Postcards from the Creative Journey

664 Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.

Landscape Photography is random. Most of us that travel to the landscape to photograph may have all the plans and contingencies in place, but upon arrival the weather doesn’t want to cooperate. Sometimes you are the windshield, sometimes you are the bug.

Sometimes you just do what you have to do to make photographs. And hope the weather forecast doesn’t really mean it will be pouring rain all day wherever you choose to go.

When it rains, you have to be content with photographing through the open window of the car if you can position the car so the rain doesn’t blow in through the windows.

663- Every Picture Has A Story First Published 3/29/2015

I don’t make many portraits so portraits are special. We spent an afternoon photographing Melvin’s machine shop while Melvin, Kenny and the sheep shearer (and his sheep dog) took care of shearing Melvin’s sheep. When we accomplished our photographic mission for the day, it came time to take our leave of Melvin’s farm. Just before we left, the shearing was completed. The three men stood by the shed and were resting from a day’s work. Melvin said that without the dog, it would have taken three more men to herd the sheep to the shearer. It was at that point I asked the men if I could make their photograph. Fatigue played a role in their not wanting to move and being able to sit still for a long exposure.

After I put my camera gear away, I came back to shake hands with Melvin and wish him well. He stuck out a huge mitt of hand and I gave him my best firm grip, double pump, look ‘em in the eye handshake. I have shaken hands many times, but this was the most memorable in my life. Melvin’s hand was huge, strong, and covered with lanolin from a day’s handling of wool. The combination of a muscular hand hard and strong from a life time of farm work made incredibly soft by the lanolin was a tactile experience that transcended an afternoon of photography.

A postcard is a picture and a story. ”Postcards from a Creative Journey” should be a picture and a story about the picture. It’s taken me a couple of years to figure that out and I think having more posts like this will be a lot more fun. Photographers are more enthusiastic and interesting when talking about their photographs than talking about photography. Going forward I will be posting more photographs and stories than ruminations on photography.

 

662 Too Good to Throw Away

We were amazed by the collection of items leaning against the barn and we stopped to photograph. An older lady came out of the nearby house and came over to us. We said hello and she began to speak.

“Floyd, rest his soul, was cleaning out the barn one spring a few years back and he just leaned a few old things up against the barn because he didn’t know what to do with them. He said they were too good to throw away but not good enough to be used again.”

She continued, “Then the neighbors pulled some old junk out of their barns and brought it over, then some animal skulls just appeared, and some more tools and Lord knows what else. Floyd just made sure everything had its own spot on the side of the barn.”

She wiped her hands on her apron and said, “Well, and then city people, like you boys, started coming by and taking snapshots. I don’t know why you would want to take some photos of old junk, but I know Floyd would have loved to see what’s happened to our old barn.”

We thanked her for permission to photograph the barn and she went back inside.

661 Going Off For A Bit Of A Wander First Published 3/05/2017

Nearing the end of our day driving through British Columbia with no particular route or agenda in mind, we came upon a Bed and Breakfast that was the only place around for miles. Happily they had vacancies and we settled in for the evening. The next morning we had a discussion over breakfast with a couple from Great Britain. We were relating our predilection for peripatetic photographic pass times to the enjoyment of our dining companions. Our breakfast companion looked at us and said that our annual photo safaris were “going off for a bit of a wander” in order to make our photographs. That phrase stuck with me because it pretty much described our methodology of photography until we discovered that destination location photography was much more productive.

Later that morning we left the Bed and Breakfast. We wandered past a small town and spied a dirt road that followed a creek. We continued our wander and a few miles up the road we found this nice spot to photograph.

 

660 If You Have Never Seen it Before…

It’s like finding something brand new. I like finding authors and musicians after they have established their careers. That way, if I like them, I don’t have to wait for them to create their work. I guess it’s the upside of being a late adopter. For instance, I was late to the Bosch series of murder mysteries, the Jack Reacher and Mitch Rapp novels to name a few. Growing up in the 60’s I favored music of the British Invasion, psychedelia and Motown.  More than a few years ago I discovered jazz and really liked it. Jazz has been there for a long time waiting for my discovery. I'm certainly glad I found it. 

