February 21, 2022

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time photography was a unique form of expressing yourself but now it seems that image creation is just a product, a snap shot and not a revelation of your inner world turned inside out for all to see.

Where is your foundation of incentive to create imagery that will inspire those trying to climb up the ladder of success, images that have power in themselves, they stand alone as a mystery, a marvel of inner longing, inner peace, inner hope?

But the big question now is it worth the effort to travel and spend your hard earned money to get to places that you have an intuitive expectation that your images once, upon a time, would make you thousands of dollars but now your effort will get you no where but in the photographer’s poor house, as the RF mega agencies take and take some more as the photographers stand down and refuse to send images to these photo agencies that used to sell your images for hundreds, thousands of dollars step down and create imagery for their own personal websites.

What we have now is photography without depth, character and a deep reflection of the image creator’s inner being, there are just too many images being taken with shallow compositions and exposures, a surface reflection of another's hard fought work, you must have motivation to travel and you must have a personal need not to just create a photograph but an image with inner depth that opens your eyes and your viewers.

Image creation is more than just clicking the shutter it is a real life experience, it is being engulfed in mother nature’s world, it is like entering a fantasy land of pure beauty and recognizing that you have found what you have been looking for, a connection with something bigger and more powerful for you to grasp fully.

In photography you have those revelations of the insight and love of life that you are surrounded in.

Photography is a visual message from your inner self, each image created represents your inner feelings, your intuitive objective becoming visually reflected in the image you will be creating, your inner purpose in photography is finding your intuitive perspective, discovered through your intense visual senses as you study your subject getting closer and closer to the composition that will express your bonding with the landscape before you.

Represented not as a shoot and go subject but a subject that you identify with on a deeper level than just taking a snap shot, the scene is beyond words, a melding of your photographic skills to dig deeper in the process of going beyond physical demands of the scene into a new world of empathy for all life on earth, a vision thought of but now present in front of you, the camera is secondary, separate yourself from the mechanical click of your shutter and persevere to find the natural light that will express, enhance your unique style, your tenacity to see the hidden beauty waiting for your recognition and demanding representation of your unique photography.

Photography is more than just a mechanical machine that does everything for the shooter, you must put away the need to push the shutter before your visual intensity has found the right components that you will build on to express a unique feeling that was hidden but now ready to make an image now perceived.

All imagery made are unique in some ways and you have to be savvy and change your approach to different subjects, being prepared is the best advice you will be given, don’t automatically start taking snap shots, stand back, think and feel the scene before you, your image uniqueness will come when you begin looking deeper into the landscape and going over in your mind how you will handle your subject through composition, light, and exposure for these will determine your success or failure, everything in its place, timing is your effort to approach a subject that you see the potential before you, making an image now is just a matter of standing your ground, putting time behind you and begin your steady pace toward a composition that expresses your inner vision.

In making images one must be aware of his/her surroundings and not allow a narrow perception to be your standard operating procedure or you will miss the true light that was hiding behind you.

There are deeper meanings to a subject than just surface qualities, your perception of a scene whether it be an object, person, landscape, city life, portraits you name it is just the beginning of your photography career, your task is to ignore all the critics and allow your inner voice direct you to bond with your subject, going deeper into the underlining meaning of its existence.

If you are just having fun taking photos and enjoy being in nature, in the city, on a boat, climbing mountains, go for it, but always be ready, for every once in awhile you will actually make a wonderful image where the light, composition and exposure were absolutely faultless, enjoy those moments and who knows this might spur you on to take classes and improve your inner visual senses, to create even better images. 

