Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Attidude
A thread that I have been following on the photography part of the MacTalk forums inspired a bit of a lengthy post that I thought would be make a good blog post.
The thread discusses having done a photoshoot and simply not liking any of the images.
Forum member rodeodee posts:
To which I responded with:
I do not think that you are out of turn. Actually, I find it refreshing to be reminded of the different perspectives that are out there.
I think that I am lucky in some ways because I do not think of my photography like this at all. I am happy to take the cheese shot. I am happy to repeat myself. I am happy to take the safe shot and then move along to the experimental shots that may or may not work. And also, I am happy for the oopsy daisey's to happen.
For example, the shoot where I forgot to bring my flash trigger. So my planned lighting went out the window. I had to quickly and calmly come up with an alternative solution. I ended up triggering the flashes optically from the on camera flash (as it turned out, my flash trigger was in my camera bag. And it was in a very obvious position. I have no idea why I could not see it when I searched those seven times!). And this resulted in one of my favourite images (I do have a fair amount of favourite images).
Another happy accident was in another shoot when the flashes did not fire due to recycling times. This photo came back very dark and for some reason, I did not go past it. The final result triggered something inside. The tone/feeling/whatever.
I know that my photography does not suit everybody. I think I have high standards with regard particular images that I like -- that I like to look at over and over again. But this does not make me get depressed and not want to go out and shoot.
Again, all of this is subjective.
As well, there is the challange of completely hopeless situations and turning them around to something that you can use.
I shot a function at the Albert Park Hotel not too long ago. Dimly lit. Not really much space to even move. And full of guests that were not there to have their photograph taken (Although you would not know considering how most of girls were dressed at 9am!)
I think I did a great job of making people look better than how you would have seen them on the day.
I could look at these photos and get depressed because they were very ordinary -- ordinary in the fact that they are people at an event posing for a photo. Or I can look at these photos and think, I did a great job, the subjects were well lit, the images are very flattering, and, most importantly, I am very happy with the results.
I guess that everything is, again, subjective, and perhaps attitude goes a little further than anticipated?
Anyhow, I shoot to take good photos -- and by good photos, I mean images that *I* like and that I am happy with. Images that satisfy my criteria of what I think makes a good photo. I do not go for artistic, technical, whatever photos.
I think one of the things that I really like about photography is that I am in control. Well, up to a point. Then you get a client brief and you think that you have an understanding of what they want, and then it turns out that they actually want the same drivel that they have had before. This then becomes a whole different kind of challenge... Subsequently HUGELY rewarding when they love the final image.
That is all.
The thread discusses having done a photoshoot and simply not liking any of the images.
Forum member rodeodee posts:
I hope I'm not out of turn here - I've only ever shot very occasional gems - but I can't help but see the similarity with musicians. The better you get, the further along in you career, the more gigs you do, well, the more disappointed you are in yourself. People say "that's great" but you're honestly ready to quit at times. Exactly why established artists with a few albums under the belt take much longer to get out an album. You're fussier, You've learnt something. You don't want to repeat yourself etc etc. Anyways, I think there's a really strong parallel between music and photography, where technique and creativity need to get along somehow.
To which I responded with:
I do not think that you are out of turn. Actually, I find it refreshing to be reminded of the different perspectives that are out there.
I think that I am lucky in some ways because I do not think of my photography like this at all. I am happy to take the cheese shot. I am happy to repeat myself. I am happy to take the safe shot and then move along to the experimental shots that may or may not work. And also, I am happy for the oopsy daisey's to happen.
For example, the shoot where I forgot to bring my flash trigger. So my planned lighting went out the window. I had to quickly and calmly come up with an alternative solution. I ended up triggering the flashes optically from the on camera flash (as it turned out, my flash trigger was in my camera bag. And it was in a very obvious position. I have no idea why I could not see it when I searched those seven times!). And this resulted in one of my favourite images (I do have a fair amount of favourite images).
Another happy accident was in another shoot when the flashes did not fire due to recycling times. This photo came back very dark and for some reason, I did not go past it. The final result triggered something inside. The tone/feeling/whatever.
I know that my photography does not suit everybody. I think I have high standards with regard particular images that I like -- that I like to look at over and over again. But this does not make me get depressed and not want to go out and shoot.
Again, all of this is subjective.
As well, there is the challange of completely hopeless situations and turning them around to something that you can use.
I shot a function at the Albert Park Hotel not too long ago. Dimly lit. Not really much space to even move. And full of guests that were not there to have their photograph taken (Although you would not know considering how most of girls were dressed at 9am!)
I think I did a great job of making people look better than how you would have seen them on the day.
I could look at these photos and get depressed because they were very ordinary -- ordinary in the fact that they are people at an event posing for a photo. Or I can look at these photos and think, I did a great job, the subjects were well lit, the images are very flattering, and, most importantly, I am very happy with the results.
I guess that everything is, again, subjective, and perhaps attitude goes a little further than anticipated?
Anyhow, I shoot to take good photos -- and by good photos, I mean images that *I* like and that I am happy with. Images that satisfy my criteria of what I think makes a good photo. I do not go for artistic, technical, whatever photos.
I think one of the things that I really like about photography is that I am in control. Well, up to a point. Then you get a client brief and you think that you have an understanding of what they want, and then it turns out that they actually want the same drivel that they have had before. This then becomes a whole different kind of challenge... Subsequently HUGELY rewarding when they love the final image.
That is all.
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