civilized ku # 742 ~ on seeing
Friday, October 22, 2010 at 06:04PM 
Open motel door ~ Long Lake, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenOn yesterday's entry, civilized ku # 740, Larry stated: I am always questioning/searching, is this a copy? is this what I have learned as a good photo? where is the Larry in this photo? ... I want more from the picture, intrigue, questions, poetry.
What Larry wants - intrigue, questions, poetry, and soon on - are qualities that most picture makers want in their pictures. However, IMO, it is very unrealistic to expect the full greatest-hit bonanza in every picture one makes. Far from it. It takes time, effort, and patience for greatest-hit type pictures to emerge from one's picture making endeavors.
The production of a "greatest hit" is always the result of immersing oneself thoroughly in a project. To set out to make a "greatest hit" photograph will always fail ~ Brooks Jensen
IMO, if one is obsessed with making "greatest hit" pictures, that is when one stoops to tricks and gimmicks in order to juice things up. Next thing you know, you're banging out a bunch of flash in the pan tour de farces that are all flash and no beef.
I think of my greatest-hit pictures as the fruits of my long-term labor. And those pictures are never thought of, at the moment of picture making, as surefire fodder for my greatest-hits parade. In virtually every case, the realization that I might have struck gold comes well after I have processed, printed, and lived with a picture for reasonable length of time.
And that's the thing, really good / interesting pictures are most often considered as such because they have stood the test of time.
And, FYI, I think Brooks Jensen also had it right when he opined that ...
A good photograph, when first seen, hits you like a ton of bricks. A better photograph is often almost unseen at first but comes back to mind over and over again long after you have stopped looking at it.
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comment: Seven W (no link provided) wrote: "You mentioned earlier the benefit of simplifying gear / technique to help focus the mind on seeing. What about B&W? Does eliminating colour from the process help with seeing or is it introducing another [unwanted] element?
my response: B/W picture making and color picturing making are entirely different methods of making pictures. Independent of your pictured referent, the former depends upon tonal relationships and their use within the frame whereas the latter depends upon color and its use within the frame.
So, if you make B/W pictures, you need to think and see - again, independent of referent - in tonal values and their relationships whereas. if you make color pictures, you need to think and see in color and their relationships.
Making B/W pictures, if that is not your medium, in order to improve your seeing seems, at best, counter-intuitive / productive, at worst, a near-total waste of time and effort.
Reader Comments (5)
I agree with everything that you say here, with one addition, I think that it is good to try to make every picture into the "greatest hit bonanza". Not that many will actually make it to that level, but to practice making a snapshot as if it were the greatest hit will take my seeing to a higher level.
I am enjoying this discussion very much. It has helped me to define what it is that I am doing.
Ok...I am enjoying reading this series of posts as well. However, I am wrapping my mind around all you are writing and find myself wishing I could sit down and buy you dinner in order to have a really long conversation.
So, suffice it to say, that I have a bunch of thoughts, comments perhaps even a question or two and as I formulate them I will post or send you a note. Thanks for your posting!
Best regards -- Bishop
There's the old saying of "crawl, before you walk, before you run".
Years ago I read a book by the tennis player Ivan Lendl. People often asked him how did he develop his phenomenal serve. He gave three tips:
1. To serve fast in a match you must practice fast serves;
2. But before you can practice a fast serve you must practice a medium pace serve. Occasionally, a medium pace serve turns out to be a fast pace serve.
3. But before you can practice a medium serve, you must practice a slow pace serve. Etc.
Mark, I've been enjoying your pictures and words on this "seeing" topic.
Perhaps a complementary way of explaining your thoughts is to "work through" a few of your images? i.e Explain the what & why of your thinking before / during the creation of an image.
Perhaps from this "bottom up" approach you might also discern some of the principles that go into the seeing process.
Another thought. You mentioned earlier the benefit of simplifying gear / technique to help focus the mind on seeing. What about B&W? Does eliminating colour from the process help with seeing or is it introducing another [unwanted] element? A number of photography writers recommend shooting in B&W to hone skills.