Rick’s Rants and Raves

I checked out from the library The Photographer’s Mind: Creative Thinking for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman, and it is a seriously meaty tome. I’m only 60 or so pages into it and I’m already feeling just a bit drained by it. That’s not to say I’m unhappy with what I’m reading, just that it isn’t a light “how-to” cookbook or filled with one page truisms about photography. The author blends photography and philosophy and art into one topic, with sentences like this, regarding the popular desire for beautiful photographs:

The idea of correctness or rightness segues into the notion of the ideal, which plays a part in all kinds of beauty, including human beauty.

What really struck me was his section titled ‘Cliche and Irony’, where he essentially lays out the idea that cliche in photography is anything that has been done before. Then he spells it out very clearly in a sidebar titled “What makes a photographic cliche?”:

• An inherently attractive subject with a conventionally attractive viewpoint
• Established points on the tourist trail that fit the above. [My own example of both.]
• A strong stylistic technique that is … identifiable and over-used. Example: racking the zoom during the exposure for a radially blurred treatment. [My own cliche'd example.]
• Any subject or style that becomes so popular and so reproducible that it is taken up by many other photographers. A victim of its own success, in other words. [My example above.]

My ‘fork you’ picture is the first picture I ever took with Instagr.am, the incredibly popular photo app for the iPhone that I’ve been known to bash. Actually, I have no problem with the app–I dislike how the use of filters has become (though I don’t think I ever said this before now) cliche’d. In fact, you might even say that canned post-processing as a whole has become cliche’d by Freeman’s standards. Anyone who applies the ‘toy camera’ filter to a photo is guilty of cliche. Any consumer grade photo toy is, because of its popularity, cliche.
And that led me to feel a bit of sadness, or ennui, or angst or something like that. Would the four basic lighting patterns be cliche just because everyone has done them? If everything I do is based on some technique I’ve learned from someone else (especially on the internet) am I capable of getting out of the cliche? Oh look, there’s a band on stage. Cliche. Blurry feet to show movement? Been there. Menacing shot from below? Done that.  Biker on a path by a river? I’m pretty sure a Flickr group has come and gone with that theme. We all stand on the shoulders of giants, be they Rembrandt or Hobby. Just because an individual imitates those greats or an uses a popular technique doesn’t mean their contribution to our discourse should be demeaned.

It suddenly occurred to me that the word “cliche” ends up representing a form of tribalism. For one group to all stand around sniggering at someone whispering “cliche” is really just a way for the group to say “We’re in, you’re out. Ha ha ha.” Its a way for that group to say to themselves “we know whats cool, and that technique used to be cool, sure, but now, no way. That was SO 8 months ago.”

As I’m continuing to learn about photography, and have learned quite a bit in the last 3 years, I’m starting to recognize people who are where I was a year or two ago. I was in an off-camera flash class recently and one of the participants hadn’t heard of David Hobby. I was shocked, but quickly realized it wasn’t so long ago that I took my first baby steps in off-camera flash. I feel like I’ve progressed a fair bit since then, but have I produced something that someone can’t call a cliche? Probably not. I try to do things in interesting or unique ways, but I’m always applying my own experiences to what I think is “interesting” or “unique”. I’m sure a million people have taken pictures of the tidal river from Conwy Castle. I tried to make it interesting to me and my family by framing the river with my wife and daughter. Is “tourist overlooking a pretty vista” a cliche? Sure, I suppose. But so what? Its my image and my family (or client or band or pet or whatever) and if you don’t like it, then you can stuff your cliche soaked sniggering finger up your butt.

This, of course, means I’ll have to stop my sniggering at Instagr.am and the over-worked and over-used filters that seem so popular. I may find them tiresome, but clearly not everyone does. I personally have taken a liking to the Camera+ app, and applied the cliched Ansel Adams filter to my Stalltography images.

After perusing a bunch of holiday photographers’ buying guides, and spending some time with my wife browsing Midwest Photo Exchange in hopes of finding some gift ideas for me, I’ve come to the realization that photography gear isn’t really what I’m craving right now. Here is my holiday wish list that isn’t gear-oriented.

