Photography As A Surrogate for Life

We all know the basic work-flow by now—take pictures, copy the memory cards, backup, process, print and deliver. Each of us has our own way of doing things and, as is said, any way that works for you is the right way.

However, if you dive beneath the surface, into the individual activities, you can begin to see some common threads. When on a shoot, you find you can't get the image you are after, but you can get something close enough to fix in post. Or, you get lazy and will not bend low enough or crawl on the ground to get a good perspective. I'm sure you can not only answer these, but provide a few of your own. Every photographer I've spoken with has admitted lapses, at one time or another.

When coming back from a shoot, do you put your gear down and relax for a while or just leave everything in the trunk of your car, thinking you will get it later? Look, I can go on and on, but you get where I'm coming from. I used to be the photographer that consistently did all of the above and much more.

As a matter of fact, if you were clandestinely watching me 24/7, you'd see the same lapses happening in other parts of my life. I'd would rush through tasks, believing I could correct any errors later, leave my bills lying on the kitchen table and forget one or more until I received dunning notices and telephone calls.

…you do in photography as you do in life.

Sometime, a long while back, I saw the similarities between my work life and the personal side. It was on a walk with a friend who brought it to my attention. I saw my life before that night, like beads on a string—incident after incident of thought inducing self-sabotage. In that single micro-second, I shifted. My friend asked what I was going to do and I said I didn't know what, but, no matter what, I wasn't going to repeat the past.

You see, you do in photography as you do in life. Change one and you change the other. After all, photography is but an extension of yourself and mimics what you are, even when you are not getting images.

As I write this, we are on the cusp of a new year, a new decade and it's time to do some cleaning, both on our photographic equipment and on ourselves. Take a minute, between now and January 1st to look at how you are as a photographer. Make it a point to expend some effort on making changes in your workflow, from beginning to end, and you will be affecting your entire life.

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The Decisive Moment – When Preparation Meets Anticipation

There has been a lot said about the decisive moment; the instant you press the shutter. But, when it comes to you, what exactly is that instance, what makes you press the shutter at the time you do?

Obviously, it's different for each of us. Some have that instinct, some plan for it and some just machine gun their camera, in the hope they capture the right moment (If you are shooting sports or other action photography--even wildlife--getting some well timed images overcomes the direct planning--but more on that later...).

Imagine yourself, looking through the viewfinder (or the LCD), with your finger poised on the shutter. Your eyes quickly scan the information superimposed in the viewfinder, maybe changing shutter speed or the aperture on the fly and waiting for that one moment, when it all comes together and you squeeze the shutter. That one moment is what we are after here. That one moment in time will stand still forever, if you capture it or, if you don't, disappear into history.

This is an area of photography you can't fake. The only way to be successful at getting the decisive moment is with lots of experience. Shooting thousands of images teaches you the art of anticipation. This art is the ability to know what to expect from your subject over time. Waiting for the light to change when shooting landscapes; waiting for the elusive Mona Lisa almost smile for a portrait; waiting for the quarterback to fall back into the pocket and get the image immediately before he releases the ball, with large defensive men charging him. The skill in this requires training your brain to recognize situations which happen just prior to the moment you press the shutter.

You have constructed an image in your mind of what you want. Years of practice leading up to this have taught you when the pre-moment arrives to get ready and then, when reality matches the image in your mind, you press the shutter.

Unless you are a novice, this sequence of events is not haphazard. You have probably spent years and taken thousands of images, which are subconsciously cataloged and, although you may think pressing the shutter is a spontaneous action, it really isn't. It comes about internally when there is confidence and all the variables are satisfied--exposure, framing and focus--and you can concentrate on the subject.

Once your planning and setup are complete, your thoughts are free to examine the only real variables left, your subject and what it is doing. If you are a novice or out of your element i.e., editorial instead of headshots, you can not put your full concentration on the subject as there are too many other items swirling in your head--the right shutter speed, exposure setting and or compensation--and, as long as you don't have your full concentration, you will miss the decisive moment.

Other times, in a new situation, your body memory takes over. If you've done your homework, then technically you are prepared and so, you trust your subconscious to move your shutter finger. You'll know, without chimping, without looking, without any physical evidence, that you got the shot. This is the cue to relax (as much as you can before backing up your images), knowing you have the image you wanted. Now you can be creative and try something new and trust you will know the decisive moment.

 

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Photography As A Gift – Dennis Hays

Those of us with cameras have a unique privilege in the way we see the world around us. Our trained eyes are able to selectively focus on what others do not. The result are the images in our collection.

However, photographers, as a whole, are cursed, as we look over the images just imported from the camera and see the flaws, the mistakes and the misfires. As trained as we think we are, we succumb to the critic. One of the results, however, is growth. By seeing our photographic flaws, we learn and apply techniques to do better the next time.

Then, at times, we become jaded in the selling of our creativity to make a living. We shoot to deliver and, once delivered, accept the money. Do this enough and you tend to see your images as a commodity. If your images are a commodity, what does that make you? The critic culling the last assignment is the same as the one in your head saying, "You suck!"

The more you allow the critic to speak, the worse you feel about yourself until it paralyzes you. The paralysis is one of putting down the camera, specifically for self-assignments. You continue to sell your craft and deliver the client's wants, but never satisfying the need within.

The feeling of non-acceptance can be mitigated by your clients’ unsolicited comments, "You nailed that one! These are great! These are better than I expected." (What exactly were they expecting?)

The notion you are a good photographer, not just a photographer, has to come from inside you and, to do that, you have to silence the critic.

There is nothing wrong with analyzing your images, but analysis is different from criticism. On one, you are looking for angle, exposure, your subjects facial expression, pose, eyes and so forth. Criticism, on the other hand, brings the "you" into the picture (pun intended) and denigrates the photographer for making a less than perfect shot.

