Hold The Eye Images

How good is your photography?

That's the big question everyone asks after a while. Just how good is my photography? So, you enter competitions, seek the opinion of others, take workshops, classes, hang out with "good" photographers, try to figure it out for yourself, and suddenly you discover you are on a journey. I don't thing this journey has a destination. Its a long road trip, with lots of pit stops, detours, breakdowns, successes, excitement, but looking back, it always brings a smile. One day you figure out that you can distinguish between a good image and an OK one. This is not to say you suddenly wake up a good photographer, rather you recognize good photography. That's a major milestone, one in which you can judge your own images without "asking someone else". When you reach this point, its important to continue the journey, don't just suddenly stop and become the only judge and travel no further. You need to continue to push yourself, explore different techniques, get out of your comfort zone. For example, let's say you think have become a very good landscape photographer, well go down the "people detour" and work on that road. Add people photography to your arsenal, and keep going. Work on abstract, macro, wildlife, etc. keep moving trying to improve, never staying in one place.

Why do all this? You have become excellent in landscape, why worry with the rest? The simple answer is it makes no difference what type of photography you do, what improves your photography is your ability to see an image. That's right, see the image in your mind, frame it in a camera and capture it. The more you work on that skill, the better you will get at photography. Like any skill it requires exercise, stretch, and constant attention. If you do the same thing over and over, you are not improving. Pushing your eye enables you to become a better photographer, unfortunately, it does not guarantee rock star status but you will improve. When you pause for a moment and look at great photography, what you see more often than not is the ordinary expressed in a special way, that draws your attention and creates an emotion. That's not easy, takes hard work, special senses from experience, and a dash of "sensory gift" if it is to be repeated regularly. But like any special talent, you can't just pick up a camera and start taking images that tap your potential. You have to work at it, bring it out, make it second nature. And, as with everything in today's world, there is a certain technical skill that is required. You have to learn how to use the tools, so that they are second nature, you see through the camera, know intuitively the controls, make it an extension of your creative senses. All of this comes from going out and taking pictures, even if its in your back yard. Back to my point, great photographers make special images out of ordinary things, so your backyard qualifies. Once you know what a great image looks like and can distinguish good from the best, you will learn faster. Help is needed in the early stages to get your footing, competitions, workshops, classes, etc. Honestly, you should never stop this process, no matter how good you think you are, learning is not an end point. The great thing about this road trip, its fun, its memorable, creates  a great legacy for your loved ones, and will keep you refreshed your entire life. There is no place you can go that you can't practice, no situation you can't take advantage of, and above all,  no reason to homestead. Keep moving, regardless of your situation, taking pictures, preserving images and you will discover the answer- " How good is your photography?"- it doesn't matter.

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Alien Visitors, Extraterrestrial Fossils, or Mother Nature

Proof positive that aliens inhabit the earth: Alien caught on camera talking on Communication Device

   

Fossil of Female Alien found in deep woods

   

Alien talking to crowd of fellow visitors

   

All photos taken at Big Basin State Park, California on a single redwood tree. Nikon D3, 100mm/f2 Zeiss lens with extension tubes. The only adjustments made to any of these images were contrast, brightness, and saturation.

Here are some more images:

   

Final one "Nature's Bracelets"

   

Amazing how much pleasure a giant redwood can give to an interested eye. This tree has been around for over 1000 years. Thank you mother nature, sorry about the mess we are making of your world, maybe the next creatures to evolve will do better.