• I wish I understood my own photographic/artistic/personal style. Right now it feels like I’m just shooting whatever stands still long enough in front of my camera. Maybe “shoot whatever you feel like” is a style, but it doesn’t seem like a proper style just yet. I know I like shooting people (I nearly scoffed when someone recently suggested that I take a picture of clouds) but beyond that, I just don’t know.
• I wish I could stop reading photo blog posts about the latest incredibly creative thing someone has just done, and only think about how uncreative I feel. I know I have some creativity, and I have a lot of fun with the images I create. Seeing the work others do shouldn’t discourage me–it should provide inspiration.
• I wish I had clients who raved and raved about my work, then told all their friends who raved and raved, and called me for their next photo shoot. I’m not sure when enough would be enough. I’ve been published a few times. I’ve been called (or e-mailed) out of the blue for portrait sessions. People (even strangers) give me very nice compliments on my work. I just wish there was more of that…
• I wish I didn’t feel the need for external validation with the work I do. If only it could be enough that I enjoyed the processes and the result. I wish I didn’t feel the desire to be ‘in demand.’
• I wish I could dedicate time to connecting with other photographers in a community in a meaningful way. I think I would grow through the experiences of feedback, critique, reinforcement, creative inspiration, etc.
• I wish I could find a mentor–someone who could give me a strong kick in the pants when I need it and encouragement when merited.
• I wish I could stifle my inner photo snob. I know I’m not great, and not every shot is amazing. But there are times when my little critical inner voice thinks snarky thoughts about other photographers’ work. And I have to remind myself, again, that I am not great. When my snarky snob starts to surface, I have to remind myself that even one of my photography idols, Joe McNally, shows a great deal of humility.

So there you have it–the seven things I wish I had as a photographer: style, creative courage, external validation, internal validation, community, a mentor, and humility. Alas, those are all things I need to give myself. No one else can give them to me. I have to find my own way out of the fog.

Oh, and a softbox wouldn’t hurt either.

One of my recent photography gigs has been my most frustrating, by far. My corporate intranet has web pages for the teams in the organization. And the IT organization has decided that they wanted photos of their leaders on the intranet pages. To call them photos is really a bit of a stretch. They’re more like icons. They are 67 pixels wide by 82 pixels tall. This is what that looks like.

Don’t try to click on that image–it doesn’t get any bigger. And the pictures on the web pages don’t get any bigger either. So, we’re posting icons of the leaders on the web page, with a grand total of 5494 pixels. Someone decided that these pictures needed to be a) business professional, b) taken in a professional setting, c) taken by professional quality photographers, and d) it should all be done for free.

A fellow employee and friend of mine offered to take pictures of the IT leadership (CIO->Managers). He’ll do 40+ in a day while he ignores his regular job, probably trying to catch up that night. He did this a number of times, and finally said he needed to take a break because of some pressing project work. When he was asked if anyone could take his place, he suggested me.

So I’ve volunteered to take portraits, attempting to match the style established by my friend. He’s been shooting in a lobby, with empty lobby as the background (the icon above was take in that very location). This works great when folks are moving quickly through the lobby. It’s a bit of a pain when people are just hanging out. I was also told that if people want anything more than the “standard” shot, that they would have to get their needs filled outside of this effort. Could I give them my contact information so that we could work something out away from work? No, was the response. That would be inappropriate. How, I’m still not sure. I wasn’t asking to give people my card for every shot, just to respond if they expressed a need.  In addition, I’m not allowed to add the images I make to my portfolio, even with no identification. The picture above is a coworker who volunteered to help me prepare for the SVP session described below.

That was the deal–constrained look in an awkward location, no recognition, no compensation*, no business building, no portfolio. Just do the job, thank you very much. I still accepted the project thinking it would be good people practice.