You want to lay ownership on your images and you do so by checking bylines, using watermarks, tear sheets and the like. Your ego enjoys this. While your eye is good for picking out images, it is usually not so good at examining self. You see yourself through filtered eyes of your emotions and, anyway, only philosophers examine themselves from the inside out.

While you can't fully ignore your inner voice, you can do some things to quiet it. Use your gift to create gifts for others. When you give one of your images to a loved one, a favorite client, a friend, you are giving a part of yourself. Whether you are aware of it or not, people around you see you as an artist, able to produce what they can not. A gift of one of your prints brings something special into their life, something not mass produced and something not available to others. It's special.

The byproduct is their praise and thanks for a unique gift which, in turn, becomes a gift to you by making you feel good and silencing the critic. You can't go around giving everyone you know one of your images, as a strategy for your well being, as this devalues both the gift and any praise. Creating a strategy, by gift giving, is not giving gifts; it's self serving. Neither the gifts or your relationship to the receiver is honored.

While clients, who pay you, say some nice things about your work, it's not the same as someone close saying the same things and feeling special.

I enjoy going into friends and relatives home and seeing my work displayed; they have a part of me in their house. This holiday season, choose a few of your images and give a print from them as a gift. You'll be doing yourself a favor.

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[REVIEW:] LowePro Outback 300 AW Review by Dennis Hays

This is an intriguing bag which can carry an assortment of photography gear on day trips, vacations and for events. I say intriguing as it's a good-sized belt-pack made to wear around your waist. The bag sits either on your side, in back or, if you want, in front. I foubnd it somewhat distracting with the bag on my abdomen, but quite useful with it on either side. Of course, you can slide it to your back, out of the way, such as for hiking or getting into lower positions for a better angle.

The Outback 300 AW (the AW is for All Weather - the cover is included) is quite resourceful with the main bag, much like a small to medium "gadget" bag in the middle and two cylindrical lens cases on either side. These can be removed if necessary, or switched with other lens cases, etc. Each of the three LowePro, beltpack models come with two interchangeable lens/accessory cases attached by SlipLock™ loops and secured with sturdy, yet lightweight compression straps.

The main portion of the Outback has plenty of room and held my DSLR with grip, a Metz 54 flash and a few other lenses. There are pockets on the under side of the zipper lid for memory cards and a small pocket for manuals or similar material. On the front of the main compartment is a storage pocket, good for a small flash, extra batteries, and other goodies.

I really liked the overly large zipper pulls, which made getting into the bag  quickly, even with gloves. The lid, by the way, unzips around three sides and opens to the side of the bag, not the front or back. If you think about it, this is the best way to design a bag such as this as opening to the front or back is always questionable. Unzipped around three edges and opening it to the side and the generous width allows the lid to stay open until you flip it back.

When wearing the bag on either side, the total weight, when fully packed, can weigh down that side of you, putting a strain on your back. I should know as I had back surgery a couple of years ago and I really felt the weight one afternoon. Fortunately, the Outback comes with a clip on shoulder strap that you can put over the opposite shoulder, so the weight can be evenly distributed.

The Outback 300 AW is a nice addition to the world of photographic bags and is welcome, especially if you don't want to lug a backpack around with you (or, are already wearing a backpack) or have no need for a larger bag, but still want to move about with a modicum of equipment.

The only suggestion I have is I would like to see a similar bag as the Outback 300 AW, but with the ability to remove the waist straps and use it only with the shoulder straps.

Disclaimer: LowePro graciously supplied me with the Outback 300 AW for this review. In doing so, they acknowledged there is no quid pro quo or editorial oversight on their part. They expected no more than a fair evaluation of their product and I was free to draw my own conclusions as to the efficacy of the Outback 300 AW.

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Thinking About Your Next Camera?

For quite a few years, photographic manufactures released new cameras frequently to add more megapixels. Of course, we photographers followed, dumping our "old" cameras and buying new in the hopes the additional pixels made us better photographers and produced higher quality images.

As a golfer continually buys accessories, photographers also have this compulsive nature to add to their kit. No matter how much you have, there is always some new gadget catching the eye.

It's a wonder why we believe things make us better, as if the real magic of photography is captured by inanimate objects, rather than our own artistry. Photography is an expressive medium, requiring personal involvement, not relegating the capturing of a precious moment to some amount of plastic, metal and silicon.

In the past year, the megapixel race seems to have melted away, more or less, replaced now by adding video capture to our still cameras. Immediately upon seeing this addition, how many of you started conjuring some way to incorporate video into your workflow—presumably justifying the cost of purchase?

I can remember many years ago meeting an older photographer, while I was out shooting some personal work. While I had one of the latest single lens reflex cameras and a couple of lenses tucked away in my kit bag, he had a simple twin lens Yashica Mat-124 (uses 6x6 film) strapped around his neck. We talked for a while, swapped business cards and resumed our individual activities.

A month or so later, while making a deposit in my bank, I noticed some photographs on the wall. You guessed it, these were from the photographer I met and there, next to each enlargement, was a card with his name and camera.

I believe we all know the creativity comes from within, but there is some secret hope adding a new camera or lens causes our work to break through some transcendental "barrier" and suddenly we produce art.

The camera is, and always was to me, a tool. While today I use Canon equipment, it's only because many years ago, the Canon representative in South Florida, where I sold cameras, offered me any Canon camera for ½ off list price. I bought an FTb with a FD 50mm f/1.4 lens. It could have been the Minolta or Nikon rep with the same type of deal. I am devoutly brand agnostic.

I write all of this as there may be some photographers who are not out shooting images because they blame their lack of equipment—that is an excuse. Whether you have a decades old instamatic (providing you can still find the film) or the latest Nikon, there is no excuse not to get up, get out and shoot.

