The Trouble With Trillium, Part II

I was quite happy to get responses to yesterday’s post regarding my difficulty with taking photographs of Trilliuim that were both helpful and humorous. Today, I thought I would show a close up image of the flower and talk a little more about Trillium in general.

I think this shot really portrays the feel and shape of the flower. With the advice I got, I also hope to be able to portray them as they live in their ‘community’.

Trillium
Copyright Howard Grill

I will let everyone know when they finally do emerge here. It is usually at the end of March or beginning of April.

I also wanted to mention an entry that I read on someone else’s blog. I would surely provide a link if I could only remember where I read it. At any rate, the post really demonstrated to me how the internet has shortened the distance between people and how it also lets us more clearly appreciate geographical differences. This particular post dealt with the author seeing someone picking a Trillium flower in the Pacific Northwest. Apparently, it was noted, these flowers are not very common there at all and, in fact, are protected by law. They grow by the truckload here, and I was surprised by how limited my vision was to think that they must therefore be plentiful all over. It was a bit eye opening to see just how centrist I could be, particularly since I consider myself quite 'conservation minded'.

By the way, I am not at all implying that the flowers should or could be picked here just because they are plentiful! The flowers are meant to be where they are naturally growing, and if anyone wants some they can purchase cultivated plants.

Of interest, a quick internet search tells me the flowers are also protected in Western Canada and, although I couldn’t find a specific reference, I believe they are protected in large portions, if not all of, the US as well.

Six more weeks of winter, maybe less……

Addendum: Just before posting this I found one more interesting web page about Trillium which includes information about its protection as well as about how its seed is spread. That page is here.

The Trouble With Tribbles.....I Mean Trillium, Part 1

I think you probably have to be at least 40 years old to get the weak joke reference in the title. Well, either a ‘regular person’ over 40 or a rabid Star Trek fan. (Kirk: “Scottie, let’s get this post back on course.” Scottie: "But, Cap’n, I’m given her all she’s got.”) All right, I'm sorry, but I just couldn’t help myself.

Six weeks or so left to winter.....please let it be over. Some folks just thrive out in the cold. Me, I despise it. I try to force myself to get out and photograph, but I find it exceedingly difficult to do so. Every winter I say that this is going to be the year I get out into the cold and get some really great winter images. I do go, but it ends up being only two or three times. I enjoy myself when I go, but it is exceedingly hard to motivate myself to get out there.

But it is almost over, no matter what the groundhog said, and that makes my thoughts turn to the multitude of gorgeous spring wildflowers that we are blessed with here in Western Pennsylvania. And the first ones to emerge are generally Trillium. For those who are unfamiliar with them, take a look here. (As an aside, finding that page is truly fate. I couldn’t believe the page started with a Star Trek reference. It just happened to be the first Trillium website that came up when I Googled 'Trillium'!)

The purpose of this post is to ask for some advice regarding a problem I have with photographing the flower. I ask for advice now, before they emerge, so that I might have some assistance in solving the problem.

However, before I explain the problem, let me first state that I am about to break a taboo; one that I actually think should be broken much more often. I am about to show you some bad photos. These are some of my duds that I would never plan to show an audience. But reviewing failure is, I think, an important step in self-improvement.

Trillium grows in large patches. When you look at them, your mind sees a field of unbroken flowers. But the camera sees differently. I think I see a 'sea of unbroken white flowers' with trees ‘poking up’ between them. The camera’s reality is that the flowers are spaced far enough apart in the field so that there is ‘too much’ space between them to give an image the feel of ‘a sea of unbroken white’. In addition, since they are among the first flowers to emerge, there is always a lot of ground clutter (dead leaves etc) that can be seen between them. What I seem to end up with are images that look like this:

Mediocre Trillium Images

Not at all compelling, not particularly good, and, additionally, they don't convey the feel I am looking for at all. I have made successful close ups of the flowers, but I would like to portray the larger scene as it feels to me.

I have tried using a wide angle lens, but then there seems to be too much empty space filled with clutter, even if I move up very close to a foreground flower. I have tried a long lens to compress the space between flowers, but then I get too few in the frame to give the ‘large never ending sea’ feel.

Perhaps there is no good solution and this is just the way that nature has given us these beauties, to be enjoyed as they grow. But if anyone has any ideas that I might be able to use to help convey what I am after, I would certainly appreciate it.

Oh, and will someone please add to the comment section what a ‘tribble’ is for those under 40 or I’ll be forced to do it myself!

LensWork: A Journal, Not A Magazine

If you have a passion for photography, or, for that matter, any artistic medium, and do not read LensWork magazine, I would highly recommend that you stop reading this post for a moment (yes, it's that important :>) and visit this page of the LensWork website instead.....but please do come back!

LensWork is a magazine (actually, journal sounds like a better word, as a magazine sounds like something you throw away, and you won’t) that deals purely with the creative aspects of photography.

What you won't find:

Equipment reviews
How-to articles
Technique articles
Advertisements

What you will find:

Articles about creativity and the creative process
Wonderful black and white photographic portfolios (usually three or four per issue)
Cutting humor (c’mon, you know it’s there….Bill Jay’s endnotes, what a great way to end each issue!)
Ideas worth thinking about and discussing

In my opinion, it is simply the best photography journal available today. I look forward to the arrival of each and every issue and can say with total honesty that I read it, literally, from cover to cover. My only complaint is that I wish it were published even more frequently than every other month. It is a bargain at any price.

By the way, take a look at LensWork Extended as well. It is a multimedia extension of the magazine with extended portfolios, interviews with the photographers, exceptional video presentations and articles that are not in the print version. When I first purchased Extended, I wondered if it would be repetitious paired with the print version. Trust me, it is not. It is a whole additional experience that, again, would be worthwhile at many more times the actual cost.

LensWork, the journal as well as the Extended Version, will keep you thinking and open your mind to new possibilities. I don’t know of any better compliment that one can give to a magazine, er.....journal.

