You might not be aware that I’m now Dell sponsored (have been for about a year actually) and I’m working with them on projects that should help you in the future! In that process, Dell has produced a white paper on our work and how we use their products in our work. You might want to check it out here.
Enjoy!
CT Graveyard
Photo captured by D200, 28f1.4 at 1.4 on Lexar digital film
The weather is bad, the camera is old, I don’t have the right lens, my computer is acting up, the light sucks, when I hear excuses like this for continually not shooting, it’s a sure sign the photographer is in a rut. What is a rut? In photographic terms, it’s when the creative juices aren’t flowing any more, the passion is on the verge of slipping away. Burn out in layman terms. It’s not a good thing.
Can this happen to anyone? You bet! I’ve seen it happen all to often to photographers who had lots of potential but for many reasons, were never able to live up to it. The books are full of images from great photographers who, in general terms, hit a rut and were never to dig themselves back out again. Do you exhibit the warning signs? Do you use any of the phrases, or a whole lot more, to justify why you’re not out shooting more than you should be? More importantly, how can you avoid getting in a rut?
I’ve personally never gotten into a rut, but pretty darn close a couple of occasions. The way I avoided the whole thing was to go out and buy a new lens. I than marry myself to that new lens, shoot everything with it until I knew it inside and out. I shot everything from my big toe to road kill, whatever got in front of the new lens was a target. No, great images didn’t come from the exercise, but opening my eyes & heart to new possibilities did come from the exercise. Avoiding getting in a rut was the most important aspect of the exercise.
Avoiding getting in a rut, or pulling yourself out of one I think is as simple as being totally silly with your camera and chase subjects you would never, ever regularly chase. Depending on how deep of a rut you might be in, you might have to play a little longer. Or, you might find the new fun is something to delve into with even greater zealous now you’re out of the rut. Does this work? There is only one person I’ve suggested this to over the years that it didn’t work for. Regrettably, that person is no longer a shooter, works as a chef.
Keeping the creative juices a live is very important, especially now that winter is fast approaching. The normal subjects aren’t as obvious or plentiful. It’s the time to explore new techniques, revisit old ones and master and combine them so when spring rolls around, you’re ready to go. Photography is a grand pursuit and one that takes all of your heart & soul. At all costs, you need to avoid getting in a rut and burning out.
What is a rut? A rut is a grave with its ends knocked out.
Ever noticed how there are some days when you can’t do nothing right. You ever set up your tripod and getting everything just right, just about to press the button and one tripod leg slips messing everything up because you didn’t tighten it enough? Here’s one everyone can relate to. You’re out shooting a sunset and dial in minus compensation to capture the perfect color. The next day you review your morning images only to find you forgot to dial out that minus compensation from the sunset. How about you put your normal body cap on your teleconverter by mistake?
The list of technical errors can go on and on but they are nothing compared to mental errors. We all know about trying to shoot a series of shots when the film counter was at 35 (yeah, talking about film). There’s always that time when you took one extra step closer to a subject, one your gut said not to take, only to be taken and the subject takes off. The mental list is for me longer than the technical one, but that’s all part of being human and a photographer. Sadly, they all come down to thinking, or not thinking.The one thing that kinda gets under my skin though is when these things happen and photographers start looking at the camera gear as the culprit of the dirty deed. It is as if the camera wakes up and says to itself, “I’m going to mess up my photographer today!� It’s gotta be the cameras fault! But when you look back, it all comes down to us.
I was recently rebuked because I couldn’t give a photographer the golden answer to their problem. The problem, a sharpness one, the photographer couldn’t get an image sharp. The golden answer; a list of possible camera/settings that were wrong that when set differently would cure the focus problems. The answer I gave, go back to basics and practice, practice, practice, was discarded as brush off rather than the solid advice it was. The problem must be a setting on the camera, or environmental or perhaps the lens, anything but PILOT error! What did I know?
There was a time when AF was thought to be a joke, not a viable tool. In fact, I think I wrote something like that back in the days of the F3AF & F4 when we had just one, dead center AF sensor. Now, if we don’t get a sharp image, it must be the AF system, or a setting, or a lens not locking on (does this on purpose you know). There’s no way it could be pilot error!
Photography in all its grandness requires a firm basics foundation for success. That foundation covers everything from camera operation to light to simple technique to monitor calibration. This firm foundation gives us the ability to grow with confidence, build on the last success and learn from the last failures. The firm foundation also gives us a place to go back to when things for wrong, permitting us to back engineer and find the problem. While it is easier on the ego to blame everything else but us, heading back to our foundation often proves otherwise. When things go wrong, I know I RUN back to the basics when all else fails!