There are few photographers using 100% of their camera's ability. Most likely, it's the 80/20 rule: Eighty percent of the photographers use only 20% of their camera's features and twenty percent of the photographers use 80%.

If you are passionate about photography, you have to make images and you'll use anything, a pinhole camera, a Holga, old film, anything at all which will capture an image. Don't let what you don't have keep you stuck in excuse land.

I will guarantee you, when in the passion of shooting, any question of brand or what you don't have is replaced with composition, focus and exposure. Give a photographer any camera and they will produce a stunning picture. Sitting at home dreaming of what you could do, won't add one image to your collection.

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A Day of Service - The Photographers' Bounty

I've just spent a day with an amazing bunch of photographers and volunteers for the Help Portrait phenomena--phenomena, because of what we all did in service to those in need. At Schenectady's Christ Church there were six photographers of various capabilities. Normally, you would expect the testosterone level to be over the top, with each wanting to show off their abilities and hardware, but, instead, a group of comrades sharing accessories and war stories.

Starting many weeks ago, a core group met weekly at a diner in Albany, New York to discuss the organization and, as none of us had ever done anything like this previously, there was no way to know if the detailed plans we made would serve the needs of each of us and the community.

The Help Portrait day, starting with setting up at 8:00 and first subjects at 10:00, turned out to be special. All of our planning made the day run as if we had done it many times previously. At the very beginning, with barely enough coffee in our systems, we made magic. Photographers lent other photographers whatever was needed, be it accessories or encouragement and help setting up.

What was really special were the people coming through the front door to get photographed. Most were families, some large, and one, that I shot, included a Rottweiler—friendly, but intimidating at first. Buster, however, turned out to be a pussycat!

Those families I shot, to a one, thanked me and some hugged. One grandmother told me it had been over eight years since they had a family portrait and, since that time, another grandchild added to their number. In some instances I was asked to document three generations and in others, couples showed off their first child.

This is different than being hired to shoot assignments. Although none of us received any remuneration, it didn't matter. We brought all the artistry and technical skill we had to make each family's session special. It was their day. When time permitted, I took individual pictures of the children, knowing they were going to be included on the CD given to each family.

Why give away our talent and skill with no expectations of future business? All we had to do was look at the faces in front of us. Not one family could have afforded family portraits done with the skill of the six professional photographers using thousands of dollars of equipment. And that was what is really important here. We gave so others could have. We put away all ego and strategy and gave something which couldn't be bought. We gave ourselves to these people for one day. For this day, the families walking through the door of the church were honored guests.

Single mothers struggling to get by day after day... Fathers, looking tough but, when holding their children, put away all pretense and showed a sweet side few ever see. Mothers watching their kids reacting from the photographer's direction and smiling seeing this new relationship, between strangers, and families, dressed and ready for their time, waiting patiently.

This event had a life of its own and because of good planning and a little luck came off without a hitch. Restaurants and bakeries provided plenty of food and one of our volunteers make four pounds of ziti and pizza for the crew. I want to also thank Sigma Corporation of America, who loaned me a fantastic lens for the Help Portrait event. The 24-70mm f/2.8, I used, was absolutely perfect for the occasion.

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What Are Your Images Worth? – Dennis Hays

Let's face it, your collection of images is your inventory, not your camera equipment. Your cameras, lenses, filters, tripods and all of the accessories, including memory cards, are tools, much like the hammer and saws for a carpenter. What you produce using the cameras is what you sell.

Now that we have that straight, we can approach the questions of what to do with the images. Besides backing them up, your images are potential dollars, sitting and waiting to be sold (Yes, I know we're really talking about here is usage  and stock photography proceeds, not the actual sale of an image—transferring ownership for money. For the sake of this article, I'm using the expedient terminology of "sale").

As your images are your product, you need to protect them from loss and theft. Loss can be prevented through persistent backups and theft, by claiming your copyright as necessary and registering your collection with the appropriate authority (the United States Copyright Office in the U.S. and similar offices in other countries) and tracking down illegal use on the Internet and other media.

Once you are satisfied your inventory is safe, you can begin to determine its worth. This can be difficult as not every image in your collection will be sold and, those that do, probably return various amounts, depending on use.

It's only after considerable time has past, licensing usage rights in your type of photography and stock photography returns, that you can find the mean value of each image. This figure is a reference, but should give you an idea for planning and estimating purposes. You can determine the mean or average value by adding all the  fees you charged during the year (or other meaningful time) and dividing it by the number of images licensed—not all you own, just those actually licensed for use.

This, of course, does not include recoverable funds for travel, lodging or other expenses, nor does it include ancillary fees, such as post-processing, CD/DVD compilation and location scouting, for instance. This number represents a baseline amount an image produces; that's all.

Once you have ascertained the average dollar a single image produces, you can get the best use of this number as a guideline to raise it the next year, thereby increasing your rate of return. It's assumed of course, that you are getting better, as a photographer, and, as such, your images are worth more.

The cost of doing business increases every year and with the economy eating away at potential revenue sources (spiraling death throes of magazines, decreased ad revenue, lower budgets), it's important to generate more income to offset lost sales opportunities.

If you were to apply the average usage fee by the total images you have in your collection (potential sales whether for stock, fine art, etc.), you have an approximate value of your inventory. This number, again for reference purposes only, is the amount of potential sales available.

Okay, the down and dirty here is in finding what one image represents as a monetary amount. If in the next year you calculate the average again and the figure for one image rises, you could say you are becoming more efficient as you get a better return per image. That is the real value of an image; as a marker to determine your growth. Fewer images at higher sales produces a higher figure per image or, to put it another way… You take hundreds (thousands) of images per assignment and, if more images are sold, as a percentage, you can assume you are becoming better by making judicious choices with the shutter. After all, anyone can press the shutter but knowing when is the true mark.

This may all be so much tripe to some of you, but for others, it can be a marker of how you are progressing.