It’s All In Your Head

I’m a “head case”….at least I find that I do a good bit of photography in my head! I mentioned in yesterday’s post that my wife gave me the ‘what have you been drinking look’ when I asked her if she could see a blue color cast to the snow. Well, in reality, I really do know what she was thinking at the time, and it was along the lines of “you’re doing photography in your head again, aren’t you?”

Often, most of us who pursue photography with a passion have other careers or professions that limit the amount of time we can devote to the photographic arts. We need to make compromises. George Barr, in his blog, made an extremely eloquent post entitled Career, Family, and Photography that is well worth reading in this regard.

However, at the same time that we know we must make compromises, we also know that one can’t expect to go out and slip right into the groove of composing great images when it’s been some time since we last picked up a camera. It just doesn’t work that way. It takes a while to get back “into the zone”.

One of the things that I find myself doing that helps to keep in tune is, as my wife knew, doing photography in my head. While driving to work, I often find myself carefully looking at the scenery going by and picking out images, thinking about how I might compose them. I also listen to some of the great photography podcasts that I have listed in the blog sidebar (more of these to come) while in the car. I try to keep looking at and evaluating images from books that are in my ‘photographic library’ as well as from several photography magazines that I subscribe to (more on these later as well).

I do think there are ways to practice the art without actually being out in the field. Is it as good a way to keep photographically limber? Not by a long shot, but sometimes a good compromise is the best we can hope for.

Can Photographers See What Others Don’t?

With all the snow we have been having here recently, I have made an interesting observation which makes me wonder how very different photographers might be from the rest of the world (said only somewhat tongue in cheek).

For many, many years I saw snow as white. At that time, I had already put down my camera for several decades in order to pursue career training. Several years ago, when I finally had the opportunity to rekindle my prior interest in photography, it soon became very apparent that snow, while white, often appeared to have color casts on the slide film that I was shooting at the time. The color cast on the snow depended on such factors as weather conditions and sky color, the specific location of the snow (in sun or in shade), or what color object was nearby.

At the current time, odd as it may seem, I believe I have started to train myself to see at least some of these casts before taking the photograph. This is particularly true in the early morning when the snow may have a slightly blue cast on it before sunrise (that is, during the very few ‘blue sky’ winter days that we have here). Likewise, if I am still out shortly after sunrise it seems obvious that the snow, if not shaded, has a warm color cast to it.

The other morning I asked my wife if she noticed that the snow had a slightly bluish appearance. I got a very odd look in return (the what have you been drinking look). Nonetheless, now that I know what I am looking for, I can see it......not all the time, and not spontaneously. But when I think about it and look very carefully.....well, there it is.

Certainly photographers and artists have a unique way of looking at the world, noticing details and shapes that others might not. In addition to seeing those types of details, I think that, as photographers, it is also quite possible to train ourselves to see other facets of the physical world, such as color casts, that others simply don’t because they have not looked long enough, hard enough, or with an open enough mind.

Curves

The last few days worth of blog posts have been about pretty ‘heavy’ ideas. I’m worn out from it! I need a few days of simpler stuff.

Compositional elements. OK, that can get pretty involved as well, but at least one doesn't have to get overly philosophical. And to get deeper into the elements of composition I can strongly recommend a look at some of Gloria Hopkins’ excellent articles here, here, here, and here. By the way, more about Gloria next week.

But for now, the word of the day is ‘curves’. I think the curved line is one of the most elegant of compositional elements and there are many ways of having it presented within an image.

Nature's Curves
Copyright Howard Grill

As opposed to the more linear aspects of composition, I find that the presence of smooth and gentle curves can add or accentuate the feeling of peace in an image, as opposed to harsh lines and diagonals that can sometimes be used to add tension. I find it very intriguing that certain graphic elements can really effect the underlying ‘feel’ of an image.

Art & Fear, Epilogue

Honestly, I really wasn’t planning to do a third post about Art & Fear. However, the book so nicely addressed some of the excellent comments that have been made, that I felt the need to take the opportunity to add a few more quotes.

Mark raised the superb question (check out his blog called Notes From The Woods) that:

“………I can understand the perfection aspirations of our own work - but what about when we look at another photographer's image, perhaps one of our "heros" - and label that as perfect? We establish a previsualization of "perfection" and then attempt to get there ourselves. Then we will probably subject ourselves to disappointing image after image trying to achieve, perhaps not a replication of the same image, but one that achieves that status in our own eyes…….”

Bayles and Orland make a wonderful observation about comparisons to other, perhaps more accomplished and/or famous, artists:

“But the important point here is not that you have – or don’t have – what other artist’s have, but rather that it doesn’t matter. Whatever they have is something needed to do their work – it wouldn’t help you in your work even if you had it. Their magic is theirs. You don’t lack it. You don’t need it. It has nothing to do with you. Period.” (page 34).

I realize this is not exactly a specific response to the comment, as Mark really questions the use of another’s work as a standard of perfection as opposed to comparing one’s inner talent to someone elses, but, still, it partially addresses the issue in what I feel is a rather remarkable way.

Dave wisely commented that:

“I have taken to sitting in my local state park and concentrating on the things that I feel the park offers to me personally. Birds, sounds, feelings etc. and working on getting the shots that best portray that emotion to me. I know folks that visit want to see the main attractions and mostly they blow through the area without giving thought to what is going on around them. That is the part that makes up "my personal portfolio". From that point on if someone chooses to like my work, then they are getting a piece of me.”

Somewhere in Art & Fear there is a comment that uses your phrase almost exactly, about people getting a piece of the artist when they like or buy an artist’s work. I wish I could find the exact phrase they used…..I wonder why I didn’t highlight that one. However, I did highlight this quote that also applies:

"And so you make your place in the world by making part of it – by contributing some new part to the set. And surely one of the more astonishing rewards of artmaking comes when people make time to visit the world you have created. Some, indeed, may even purchase a piece of your world to carry back and adopt as their own. Each new piece of your art enlarges our reality. The world is not yet done.” (page 69).