 

 

February 15, 2022

When we feel the potential of a new scene that wasn’t expected we have a choice to make, move on to your original purpose in hiking up the mountain side to your original destination or suddenly you are forced to make a choice, keep moving up the trail to a scene you came to photograph or dig deeper into the scene that presented itself to you, as you begin to sense something more is being presented in this landscape that intrigues your inner vision and to stop moving away from its potential, just pause and wait awhile to see if the sunlight will dance in front of your eyes as you study the scene before you until you begin to see details that once composed within the growing light could lead to an overwhelming feeling of a photograph detailing nature’s beauty, patience is the key to success, as the sunlight begins to bring out subtle details that were not present in the beginning of your visual interest but now exposes you to a beautiful wonderland of possibilities that you are seeing blossom before your eyes revealing a photographic vision of light, shade and color, which explains why your instinct attracted you in the first place to not be too focused on another scene when you are now beholding to that quick inner composition that made you stop and envision the potential of this new awareness, this unique landscape presented to you as the sunlight grows more powerful toward sunset,

Photography is more than just clicking the shutter, it is an inner expression of your being present in a life you earned through patience and a sense of wonder to be explored.

This is not your agencies past where they supported the photographers and actually paid the photographer to shoot specific subjects, live subjects that were not repetitive and boring but had depth but now given the greed in the new mega agencies always looking for power and moneyed interests for the new agencies is all about pricing and money in the bank while we create great images that the mega agencies sell for a lowered price as if our photos were just redundant scraps of someone else’s vision, so they sell the stock photographers images in volume, and these images are just products without any hope of selling for a higher price for the photographers to make a decent living, for photography now is bulk sales sold and bought for bargain basement prices.

 

 

January 14, 2022

 

Photo Blog

 

you feel numb when something

you enjoy is taken away, not the

act of making images but being

paid almost nothing for your travels

 

and you are supposed to enjoy the

low prices and still make a good living

as you go into bankruptcy, I will always

make images, I just won’t send them

 

to these corporate buffoons, these

greedy business men and women that

think they know how to manipulate

the photographers, by praising their

 

images and then stealing their income,

they have lowered the bar to the floor,

you can’t go any lower but wait these

corrupt agencies know how to jockey

 

the books, sharing the proceeds of

your artistic skills with other corporate

giants for all the wealthy love to partake

equally of others hard earned work, they

 

praise your efforts building up your

ego and then give you nothing for your

efforts or I should say they give you

nothing but a fear of losing faith in your

 

talent as a photographer and their pay

scale is laughable if it wasn’t so diabolical

as they have open house parties for the

elites to ponder their next scam on the

 

photographer in their million dollar homes

and pat each other on the back at their

good business practices giving 80% to

themselves for they have worked hard to

 

screw the image creator, this scam of

obedience, this herded cattle ignorance

of their demise to make something of

their lives through photography as they

 

sink into anger and then despair, yes,

you are getting the shaft, taken for a ride

on the corrupt pony show that can give

you a clearer idea of how the rich use the

 

very people that made them wealthy, now

dismiss you as just another photog

demanding more for his travels and time

creating great images that the agency is

 

selling for almost nothing, we photographers

have been discarded, scammed, thinking

these mega agencies were for us the

photographers but we should have realized

 

that photographs, videos are a dime a dozen,

a commodity that bases income for the elites

on volume, period! I feel these charlatans,

the owners, investors and banks should stick

 

their heads in the sand for their corrupt nature

of exploiting new photographers that don’t

have a clue how big business has only

one priority and that is profits over people.

 

 

December 8, 2021

Photo Blog

We are coming apart without an honest vision of hope, separated from our unique inner life through manipulation, our addiction to material gain.

This is our new ritual of living a life under the thumb of mega photo agencies that don’t care about higher prices but rely on bulk sales, for volume is their key to success and our demise as photographers able to earn a decent living.

When you look at the mega agencies and there dominance in the stock image business you begin to get nervous at your inability, your silence to demand higher prices for your hard earned travels, making great images now are basically worthless, money for-profit only photo agencies that take the money from the photographers that submit their images that sell on these mega-agencies websites by using RF images as their con-game, their bait and switch, as if RF is superior to Right Managed for the photographers income, it isn’t even close!