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Photo Rescue Software Review – There ain’t no free lunch!

I’m usually quite diligent with my memory cards; copying (not moving) the images from the card to the computer, doing a backup and then formatting the memory card back in the camera. I’ve really had no problems, until last night.

I was busy creating some blog postings and also working on a newsletter for my wife (she does a quarterly newsletter for a not-for-profit and I do the layout). There I was happily multi-tasking when she came into my office and wanted to add another picture to the newsletter.

She handed her camera to me and I put the memory card in a card reader, opened freeCommander (a dual-panel file manager) and started to copy the files to a folder on my computer, when freeCommander froze!

I tried everything I knew but couldn't get control back. So, using Windows Task manager, I aborted freeCommander and opened an Explore window. All the files were gone; nothing, nada, vapor. Politely, I told my wife to find something to do, while I worked to get the images back.

I started with Google and looked for an application to rescue her images. Three, that I downloaded and tried, found absolutely nothing on the memory card; no folders, no files. All of these programs were free and absolutely useless. Fearing downloading and trying any more would do more harm than good, I quit looking for any more free utilities.

I had known about PhotoRescue for a number of years, but didn’t really want to spend the $29.00. Furthermore, I didn’t want to risk the possibility that PhotoRescue wouldn’t be able to find and resurrect the lost images. However, PhotoRescue had a trial version I could use to see if it would work.

I downloaded the trial and started it up. PhotoRescue took some time to read through the sectors as I watched its green thermometer slowly move towards the right. Instead of sitting anxiously, I went upstairs and relaxed while my lovely wife asked if I found her pictures yet? What if they are really missing? Are you sure they are all gone? … and so forth. Maybe I was better off sitting at my desk watching PhotoRescue work. At least it would be quiet.

The trial version eventually completed, showing me it had, in fact, recovered the entire memory card’s volume of folders and images. A dialog popped up to let me know that if I paid for a license and entered the registration number, I could save the images. Since the other three programs didn’t find anything, I thought it prudent to spend the $29.00.

I went to PhotoRescue's web site and purchased a license. What I got back was an email letting me know where I could download a registered version of PhotoRescue (this version uses no registration numbers; it’s good to go when you install it).

This was somewhat annoying, as I had the trial version still opened on my desktop, waiting for the registration to be entered and save my images. Now, I had to download and install a registered version and start the entire process all over again; then wait for it to complete reading the memory card’s sectors (and continue to answer my wife’s worried questions).

I can report that PhotoRescue found and saved every image on that SD card and saved it in its original size and quality. It reconstructed the SD memory card folders and all and I could choose to save the image on my hard drive, which I did. After backing up the images, I formatted the SD card in the camera for its next use.

PhotoRescue has a good refund policy. Use the trial version first. If it can’t recover the images, the paid version won’t either. If the trial shows that it can recover your images, but the paid version won’t, PhotoRescue will issue a refund.

There is no doubt PhotoRescue is worth the $29.00. Sooner or later you will run into problems with a memory card and, if you are like me, with four people using digital cameras in the house…

As I said previously, the trial version suggests it can save your images to disk once you enter a registration code. There is no registration code. You have to download the registered version and start the process from scratch. Other than time lost, not a real problem; just annoying.

My advice to anyone using a digital camera … get a copy of PhotoRescue, put it in a safe place.

$29.00 is a small price for image recovery and peace of mind.

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When The Problem Is The Solution - Realizing Creativity

Sometimes we think of creativity as a new subject or shooting with a new lens or shooting from a new angle. There is truth to that and those elements can help us see our work in a new light (yes, pun intended - I can't help it; it's congenital).

Most photographers have a stable of clients and, for these, we get images similar to those shot over time for the same customers. That, in effect, is why they hire us--they want and sometimes demand consistency.

If suddenly you were asked to do something different; something completely out of your comfort zone, how would you handle it? Your ego may tell you it's no problem, while your subconscious is filled with anxiety. This concept is not uncommon; it happens to most people in similar circumstances.

How you handle these tests can determine your creative growth. If you normally turn down assignments out of your comfort zone, you probably do so because of this anxiety and your inner voice expressing reluctance.

If you have limited equipment, such as a non-pro camera or lower-tier lenses, you probably believe you cannot get a "money" shot with what you have. If you shoot landscapes and are asked to get some corporate headshots, you place yourself immediately in a vulnerable position. Anything taking you out of your tried and true areas of expertise, no matter what kind of photographer you are, sets you up for fear of failure.

Let's take the limited equipment problem (get your mind out of the gutter; we are discussing photography) and look at it in context with the title above. First, you state the problem: "I don't have the right equipment."

If the problem and the solution are one and the same, then the equipment you have <em>is</em> the solution. Rather than dismiss an opportunity by never considering using what you do have, you use this "dilemma" as a catalyst to forge a creative solution.

A photographer is never defined by the camera, but is defined by the images. Cameras are only the tools. As a magician would say, "It's not the wand that causes the magic, it's the way you wave it!"

Regarding the other example--taking an assignment out of your comfort zone--what is the solution? As you are coming into this assignment with no real experience, you have an opportunity to use your creativity. You already know about lighting from any other photography you do, so use what you do have to craft a lighting solution.

Let's not confuse using a client for on-the-job training with using your talent in a different manner. Using your existing talent in new ways is not the same as a novice photographer taking on a world-class client. The assumption here is you have taken shot thousands of images and have a solid photographic background.

The bottom line is you need to be aware of your inner processes when you feel uncomfortable. Stating out load the problem and using it as a solution is a powerful means to gain creative insight.

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The Charitable Photographer - A Question of Giving Back

Most of the year, photographers are busy marketing and shooting or, if you are a hobbyist, finding the time to take pictures. Along with the rest of our busy lives, photography can sometimes take a back seat.

