work for the money men and women.

Your truth is in you, what you feel, think and expect from your own words and not the words from a shell of a politician that preaches togetherness but uses words viscously to tear the American people apart!

Listen to your inner voice, don’t assume truth comes from the wealthy’s propaganda machine. TV and radio just like social media are paid by the wealthy to incite behavioral patterns so we will clash amongst ourselves and they can keep stealing from our hard earned tax dollars with a continual decrease in the amount of taxes they have to pay. Gosh it must be hard on them hiding their money in off shore accounts. They are true Americans!

Think for yourself, your truth shouldn’t be built around someone else’s lies.

March 7, 2021

As one gets older we begin to think of our families and how they will remember us.

What will be your legacy of images created over 45 years of being a photographer?

Are your children interested in your images? Will you make a book of what you think is your best work?

Will a family member help you with words of praise?

When you have tens of thousands of images where do you begin the editing process to pick out what you believe are your best photography?

I will edit my images that I feel tell a story of my life, my travels through nature and city life. I will not just pick photos that have color but ones that have depth and express what I felt while I was creating those photographs.

I want my daughters to feel what I felt making my images. The connection with the landscape, the deeper connection with the people that allowed me to create their image because of my respect for them.

I want my family to feel in my images how photography was more than just a click of the shutter but a way of life for me.

Photography made me a better person and it taught me to respect nature and the beautiful people present before me.

With a camera in hand one has the ability to get into places one would never be able to enter.

Images express your personality but also your deep connection with people willing to allow you to make a picture of them.

If I am going to go to the trouble of editing my images I want to give my daughters a sense of the times their parents lived in. The Vietnam war was raging, the Iraq wars were destroying lives, protests were growing in numbers ramping up all over this country. 

People living in fear and when I got my draft notice in 1972 I fell to my knees. I was lucky, two weeks later I received another letter from President Nixon telling me not to report for my physical because he was withdrawing troops from Vietnam!

This drama focused my attention on college and began my passion to make images.

Some of my images will be abstract expressionism but I want my family to see all my image creations I attempted.

I am not done yet and once this pandemic gets under control I hope to express my inner world through photographs of the external world once again.

 

 

 

February 26, 2021

New Photography Blog

Simplicity of an image brings your vision to life. When you include a gluttony of details you run the risk of confusing the images unique purpose.

To much detail undermines your vision of beauty in this world. Overwhelming the viewers confusion of what is your focus in the image creation.

What was the photographer trying to say? It looks like a casserole of everything, even the kitchen sink.

If everything is a photograph waiting to be taken then where is the depth of a photographers personalized, inner viewpoint.

If all we have to do is snap photos of stuff as if that will entitle us to fame and fortune then you have another thing coming. Everything has the potential to be a good image if the photographer can examine the landscape and narrow his personal interest down to details and strong natural light.

A good photographer is not out in the world to snap images and move on, he is there to study the landscape seeking details that when put together in the camera frame will create a solid composition that intertwines with his personal vision by choosing a unique perspective. Without these contemplative necessities you have made a deception of a photographic insight, a cliche that you probable remember seeing in your past and now claim it as your own. It is a lot like wearing a suit that doesn’t fit you.

We have all seen the look alike imagery being copied by photographers that haven’t got a clue as to what they want to take pictures of. We all start out this way but as we mature as photographers we soon break away from the mass of redundancy and start to follow our own instincts in creating our personalized vision a viewpoint that has your intuitive signature.

We must have an inner purpose, an inner expression that will come when we look deeper into the external reality and begin to see man and nature as unique subjects beyond their physical presence, seeing them worthy of a photographer’s study.

Think of photography as creating your own personal story. As you grow into the your visual imperative you will find the subjects that enchant you, this is the external worlds way of moving you forward into a reality that fits your unique perspective, making you want to immerse yourself in the magnificence of mother nature but not allowing your inner intuition to take a back seat.

Because you feel nature as your saving grace a means to be yourself through your images as your voice expressing a personalized landscape through your inner ability to find subjects that reflect your character.

Your expectations of how easy photography is, is your first stumbling block. You need to slow down and really think about what inspires your inner being in order to find subjects that you can interact with on a personal level.

Open your eyes, see what is being presented in the scene before you. There is no use stalling and making excuses of why the scene didn’t fit your personality. Your first steps toward your photographic goals are the hardest. When I look back on my first attempts at photography I still get embarrassed! I was doing what I loved to do and I felt so important making my own personal images. It took patience as I finally felt the inner power of visualizing your image by looking and reading the words of the great photographers of the past and present.

Your first photo pics will be crude and if lucky you will see the potential in a few of the images and once that is the case you must return to the original scene if possible but this time not rushing through the beauty in nature, taking your time to just be present and insightful, looking deeply into the environment that now has you inthralled and you begin visualize a potential photograph, because you are there seeing the subject with new eyes.

By coming back to a scene over and over again enhances your perspective and opens the door to your unique sight through focused attention.

Now you can compose your image by eliminating details that would have interfered with the composition you were building and distract the viewer from seeing the beauty shown through your eyes.