The new photographers are just trying to get on board with any photo-agencies not realizing the scam is already in place, for your images will sell for pennies on the dollar, think about that, your image prices are meager and are sold in bulk, which means you and other photographers are being scammed, for you receive individually small token payments of your image you worked on for hours while the agencies make millions off their bargain basement volume sales, leaving the image creator broke without a chance of making a living off his efforts, for the photographers are just pawns in a chess game easily taken and abandoned for the investors and the corporations that use stock images feel that photography is no longer respected as an art but now looked upon as a product, a commodity to be sold in quantity and of course your paychecks reflect the disintegration of a once inspiring way to get your images on the cover of magazines, ads, newspapers etc….and make a decent living off your original photographic creations.

We all seek these precious moments that enhance our ability to see a potential images and to be attracted to the overall scene with purpose as we transition from novice to a professional.

The close relationships between experienced photographers and those just starting out is such a positive influence on your ability to make images more powerful and unique.

But ultimately all photographers need to be independent, seeking their own unique sense of style and visual purpose.

What our inner eye is demanding is for us to wake-up and investigate subjects with curiosity,and experiment with what could eventually be your unique style.

Not all image creation is based through your inner perspective, sometimes a subject just appears as a blessing from nature and your instinct takes over to capture the scene in front of you.

As an intuitive photographer you must be prepared to free yourself from the boundaries set up to exploit your talents by the photo agencies telling you what you should shoot and upload.

You must seek more than just a snap shot of the same old subjects that slowly take away your versatility, your visual awareness of what your senses are telling you is a subject worth exploring.

Free yourself from the barriers that are forming, surrounding you with conventional society that exploits your ability to break free from the copycat club and begin experimenting with different subjects in order for you to find your rhythm, your versatile anticipation, your inner reflections of how a scene looks to you, your vision that sees beyond the cliche and digs deeper into the undercurrents of your unique ideas to be expressed through a photographers strong emotion as he experiments with new subjects of importance.

Yes, we have other duties in family life that will interfere with your need to make imagery as much as one would like to but if you are a father, a mother you must separate yourself from your over active instinct demanding you leave for a month long road trip to Arizona to create images of the beautiful red rock formations in Sedona and just be present when your family really needs your presence the most.

Through practice you will enhance your ability to form a frame that will give the viewer of your photograph a new visual insight of what your true interests are whether they be nature, sports, people, clouds, mountain climbing , etc.,. image creation is what your life is all about.

Human beings want to be accepted by the pack animals hiding from their own unique talent. What we think we want is to be part of something bigger than ourselves but you won’t experience your own style of making great images by following the herd.

What we truly seek is freedom of expression, and we must fight the desire to give in to the ant-hill of working a job that leads you nowhere but moody, angry at why you couldn’t break free from the daily grind of a working stiff and move your life beyond money and in to a realm of life experiences, where you are the creator of your outer world expressed through your unique inner vision.

Photography is not a game but a demanding desire of creation by making something of beauty that others can enjoy.

Break free from the cliche’s of stock images and focus your mind on subjects that appeal to your senses, your uniqueness.

But we still fear the powers that be, that want to exploit us for our hard earned efforts. And we allow ourselves to be manipulated by the photo agencies that keep taking more and more of your hard earned efforts and because of the over abundance of new photographers that don’t think it is important to come together and stand up to these men and women of wealth, for they are barriers to our fulfillment of our youthful dreams to be paid a good living wage for your images appearing in well known magazine, newspaper, billboard, sports, architecture, etc ….

Photographers back in the hay-day of unique image creations, their personal images that expressed their inner vision accepted the agencies 50/50 split when selling your images but that was back when the photo agencies were friends and trusted but now there isn’t any chance of having a photographers union that would protect our image creations with a good price demanded by the photo-agency that is selling our work and not leave us standing their in disgust as our photographs are sold in volume to companies that pay in bulk and have access to your work for peanuts.

