Here's a thought…

HT2583 - During One Sitting

It's interesting to look back at the artists' statement included with many portfolios in LensWork. It's amazing how many times the photographer begins by saying they were doing something completely disconnected from photography when all of a sudden they saw something that created a sympathetic vibration with their creative soul. They grabbed their camera and interrupted daily life to make art.

HT2585 - New Is Not Necessarily a Virtue

Photographers tend to get very excited about everything new. New gear, new techniques, new locations, new venues. The problem with new is that it can be a false promise. It's far too easy to equate new with better. My experience is that better pictures most often come from repeated visits and pushing past the new, past our first impressions.

HT2590 - Searching For the Thread That Binds

There is a considerable difference between making a single, standalone, spectacular image as compared to working a project. For me, a large part of project oriented photography is searching for the thread that binds. This often starts with a single photograph which can potentially spawn many threads that bind. The part that involves artistic discretion and decisions is choosing which thread to pursue.

HT2591 - The Thrill of Discovery

We've all experienced the thrill of discovering a new subject, location, or artist previously unknown to us. I distinctly remember, after having been involved in photography for 20 years, the first time I saw the work of Josef Sudek. Last month I "discovered" the piano compositions of Isaac Albéniz. I believe that finding and treasuring such fellow artists is one of the most powerful reasons to be involved in the art life. This is especially so if their work inspires us in our own creative path.

HT2592 - That Which Is Not Media

We cannot have art without some medium of expression. That said, what makes art important, meaningful, valuable, and memorable are the elements which are independent of the medium. Think of Billie Holiday's singing independent of the record, the tape, the CD, or the digital stream. The same can be said for photography. What really counts is not the medium of the print, but rather that content that touches our heart.

One of the reasons I love Duane Michals' work is because it's so different than so much of photography. Most photographers use the medium to make a statement, to show us something, to tell. Duane Michals, on the other hand, uses image and text to ask us questions, to encourage us to ask questions of ourselves, to use wonderment rather than certitude as the basis for so many of his images.

In a chess game, what happens when both players see the inevitability of the outcome? They throw in the towel and quit the game. I feel that way about certain television shows and movies. Once the plot becomes predictable, I lose interest. Doesn't it make sense that this same idea pertains to photography as well? The minute I see a portfolio from, say, Yosemite and the first few images are perfectly predictable, I find my motivation for viewing the rest of the portfolio diminishes.

HT2599 - Consuming With Repetition

When I view artwork (music, a novel, a painting, a photograph) for the first time, it almost never sticks. That is, I don't find I can remember its details, I don't  own it in my mind/memory. That almost always needs  repetition. I have no idea if this is something about me, or if it says something about art, or if it says something a bit more universal. With music it's usually necessary to hear it a dozen or so times. With a novel at least twice, sometimes three readings. I find this an interesting observation in the age of Instagram and swipe left.

HT2604 - Bigger Than Real Life

The very first print I ever sold as a young photographer was an image of a 1-in mushroom cap that I printed to 16x20". I didn't realize at the time what a rarity that is, but looking back on 50 years of photography that may be the only image I've ever made were the artwork was bigger than the object photographed. Almost without exception, we photographers squeeze reality to fit within the confines of our comparatively diminutive prints. Rather than outsize the world via our product, we try to outsize our emotional response.

HT2605 - What Is vs What Becomes

The fundamental characteristic of photography is that it shows us what is, the instant that is. This differs so dramatically from performance arts where the basis of the medium is observing what unfolds over time. For example, movie plots are about what might happen to the characters over the next hours, days, or years. Does it make any sense for us to challenge ourselves to introduce some of that into our photography? Isn't this one of the advantages of the multi-image project?

HT2606 - The Trendline of Photography

In the early years of the 20th century, photography struggled to establish its reputation as a medium for artistic expression. As a medium, it gained widespread popularity and acceptance as the 20th century progressed. What about now, a quarter of the way through the 21st century? Is photography more respected  as a result of the changes in the last 25 years, or has its reputation diminished? Has digital processing, the iPhone, and Instagram made photography more revered as an art medium?