Adiemus (check out her blog) notes:

“I paint, and although I start a painting with a concept in mind, by the time it's 'finished' (is it ever finished?) although it may still convey a sense of the original concept…….”

Is it ever finished? What a great question….one that has apparently plagued many artists, including Bayles and Orland who say:

“The really critical decisions facing every artist – like, say, knowing when to stop – cannot be learned from viewing end results.”

Again, I just felt like I had to throw a few more quotes out there. Get the book. ‘Nuff said. I promise that is the end. Tomorrow, no more Art & Fear!

Art & Fear, Part II

If you haven’t already read yesterday’s blog entry (Art &Fear, Part I) I would like to humbly request that you back up a day and give it a quick read rather than start in the middle……Great..... all caught up…then off we go.

In a prior post I had expressed concern about the fact that once you have made more than one image you were likely to have favorites. Bayles and Orland address this, noting that:

“The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars.” (page 5).

In regards to the fact that the more one learns and understands, the more questions get asked:

“Having come this far, it’s tempting to try to bring this idea to closure by resolving all those leads into a single clear, concise, fundamental, finely honed answer. Tempting, but futile. Answers are reassuring, but when you’re onto something really useful, it will probably take the form of a question.” (page 113).

And, ultimately:

“In the end it all comes down to this: you have a choice (or more accurately a rolling tangle of choices) between giving your work your best shot and risking that it will not make you happy, or not giving it your best shot – and thereby guaranteeing that it will not make you happy. It becomes a choice between certainty and uncertainty. And curiously, uncertainty is the comforting choice.” (page 118).

I truly wish that I had read this book much sooner. It is an interesting read. Interesting, that is, if you are not a maker of art, but, rather, an observer of art. To the observer on the outside with a desire to examine the artistic process, it will surely give insight into what thoughts and struggles go on in the mind of an artist trying to achieve his or her vision of the world. Perhaps more importantly, it goes far beyond interesting…I would even say enlightening….if you are a maker of art. If you are “living an artistic life” and are “on the inside” trying to fathom how to best understand and deal with the inner conflicts and uncertainties that producing art entails then sitting down with this book is surely more than interesting; it is a way to gain a greater understanding of one’s artistic self.

Art & Fear is certainly a wise investment at only 10 bucks. And if you are anything like me, in very short order your copy will be dog-eared, highlighted, underlined or whatever it is that you do when you want to be able to come back to something time and again.

Art and Fear, Part I

If you have read some of my recent blog posts you have probably noticed that they've been a bit on the philosophical side lately. That is probably because I have been reading Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland.

First things first. I have to thank Billie for coaxing me into finally buying and reading the book. It had been on my “To Read” list for some time, but ended up being one of those books that I just never seemed to get to. Billie’s comments on some of my prior posts convinced me to finally get to it. It was clearly a mistake to have put it off for so long!

Anyway, turns out I’m perfectly normal. All the issues that concerned, confused and, even to a certain extent, tortured me are all par for the course….the course of (OK, having read the book, I can say it) being an artist. It would, after all, seem that if you take your photography seriously you are an artist, even if you don’t make your living from it. It would appear that all the fears and confusion that I have ever had regarding my photographic work is all normal, expected and even, dare I say, healthy and perhaps even integral to being an artist.

I believe that, without question, this is a book that all artists should read. And I think that the definition of "an artist" could and should be used quite loosely here. My wife does a good deal of objective, formal research writing and I have even recommended it to her. She writes. Good writing is an art. And, truly, you have to immediately love any book that starts off with the following quote from Gene Fowler. “Writing is easy: all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead”.

It is exceedingly difficult to talk about Art & Fear without quoting from it. I thought what I would do is to choose several of the issues that have been troublesome to me (and that have been reflected in past blog entries) and use quotes from the book as commentary that addresses those particular issues. I will clearly note the material that is being quoted from the book.

First, and this would fall into the fear and uncertainty category, I tend to look at my finished work and think that it isn’t ‘good enough’, that it could be better, that it could ultimately be perfect if only I made a few more adjustments etc., as described in this post and in this one as well.

David Bayles and Ted Orland address this issue several times:

“All that you do will inevitably be flavored with uncertainty—uncertainty about what you have to say, about whether the materials are right, about whether the piece should be long or short, indeed about whether you’ll ever be satisfied with anything you make. Photographer Jerry Uelsmann once gave a slide lecture in which he showed every single image he had created in the span of one year, some hundred-odd pieces—all but about ten of which he judged insufficient and destroyed without ever exhibiting.” (page 19)

“If you think good work is somehow synonymous with perfect work, you are headed for big trouble.” (page 29)

“Nonetheless, the belief persists among some artists (and lots of ex-artists) that doing art means doing things flawlessly—ignoring the fact that this prerequisite would disqualify most existing works of art. Indeed, it seems vastly more plausible to advance the counter-principle, namely that imperfection is not only a common ingredient in art, but very likely an essential ingredient” (page 30).

“To demand perfection is to deny your ordinary (and universal) humanity, as though you would be better off without it. Yet this humanity is the ultimate source of your work; your perfectionism denies you the very thing you need to get your work done.” (page 30).

In this post, I had raised the issue of working on a long term project. An excellent comment was made that mentioned the difficulty of working for long periods of time when there is uncertainty regarding the outcome. This uncertainty can sometimes erode motivation. Regarding this issue of uncertainty Bayles and Orland comment:

“Uncertainty is the essential, inevitable and all-pervasive companion to your desire to make art. And tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite for succeeding” (page 21)

To Be Continued

Predictions

I find it intriguing that I can’t seem to predict what photographs people are going to like. Before I started selling some of my prints, I knew what I liked and I thought I knew what images others would find appealing. In fact, I was sure I could predict which images would sell and which would not.