Every Photographer's Challenge

You are driving into Yosemite Valley, Yellowstone National Park, or your local favorite spot, and your struggle is finding a different point of view, something visually important, pleasing that has not been done many, many times. That is especially difficult if you are photographing something for the first time. Those iconic images are the most impressive, by definition, and it is just plain hard not to copy, when the visual is so powerful. But being led by the past does not develop your own photographic eye, it's OK to be impressed by the past, use the past as a knowledge point, but the journey for improving your personal eye requires a new route filled with failure, growth and success. It's built on good technical skills, and understanding of your destination, and an openness to new visual interpretation. A simpler way of saying, stop, look around, invest in observation before you use the camera. Try something new, maybe lots of things, new, angles, perspectives, subjects, and above all don't judge yourself or allow others to discourage you. Think about it, if the outcome were easy, everyone would be constantly coming up with new visual interpretations. That's simply not true, what is true is that iconic images are iconic but tiresome no matter how well done. They awe the unseen, but bore the experienced. I'm not saying if you want to capture an image that has been done a thousand times, don't do it, don't let it be the final output of your effort, to copy what many have seen and admired. Let me make an analogy, if I'm a great painter, my ability to copy the Mona Lisa says a great deal about my technical skills, but the real genius was creating the original image, conception of the image makes the painter great, the technical skill to create  is important but the minds eye is the triumph. So with your photographic journey, technical skill will take you so far but the triumph is seeing the world differently, developing an interpretive style, making people think, drawing emotion from your images.

The wonderful part of this journey albeit filled with mistakes and failures, it is exciting, fulfilling, creates an energy all its own which propels growth and reward. The growth is in the development of your observation skills which have application in everything you do in life, the reward is in seeing and knowing you are making progress on a very, very difficult journey. The journey takes you out of the ordinary into the magical, creates new maps, new destinations with progress markers that you recognize and cherish. Our world is interpreted by our senses, to focus on their development will enhance our minds ability to function and improve our sense of direction, and ultimately make us feel better about ourselves through an improved lens on our environment. The word environment conjures up many images by itself, in this context I simply mean the world around you, your garden, studio, neighborhood, or the focus of your work.

Now comes the bad news, there is no prescription for this, no textbook, course, degree, or person who can lead this journey. Many things can help, but you have to lead your own journey, much like the frightening notion of walking off into the woods with only the help of your senses as your compass. This is where it begins,  using your imagination, being open to new things, leaving your judgmental default mode behind. Hiking in the metaphor of unknown woods, meeting others on a similar journey, getting discouraged, making small progress, developing a style, learning to appreciate your own style, being able to adjust are all way points. And just maybe, your destination will change, keeping you on this journey forever, a trip with purpose but without end, becoming a vagabond with an image legacy that you can look back upon and simply simile.

In my journey, I simply want to be able to smile.

Thinking different with Nudes

Photographing nudes is a tricky thing. Not the fact they are nude, but trying to be creative in presenting the images. Edward Weston was the master of his time, and to this day his life story inspires photographers to be different, creative and defy conventional rules. The last piece is the most difficult, defying conventional rules requires self confidence that most of us don't possess. Commonly we look to others for affirmation, which is everything from your work to how you look. So it is with your photography, you want people to complement your work, tell you what a great eye you have, etc. Unfortunately, to move beyond the ordinary or frequently seen, you have to take risks, and risks have consequences. Doing anything different, swimming upstream always meets resistance, lacks initial acceptance, its the nature of the beast. Otherwise, we would all be different no one would try to fit in. On the other hand, most of our efforts at being different are mistakes, because that's where progress lies, in mistakes. More is learned in life from failure than success, mistakes require reflection, especially if ridiculed by the "herd". Just think about the time of EW and his muse Charis, driving around America photographing and writing about nude photography. Can't imagine the push back that was getting from all sources except maybe some corners of the art community.

Now this is starting to sound like a drum roll for something big. Sorry, just a stream of conscience and no big ending. I had this conflict when making this image. Should I do something more conventional with this dancer, or should I make it more abstract, less nude like more about lighting than body parts. I opted for the later, it was a struggle.

 

I now have to do something unusual, or better yet tell you about something

There is a new thing on the web called Gilt. It essentially offers at big discounts clothing jewelry etc. Not something that ordinarily interests a photographer unless you have to wear suits to your gigs. However, I have been watching, more out of web interest than anything else and they do offer, unheard of discounting on premium items. The sale opens at 9AM PDT and goes for the rest of the day. Hot deals, usually go within 10 minutes or so, other items hang around sometimes for days. They do have some outdoor clothing, but mainly geared to the "cool crowd" of younger hip people who wear funky shirts/jackets/jeans/etc.

