Artistic Style

I recently read a post on social media from a photographer asking members of a group “who’s style should I follow?”.  As I continued to read, it became obvious that the poster’s question had evoked an emotional response in me.  Rather than responding to the person who posted this question I wanted to think awhile more about how best to incorporate my experience and knowledge into usable advise, which I hope will be useful to anyone who asks the same question. 

I used to belong to a group on Flickr where folks would critique other people’s work.  Most of the time people received helpful critique, and sometimes not.  For the most part I enjoyed the process once I got past the idea that my work had flaws and that I did not know all there was to know about photography.

As an artist and photographer, my advise to other artists is to first of all, know your medium.  As a photographer, know how to operate your camera.  Know the consequences of choosing the settings you choose, and most importantly, know how to manipulate your camera to obtain the outcome you desire.  It is through this discipline and knowledge that one develops  his/her own artistic style.  I do not believe that style can be and/or should be copied, for we all see the world through different eyes.

My second piece of advise to artists is to incorporate into your style the things you are passionate about.  For example, if you are a nature lover, get outside and photograph all the glory of nature.  Find beauty is simplicity, texture, light.  Sometimes all it takes is to change the way you look, the way you respond to what’s in front of you.

Lastly, if you are not happy with what you are producing, look closer.  Are you missing something?  Does your work not evoke an emotional response?  Personally, I would not want someone to look at my work and say it looked like someone else’s.  Where is the pleasure and gratification in that?

One day when I was participating in the Flickr group I mentioned earlier, someone said to me, “I see you have developed a style”.  My first response was a happy one because that meant to me that I was developing as an artist without needing to emulate someone else.  That comment was instrumental in who I am as an artist today.

I believe that developing an artistic style is something one does all on their own, without having to copy another, through knowledge, experience and loving what you do.

Growing as a Photographer

I want to give you some inside advise. You are a new photographer, filled with excitement about seeing your visions appear on your computer screen. Above all else, have fun. If and when the time comes that you choose to go beyond the basics of photography, I hope the following words will be of assistance to you.

I have been taking pictures all my life. Back in the day, I shot film, slides and even dabbled in black and white photography. I purchased an enlarger and all the required equipment for developing my own b&w film. It was so much fun. I counted the hours for my color film and slides to be processed at the lab. I had no way of understanding my mistakes or my successes, as by the time I received my prints and/or slides, my memory of which camera settings I used were a thing of the past.

When digital photography came onto the scene, I reluctantly gave up my film camera and bought a digital camera. I have never looked back. The biggest reason why I love digital photography is because digital photography provides the photographer instant feedback. What do I mean by that? In each digital file all the camera settings used are recorded in the Exif file (Exchangeable image file format. Exif is a standard that specifies the formats for images, sound, and ancillary tags used by digital cameras, including smartphones, scanners and other systems handling image and sound files recorded by digital cameras). The photographer has the ability to review which camera settings were applied for each photo. If a photo has flaws, the photographer can look at the settings and make smarter choices in the future. This is such a valuable tool for today’s photographer.

My second piece of advise for new photographers is one they do not want to hear, and may consider unnecessary or trivial. I feel it is one of the most valuable pieces of advise I could give. Read and understand your camera manual. Nikon manuals can be found at: https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-store/camera-manuals.page. If a photographer does not understand how to use their camera, they will not be able to improve their skills as a photographer. As an example, say you are a car mechanic, and someone brings you a vehicle for repair. If you, as a mechanic, do not understand how to repair the vehicle you are asked to repair, chances are you will not stay in business very long.

Additionally, you need a basic understanding of photography. Learn what an aperture is, f-stop, exposure, shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, noise, highlights, shadows and mid-tones. If you really want to fastback your learning experience, take your camera off automatic. Shoot in manual mode (manual mode is where the photographer makes all the decisions about the picture, rather than the camera making the creative decisions). Learn the difference between a jpeg file and a RAW file.

Before long you will have the power of photography in your hands and true growth can prosper.

What is a Photograph?

I've been adding keywords to my vast collection of digital images using Adobe Lightroom.  It's a daunting endeavor, but I have managed to add identifying keywords to over 350k images.  Today, as I was uploading another drive full of images and the question struck me.  "What is a photograph?" As a photographer, that seems like a simple answer.  It's a piece of paper coated with and processed with specific chemicals which produce either a color or black and white image.  But this is where the question got more complicated for me.  It's so much more...

If you ask a child what a photograph is, they would probably say something as simple as "it's a picture".  But if you ask a mother what a photograph is you might hear something like "it's my child's first birthday party" or his/her first day of school. Almost as though they are looking at a photo album. These memories reside deep inside our hearts, and sometimes don't come to the surface until we look at a photograph or talk with a person.