It comes down to focused concentration allowing your subject to open up the details that will enhance the image that you are creating in your own personal way and not copying a cliche you saw in a magazine.

Seeing images of places you are going to travel too is a double edge sword. Yes, you want to get some ideas of places that have great potential to create your unique viewpoint but the negative side of seeing images of the place you are traveling to, is that you might find yourself copying those travel book images and lose sight of images you ignored but were actually in your realm of potential revelation. You never want to lower your unique perspective by narrowing your palate of potential subjects. If it so happens that a particular building or landscape is worth your efforts then go for it and use your intuition to find a perspective that is unique only to you.

 

February 2, 2021

Present In Our Pictures

When a photographer is present in his search for his own vision, his awareness of a possible subject is heightened for he sees amongst the details a vision of something powerful, an awareness that he is approaching a unique composition.

His inner ability to compose the scene without clutter, without overwhelming colors and details that take away from the image creation, and do not empower it.

Being aware of your surroundings, instinctively forming a vision of what you are seeking, revealing the necessary composition that will bring inner and outer exploration to a deeper beauty that your photographic eye sought.

What attracts us to photography? Could it be the instinctive hunter that is in us all. We seek to capture a scene, a person and we hunt both day and night for that special revelation that we can take home with us.

It is not all about taking a photo but seeing an image possibility first! A depiction of a vivid dream, a memory of a child’s excitement seeing for the first time a scene that opened his eyes to the beauty and truth of mother earth.

A photograph is a means of writing your own  personal, visual novel in one simple frame and all you have to do is have the patience to wait for that moment, for the light, seeing your unique composition forming and make your image.

A photographer has an intense need to see himself reflected in the images he creates. It is not ego but a desire to feel the scene and be part of it.

It is like discovering gold and then opening your mind to the possibilities of expression.

Photographers are immersed in the very idea of capturing something in their viewfinder. The necessity of taking away from a scene an image is power in the mind of the tourist photographer.  

This feeds his 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. This gives one a sense of power and control over his selective nature and doesn’t allow him to be intimated by over studying a scene that would tie up to much time to untangle for an image that reflected his inner being.

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 detail, that composition that reflects their inner artistic vision.

What you should be looking for is an expression of your inner self.

What is it that demands we take pictures of our lives as means to document ourselves, our family, our friends, our lifestyle, our reflections of exterior importance, we seek to become the external reflection in the cameras eye rather than becoming our inner truth through a unique purposeful vision of the reality we think is stable never changing.  It is anything but stable and is always changing and creating a means of exploring your inner world through an infinity of external expressions. 

 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.

 

November 28, 2020

Is It To Late To Become A Photographer

Photographing an unusual subject has given me a new awareness of the freedom to do your own thing. With subjects rarely photographed you have a new playground to perform in. We must open our interior field of play
to the changing atmosphere of photography and be ready to photograph the weird, wild and unique.

We are separate from others external reality and what we choose to make images of is our own personal expressions.

The intent of your photographic vision is the most important aspect of your image creation. Why are you attracted to this particular subject, what is your intent.

When it comes to image creation you must be fully present, immersing yourself in the landscape, seeking your moment of visual revelation. 

Your unique purpose in photography is to be true to your inner preparation, your skill of knowing your self in relation to your subject and then creating a photograph that reveals your inner creativity externalized.

When we photograph in the abstract we leave little clues as to what we are making images of. Not to many clues but enough so a viewer of your image can piece together the absence of details, rebuilding the image, making the image into his own visual reality.

Taking a household product and reducing the object to an abstraction and seeing if anyone could recognize what the pieces of the puzzle are was very enlightening. 

When we reduce an object to limited details of recognition then the mind can’t form a coherent wholeness of your subject in its usual visual form, the clarity of subject matter, so our experiencing the photograph becomes a puzzle to solve.

For the object is no longer real in its physicalness to excite our intellect, the sense of visual understanding is missing.

When we look at an image abstraction, we need to let go of our preconceived ideas of what we are looking at, and try and piece together the puzzle before us without an anchor of normalcy.

Immediate impressions of images don’t have to follow a static formula of experience. Shake things up and look for details and compositions that will create for the viewer a new way of seeing an old boring, familiar subject, a cliche known immediately, by mixing things up in a unique visual way through a composition and exposure that attracts the viewer to really look at your image with a more intuitive vision rather than the dullness of one more copycat image creation.

Photographers must break free from the cliche’s of copycat photography and build their own personal image portfolio of unique personal photographs.

By creating a new arena of abstract photographs you entice the viewer to enter your visual imagination.

The intuitive force of perception, finding a piece of the puzzle which breaks open your unique visual excitement from the dull reinforced commonality of societies fear of being themselves and not pawns to narrow mindedness of imitating what other's have created.

In photography is there anything new being done when it comes to innovation and artistic talent?

We can’t all be Jackson Pollock creating a new vision of experimentation and expressing his unique vision and being able to demand the attention of the entire world.

Photography is now a limiting artistic expression. We can’t reinvent the wheel and create through talent alone a new vision for the masses to believe in. And lets face it follow they will. 