Today marks something new, Swarovski Binoculars at big discounts. I have a pair of EL's which were on the site, they are terrific, carry them all the time. These discounts were significant and I have never seen anything like this before. These glasses never go on sale, they have a following, the cheapest place is B&H, and today's discounts smoked B&H. Be warned, it did not last long and if you go to the site, all you see is "non available" which means they were sold. I was on a telecon this morning so I watched them go, did not take long and boom, all sold. Anyway, worth keeping an eye on, who knows where this is going.

Spent the Day with well known Landscape Photographer William Neill

I had a very interesting day with Bill Neill at his studio In Oakhurst California just outside Yosemite National Park. We discussed some of my images, cameras, software and fine art printing. Bill is a well known landscape photographer who worked with Ansel Adams at his gallery in Yosemite. Bill's work sells as fine art in galleries all across the nation and he remains an active landscape photographer. He spent most of his career behind a 35mm and 4 X 5 view camera. He now shoots the full sensor Canon, with a 90mm tilt/shift lens and a 70-200mm zoom. I recorded an interview with Bill about his life as a photographer as well as his photographic eye. This is part of a new addition to Hold The Eye Images, a podcast which will link to this blog. The studio is being put together now, and should be live within a week to 10 days. Typing is not my strong suit and I get bored with long blogs so I tend to abbreviate them. With the podcast, I can add more content including interviews with photographers I come across who have interesting things to say. Bill Neill is a perfect example, if you look at his images, he has a unique eye, not the usual landscape viewpoint. He discusses this and other elements of his photography in the upcoming podcast. Check him out at WilliamNeill.com.

For those of you into HDR, an article appeared in this months "Popular Photography" pg. 84. The article talks about a new software from Unified Color, HDR Photostudio 2, costing about $100. This software claims to render more natural imaging than Photomatix with much simpler controls. I have not used it but the illustrated results and the editorial comments look promising. Also, check out  this HDR podcast which was posted at: http://www.realestatephotographypodcast.com. The discussion offers some tips for creating realistic HDR images using Photoshop tools and camera flash. Also covered is a new tool for expanding the bracketing ability of cameras with limited "in camera" bracketing. This tool enables you to bracket like the higher end professional models which will give you more gradual exposure variation and better results in bracketing. 

Watching SNL as I type this blog, funny commercial on Toyota and Ford, The image of a car with a mind of its own speeding down the road, uncontrolled, is frighting to anyone. Like a photograph, a mental image is worth a thousand words and can become part of our lexicon like Firestone, Zerox, Netflix, or "....gate". When the images are bad, it takes a long time to erase the public stigma. T&T(Toyoto and Tiger) have some work ahead on imaging.

Driving to the Sierra Mountains to hook up with William Neill

I drove over to the Sierra foothills today, specifically Oakhurst for a meeting with William(Bill) Neill of landscape photography fame. On the way, I saw first hand the impact of this recession. Abandoned homes, fields without crops, malls without cars, all with a feeling of general unemployment and depression. I have traveled through this area many times and was not prepared to discover this tragic situation. Back in the early 80's I saw something similar on a smaller scale in eastern Arkansas, but nothing of this magnitude. Watching the news this evening, reporters were talking about how bad it is further north in the same area, unemployment in some communities as high as 50%. Sadly, the financial condition of California prevents help, and is on the brink of getting worse. The 8th largest economy in the world is about to go under. Politics is not my strong suite so I'm just talking about what is,  not the causes, solutions, or even who to blame. For these folks, it may not matter. 

I have friends in the Bay Area who are unemployed, skilled engineers who expect to return to some company as soon as the economy picks up. This picture today hints at a deeper problem, one that is not going to be fixed easily, and could well take years. It's the fabric that's torn, and impacted voices are drown by the politics of squabbling. Detroit and the autoworkers have a voice, big business reports earnings that get attention, and bankers make claims like "to big to fail" but rural folks, small businesses, and farmers who are the backbone of the economy apparently don't get the crisis attention needed. I may not be correct, and this may be a rant in reaction to my drive, but I do have a feeling people have been abandoned, left to fend for themselves. The metaphor that comes to mind is a scene on the Titanic where the Captain and crew are mediating a fight over umbrella's when the ship is about ready to hit an iceberg. This not a slap at the President, Republicans, or Democrats but more generically at the way we are governing. How such a simple hard working group of people have no voice, no media coverage, no governmental focus escapes me. As I said I have no answers, don't know who to blame or how to fix, and maybe my drive was a unique view not existing anywhere else in the US. If so, disregard, if not, it's a sad state of affairs in our country in March 2010.