That’s why I republish blog posts on Thursdays. If you’re new to this blog, you get something new to you twice a week.

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The Sierra Nevada Mountains from the Alabama Hills. 

659 - The Best Time for an Idea First Published 7/17/2011

"The older you get, the harder it is to be creative without large swathes of peace, quiet and solitude to sustain you. Or maybe that's just me?" This question was posed by Hugh McLeod (of “How to be Creative” fame) on his blog a few years back. I have always held this close to my heart because it is just as important for me not to work as it is to work. The mind needs its' time to process the complex thoughts and influences that make great ideas. Quiet times and solitary places are perfect for that.

Relaxation and time “away from it all” are truly important to let all the turbulent things in life to settle out and clarify what really is important. This is especially true in the creative realm. In the quiet times the ideas that have been incubating in your subconscious will come to the surface because they don’t have to fight through all the niff naff and petty annoyances that are part of our daily life.

Inspirations or solutions come to me early in the morning, often as I am waking up. Ideas awaken when I do. It’s a refreshing way to start the day, with a good idea for a project, an approach to a problem to be solved, or a great idea for a photograph. When is your best time for a new idea?

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Ah, the vagaries of the digital world. The original file of the photo for this blog post (in its 500 pixel at 72dpi glory) is missing. As part of my throwback Thursday blog post, I seek out the original file and re-process it for modern sensibilities (bigger images for sharper monitors). I can't find the original file anywhere. You will have to accept in its place another hotel photograph. This hotel lobby is in Cody, Wyoming. There's a certain sense of style and ambiance you find in the American West, and this hotel lobby has it. 

658 Getting by Obvious

I attended several photographic lectures in the last few months. After reflecting on the topics and presentations, I think I am quite alone in my working methods. The popular method is, for lack of a better description is “getting the shot.” Guy Tal has a great term for these types of photographers, “Trophy Hunters.” There is nothing wrong with having your beautiful single image hanging on the wall of your house in the same way a big game hunter has mounted heads adorning the walls of his trophy room.

The problem with trophy hunting is simply stopping with the obvious image. It stops when you get the image you have seen and want to copy for yourself. I prefer to use that as a starting point. The challenge is getting past the obvious photograph and using multiple images to tell a story. Be unsatisfied with the first image and continue pushing onward to the next, better image should be the goal. Getting past obvious is the way to get to the real story behind the picture.

657 - The Flame of Recognition First Published 6/7/ 2015

Photographically, Edward Weston is one of my artistic heroes. Reading “The Flame of Recognition” when I was in college was the key event that made me understand photography could be much, much more than the snapshots I had been making. Weston’s “Flame of Recognition” lit my fire for creative photography (sorry about the word play) and his clean compositions (“the strongest way of seeing”) have been a guide for my photographic compositions ever since. I have fallen short of achieving his brilliance many times, but I continue to ask myself, “What is the strongest way of seeing the scene in front of me?”

What made Weston such a good photographer? The question was answered in the film, “The Photographer” by Willard VanDyke (a film maker and member of the f/64 group). In the film, the narrator ascribes Weston’s success to:

• An intense love for the world around him
• A sharp eye attuned to the values of the mind behind them
• Constant search for significant form, the need to find order in what first appears to be chaos
• The discipline of technique the painstaking skill of the master craftsman

In the handy list provided by the narrator there is not a single reference to anything specifically photographic. The characteristics are strictly mental and can apply to any art form. In fact, I would suggest that these four points are essential to living the creative life.

Here’s a link to the film on YouTube. Spend about twenty minutes and learn about a great photographer.     https://youtu.be/5sF8K1NfHnM

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Today's photograph is my attempt at creating my own version of a late career Edward Weston composition. I really wanted to make this post but had a huge problem because I could not find the original negative. The previous blog post had one of the 500 pixel images so common in the dark ages of the web (Remember, like five years ago?). I couldn't remember even what format film was used to make the image. From the digital file I was able to figure out what decade (!) the image was made and from there the search became a scavenger hunt. I did finally find the original negative and get it in good enough shape for republishing this post. 