I was wrong. Very wrong. I am not quite sure what this means. Clearly, the obvious reason is that people just have different tastes; different even within a specific genre of photographs, like landcapes. During the few art shows where I have offered my work for sale, I have witnessed large errors in my predictions about what images I thought people would purchase.

A couple could be really examining a print, while inside I might be saying “not that one, that one isn’t even close to being my best work, not one of my favorites”, and yet they are strongly attracted to it. Please don't misunderstand, I am not putting images out there that I don't think are my strongest efforts, it is just that by the time you make more than one image there are some that, for one reason or another, you tend to prefer.

While somebody is looking at a print I may be thinking “this portion of the image is too light…or dark….or lacks enough detail….or isn’t as colorful as it should be” and they are (hopefully) thinking “this really makes me feel ______or this really conveys a feeling of ______(fill in the blanks).

Perhaps the artist has to put their work out there and then ‘let go’ of it. Maybe, in some way, the umbilical cord needs to be cut so that when an image is completed there is no longer constant re-evaluation of the work. Certainly critical assessment is important, but there is surely a point at which it may become counterproductive.

I think that it is very likely that an artist or photographer can get too attached to their images and what went into their making; to the point that it can obscure, at least in my mind, why it was that I had decided to make a print in the first place and what it was meant to convey. Maybe, to really appreciate one’s own work, you have to first learn how to let it go and then come back to it free of all the baggage!

Skyscrapers

Skyscrapers are one of the reasons that I enjoy photographing in an urban setting. There are just so many ways to compose an image with them that you could stand in one location and experiment for hours.

Despite the fact that skyscrapers have easily identifiable outlines, I find that my favorite images of them are ones that are taken when I consider them in the abstract; by removing from my mind the fact that they are buildings and, instead, consider them as lines, shapes and colors. Given the number of buildings like this in any major city, there is an almost endless array of composition and images that are waiting to be made.

Image taken In Downtown Pittsburgh
Copyright Howard Grill

As I mentioned in a prior post, I find it interesting that the mind set and compositional ideas I use to photograph the urban landscape are really no different than those that I find myself using to photograph nature. Before venturing out into the city with a camera, I thought they would be very different!

Portfolio versus Project: A Dilemma?

Last week, I listened to the latest Candid Frame interview...excellent as usual. William Neill was being interviewed, and the discussion turned to assembling a photographic portfolio. There was an aspect of this conversation that intrigued me and, to a certain extent, confused me. I have been thinking about it since (the mark of a good interview….raising as many questions as it answers!)

When assembling a ‘portfolio’, intensive editing is needed to ensure that only one’s best work is used. The concept which was mentioned, and which I wholeheartedly agree with, is that it is better to have too few images that are outstanding than more images which include average photographs. In the latter case, the average ones will lower the overall quality, bringing the outstanding ones down as well.

But how does the idea of a portfolio interact with a defined project? For example, I have been on several workshops across the country and could assemble a portfolio of what I consider to be my best images from these trips. But, one might say, there would be no common theme pulling it all together. Fair enough. Instead, I could assemble separate portfolios with, say, 10-20 of my favorite images from each trip. That way I could have an “Oregon Portfolio”, a “Michigan Portfolio” etc. But to me, this is somewhat problematic because during a one week workshop there is no way to capture the many faces and moods of an area in enough depth to call it a ‘portfiolio’. What about all the seasons, the different weather, different times of day..…can’t do it in a week. I could choose the best shots from each of several trips, but then I am back to lacking a common thread.

Which brings me to the dilemma that I have been thinking about. As I have mentioned before, I am currently working on a project photographing a local state park. This allows me the opportunity to capture an area during different seasons, in different weather, at different times of day and in different light. It allows for a deep exploration of an area. But, I have to face it, while Western Pennsylvania has a good deal of natural beauty, it is a beauty that is very different from the grand vistas. There are no majestic rugged mountains with long fields of poppies, only small mountains that have been smoothed by weather over the millennia. No raging rivers carved into deep canyons, only small ones. No oceans crashing into sea stacks, only….well, no oceans at all.

So, as I work on my project and choose images to go into that portfolio, I realize that while they do belong grouped together as part of the project, the majority of them would not ‘stand alone’ as beautiful landscape images. It may be the best that this particular park has to offer, but, nonetheless, the majority of the images would not be included as part of a ‘greatest hits’ portfolio.

Questions run through my mind. Are there different ‘reasons’ for different types of portfolios? How does a ‘project’ portfolio differ from a ‘greatest hits’ portfolio? To whom should each be shown? Should they be ‘used’ differently? Throughout photographic history the great photographers have made many moving portfolios in areas that are not ‘stupendous’……. is it just that I am not ‘good enough’ to portray the mundane in a special light?

I am not sure of the answers to all these questions. I do think there is something to be gained by thinking about them. And I do think that by working my way through this project I will have also have begun to at least approach some of these issues. I also feel, rather strongly, that it will help me to grow as a photographer.

Rorschach

The human mind has an uncanny desire and ability to take random lines and shapes and assemble them into something seemingly identifiable. This seems to be an inherent part of human nature. Perhaps the beginning of artistic expression is somehow rooted in this yearning of the mind to assemble input into the ‘known’ category.

Rock Bird
Copyright Howard Grill

When looking at this rock formation I felt like I was looking at an ancient cave painting of sorts…but it was just a rock in a small cliff by the Oregon Shore.

And so I wonder, am I the only one who sees a bird?

Camera Position Podcast

So you already listen to Jeff Curto’s History of Photography Podcast, which I talked about in a prior post. It’s great, it’s informative, it’s entertaining. But say you need more…….more Curto. Well, there is a place where you can get that extra bit more, and it’s his excellent ‘other’ podcast entitled Camera Position.

This is entirely different from the History of Photography classroom lectures. The Camera Position podcast is perhaps best described by Jeff in his own words as “a podcast about the visual and creative processes in photography, not the technical. Using images and the spoken word, my podcasts are about the ‘why’ of photography from the point of view of the creative photographer.”