Photography today, is it photoshop or In camera?

There is a debate today over the state of photography. It centers around post processing vs. virgin image capture and how much manipulation is too much. There is no question that post processing of digital images has forever changed the landscape of photography. Software like Photomix, Nik, and of course, Photoshop have added new tools for image "enhancement". Yet, many photographers remain "purist" decrying the use of these tools, claiming "manipulation" and generally debunking the quality. On the other side, photographers point to the manipulation by icons like Ansel Adams, to illustrate the historical use of "tools" in creating photographic art. The only stake in the sand that is generally agreed upon is photojournalism, where manipulation defeats the definition.

Techniques like HDR have created visually high impact images, illustrated by the use in advertising. Whether using multiple images or filters, more and more advertising photography has a look associated with high definition/HDR. These images are produced to sell product. Said another way, advertisers are trying to get your attention and research shows this works for now. On another front, gallery photographers sell these images regularly and tell me buyers want distinctive color on their walls and HDR outsells traditional photography. This is not a scientific survey of galleries simply recent feedback I have received. With market saturation, these trends may change. What will not change is the process of new tools and techniques creating new images that will continue to redefine photography. Some will love it, some will hate it, but neither will affect the outcome. So what does this all boil down to?

The day of "out of the camera photography" is coming to a conclusion. The dawn of digital is just beginning, and the entry price is a working knowledge of all the tools just as it has always been. The photographic eye will remain king but the lens will be more complicated, requiring more skill to be competitive. Commodity pressures will increase, creating a higher skill threshold for distinction. This means photography is going to require more skill to earn a living, be more competitive, require more creativity, more marketing savvy and the real barriers to entry will be higher. There are early signs today of photographers who are exhibiting these skills with their internet marketing, post processing innovation, and ability to generate buzz around their work. These photographers are creating their own brands in new ways. They are mastering the skill of marketing in an age where marketing is undergoing a revolution with the likes of Google, behavioral mapping, Youtube, flickr, ...etc. Photography today, is it photoshop or in camera? It's marketing.

A Story That Has A Lesson

 
 
 


The other night I was invited out for a night with the 'girls.' I told
my husband that I would be home by midnight, 'I promise!' Well, the
hours passed and the margaritas went down way too easily.

Around 3 a.m., a bit loaded, I headed for home.
Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hallway started up
and cuckooed 3 times.

Quickly, realizing my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another
9 times.

I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted
solution, in order to escape a possible conflict with him. Even when
totally smashed... 3 cuckoos plus 9 cuckoos totals = 12 Cuckoos

(MIDNIGHT!)

The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, I told him
'MIDNIGHT'... he didn't seem pissed off in the least.

Whew, I got away with that one! Then he said 'We need a new cuckoo
clock.

When I asked him why, he said, 'Well, last night our clock cuckooed
three times, then said 'oh shit.' Cuckooed 4 more times, cleared its
throat, cuckooed another three times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and
then tripped over the coffee table and farted.

Top Ten Reasons Tiger Should Become a Photographer

10. Being rich and a photographer will continue to make you one of a kind.

9. Las Vegas is a great city to photograph lights, and desert night scenes, so frequent visits are still worthwhile.

8. Scoping out beautiful women will not get you in trouble if you are looking through a camera lens.

7. Its standard practice to put on a lens hood for all shooting

6. Photographers are a close nit group and don't rat on each other

5. Photographers in general are rascals so you won't stand out.

4. Photographers think being monogamous is sticking with Nikon or Canon.

3. Being in the company of women with no clothes is part of the profession

2. Hiding out for long periods of time is OK if you are on a photo shoot

1. Photographers only take photographs and leave only footprints, so you will stay out of trouble!