more after the jump
I stumbled across this image the other day while looking at a photography group I am active with online. It wasn’t the image that grabbed my attention….it was the actual fortune. Upon the first read I felt like this fortune was so spot on. If you spend all this time perfecting and learning all the ins and outs of your craft, aren’t you then missing out on the biggest part of photography?
Photography is about the experiment. Very seldom does one walk into a shoot with a preconceived notion of what they will be walking out the doors with….and actually capture that exact image. Sure, we plan out every aspect of the shoot. We all do it. We draw lighting diagrams. We test the lightin setups over and over again before we actually shoot. We work out what model we are using for the assignment or project. We then plan for a backup model in case the original falls through. We work with hair, makeup and wardrobe stylists to get the look narrowed down. After all this, we sketch out in our heads, paper, napkins, back of our hands or whatever else is available to create a rendering of what we want this image to look like.
And then the day of the shoot, and something goes wrong….its not a good shoot if there isn’t some kind of snag in it that makes you throw away everything you planned out beforehand and just run with it.
What I think I’m really trying to say here is that photography is constantly evolving. Cameras have changed. Film is slowly and unfortunately becoming harder and more expensive to use. The darkroom has switched over to the digital light room. Digital cameras are faster and producer crisper, larger images than ever before. It is becoming easier and easier for anyone to have the ability to shoot, edit and publish images quicker, cheaper and to a wider public than ever before. But does this mean that they understand and know what it means and takes to maintain a steady and growing relationship with a client?
So when I say I disagree with what this fortune says, I mean that I feel that as a photographer I can not stop perfecting the tricks of my trade. The “tricks” aren’t just about shooting and using the equipment. The “tricks” are the always changing aspects of the business side of photography. Licensing and usage rights. Creative fees. There is no one set of standard to charge for any of this. We are all different. We shoot differently. We edit and process differently. We share different visions and views even if we are standing just feet apart.
If I am not “perfecting” the tools of my trade, then I am growing stagnant. Stagnation is not an option. My brain simply won’t allow it.
EDIT
So...after catching up on reading some blogs from the past couple days I come across this post from Don Gianatti. I feel that this helps summarize what I was trying to say in way fewer words. "The student who seeks photographic artistry must be as determined to learn the art of seeing, of understanding, and of creating, as much as he/she demands to learn Photoshop or darkroom approaches. My own Photographic Arts Workshop program stresses those fundamentals, making the workshops as valuable to the digital photographer as to the traditional photographer. Every student must pay equal attention to all the necessities in the field—and to your own mindset while working in the field— as you do to the digital or traditional darkroom aspects of the art. Ignoring either one inevitably results in failure." is just an excerpt from Bruce Barnbaum. I highly recommend hopping over to read some of what Bruce has to offer.
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