I spent one day shadowing my friend, shooting about half of the subjects that he shot, so that I could demonstrate that my images would be as good as his. My images were deemed acceptable, with two exceptions. One subject was leaning too much. My friend had posed him, so I was a bit surprised that the lean was unacceptable. Another subject was inappropriately attired. I knew that when he arrived without a jacket and tie, but figured I’d take his picture anyway to show the quality of the photography, not the quality of the subject. I was told in no uncertain terms that I must not take the picture of someone who isn’t dressed business professional. I must play the role of the heavy and turn them away, rather that let the person posting the image make the final decision. Seemed a bit backwards to me, but OK, whatever.

So my first official head shot was a Senior Vice President who had very little time. I was given a 20 minute window when he might show up, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to have him for that whole time. When he arrived, I was ready to go, having set up and completed the test shot above. Unfortunately, just as he arrived, the lobby filled up with several people. So I chit-chatted with the SVP, but the people weren’t moving. I waited another couple of minutes, and finally got a moment when there were just two people were in the lobby. I moved in close, knowing that the final image would be cropped very close like the one above, but still had two people in the frame–one on either side of him.

I delivered the photo as shot, and was told that the photo was unacceptable. Two complaints were detailed: it wasn’t “full length” and there were people in the frame. I demonstrated that when the photo was cropped exactly the same way as all the others that the people weren’t in the frame. And who cares about “full length” if EVERY picture is cropped to head-and-shoulders like the one above? Crickets. Instead of using my image, they decided to use an image that they had on file. I was just a little beside myself.

And it didn’t help that I learned all of that the same morning that I had six more people scheduled to have their icons taken. I tried to keep a positive attitude, and remember the requirements even if they made no sense. 1) Don’t get too close, and 2) Absolutely no other people in the frame no matter what.

I completed all the icons, delivered the images two days later, meeting, as best I can tell, all the requirements. I followed up with “Please let me know if you have any concerns about this batch of images.” The only response I got was a dismissive “Thanks Rick.”

So the project so far has been just a bit frustrating. However, I’m learning lessons about working with people, just like I’d hoped. It just isn’t the subjects I’m learning to deal with, but the client.

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* I get paid my normal wage, so I’m not really complaining. But for the project working on this, the photography is free because my time is billed to my team. It’s just a bit amazing that they are so uptight about the requirements, making non-trivial demands on the photographer time, but unwilling to actually dedicate some money for it.

Here’s a new self-portrait, and a color photo to boot, contrary to my recent trend in black-and-white. Mostly this was a picture about my mustache. Its itchy, and driving me a little crazy. I still love how it completely conflicts with how most people see me–straight-laced, kinda nerdy/geeky, clean-cut sort of guy… with a biker ‘stache. And yes, I had to throw in a little Ansel Adams book to make it meta-photography as well–an obviously self-aware self-portrait even if I wasn’t looking at the lens.

There’s also a new experiment with the watermark. I’ve got several new fonts I’m going to play with. This one seems a bit whimsical while still being incredibly uptight. My dad and grandfather labeled their stuff with old-school label makers. I did too, until the early ’80s. So to me its funny, retro, and conservative all at the same time. I’d love to hear what you think about it, either here or on Facebook.

You’ll notice I didn’t ask for comments on Flickr. When I went to post this picture to Flickr, I noticed that one of my previous self-portraits had only 2 views. That same picture on Facebook garnered six Likes and several comments. (Yes, I’m a ‘Like’ slut. Sue me.) Not massive attention, but still better than two views on Flickr.

So I now pronounce, based solely on my personal subjective anecdotal perspective, that Flickr is dead. The painful part about that is if “2 views/week = death” then my blog is on life-support. I would give up both my blog and Flickr in a heart-beat if only Facebook gave me a “pro” level account that allowed me to have the kinds of statistical analytics I get with my blog and Flickr. Not that I do anything with the numbers, but I really like knowing, for example that an image search for “volleyball portrait” shows five of my images in the top 30. If Facebook gave me that kind of info, I’d probably drop my blog and Flickr in a heartbeat. As it is, all I get are the crack-like Likes (108 and counting for the Fall Dance set).