If it seems to you that your life is hectic and you are running from one event to another, think of what you really are accomplishing. You have to answer that thought with how much of what you do is fulfilling. Certainly, the photography and/or your day job put money in your pocket and food on the table and those are needed. But we are not discussing your physical needs, but emotional.

Learning and growing in your personal photographic expedition is worthwhile and can provide a sense of accomplishment and wellbeing. Sometimes, however, you find it's just not enough.

You can use your photographic ability to help others and give back to your community and, by doing so, feed the other part of you; the part yet unfulfilled in your photography. Look around and you see people less fortunate than you, people having a tough time, especially in this holiday season.

Making just one of their days a little better--showing you care--can mean the difference between full-time despair and a moment of peace. Your gift of photography, that which you have studied and practiced, is also a gift to you.

This month (December 2009), Help Portrait is making a difference. Help Portrait is a movement of photographers giving their time and energy to those less fortunate. It may be to late for you to get involved, but here are some other ideas:

1. Become involved with your church, boys and girls club or scouts to teach a photography.
2. Volunteer at any not-for-profit event (look in the newspapers or online) to be the photographer of record.
3. If you know of a family having difficulties, financial or otherwise, volunteer to take a family portrait and provide the enlargements at no charge.
4. Get involved with animal rescue groups to document what they do and provide digital files for their publicity. Many of these organizations have little funds or are supported only by their volunteers. Helping them with photographic documentation has meaning.

Anything you do should be done without a strategy. Offering your services should not be a means by which you can hand out business cards and procure business. This act needs to come from your heart. Only by freely giving can you get back what may be missing in your life. Remember, a gift, not freely given, is an obligation.

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The Wannabe Photographer - A Question of Someday

Short of going out and buying a camera and other accessories, there has to be a desire and action to move on that desire. Or, it's possible you have a camera, but it's lying unused somewhere in your house. You may bring it out, from time to time, whenever a family member asks you to take some pictures, but rarely do you ever go out and shoot for yourself.

This happens to all of us in some form or another. It can manifest itself wheh trying to start an exercise program, learn a new hobby and so forth. The problem is quite like procrastination as we create excuses to stop from ever starting. With photography, the excuse can be lack of proper equipment, can't find the time, I could never be as good as... , I need to learn more about photography and a myriad of other excuses.

If you do this long enough, you'll never get started. And if you are doing this with photography, you are probably doing it in other endeavors, as well. During those times, when you are alone, you look through photography magazines and web sites, discovering other photographers and their work. You may even say, from time to time, "I could do that," but you don't.

So, why the paralysis? Usually the procrastination happens as a result of fear or anxiety of the unknown. If you don't take any pictures, you can be as good as you want in your head, and, after all, there is no failure if you don't try!

Experience is the best teacher. You can read all the photography books, visit all the photo web sites, speak to other photographers and not move a foot in your learning. You have to go out and get images. You can't get better until you have something to be better than. Therefore, to get to be a better photographer, you have to be a photographer first.

Here are your first steps:

1. Think of a subject [trains, trees, rocks, anything]
2. Schedule some time for yourself; at least a few hours. You can't break this schedule except in an emergency.
3. Go out and get some images. Weather is not an excuse with the exception of tornados, hurricanes and blizzards.
4. Transfer your images to the computer.
5. Make a back up!
6. Edit and evaluate.
7. Go back to step 1

“Do, or do not. There is no try” – Jedi Master Yoda

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The Mediocre Photographer - A Question of Good Enough

Whether professional or amateur, the tasks are the same. Gather together the equipment, produce a shoot list, get the images, transfer the files to a computer with backup and edit. Each step in the process requires thought and effort. Each step demands your full attention and awareness of details.

It's quite easy, at times, to be so focused on one element that you lose site of what's necessary on the others. That, in itself, is not the problem; the mistake is in completing each step with an internal statement, "That's good enough."

What is good enough? Perspective would show a completed task that, in one's view, is done and ready to start the next. Good enough is a relative term meaning less than a better way to do the same thing. You know, when you say, "that's good enough," to yourself, there is "better" way, but you aren't willing to go there. This is the key to unlocking the habit of doing good enough. If you can train your mind to respond to good enough and see it for what it is, then you can do better.

How, then, does this manifest in the photographer? Let's go back to the beginning. Storing your cameras, lenses and accessories is a big part of the equation. If stored haphazardly, you may be spending more time than necessary putting together a kit for an assignment, but worse, your equipment is ill maintained and sometimes left where it can be damaged. The extra effort necessary to put everything away, after the last shoot, requires a little extra time and effort.

Good enough, when packing your equipment for a shoot, is in grabbing the bag used for the last shoot, without checking to see if the batteries are recharged, the memory cards emptied and ready, lenses and camera cleaned and so forth.

However, the most important manifestation of "good enough" is in getting the images. You can recognize it when you take an image you know is not what you want and tell yourself you can fix it in editing, The little effort or time it takes to get a better image is lost and the result is mediocre.

The true value in good enough is in producing mediocre results. When you do not accept good enough, only then can you achieve spectacular images. The effort required is surprisingly little more than good enough, but you have to be willing.

Settling for good enough is easy; it’s the quick way out; it’s being lazy. Going for better requires some effort on your part; requires some work and that is the difference between a mediocre photographer and a great one.

Read some blogs by Scott Bourne, Chase Jarvis, Zack Arias, Jim M. Goldstein and David Ziser. Read between the lines of what they are saying and you'll see they don't settle for mediocrity in anything they do. Instead, they strive for greatness by not accepting good enough.

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The Handicapped (Not Disabled) Photographer - A Question of Power

Many times while watching sporting events you will see a contestant seemingly perform beyond the possible. You see performances like this in every field of endeavor, including the arts and business. Why does a young photographer achieve so much in so short a time? But that's not the real question.