Barriers to our purpose, joining sides as if this was anything else but a deceiving shell game, the carrot in front of distracted minds, come join our photo agency and earn a good living, yeah right!

The powers that be move in the shadows making what sounds like a good deal for sending your hard earned imagery to one of these mega agencies, but in reality it is just another scam, a used car salesman promising you good returns on your travels, the wealthy take from the poor and give back to their selfish selves.

And as you are assimilated into a facade of hope you realize your intuitive knowledge of what makes a good photograph is someone else’s intellectual property, always check the fine print. Don’t ever give your images away for free!

But without experience young photographers give their images away because their egos just like seeing their own photography used in an ad! an ad that once was worth thousands of dollars and now goes for a whopping $1.00, wow what a sale!!!

What a good photographer needs is an intuitive perception, an understanding of how this wave of stealing money from new artists is the new norm of multimillionaires paying almost nothing to  photographers for their hard earned search for that person, place or thing that made the photographer stop and then immerse themselves into the scene before she found that perfect once in a lifetime composition that satisfied her individuality, her unique perspective and she was certain in her efforts to explore the subject from all sides and choose which angle would make her master-piece.

In today's cell phone camera explosion everyone is a photographer looking for a quick buck and that is what they will get a quick dime for their efforts, these newbies are of course the new wave of talent that thinks these small payments is the way it has always been until they talk with a photographer that have been around the block and lets the new kid on the street know that he and all the other photographers are being taken for a ride where you won’t be able to earn a decent living creating photographs as your main means of income.

But you must keep making images for that is your personal instinct, your well being, which is seeing potential in a scene and then exploring all your possibilities of the subject chosen, for what would a good photographer do if he stopped making great imagery he is proud of, you must always deeply feel your individual hope, slow down, stop and explore a new subject through concentration and vigilance, your never ending desire to keep making photos no matter how bad these agencies steal your hard fought efforts.

Image creation is both visual and personal, it is a means of exploring life first hand, up close and personal, the life you were destined to make.

As our lives move forward and fears grow over the collapse of our entire planet we seek a distraction from our sense of doom but photography is more than just hiding oneself behind a camera, we must also fight the controlling force of a stagnant mind that has lost incentive to dig deeper into mother nature and fight the destructive force of the wealth’s power over us and be willing to fight for your freedom to breath clean air, drink clean water and enjoy nature’s beauty and not her wrath. 

 

 

October 23, 2021


Burt Uzzle wrote, "Work gains in depth and importance as more and more aspects of life experiences and eloquence are apparent. Slavish, ill-proportioned devotion to limited offerings and compensating distortions suggest limited capacities and formula work. Growth and depth are required on life's zig-zag course as we take visceral risks and extend ourselves within the medium.  We reach out."

Each of us has an individual talent no one else has.  When we acknowledge it and develop this talent we begin the journey of our inner discovery.  When we are present in the moment and accomplishing through purposeful effort our skill we enter a unique state of mind. 

We have all at one time or another tapped into our unique genius and found that time was not an external force imposed upon us but rather we were separate, outside time's limits and our moments of doing what we enjoyed expressing seemed infinite. Time wasn't necessary for us to organize our lives. We didn't have the constant pressure to reflect on our actions to see if we were measuring up to external standards.

Time does not have to be linear, trapping us with narrow expectations, limiting our ability to open up and express our stories.  When we are present in the moment, we then find outside ourselves, subjects worth our attention. 

We must have the courage to see differently.  Accept feelings more than words.  Words confine us to sterile boxes of mundane repetition.  Learn to see around corners not in a straight line.  Don't be directed by the word police telling you what to feel and how to feel.

Become inquisitive, we know very little about the undercurrents in our lives dictating our thoughts and reactions to events and lessening our ability to follow our own vision of how we want to see and create photographs in this world.