Here's a thought…

HT2489 - Processing for the Medium

There now exist so many different media we can choose for the output of our photographs. These choices imply that we need to process our images with the output medium in mind. An image intended for a small scale phone/screen presentation is likely to require different processing than if we intend to make a large scale framed print. We could possibly have a dozen different completions with any given image, each produced for a different kind of presentation.

HT2490 - The Competition for Attention

Here, deep in the age of media, doesn't it seem obvious that there is a raging and ever-present contest for our attention. Consider the next hour of leisure in your life. What will you do with that 60 minutes? Watch TV? Read a book? Listen to some music? Go shopping? Spend time with your friends or family? Or, will you dedicate those 60 minutes to looking at art, especially photographic art?

HT2491 - Craft Becomes Obsolete, Art Does Not

I'm not sure the title of this commentary is actually true, but it does point to a thought that can be helpful. In essence, how we make pictures is constantly changing since the first days of photography. Technology marches on, continually, relentlessly. The content of what are photographs portray, the artistic content, remains relevant and possibly even innovative even after the passage of decades.

HT2495 - Wishing For More

A large part of the production of fine art photographs involves a frustration that we wish our images were better. We'd like them to be more. The implied question is what more could you add to your photographs that would make you happy? More sharpness? More audience? More exotic locations? More print sales? If you could wave a magic wand, what precisely would you bring into your photographic life that would bring you satisfaction?

HT2496 - Transportation and Photography

With very few exceptions, my photography is thoroughly dependent on my ability to transport myself from one location to another. The only time I don't use a car to go photographing has been my trips to Japan and China. Even there an important part of my success in photography relies on an effective transportation strategy. I never used to think about this in my youth, but now a transportation strategy has become a huge requirement I dare not ignore or take for granted

HT2497 - The Unhealthy Pursuit of Perfection

We've been watching a television series in which one of the main characters is constantly getting herself in trouble by pursuing perfection. She then finds herself in difficulty because the perfect is never attainable. She pushes people to unreasonable extremes, is constantly dissatisfied no matter how successful her actions are, repeatedly makes irrational decisions that cause her best intentions to collapse. Where is the line between pursuing excellence and an unhealthy pursuit of perfection?

HT2498 - The Natural Look

Like I often do with my morning coffee, this morning I watched a few YouTube videos on processing in Lightroom. I've learned a lot from these people, but not always the ideas they think they are teaching. By coincidence, all five videos I watched today were about making images look natural. Why is this the objective? I know I keep circling back to this point, but is photography a substitute for human vision or is it a medium for artistic expression?

HT2502 - Believability vs Truthfulness

The other day I was looking at some of the photo essays done by W. Eugene Smith and published in Life magazine. They're fantastic examples of the integration of image and text, and as such are worth taking the time to study in some detail. In the process of looking at this work. It occurred to me that my underlying assumption in all his photo essays is that they are truthful, that is to say, documentary not fiction. But would it make a difference to my response if they were fiction? Art is full of fiction, and I see no overwhelming reason why photography should avoid the storytelling capabilities of fiction.

HT2503 - Managing Results vs Managing Work

Last year I became frustrated that I wasn't getting done as many photographic projects as I had hoped to finish. My old goal-directed business training kicked in and I decided to set goals for myself. It didn't help. And then I remembered one of the earliest lessons from management training: Don't manage results, manage the work. Set another way, goals are a result, not a tactic.

HT2504 - Searching for Threads

You've set aside an hour to work on your photography and find yourself sitting at the computer looking at images. At such moments, it is so tempting to spend your precious creative time on a search for images that have potential and then processing them to the best of your abilities. That's not the only option. Alternatively, you might try using that precious time on a different search, a search for the threads that can bind a group of images into a project.