Always thoughtful and entertaining, the podcasts run about 10-20 minutes, but I guarantee you will be thinking about the topics covered for longer than that.

Over the course of time, I plan to post about more of my favorite podcasts, and when I discuss them will put each one in a new 'Favorite Podcasts' sidebar.

Administrative Announcement: For the moment I have decided to try turning on 'Comment Moderation'. The reason is not that I have received spam or inappropriate comments. The reason is a bit more utilitarian. For the life of me, I can’t get the blogger software to e-mail me the comments that people post. The upshot of this is that, as the number of blog entries grows, and as more comments are made in the blog, it has become impossible for me to know when new comments have been posted with the exception of the most recent post or two.

I just can’t seem to get this fixed and so I am hoping that by turning on “Comment Moderation” all new comments will at least filter through the “Moderated Comment Inbox” enabling me to get a look at each of them. I do enjoy getting comments and hope that this mild inconvenience will not deter anyone from making them. I plan to post them all except for any spam that might come this way.

Thanks for visiting.

Linguistics And Emotion

Images which are decidedly asymmetric often have a different ‘feel’ when oriented in one direction as compared to the other. This is important since it effects the message conveyed by an image and in the digital era it is a trivial matter to flip an image on its horizontal or vertical axis.

In cultures where language is read from left to right, images that ‘flow’ from left to right (or have an isolated subject placed on the left) are said to feel more peaceful than those which have a flow in the opposite, or right to left direction. The theory is that eye movement from right to left goes against the natural tendency for people to ‘read’ an image from left to right, thereby causing a sense of tension. In cultures where written language is read from right to left, the opposite is said to be true.

This can, at times, be used in a subtle fashion to accentuate the feeling we are trying to convey in an image. I am not suggesting that an emotionless image will suddenly come to life if oriented differently, but if an image has something to convey, its orientation may help give it a bit of a nudge in a specific direction.

In an earlier blog post I discussed this image:

In its current orientation, the flow is from left to right. The image, as it was originally taken was actually oriented from right to left as seen here:

Images Copyright Howard Grill

I flipped the image in Photoshop because I felt that there was a subtle change in its feel with the change in orientation. As suggested earlier, the top image flows from left to right and, to me, had a more peaceful feel to it. In other cases, one could well be trying to convey a sense of tension, which might be accentuated by the opposite orientation.

I find the whole idea of the relationship between culture, writing, language and the ‘feel’ of an image quite interesting. Is there a difference in the ‘feel’ of the two images, or am I imagining it based on a preconceived notion?

Jerry Uelsmann Interview

Jerry Uelsmann is known for his surreal images which are assembled from multiple negatives using several enlargers. Though one might initially suspect that his photographs are digitally manipulated, they are, in fact, made using ‘traditional’ darkroom techniques. People often think of image manipulation and montage creation as being a product of the ‘digital revolution’, but it is worthwhile to be reminded every so often that the process existed long before the first pixels were born.

Chris Mahr and Larry Berman interviewed Jerry Uelsmann in November 2006 and recently made the transcript of that interview available on-line. The interview is quite interesting and can be found here.

The entire conversation is an excellent and very worthwhile read. While I don’t want to delay your getting to the interview, I did want to mention one of the comments that I found to be particularly poignant.

When discussing the use of digital versus darkroom technology to manipulate images, Mr. Uelsmann responded, and I quote from the Mahr/Berman interview, “…..young people who are learning digital skills discover that the real challenge is coming up with an image that resonates, first of all, with your self and hopefully, with an audience. They can learn all these new techniques and think that they’re easier to use, but creating great images isn’t about the tools.”

What a great reply….” creating great images isn’t about the tools”. All too frequently people think that it is the new camera or the image editing software that produces the image when it is, in fact, the creativity of the artist. And certainly Mr. Uelsmann has far, far more than his fair share of that!

Shadow Shooting

I went out to take pictures several weeks back and it turned out to be one of those days that nothing seemed to click. Maybe it was where I was looking, maybe it was my attitude, or maybe the light was just a bit harsh. As I was walking along with the sense that this was not going to be one of my more productive outings, some shadows on a concrete wall caught my attention. The interplay of the shadows with the actual tree, with the neutral color of the concrete wall, and with the cracks of the wall somehow seemed interesting, though I really wasn’t quite sure why.

City Trees
Copyright Howard Grill

When nothing seems to want to happen, it is probably a good idea to follow the slightest premonition, so I spent some time photographing the shadows against the wall.

It strikes me that photographing shadows is also a good idea for when the light just isn’t so great. Since a bit of contrast can be useful for accentuating shadows, photographing them can be accomplished in light that is somewhat harsh. If necessary, the contrast and color temperature of the image can then be adjusted in Photoshop.

As I reviewed the images I took that day, I found something appealing in the idea of images of ‘phantom’ shadows with perhaps just a touch of the ‘real’ object in the picture as well. Now that I have this idea, I think I can do better than this.......now that I know what to look for.

A Look Into The Past

Some months back (when it was a bit warmer than it is now), a friend and I spent a day exploring some of the back alleys of Pittsburgh. They are a fascinating place, as I am sure they are in almost any city. Besides their ‘gritty’ nature, one of the things that I found very interesting is that, because they are not seen by most of the world, the backs of buildings are often not ‘updated’ in the same way as the fronts. The walls in back are often less painted over, not repaired, and there are no new facades or décor. In some ways, it is a bit like a trip back in time, as you can often get a sense of what the buildings looked like many years ago.

Taken in a Downtown Pittsburgh Alley

Copyright Howard Grill

When I was growing up in New Jersey, my family would often visit relatives in New York. I vividly recall that one of the things that I would see in New York which was different from Jersey were the big buildings that had signs and advertisements painted onto their brick walls. This was so different than a billboard. It had a sense of permanence. It was hand-painted. It was different.