The real question you should be asking is, why aren't I? What are you doing to hold yourself back? Can you recognize whatever it is and do something about it?

Most all the time, it's not physical ability or lack of the best equipment, holding you back, it's how you frame yourself. This is the real handicap and, if you look deep within yourself, honestly, you will realize you are what is holding you back.

First of all, you will have to understand, if you think you can perform at a higher level or you think you can't, you are right. That's important. It's too easy to create excuses and all too common and it's the easy way out. If you believe your lack of professional quality equipment is holding you back, then you will forever be in a loop of saving to buy the "next" camera, lens or accessory. If you believe you don't have the talent; you are correct; you don't. And you won't until you get up off your butt and try.

No photographer was born with a camera in hand. No photographer grew up with client contacts or photographic abilities. These are all accumulated by hard work, effort and will.

Making excuses is cheating; cheating yourself out of furthering your creativity and ability. No one feels more sorry for you than you and, as long as you perceive yourself as not being able, you never will.

Another excuse you may have is in thinking about possible outcomes. By seeing the end result, before you ever attempt anything, is a sure way to hold yourself in place. After all, if you already know how the client negotiation is going to turn out, why try and get a meeting in the first place?

Think of a food you can't eat under any circumstances; maybe it's raw tomatoes. If offered a tomato, you would naturally refuse. In fact, there is no circumstance where you can see yourself eating a tomato. So, when offered, you would say, "I don't eat tomatoes." Likewise, don't do outcomes. When you hear yourself playing possible negotiation scenarios (all of which fail), tell yourself, "I don't do outcomes."

Somewhere along the line, you have to be willing to work for success. How bad do you want to be successful?

Once there was a photographer who asked his best friend, a top salesperson, how he, too, could learn to be successful. The friend told the photographer to go way out of town, past the Jones farm and take the next left. There he would come to a nice single-family home. Knock on the door and ask for Walter.

The photographer drove out of town, past the Jones farm and took the next left, as he had been told. There, he found the house his friend had mentioned and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He knocked three more times, but still no one answered.

As he started to walk back to his car, he noticed a pond a few hundred feet away and an old man sitting next to it with a fishing pole. The photographer walked over to the pond and said he was looking for Walter.  "I'm Walter,” the old man said. “What can I do for you?"

"My friend said you could tell me how I could become successful."

"Kneel down by the edge of the pond," Walter said.

"What for?" the photographer asked.

"Just do as I say, if you want me to tell you how to be successful," the old man said.

The young photographer kneeled by the edge of the pond and immediately, Walter pushed him, face down, into the water and held his head. The more the photographer struggled, the more force Walter used to keep the photographer under. When he felt he could no longer hold his breath and drowning was imminent, the old man grabbed the photographer and threw him out of the pond.

After a few minutes of gasping for air, the photographer said, "What did you do that for? I only asked you a question."

"When you want success as much as you wanted the next breath of air, you'll have it."

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The Part-Time Photographer – A Question of Balance

Let’s face it, working part-time as a photographer has many benefits and darned few disadvantages. You can work when you want and not be afraid to turn down photo shoots, if they aren’t what you want to do.

Financial income notwithstanding, the motivation is to have photography has a hobby (albeit, frequently an expensive hobby) and not the primary source of income. May you have a full-time "day" job that provides physical sustenance or you are retired. Photography, then, can be enjoyed as a creative outlet.

Without the pressure to produce, to provide an income, your mind can entertain self-imposed assignments and create the kind of images you want, rather than what a client wants.

Unless you are financing your habit with funds from  your day job, acquiring cameras, lenses and accessories can be problematic. Heck, using your primary job’s salary is not without its difficulties, especially if you are married. Large expenditure must be negotiated and you may have to compromise.

However, with enough photographic experience in your background, you may be able to finance equipment purchases through your part-time photographic endeavor. Of course, getting the occasional assignment from a relative or friend does help to defray the costs, but you could also make some contacts in your community, which, in time, could pay off.

The current economic situation may drive you towards obtaining a second income asn there is no better way than to make your hobby an income source. To start, you can offer your services, with pay, of course, as a stringer to the local newspapers. You can also go to middle and high school sports and events and you’ll probably be asked by quite a few parents where they can get the picures.

While there is a short list of part-time photographers that have stepped into full time, but the majority do not. Enjoying photography as a hobby and picking up occasional assignments can be an enjoyable way to practice your craft. You can never tell where it may lead.

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The Renaissance Photographer – A Question of Place

In the early part of the twentieth century, Ehrich Weiss studied locks and locksmithing. As his knowledge grew, he decided on a course of action and became Harry Houdini, the escape artist. During his life, the technology of locks was such that one man, Houdini, was able to assimilate almost the entire human knowledge about the arcane art of lock construction and dared anyone to be able to lock him, such that escape was not possible. They failed. 

What form of photography do you practice? Yes, practice is the operative word as no matter what you do, hopefully you strive to learn more. It's easy in the beginning to be enchanted by your capabilities to produce images and so, like a man with a new hammer, you take pictures of everything.

Later, when you decide to earn some money with photography, you probably offered (or were asked) to do weddings, events and most anything else. And that started your career.

As you have been "available" to shoot pictures of most anything, it's quite easy to hang out your shingle and let everyone know. The only problem with practicing almost all forms of photography is you never get to know any one of them thoroughly and have a smattering of knowledge, across the board.

You will quickly reach your earnings peak as you have nothing special to show potential clients--you are like most other photographers showing their book. If you are content with what you are doing and your income, good for you, you've found a niche as a generalist.

However, to reach higher plateaus, you'll have to work harder and specialize. You can't take images across a wide swath to develop a unique style. Finding your niche as a photographer others want to hire, requires taking thousands of images, making mistakes (learn how you made the mistakes and how to repeat them, if necessary) and find yourself.