Life is corrupt in every sense of the word. Cheaters, healers, fantastic liars, incomprehensible mutterings of madmen and the writings of of poets without substance.

Photography is now a means to copy and exploit. It is photoshop and dull lights of a lessened imagination. 

Our utensils for eating haven't changed in the sense of a quick exposure and then move on. Everyone can look through the viewer and press a shutter and take an image. 

But that certainly doesn't mean the image will be a reflection of intent to create something personal worth studying.

What does photography lack now that makes images seem so redundant?

The fact of the matter is photography was never redundant in the early years of photography, it was a mind altering experience, a means of seeing the world as it was through the individual photographers ability to be present in the right moments to express the people's lives through great imagery.

These photographers created iconic images that made people see the truth and falsehood behind the glory and sorrow of America and a lot of it wasn’t pretty.

The poverty of millions of people, wars brutal depravity, hunger a means of exterminating other cultures, people living in lies, people living in extravagance as people slept out on the streets,  all were explored by these creative photographers that saw the importance of imagery as truth.

Now in America we never see in our shallow news reporting anything to do with the continuation of violence and oppression of people all over this planet. But we do see ads demanding we buy these products for our own personal gluttony.

For our own awareness we must seek information that brings us truth not surface news with no depth, as the early photographers did, they awakened our controlled, mindless existence by the corrupt governments and oligarchs around the world, to force us to see beyond the words and begin to find our truth by opening our minds to new sources of information not from the models mouthing nonsense on news shows that give us nothing but surface glitter without substance, distractions, undermining our knowledge of what this country has become.

These bought politicians owned by the wealthy make laws that exploit the people and make the wealthy's off shore accounts bulge with our hard earned money. 

The illegal money these criminals take from taxpayers should go into rebuilding our infrastructure, long overdue, but the oligarchs don’t care about the people and their suffering for they have parties to attend and their egos want to show off their diamond and gold robberies. It has always been this way. Power and fear are synonymous with mind control.

Through the centuries these brave men and women photographers have seen life’s ugly mess and have decided this abomination of cruelty must be seen and heard by all humanity.

These photographers went out and showed the world what was truly happening around this planet and the cruelty of life people lived every day of their lives.

Theses iconic images made us stop and think about the cruelty of wealth and we began to make changes that opened the door for awareness of other cultures poverty and we opened America to them to enter our country without fear and hate that was eating away their lives under dictators.

The changes in photography are mostly technology driven making it easier for anyone to pick up a camera and make a decent photograph without having to think. We call that kind of image shooting snapshots. These images have no depth of character but are just surface reflections of ones limited inner vision.

And the majority of these images are made by deliberately copying someone else’s original work.

Human beings are a herd species, what is good for one is good for all and in photography taking pics in a split second is the new norm for creative expression.

Run and gun photography and then quickly post it to your blog and you are a hero of what?

We are cattle following the bull down a road of stereotypes, dependency and betrayal of your own inner originality. 

The primordial instinct of survival is our addiction to be seen and heard for we all want to be noticed even if it is an embarrassing moment but you can believe someone took your photo and it is being downloaded right now and seen by by thousands!

Picture taking is now being turned into a billion dollar social media extravaganza,
for we the people give our images to them for free!

Where does one begin to find subjects worthy of your intensity to create your inner perception? Everything is possible when your intuition begins to formulate a plan to explore the world with new eyes, open to the possibilities of expressing our visual connections of the outer world with your inner visualization of your unique originality seeing deeply the expressions of your inner being expressed through photography.

When we see fake news broadcast on the airways we assume that the truth is being told. We are gullible in the insistence that their words are our truth when in fact they are repeating words known to satisfy the disinterested spirits exhausted from the daily grind of frustration, low pay, racism, forced to make choices that are not ours but someone else’s. Since childhood we have been conditioned to repeat words that became ideas and then became traps that most of us got caught up in.

To express your own choice, your own purpose, your true character in all it’s uniqueness is to just open your front door to the world anew and let go of your prejudices and be true to all the glory of mother nature that surrounds you.

There is a new visual world of exciting original imagery awaiting photographers with purpose for those opportunities that can immerse you in your photographic project, harken back to the days of openness and visual awareness of what was happening to our world slowly being controlled by the elites of criminality.

Your imagery is not a facade built around ads that want you to follow the herded cattle to shop and buy their products for their profit not yours.

This overwhelming distribution of faceless consumerism, this instinctive drive through decades of exploiting the populace to ignore their own uniqueness of choice and to follow the ads domineering enticement to be someone else when you buy their product, is manipulation of your mind to choose an exterior purpose instead of your interior purpose of inner revelation and your own individual perceptions that can be made into photographs.

In creating photographs with purpose you must release your burden of the exterior reality pulling and scaring you into a submissive role of follow the leaders. These leaders do not have your interests at heart, they have money emanating from every pore on their body, it is greed and power that they are addicted to and not your unique perspective. Conformity to worthless lies is the new dawn of our confined future obeying the oligarch demands and not our own.