You don’t see that around very much anymore. But sometimes you can get just a hint of the old days if you step into a back alley. For me it was like a look into the past. And it had the added benefit of being an interesting place to take photographs.

The Image Within

I was planning to use a second photo for yesterdays post about monochromatic images. This picture, which was also taken on a workshop to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, is another example of the monochromatic presentation. I didn’t use it yesterday because I remembered something totally different about it that I wanted to share.

Pete's Lake
Upper Peninsula Of Michigan
Copyright Howard Grill

Almost two years ago, I attended Alain Briot and Uwe Steinmueller’s excellent Print Summit and Workshop. As part of that experience, the participants were to bring, for a private critique session with either Uwe or Alain, five or ten images that they had completed prior to the workshop. There was something that really appealed to me about this print, and it is one that I brought to the critique session. It is not easily seen on the small screen, but there is subtle visible detail in the distant land and trees on the right side of the photo. This, as well as the gentle tonal and color changes within the fog, really appealed to me.

The critique I received from Alain was very interesting and quite unexpected. He generally liked the photograph, but with reservation. To him, it didn’t seem to convey a particularly unique vision. One very nice aspect of this session was that he and Uwe actually spent a good amount of time with each participant. The quick “its OK” was therefore not the end of his analysis. As he spent more time with the print, he said that an interesting approach, and one that would more fully ‘personalize’ the image, would be to totally crop out the left side, thereby removing the identifiable land and trees, and use the remaining portion as an abstract involving color and tone. He felt there was a more unique and personal vision contained within the original image.

Abstract Crop
Copyright Howard Grill

I have mixed feelings about this version. Sometimes I really like it, as it focuses on the content of the image that attracted me to it in the first place. Other times I think that it misses by not conveying the experience of having been at the location. However, that might be a feeling that would only be meaningful to me, having been there. I am curious as to what others think about this version of the photo.

Either way, the session was a superb learning experience and one that gave me insight into another way of looking at and thinking about images. I learned an interesting approach and one that I will keep myself aware of in the future.

MonoCHROME

In photography, the term monochrome is often equated with black and white. However, if one looks at the root of the word, it can clearly apply not only to images that are black and white, but also to pictures that are, for all intents and purposes, just one color. I tend to find such images very interesting. To me, they always seem to be very moody and emotive. I also find that, for some reason, my feelings about individual images of this genre tend to be rather strong; I either really like them or really do not care for them at all.

I have noticed that a good many of these types of images tend to be fashion photographs. But I also have seen monochrome used in this way, to a lesser extent, with landscapes, as well as with almost every other kind of photograph. It is a presentation that I don’t use very frequently because I just don’t find that many of my images are, for lack of a better term, harmonious with this technique. But, every once in a while, I find that there is a photograph that seems to work well with the monochromatic presentation. When this is the case, it seems to be very obvious from the start.

Image Taken In Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Copyright Howard Grill

This image was taken in a bog at sunrise. At the time, the whole landscape seemed very magical. It was one of those images where the monochromatic approach seemed to fit from the start. The color seemed to complement the image, allowing it to convey the beauty of the landscape bathed in the light of the rising sun.

If your feelings about these types of images are similar to mine, you probably find that the photo is either quite striking or that you strongly dislike it.

The idea of ‘monochromatic color’ doesn’t seem to work all that often for me, but when it does, it really seems to resonate. I think that, when scanning through one’s images, it might be a worthwhile idea to keep alert for situations where this type of presentation might be applicable. It could make for some interesting images. Images that people will likely either love or hate.

Returning

In yesterdays post, I mentioned that I had thought a building which I visit frequently might be interesting to photograph, and that I had returned to it with my camera in tow. I really wish that I would return more often to places that have struck me as intriguing.

Often times, I will be driving somewhere and see an interesting landscape or location and tuck away in the back of my mind that it is a place that, in the future, would be worth exploring photographically. Unfortunately, much more often than not, I never end up going back. On the occasions that I do return, I usually end up feeling quite happy about having done so, both from the point of view of the photographs I end up taking as well as from the sense of having followed through on an idea that I had.

In fact, I find that I capture at least some interesting images the vast majority of times that I return to such a location. It makes me wonder if that initial positive gut response occurs because the scene or location somehow resonates with me, without my even clearly knowing what exactly the attraction is. That might explain why things seem to ‘click’ when I return with a camera.

Often, however, I never get back to the place that had attracted me. Sometimes I just forget that I had wanted to return. But the majority of the time I just don’t follow up, even when I do remember. There are a million and one excuses. You know them all. I don’t have enough time, I’m working on a different project, it is too inconvenient, etc.. But when I think about it carefully, I realize that in doing so I may be passing up opportunities that have struck an unconscious chord with me and that those opportunities might actually be the very best and most productive ones to follow up on.

Recognizing this, I have started to keep a pen and a small notebook in my car in order to write down where I am, what it is I am seeing, and what kind of photograph I visualized when I get the feeling that I should return to a place in order to take some pictures. I am hoping that this not only eliminates the forgetting, but that it will also act as a gentle reminder to do things that I know I really should get around to. Time will tell whether or not it is effective.

I think that following up on these type of gut reactions is going to be worthwhile and likely to result in some interesting images.

Turn Around And Shoot

Before getting to today’s blog entry, I have a request to make. I have been working, though it is now truly a ‘labor of love’, to make daily posts and to keep this blog fresh, interesting, and, hopefully, enjoyable to read. Needless to say, I am trying to develop a readership. If you find my blog enjoyable, useful (or any other positive adjective), I would certainly appreciate it if you would pass the URL on to a friend that has an interest in photography and who you feel might also like it. Also, please feel free to comment, as it is always nice to know that there really are people out there. Thanks,.......now on to today’s thought.

There are two sayings whose points ended up combined together to lead me to make a few images that I find interesting. These sayings are, and I paraphrase, “If you take an interesting shot, turn around, because the one behind you might be even better” and “Shoot where you are and what you know”.