The unique styles of the top photographers are what sells them and you don't get to be a photographer with a unique style unless you are constantly practicing your craft.

To cross a river, it sometimes requires letting go of the tree branches on one side before you can latch onto those on the other side. You have to be willing to let go of what you are doing to make room for something else. While you may think being a generalist photographer is good, as you can rely on most any type of work to make a living, the reality is you'll make more money by doing less.

Harry Houdini could have been a regular stage magician, but it was specializing in escape art that brought him fame and fortune.

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Accommodation: Less Is More

A recent blog posting by Gary Crabbe, an Outdoor, Location, and Travel photographer, stimulated my thinking about common courtesy, politeness and accommodating clients, subjects and those around us.

When working in a studio, we are used to “turning it on” when we have someone in front of the camera. Turning it on doesn’t necessarily mean creating a fairy-land mood of smiles and contentment. Sometimes, you need to be direct to get the image. For instance, the famous portrait of Winston Churchill by Yousuf Karsh, was not acquired by accommodating Churchill. Karsh removed Churchill’s cigar, thereby getting the strong image he wanted, a portrait, Karsh said, is one of the most widely reproduced images in photographic history.

Working with clients can be difficult, but that depends on you. Going into a client meeting thinking this is going to be adversarial will not necessarily bring the results you desire. It’s important to know what you want and where you will draw the line.

Many times, clients will use any excuse to let you know why they can’t pay you the amount you estimated. “I have to work with a small budget”, “I can get another photographer for much less,” “My sister’s friend has a nephew…”; we’ve all heard these many times.
There are times, especially during this economic recession, where it may be necessary to “sharpen your pencil” and take less money for a shoot, but you should never accommodate to an uncomfortable degree. Doing so will affect your ability to concentrate on getting the images and that feeling may be around for a lot longer than you may think.

The client-photographer negotiation should be a win for both. The relationship you develop going in to an assignment benefits all parties. Accommodating a client in the field can be daunting, but you should always remain in control. Ultimately, it’s the results which put dinner on the table and provide the client’s satisfaction.
Churchill later said about Karsh’s portrait, “You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed."

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Pre-Shoot: Physical and Mental Check List

If you are a professional photographer with a studio and staff, perhaps you leave the packing to the employees… after, of course, you have trained them properly and have full faith in their abilities. But what if you are on your own?

Niche photographers, wedding, event, portrait and so forth, usually have no problems packing their kit; the choices remain pretty much the same from one booking to another. Commercial and stock photography can be quite different. Each job is a one-off and requires a variety of setups.

Prior to the assignment date, it may be best to sit down and construct a checklist of cameras, lenses, accessories and props you’ll need. Preparing days in advance can eliminate stress and panic—we’ve all been there, on a shoot and realizing we’ve forgot something important.

As you write the checklist, one advantage, besides creating a list of equipment, is in visualizing the shoot. Like athletes see themselves performing prior to an event, you can see images you want to capture and note the equipment needed. Visualization, besides helping you create a checklist, can also be practice. As an athlete sees themselves taking each step and positioning their bodies, you can see each shot, where you stand, the lighting and, if you want, the exposure settings.

Later, when at the set, you have these mental cues, created during the visualization, which act as a mental checklist during the shoot. There is a phenomenal advantage to preparing in this manner. Besides a lower stress level, you can easily concentrate on your subject, being present--in the moment—and see your shots happening. You are not reacting, as much as acting in concert with what’s taking place in front of you.

Both the physical and mental checklist work the same. They clear the need to put your attention somewhere else besides the shoot, leading to less anxiety and better images.

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'Write with fire, cut with ice' - determining image keepers

Whether you shoot thousands of images per week, or just a few, the same workflow applies. After getting back to home base, you will need to save the images from a memory card to your computer and back up device--CD, DVD, hard drive or cloud-based backup (Internet storage).

Then, only after backing up (you do back up your images first, don't you?) can you start on the tasks of culling the new collection and editing the remaining images.

In the title above, "Write with fire, cut with ice," is a sentence I use to teach writers how to hone their craft. However, we can also also use it for photography. Changing it to say, "Shoot with fire, edit with ice," has more meaning to photographers.

When on an assignment, whether your own or on behalf of a client, it's important you be in the moment. Being present is the only way to be aware of your subject and what’s happening around you. Your attention to the details makes all the difference in what you capture and your passion for photography keeps you focused (pun intended).

Now, back at the computer, culling through your new collection is a different matter and here is where the “Shoot with fire, edit with ice” comes into play. You’ve been passionate about your shooting and know there are some great images. Now, you start to examine them.

It’s important, at this point, to be dispassionate, the opposite of what you were when shooting. In other words, when culling and editing, you must have the cold heart of a surgeon. A surgeon cannot effectively do a proper job if there is strong emotions towards the patient; only by staying at a distance can the surgeon perform at the best. Don’t get married to your images, but evaluate them as you would images from someone else. It’s only in this manner, can you discern the quality and efficacy of your images for their purpose (personal collection or for a client).

It doesn’t really matter whether you are culling the collection for keepers or editing the images for content, clarity, contrast (a diamond in the rough?), you still need to step away, from time to time, to properly evaluate what you have and what you want.

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What is image quality?

Image quality encompasses a myriad of physical and esoteric qualities; in fact, a merging of both the arts and sciences. We can readily understand the science, such as shutter speed, aperture, focal length and so forth, but how do you explain the feelings when observing a painting or photograph?

Initially, you may be confused about determining whether an image is good. Learning what makes a quality image takes time and experience. Once gained, however, the ability to put your discerning nature to the test is both a curse and a boon; a curse because of being overly critical about your work and a boon as a tool to categorize your image collection.

