Nice shot Rich. If the boat were not moving, creating a wake, with the
cloud just right, there would not be the same suggestive meaning. If
there was no photographer there in that moment, would it have happened?
I like Winslow Homer and the Wyeths. I also think their work is closer
to photography, in that they depict life and the world around them.
I think I've probably answered my own question on art and light by
listening to what I wrote. Perhaps what is art is a personal matter.
Certainly for me the pursuit will require being persistent.
Returning to water color painting has shown me a number of things that
affect the way I see. For instance, the mind will fill in detail if you
give the right suggestive strokes. In water color painting, you have to
pay attention to the negative space, almost like a negative, in that
you don't directly paint the subject, but you paint the space around
the subject. This in turn changes the way I see a scene when
photographing. I instinctively pay more attention to the elements
around a subject, things that help define or suggest the subject.
There is an editing procedure a friend of mine does to help determine
the value of a photo, for him. The same friend who told me the
importance of editing one's work in order to know what their next step
is. He has a rack he places photos on where he sees them every day.
Some photos go on the rack and come off in a few days. Others have been
there much longer. Some almost a year. This tells him whether the photo
has staying power and not just a temporary fascination. Sometimes
fascination with a subject can obscure a more objective vision. (of
course there is always a place for the quick photo gratification.)
I picked up a premier issue of American Artist Drawing magazine. One
artist shoots a lot of photos of people, then attempts to paint them,
taking the painting beyond the photo. (artist Carrie Ballantyne). She
edits her photos as follows, [After getting the pictures developed in
B&W (to avoid being influenced by color), she begins the culling
process. "I go through them quickly at first," she says, "and whatever
grabs me I immediately set in the 'possibles' file. Then I cull again,
and again. ..."] She is looking for what draws her passion. She says
"Without passion there's no power in what you're trying to do, and
without power it's lifeless." I think it is interesting, that even
though she paints in color, the first step is viewing in B&W.
I find editing difficult, so I will just keep at it. The important
thing being inexplicably drawn to photographing. I doubt I will loose
my photographic bias toward light in art. I don't have preconceived
visions of things I want to photograph, like Galen Rowell and other
photographers talk about, so I will just have to struggle, be there,
discover and edit. I find it interesting that my friend will edit my
photos differently, and like a photo of mine that I would probably
dismiss. Maybe a whole new discussion, how do others edit their work? I
think most people would recognize a great photographic scene when it
occurs... And "photography is a very democratic medium," Nubar has
said. Some photographers are threatened by that, but I don't think
there can ever be too much art in the world.
Wayne
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