I’ve posted the photograph of my portrait chair on a previous blog.
I’m doing so again for reasons that will become apparent…
Many reading this, will have seen presentations by photographers from various genres over the years.
Quite a few of them have given me ideas that I’ve scribbled into the note book - but then later found wasn’t quite my ‘thing’.
That’s not meant as an injustice to those presenters, as in the main they are skilled, wisened and generously share their time and methods to help others along with their own photography.
I’m sure many people have taken a lot more from them!
But only two photographers have really stopped me in my tracks and made me evaluate my approach and it follows influenced my photography.
Their influence remains to this day and one of those photographers didn’t even give a presentation!
In that photographers case, it was more his philosophy for photographing people.
Of course there are other more subtle influences that we all unconsciously pick up as we go through life.
But I can now add a third photographer to the ‘stopped me in my tracks’ list.
Someone whose genre and methods of photography are polar opposite to mine, which makes it more the surprising I think.
Not only that.. it involved.. deep breath.. PHOTOSHOP!
Those regular subscribers to my ramblings will be more than aware of my thoughts on Photoshop.
This week saw a tectonic shift in my thoughts on editing images.
To be fair, I’ve always acknowledged that photoshopping images to whatever extent is a creative choice.
It’s just I like to remain in the ‘authentic’ sphere of photography.
So how has this presentation impacted me?
In essence, the photographer has given me an earth quake like shove towards experimenting with some of the techniques they use and demonstrated.
This particular photographer is a well known and respected name in the creative photography world.
Whilst his images are expressionist in form, if you employ mindful seeing, they also have a sense of texture and well thought out composition and colour which have been done in photoshop.
The results are painterly yet they remain his photographs.
I’m typing as I think here, and I think what attracted me was that very thing, that they were still his photographs.
They hadn’t been turned into a something fantastical.
The photos started out as an abstract texture/shapes, even post edit they were still the same abstract, just presented in a different way that suits his artistic eye.
Whilst I have little experience of a traditional dark room - my time measured in single figure hours in my late teens(!) from what I do remember, everything that he demonstrated could probably been done in a darkroom with some experimentation with chemicals and lights.
Sounds like a rave doesn’t it!
So that opened the next door to get my interest.
Whilst there was some experimentation in his work, there was a thoughtful process as to what worked for his eye and knowledge of how the textures and colours work together.
This is getting quite an arty blog isn’t it!
So he simply filled my head with all sorts of possibilities around how I could use some of these (not all) methods in my own work in photoshop, but retain the authentic essence of the image.
Bottom line, he inspired me to just try it.
For sometime, I’ve been studying other art forms and artists from across the world of the arts, world cinema directors, 1920’s choreographers, and poems dating back to earliest stories in history, all to help inspire me to try something different as per my ‘finding inspiration’ blog.
I've explored expressionism and abstracts too.
But I didn’t know just how to execute the ideas I've had given I always adjust my sails to sail around the deeper oceans of Photoshop.
He told us his journey in photography and I found myself agreeing with everything he said about, and I quote, his ‘calendar’ photos of landscapes.
I have to say his images were lovely, but I understood what he meant when he explained he wasn’t feeling the love for what he was doing and those images weren't expressing what he wanted to with his photography.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking ‘calendar’ photos because it’s part of the journey in establishing your own ‘vibe’.
But at some stage, most people who create ‘stuff’, be it photography, music, novels, pottery etc etc, will want to try something very different to see what happens.
It's true and whenever I hear a band or singer I like bring some out out very different to what they usually do, I think "ahhh they are having a David Bowie 'Laughing Gnome' moment"
But they don't fear failure or indeed seek approval,
Because if they did that, they'd never create new 'stuff'. It'd just be more of the same.
David Lynch, well known for his unique and other worldly like films calls it and I quote ‘catching the big fish’ .
This is where big and unique ideas are buried deep within the mind.
We all have them.
We just need to dangle the right worms to get them to surface.
In the case of David Lynch, he meditates twice a day and has done most of his adult life.
He says most of his ideas stem from that practice.
I’ll be covering ‘deeper’ mindfulness in a later blog, but if we’re really honest with ourselves, we need to go with instinct and undo the chains of acceptance if we want to express our own art.
But doing that, it’s likely you’ll find a golden nugget as you pan your stream of thoughts.
But back to the photographer in question.
He spoke about finding the satisfaction in your craft and the inspirations that can help you find it.
How people once laughed at Picaso, Da Vinci and such like.
The satisfaction he felt creating his work simply for for him came across like a crowd crashing through the doors of Harrods in the New Year sales.
When I was listening to him, my thoughts turned to the photograph of my portrait chair, which I have posted before on a blog.
When I presented this at an exhibition, I heard a few people say “It’s blurred”.
Those comments made me think, should I have taken a ‘sharp’ picture of it instead?
Should I have shown it at all I wondered.
Doug Chinnerys presentation reminded me, I took it because I wanted to.
The photograph is blurred because I wanted it to be.
I wanted it to be for reasons I had in my mind at the time I took it.
Therefore the photograph was an expression of my thoughts - and I've chosen to share the photograph.
It’s not for me to second guess what others may think.
Bottom line. Just do what makes you happy.
Stay tuned for the deep dive into mindfulness blog thats already half written. Even the non believers may find it useful.
Dougs website. https://www.dougchinnery.com/galleries/halcyon-sighs/