I have found the quote about turning around to be extremely useful. Once I do find an interesting shot and start making photographs, it tends to get my brain into an image making ‘state of mind.’ Once I get into that ‘zone’, I find that if I look around at what I had already passed up, things start to fall together and I start to see new image possibilities.

The idea of shooting what you know and where you are allows one to really explore a subject , which is one of the concepts that led to my New Year’s resolution to do an in depth study of a local state park that I could easily visit again and again (though easy is relative, as it is still an hour’s drive away).

Combine the two ideas and you get these images:

Images Taken In Downtown Pittsburgh
Copyright Howard Grill

The photos are of a building where I work one day a week. I have been spending time there for years. One day, while leaving work, I was thinking about doing some urban shooting and was contemplating what images might be had right where I was, as it was a place that I could easily get to if the lighting or weather looked interesting. Then I turned around and saw the building I had been working in for years in a 'new light'. I ended up coming back with my camera one morning specifically to take shots of that particular location.

The sayings reflect two thoughts that are certainly worth considering and that might well lead to making some interesting photographs.

Transience

As humans, we tend to think of time in years; as measurable portions of our own lives. Though we know that the ‘grand landscape’ is a ‘work in progress’ that has been formed by millennia of continuous exposure to wind, water and the other forces of nature, we nonetheless tend to consider it as static. I suppose that is a fair, even utilitarian, way of thinking; one that I am just as ‘guilty’ of as the next person. After all, we are unlikely to see any obvious changes to the appearance of the Grand Canyon in our lifetime.

Nonetheless, perhaps once or twice in a lifetime are we are able to see a sudden and significant change in what we had considered in our thoughts to be immutable. Such was recently the case for me.

On the same trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on which I took the picture discussed in yesterday’s blog entry, I also had the chance to photograph Miner’s Castle. This distinctive rock formation is very easy to get to and is one of the more famous of the many that can be found along the Lake Superior shore. At the time that I happened to be there, the light was not particularly amenable to taking dramatic images. Like the rest of the tourists that dropped by that day, I clicked off a snapshot or two while enjoying the view. The image below is not much more than a documentary type photograph of the location (see below for an explanation of the black circle). It is not a site that I had expected to change very much.

Miner's Castle
Upper Peninsula Of Michigan
Copyright Howard Grill

But it did change. Shortly after I had been there, one of the rock turrets collapsed into Lake Superior. The formation will never look the same. Though I have not been back since the collapse, I was able to find a more current image. The image below is from the National Park Service, and was taken after the collapse. On my photograph, I have circled the area that is now lost forever.

Miner's Castle
Current Appearance
National Park Service Photo

This is not an overly dramatic change in the rock formation, as the main structure still stands, but it is one that means something if you have ever been there. And it is enough to illustrate that nothing ever stays the same forever.

Clone Is Not A Four Letter Word

In some circles, clone is considered a dirty word. I am, of course, referring to Photoshop’s clone tool. There seems to be several camps, or schools of thought, regarding this issue.

On the one hand, there are photographers such as Stephen Johnson whose philosophy is not to make any changes whatsoever to a scene after the photograph is taken. In one interview, he mentioned that he hadn’t noticed a piece of garbage (as I recall, it was a paper cup or soda can) that was in an image of his that ultimately became the cover shot for one of his books. His publisher asked him to remove the relatively small piece of trash and he refused to do so. Though I would not have had a problem with cloning the item out of the image, I respect his decision not to and, moreover, am a great admirer of his. I just don’t carry the same philosophy when it comes to cloning.

On the other hand, there are those who would clone things, both alive and dead, in and out of an image without so much as a second thought. This type of cloning could result in an image that is beyond the realm of reality, the classic example being that of cloning a polar bear into a rain forest.

Then there is the middle ground, which is where I personally stand. What exactly is middle ground to me….I guess therein lies the rub. What is middle for me might be too much to one side or the other for someone else. I recognize that it really shouldn’t matter to anyone else exactly where I stand, but I do think it is important for each individual to give this some thought and determine exactly where it is that they stand.

Before elaborating on my specific thoughts, I have a confession to make. This is the image I used in yesterday’s blog entry:

Copyright Howard Grill

Here is what it looked like before I used the clone tool:

Copyright Howard Grill

It may not be very obvious in the small image as seen on a web page, but there is a fallen tree in the water that I cloned out. It appears more prominent on a large print. There had been a storm the night before this image was taken. I had been on a workshop at the time, and when we arrived at the scene our leader told us that he had never seen a tree in the water there before, despite having been at this particular location many times. He thought it had probably fallen during the previous night’s storm and would likely be washed away within a few weeks. To me, the tree was a clear distraction that hampered the image. I cloned it out. I felt comfortable doing so. I don’t believe it changed the meaning of the image. If one went to the same location today or, for that matter, the day before the photograph was taken, the tree would not be an issue.....it simply wouldn’t be there.

I believe that we should all think about where we stand on this. Don’t get me wrong. The point of this post is not to try to convince anyone what side of the line they should stand on, but merely that they should think about the reasons that lead them to stand where they do.

Here are my personal opinions. I reserve the right to think through them again and change my mind. I think this can be an ongoing thought process.

1) No changes to the scene should be made at all, in any way whatsoever, if the image is to be used for photojournalistic or scientific research purposes. These uses of an image, in my mind, are not art and demand complete accuracy. Such uses carry with them an implicit ‘guarantee’ from the photographer that the image represents complete truth, within the bounds that a ‘straight’ photograph allows.

2) If the photograph is being used as art, and if the alterations made to the scene do not change the meaning of the image, I personally have no qualms with manipulation. Of course, one can then get into arguments regarding whether a specific alteration does or does not change meaning. Who makes that decision?

3) If the photograph is being used as art, and if the alterations do change the meaning of the image, I believe there should be a clear indication that the image was altered. I have no personal issue with making such changes but do think it should be clear that there is a component of the image that is not ‘real’. The polar bear in the rain forest would fit this category. Others, of course, would argue that if the photographer has not made a claim that the image is ‘real’ it is not his/her fault that viewers assume that it is.