656 Trophy Hunter Photographs

The thing I fear at photographic exhibitions is the Trophy Hunter. You know you have met the Trophy Hunter when they go into great detail but about the acquisition story of the photograph. They will tell you about the difficulty of travel, the sacrifice of getting up before dawn, and how long they had to hold an uncomfortable photographic position required to create the image. The follow up to the travails of travel include an exhausting exposition of the all the necessary camera gear and accessories used in the creation of the Trophy Image. If you’re really lucky, you’ll then experience the minutia of digital editing with no less than four different software programs.

How can a photograph top a great story?

Putting a lot of effort into creating the image is enough to impress photographers, but what you really need to do is impress your viewers. If you’re not there to tell the story, how will your audience know it’s a great photograph?

655 - Empty Minded, Not Empty Headed First Published 2/2/ 2014

After reflecting upon my wonderful photographic experience mentioned in last week’s (May 14, 2020) blog, I began trying to remember what made that morning’s photo session so memorable. If it was such a good experience, wouldn’t it make sense to try to put myself in similar situations in the future? If I could identify what was conducive to creativity at that time, it might also work in the future. As hard as I could try, I had trouble remembering much of anything about what I was doing and what was going on during those few hours. Some might tease me about my advanced years and loss of memory. I would reply (in the same spirit) I had elevated myself to another level of consciousness for that same period. Yes, I was “in the zone.”

I was not in one of St. Ansel’s ten zones of tone, but the eleventh (and secret) zone. This is the zone of “unconscious competence.”  You and the camera operate as one entity. You are not aware of the creative process taking place because you are the creative process. The borders between you, the camera and your surrounding are erased and all objects merge into a single artistic event. (I was going to say artistic happening, but my outer adult overruled my inner hippie flower child. Again, you must be very old to appreciate the generational humor.)

My words are a poor representation of the experience.  If you have not been in this wonderful creative state, I can’t really explain it to you. If you have been there, an explanation is not necessary.

654 More Ways To Have Fun With Photography

My “other blog,” “The Daily Photograph” is reminding me photography is fun. I get to look back through my Lightroom Catalog searching for images that never really fit into any full blown project. Because I have been working with projects for such a long time, there are quite a few images that for some reason or another have never made it into a project.

A further benefit is I am finding a lot of small projects (four to six images) that I can now use as a suite of photographs included in my new monthly web update. Rather than sweating it out to make a large project every month, I can now have three or four suites of photographs in a single monthly update. Not having the pressure to come up with a big project each month makes creating photographic art a lot more fun.

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A tree on the Kona Coast of Hawai'i. High grade tourist photographs often show up on The Daily Photograph. Pretty memories are a perfectly wonderful use of photographs. 

Stop on by and see what's new today at the Daily Photograph and my web site. There are links at the top of the page. 

653 - Breaking Eggs and Making Photographs First Published 1/26/2014

You can’t make omelets without breaking eggs and you can’t make photographs without getting out your camera. You also have to be ready to photograph when the opportunity presents itself. On January 20 I took the opportunity to spend some time photographing an old house undergoing renovation. I went inside the construction fence and was photographing on the porch when the job superintendent walked up. I asked him if it was permissible to be photographing inside the construction fence. He said that was no problem. I decided to raise the bet and asked him if I could also photograph inside the house. His reply was, “Sure, I’ll go unlock the door.” The next few hours was one of the happiest times I have spent photographing, since, well, last September’s photo safari.

I had permission (no fear of being tossed out), access to a very desirable location (the ultimate photographic accessory) and very nice light. I was also alone, which is fairly important, because with the house in an advanced state of demolition, my footsteps shook the house when I walked. What started out as a short trip to make a few photographs evolved into a study of a very special place.

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Just thought I would wave at y'all while making a photograph of the front porch at the Jones Cottage. The Jones Cottage is one of my favorite places to photograph on Academy Street in Cary.  This is the day I completed the photography of the "Victorian Lady" folio. Various views of the cottage show up in most of the Academy Street folios on my web site.