Photo captured by D2Hs, 200f2AFS on Lexar digital film.
How many of you have been to Mesa Arch at Canyonlands Nat’l Park? I’ve been there just a couple of times personally. The first time I’ll never forget. I’d seen thousands of photographs of the arch, a couple just blew me away which is why it was high on my list of locales to photograph. What I saw in the photographs though is not what I saw standing at the arch.
The first time I went to the arch I had Laurie as my guide. We got up early and drove the 45min from Moab to be in position at the arch long before sun up. We arrived at the parking lot and it was one of those rare mornings, no one else was there. We walked up over the ridge and down the trail which is when I saw the edge of the canyon. I was confused and asked Laurie, “Where’s the Arch?� She said, “Right there!� I looked to where she pointed and saw a lump of rock. We kept walking towards it with just a slight hint of dawn way off to the east.
We get to the bottom of the path and then I saw the window. Dang, it’s small! The arch isn’t big enough to park my truck in it. In fact, depending on how you look at it, it’s not a arch at all but just a hole in the rock. Now I had seen the photos so I knew there was potential here for a great image, but at first, I sure couldn’t see it. Then the glow appeared in the east. WOW! Or better put OMG! The shutter started to smoke as I shot. Later that day looking at the images, I liked what I saw, but it’s not what I saw, not in my heart.
My first two visits I shot the arch with a 14mm and 12-24mm. What I came back with was the arch but it wasn’t an arch. Yeah, I had been faithful to the arch but it had no arch to it. The rock was all nice and plum, square and kinda lifeless. The last couple of visits, I wanted to put the arch in the arch, bring a new dimension and drama to a familiar photo.
In matching my vision with photographic vision, I was not true to the arch. In putting an arch to the arch, I had to use the 10.5 lens. Many have looked at the photo and they instantly recognize it as Mesa Arch, but they all have asked, everyone, how did I get that perspective?
Photography is such a unique and very special way to communicate the wonders we see. Lots of folks are talking about post processing and the possible ramifications of altering in post reality (as if that’s a new topic). Ever watch MythBusters on Discovery Channel? Adam has a great saying, “I reject your reality and substitute mine.� Food for thought there, really…where does your vision take you?
Photo captured by D2X, 10.5mm on Lexar digital film. Image worked in digital darkroom
This photography thing, it’s quite a mental game. Ever notice that? Whether it was the brain power to earn the money to buy the tools, selecting the right tool out of all the ones purchased or then thinking about the best way to apply that selected lens for the given subject, the whole thing is a mental process. You can go even deeper realizing that selecting the right f/stop and position for the right composition takes even more brain power. Going all the way, you have to take your brain in combination with your eyes and analyze the light to determine not only exposure but if the light itself is worthy of your photographic efforts. Dang, this is one brainy hobby/avocation or occupation!
Ever upload your photos and ask yourself, “What was I thinking about?� Your images are missing something obvious. Perhaps you used the wrong AF sensor so your focus point is off, you used too much DOF or not enough. You simply blew it because, you weren’t thinking fluently enough for the situation at hand. It would be nice to be able to blame Nikon or Canon for the problem, something they goofed up in manufacture. Would be handy if we could blame the subject but as we all know the subject gives us enough excuses for failure that this one just doesn’t fit. It all comes down to us and thinking.
How can we get past this problem? Thinking, practice thinking. Now how do you do that? The best way I know of is simply shooting, shooting and then shooting some more. The more situations you expose your mind to, the more situations become second nature and learned mistakes get corrected. You can take classes that again expose the mind to situations so you have answers to fall back on. I’ve been very fortunate to take Joe McNally’s lighting class a half dozen times now and it’s radically improved my use of flash taking my flash photography to a whole new level. And finally, you can learn a lot by just reading and looking. There’s a great Blog out there, The Strobist who invites you into the creative world of flash with great lessons, assignments and humor.
“Engage the brain before the mouth� is something my dad told me a lot, a lot! These words of wisdom I turned around long ago into “Engage the brain before shooting� and I found it helped me a lot. While this might seem difficult in itself, you have to take one more giant step further by thinking and then connecting that thought with your heart to bring out in your photography the passion that wildlife photography so cries for. I was having a photographic conversation with a good friend lately and I accused him of thinking too much. Perhaps he doesn’t think too much, perhaps I think too little. Perhaps the middle point is where we want to reach but on a subconscious level for the best photographs. I don’t know, I’ll have to think on it. I need to consider for myself just what’s going on in there.
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