There are many tools to help you and most work like a light-box where you can see a number of images all at once. Adobe's Bridge and Lightroom, ACDSee's Photo Manager, and Apple's Aperture programs are all capable applications allowing you to catalog your images. With any of these, you compare one image with another and mark them with colors, numbers or icons to determine their value to you. But, what do you look for?

The most obvious mistakes are the first to go--too far over/under exposed, out of focus, subject movement, and so forth. Remove these from your view. Now comes the difficult part, judging the differences between the keepers.

Look for slight exposure differences, composition, color, contrast and any other physical attribute which would make one image better than another. Okay, that's all well and good, but there is an unidentifiable property, a qualitative difference which can make an image jump to the top of your list.

This can be capturing a model or portrait where the subject shows their personality; a sparkle, a smile coming from within, a connection. The connection is what we're looking for and it's this quality which unites the subject and the viewer.

While initially the connection may be between the photographer and subject, it's often transferred to the viewer. With a portrait, this connection can be more pronounced than with a landscape image, but without a connection, it becomes just another photograph.

In non-animate subjects, it's usually composition, color, a different point of view, lighting or combination of factors which connect with the viewer. After a while, with experience and after looking at hundreds, if not thousands of images, you'll be able to recognize which images have this quality of connection without thinking about it.

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The Shotgun Approach to Getting Images

During some workshops, there are always photographers rapidly firing their shutter for each picture; kind of like a machine gun. I’m certain, in their mind, the reason is to make certain they don’t miss the shot. But, I have to ask, isn’t this a replacement for confidence?

The “old-school” photographers, during the dark days of film (see yesterday’s post for more on this subject), didn’t have the luxury of firing multiple shots for each image, unless they were at a sporting or action event and had a motor drive on their camera. There, with the subject moving so rapidly, multiple images were a necessity, not the norm.

Film was finite; only a fixed number of exposures were possible before the film needed changing. And don’t forget the cost. Compared with digital, film was (and still is) expensive. You couldn’t just fill up a memory card with hundreds, if not thousands, of images, or delete unwanted images before the end of an event.

There was something important about each image, knowing the restrictions of film. A photographer was always careful about setting the proper ISO (ex-ASA), choosing the aperture and shutter speed and carefully focusing for the proper hyperfocal distance. If you were using a medium format or large format camera, this was a given—especially with large format. 4x5 and 8x10 view cameras used sheet film which needed to be loaded prior to the event, in holders, for later manual insertion, one-by-one, into the camera.

The act of pressing the shutter was a deliberate act done only after considering all of the variables—including, at times, wetting your finger and holding it up to measure wind direction and speed (slow shutter for maximum depth of field).

Today, with most cameras able to take multiple images, as long as the shutter remains depressed, is a substitution for careful consideration of the act of photography, hence the shotgun approach, where one hopes that by acquiring multiple, rapid shots of the subject, one will be a keeper.

Relying on the machine-gunning approach to photography can deprive one of the training necessary to capture the decisive moment. There is a feeling, sometimes more than an intellectual determination, of the decisive moment and, it seems, for the trained photographer, the shutter is automatic. This feeling can only be acquired by practice. Ask yourself, the next time you shoot, what is it I’m capturing and does the image through the viewfinder match the image in my mind. If so, that’s the decisive moment. Rapid fire shooting does not develop this skill, only delays the development of the true photographer.

Technorati Tags: Decisive Moment,Large Format,Motor Drive,Confidence

Photo negatives have greater historical value than digital images

A few years back, after coming home from one of the PhotoPlus Expo shows in New York, I started thinking about film. These thoughts came after visiting with some software vendors showing off their latest stand-alone program or plugin emulating film grain. This surely was the harbinger, I thought, of the death of film. After all, why shoot with film if you can get the same look with digital images and these software products?

I’ve had discussions regarding film with two eminent photographers, Brian Griffin and Douglas Kirkland. They shoot both digital and film, albeit, they digitize the film for retouching and archiving (yes, the film is safely sequestered, as well). Both gentlemen said film has a certain quality they cannot capture digitally. Whether this is actual or perceived is immaterial; it’s the photographer’s eye that’s important, both objectively and subjectively.

My discussions with Kodak over the past few years have been about film in today’s digital world. Scott DiSabato has kept me in the loop regarding Kodak’s film production and direction. While Kodak film is somewhat relegated to the professional realm, amateurs can always acquire some.

During one of my meetings with Kodak, I met John Sexton, a brilliant photographer, mentored under Ansel Adams, we discussed his use of Kodak B&W film. If I remember correctly, John said he gets a quality from Kodak T-MAX he can’t capture digitally. On Kodak’s A Thousand Words blog, he says, “T-Max gives me the smoothness, the fine grain and a sort of milky quality that I find desirable. I've made thousands and thousands of negatives on T-Max 100 and 400.”

Quite recently, I spoke with Daile Kaplan, Vice President and Director of Photographs at Swann Auction Galleries in New York. Our discussion, while ranging over a few areas of the industry, centered on Swann’s auctions of photographs and photographic literature. I believe it was my mention of Kodak’s ongoing monitoring of the marketplace to determine additions to the new burgeoning film market.

Daile and I both agreed on the importance of this in relation to how we photographers will be noted in the future—how will the curators of the future perceive us? While we’ve seen recent auctions offering important works to collectors, can our digital images produce the same provenance? How will future collectors determine the value of digital properties, if they can be replicated readily. Yes, I know you can watermark a digital file, but with our workflow producing redundant backups, is there historic value, such as in the work of Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, and Helmut Newton, where there is but a single negative? I think Daile and I agreed that as the use of film increases for use by digital photographers, seeking additional creative outlets and film students, who have never made a silver halide image, can be a boon to our history as photographers.

I see a market for film, alongside of digital. After all, it’s just a different method of our creativity. However, I don’t visualize film returning to the amateur, point-and-shoot market, but relegated to a firm niche with hobbyists and professionals seeking to further their craft.