Craftmanship

As a group, photographers are passionate people. We are passionate about the reasons why we create, what tools we use, and how our life experiences influence our art. Today’s photographer has a wealth of information at their disposal to elevate their craft through workshops, trade magazines, online forums, and blogs. Everyone of the people behind these excellent resources are as passionate as the next about what is the best way to approach photography.

I couldn’t imagine a better time to be photographing. We are in a true renaissance period of our craft where so much is changing and evolving at an increasing pace. We have tools at our disposal that are nothing short of amazing. There is a large community committed to sharing and elevating each-others work. The clients we create for are more sophisticated than ever.

With all the good, there are still a number of challenges. As of late, one major challenge I have been struggling with is impatience. As a society, we want immediate answers and solutions. We want to be able to type a question into our computer and receive an answer. We want the answer to be fresh and new.

I was working on a project a few weeks ago where I needed to go through all my best images from the last year. After a few hours with my own work, I felt really down on myself. My images weren’t reflecting where I wanted to be as an artist at that moment. I have to remind myself during these times to slow down. Frustration is a part of the creative process. Don’t be afraid to take bad images. Make mistakes. Experiment. Learn from your successes. Push outside your comfort zone. Fail. Get back up. Shoot more images. Time is what develops vision. Shooting thousands of images builds style. Life experiences build artists.

When I first started photographing, I didn’t receive a technical education. I believe there is a big difference in art and craft. My photography education came from spare electives though a liberal arts college. That education emphasized developing a personal vision and voice with which we communicate through our images. Personally, that is the art of photography.

Where I wanted to take my work, I needed to be at least somewhat proficient with my craft as well. I consider one’s craft to be the technical mastery of their camera, digital processing (film and negatives in my college days), and execution of the final print or presentation. I spent hours in the library pouring through books and articles written by the masters of photography. (This was a pre-internet time.) Nothing about the process was fast. Mixing chemicals, souping film, and making test prints gave a person plenty of time to think about where they were going, what went wrong, or how yo do better next time.

This is where I fear I will sound like a grumpy old man. That is not my goal nor who I believe I am. Heck, I am only 34 years old.

A few years ago, I felt the speed of my photography slowing my art down. I spoke with many photographers I admire speak about needing to spend less time with one’s images. Some lectured on how to shoot more images faster. Others spoke about outsourcing color correction and album design. Many proclaimed miracle actions and presets that with the push of a button every image is magically perfect.

For many people, all of the solutions above are the perfect answer for their studio. If you truly hate post production, outsourcing could be the best money ever spent. Personally, I have learned so much from processing my own work. I used to be slow at it. What I learned was how to become a better photographer by not making the mistakes that were taking me so long to “fix” my images. The same is true with album design. By designing my own, I have learned how to document better by learning the images I need to tell a unique story. To this day, I have never seen an action that can connect to my brain, and reproduce the final image I see in my mind. (I am going to save my love/hate relationship with actions for another post. There is only so much grumpy old man one can take in one sitting.)

Embrace your craft. Push forward. Fail. Learn. Create.

Biff Ulm – VADA Photography