What came to me today as I was looking at all these images was the significance photography has had in my life. I was suddenly overcome by memories of people and events which played such an important part in my life.  

I don't live my life for the past, I live it for what's to come next.  However, people and events play an important part of who we are. 

For me, as a photographer, photography is a way of capturing time. I know of no other way to bring to one's conscience the people and events which make up the past.  

For instance, this afternoon I was reminded of long lost childhood friends, gatherings with friends, my Mom and Dad, Brother's Craig and Eric, my Grandparents, my wife Rebekah, Rebekah's family, all the family pets (cats, dogs, hamsters) Jenna as a baby, my first camera, Jenna's first birthday party, Jenna's senior prom with Daniel, Jenna's high school graduation, Chelsea (my other daughter from another mother) family gatherings at holidays, the way the house filled with the smell of turkey at Thanksgiving, the excitement of opening gifts at Christmas as a child, playing baseball in the middle of the street, playing softball on the Cameos, my childhood best friend Penny, taking hikes in the hills with the neighborhood kids, my high school friends, playing baseball down at the church field, playing basketball and volleyball in high school, the Oakland A's, sitting on my Dad's lap eating popcorn, dates with my daughter's father, Leonard, and my best friend, Gigi, my maternal Grandmother.  So many others have been instrumental in my life, but if I listed them all I'm afraid I'd lose you.

Looking at the vast collection of photographs is also a tool for me to gauge my progress as photographer.  I pride myself on learning and perfecting my craft/passion. 

As I reflect on who I am today, I am reminded of all the people who have entered and left my life.  Each one has left an indelible impression on me. They are like a piece of a puzzle, they are a photograph.

Endless Photos

As a digital photographer, I have a very large photo catalogue.  I have been shooting with a digital camera since 2009.  I recently decided I was going to clean up the catalogue (since I now find myself with an abundance of free time. I retired from VTA on 7/13/20, after 23 years) by adding  keywords to all the images which do not have them and delete images which I felt were duds (duds = images I will never process). 

So, I configured Adobe Lightroom to show me only the images without keywords.  Wow, to my surprise I found 143k images (122k RAW format, the rest PSD, JPEG and PNG).  This number encompasses 2019 and 2020 only.  I'm not sure I have the attention span for such a task.

So, now I ask myself, what is more important to me in terms of devoting my time? Deleting the images I know I will never use, or identifying images by subject via keywords?  I know photographers who never delete files.  I know some who delete the duds when they first import them into their catalogue.  Hmmm, it's a tough choice, because I hate having my hard drives filled up with files I will never use. It's equally as frustrating to me to not be able to find images I know I have, but don't remember where I placed them.

I have decided that being able to locate images based on subject is more worthy of my time and gives me a sense of accomplishment than just deleting duds.  By adding identifying keywords to each image I can locate specific images quicker and easier.  After keywords are added, I can delete duds as I find them, but I'd rather be able to pull up an image based on subject.

Now, these are my preferences only.  Yours may vary.  I have been using Adobe Lightroom ever since Adobe put it out.  I have always been frustrated with the import algorithm Adobe uses.  I find that by organizing my catalogue using keywords, I cut down on duplicate files, which is another one of my pet peeves. 

In another world, another time, I will organize my files at the beginning, and not 11 years later. 

Saying "Thank You"

Today, my neighbor discovered two Hummingbirds flying back and forth in her garage. She kept both front and side doors open in hopes the two hummingbirds would find their way out on their own.  

A couple hours later, when I arrived home from a trip to the local food store, I found my wife, Rebekah, out on the patio.  My neighbor  Millie had found one of the hummingbirds on her garage floor, barely alive. She brought the weak, still bird over to our house, in hopes there was something we could do.  

Rebekah feeding Hummingbird

When I arrived home from a trip to the grocery store, I found Rebekah out on the patio sitting still in a chair with one of the hummingbirds.  I believe this hummingbird was close to death. Rebekah had filled a small glass bowl with sugar water.  The bird slowly began drinking the sugar water.  The more it drank, the stronger the bird became.  Eventually, when it had had it's fill of sugar water, it gingerly flew off with no other apparent injuries.

Hummingbirds must eat approximately every 15 minutes and eats about half of its body weight in sugar daily.

Saying "Thank You"

Later in the afternoon I went out to the backyard and sat in a chair to watch and photograph birds.  Suddenly, a hummingbird flew close by and landed on the gate in front of me.  It sat there and looked at me for a few seconds, then flew off.  I can't help but feel it was saying "Thank you".  I only have a couple hummingbirds in my backyard at one time, and this bird looks just like the one Rebekah fed. This experience touched me greatly, as it is not everyday one has the chance to help a wild animal close to death, and to make a connection based on trust and compassion.  It literally brought me to tears and inspired me to write this post.