4) If the image is of wildlife in captivity, I believe that the fact that the animal was captive should be indicated. Even though the meaning of the scene may not be altered and the image is being used as art and not documentary, there is a real chance that it might ultimately be used to try and understand actual habitat or behavior that exists in the wild. Again, I don’t mean to imply that game farms or zoos should not be used as a source of images, only that it should be clear if they were.

This can’t possibly cover each and every possibility. The middle ground is far too large. What about Art Wolfe cloning an extra zebra or two into his now controversial image that serves as the cover for his book ‘Migrations’? It didn’t change the meaning of a herd of zebras. The book clearly stated that there was some digital manipulation (that is my understanding, I don’t personally own it). Why the big hubbub? There is no right answer, only shades of gray.

I believe that the best we can do is to give careful thought to the issue. The fact that such changes can be made might well be lamented by many, but the genie is out of the bottle and it’s not going back.

Rocks In The Big Picture

In a prior post, I spoke about photographing rocks as macro subjects. In those images, the rocks served as a source for abstract compositions. However, it goes without saying that rocks themselves can become a central part of a grander landscape photograph. I am not talking about merely the obvious example of, say, an image of huge mountains, where the interest lies in one's amazement at the grandeur of the mountain range. I am also speaking of where the rocks themselves are so beautiful that, in aggregate, they become one of the image’s focal points. This is typical of many pictures taken in the American Southwest. Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to photograph at a slightly more obscure and less traveled location that, like the Southwest, has rocks that, because of their rather unique appearance, can become a central part of an image.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Copyright Howard Grill

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a 70,000 square acre park located along 42 miles of Lake Superior’s shore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan . Along much of the lakeshore there are beautiful sandstone cliffs which are constantly changing, being eroded by the powerful waves of Lake Superior (whose waters are freezing cold, even in August). These cliffs are panoplies of odd color, which is a result of mineral staining that has turned them various shades of brown, tan, and even green. From what I have read, the staining is caused by iron, manganese, limonite, and copper dissolved in the waters of the lake. The color is even more intense in the evening because the warm light of the setting sun directly illuminates the cliffs and almost seems to make them glow.

Pictures often bring back memories to the photographer; memories that play no role for the viewer. This is one of those pictures. I had to hike through about a half mile of thick mud along a narrow trail to reach this particular location. But it was well worth it.

The Matte Aesthetic

One of the nice attributes of digital photography is that it allows for one to do their own printing. Of course, this can get out of hand, as I described in my post about being a perfectionist. Nonetheless, the advent of high quality inkjet printers and image editing software has now given us unprecedented control over the appearance of our images, perhaps even more so than the wet darkroom.

Once an image has reached the stage where it is ready to be printed, the first decision that has to be made is….printed on what. Assuming that the answer, as it will likely be in 99% of cases, is printed on paper, then the obvious question is……what paper? And that is where the fun begins.

First, let me back up a bit. I print with an Epson 7600 Ultrachrome printer. The 7600 uses separate types of black ink for optimal printing on matte paper on the one hand and semi-gloss to glossy paper on the other. Unfortunately, at any one time, the printer can only be loaded with one of these two types of black ink. While it is theoretically possible to change over from one to the other, it is quite a hassle to do so, and also results in wasting a significant volume of rather expensive ink. For all intents and purposes, from a practical standpoint, when I got the printer I needed to make a decision as to whether I wanted the vast majority of my prints to be on matte or glossy paper.

I chose matte. I like the matte aesthetic. Without question, the semi-gloss to glossy paper alternative is equally valid. But matte paper has, for me, very appealing attributes. The image tends to take on a very ‘painterly’ appearance that looks quite unlike a traditional photograph. Of course, there is nothing ‘wrong’ with a traditional photograph; after all, we are ‘photographers’. However, to me, the aesthetic of matte paper seems to give the image a rather unique quality that sets it apart, in a positive way, from the images we are used to seeing on a daily basis.

There are a whole host of different types of matte papers available, ranging from bright white (using optical brighteners) to more natural colored rag papers and even papers with a slightly creamy underlying tint. Personally, I tend to use a slightly creamy paper for images where I want to impart a bit of a warm tone, such as images involving autumn color. In images where I want to maximize contrast I will use either a natural toned or very white paper, as the picture’s whitest white can only be as bright as the underlying paper the image is printed on.

Beyond the visual, however, there is something else even more ephemeral. Tactile sensation. A factor that I find as important as the paper color and brightness is the paper’s thickness and texture. There is something very satisfying about holding a photograph printed on heavyweight paper in one’s hands. There is a certain feeling of ‘permanence’ it seems to impart to the image. The choice of smooth versus textured paper also effects the tactile sensation of viewing the print. In effect, looking at the print starts to move beyond a purely visual experience and becomes one that also involves the sense of feel. It is unfortunate that a good deal of this aspect of the image is lost when the print is matted and framed under glass. Even then, though, the paper texture still has an effect on the visual appearance of the image.

To be sure, there are some downsides to printing on matte paper. Because of the way ink is absorbed onto the paper, images on matte paper, while sharp, are generally not as ‘razor’ sharp as those on glossy paper. Likewise, the saturation, or, for lack of a better word, the brilliance or contrast of an image is higher on glossy paper. Because of the lower contrast appearance on matte paper I do find it somewhat more difficult to get an optimal softproofing in image editing software and often have to use curves to increase the contrast more than I had anticipated. However, I personally feel that the gain in contrast tends to benefit the image more than a very slight loss in highlight or shadow detail, at least in most images. Finally, I do very little ‘people photography’, but do tend to like the appearance of portraits a bit more on semi-gloss or glossy paper.

It is certainly a matter of personal opinion, but I find that the aesthetic of matte paper is one that has a great deal of appeal to me.