A problem of focus.....

Fellow obsessives ....
My biggest difficulty with photography (other than the fact that I don't have enough time or $$) is my inability to stay with one process/format/subject long enough to master it. I jump from one fascination to another. I'm currently "working on" (means projects I've started and not mastered/completed):
alt printing - cyanotypes; cyanos on fabric; platinum/palladium: gum; gum over cyano; gum over platinum
silver printing - split grade printing mostly on Ilford MGWT; lith on Fomatone, Ilford MGWT, and Maco Superlith; bleaching/re-developing/toning which I need to know alot more about.
My bread and butter subject is pregnancy/babies/families, but I also have some work done on projects on local churches, local parks, beaches and seascapes, running water .....
And then there's still lifes, and the need to get a better grip on lighting, and IR work, and I ought to get to work on that BTZS workbook I picked up second hand, and now I have a new 8X10 camera.....
Let's not even talk about the things I'd like to try and haven't gotten around to.

I'm a dabbler, and I feel it gets in the way of my mastering any one facet, or forming any cohesive artisitic vision. I can lay some of the blame on APUG and other internet sites for this. I never would have heard of lith, or considered gum printing if not for the internet. The flip of this is that I've learnt more/grown more since the web has become my mentor/teacher. I've been working with gum most recently, but I've got alot of stuff I want to print pt/pd and seeing Andrew Moxom's recent lith work makes me hanker to jump back into lith. No matter what I'm working on, I feel I want to move on to something else. Is this creative drive, or just flibberty-gibberty lack of focus and concentration?

There are photographers on this site I admire. They have a recognizable style - I can often pick out their work from the thumbnails without having to look at the name on it. I'd like to be there some day. I'm not a spring chicken, so I haven't got decades and decades to get there.

Do others have this pull in 15 different directions? Anybody conquered it and settled to steady work and mastery of one, or even a few, projects?

A Chinese interpreter-trainee once asked me what my specialty was and I told her I was a "generalist". After a long pause she said, "Oh, I understand. An all-round genius". Never heard the end of it from a few co-workers who happened to overhear.
Personally I'd be happy to do one thing really well. Right now that's selenium-toned silver prints on fibre paper, so I'm way back in the pack. On the other hand, I'm also still trying to master getting really good negatives.

For me, it's not so much jumping between processes as it is jumping between formats. I have limited myself to one process simply because I don't have the facilities to do darkroom related processes. At this time, I don't do enough printing in that process to justify to myself starting another process.

Does this make sense?

I suffer from your condition, to many cameras to many projects to many experiments trying different techniques. I think what is needed is to simplify things. 1 camera 1 lens and 1 film, 1 paper and SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT...

At least that is what I am trying my hardest to do (not to successfully).

Boy do I empathize.

I think we are each have different reasons for shooting, some of the joy of photography for me is the ability to keep learning and experimenting; the other part is the application.

I've been trying to get more artistic and find my style within 35mm and just 2 films, 1 color, 1 B&W. Thursday night I got a deal on a 4x5 that was just too good to pass on.

Artistically that 4x5 has rocked my world again.

I guess that my real hope is that I get good at the art. Mastering the tools is important but more than that I want to be good at exposure, timing the shot, and composition.

sly said:

Fellow obsessives ....
My biggest difficulty with photography (other than the fact that I don't have enough time or $$) is my inability to stay with one process/format/subject long enough to master it. I jump from one fascination to another. I'm currently "working on" (means projects I've started and not mastered/completed):
alt printing - cyanotypes; cyanos on fabric; platinum/palladium: gum; gum over cyano; gum over platinum
silver printing - split grade printing mostly on Ilford MGWT; lith on Fomatone, Ilford MGWT, and Maco Superlith; bleaching/re-developing/toning which I need to know alot more about.
...
Do others have this pull in 15 different directions? Anybody conquered it and settled to steady work and mastery of one, or even a few, projects?

Click to expand...

Not mastered? Lillian, your lith print from the last exchange was beautiful (it's hanging on my wall) and I was thinking I wish I'd done that!

I know what you mean, though. I want to improve my lith printing and silver printing and toning, and I jump between formats and subjects too. At the moment I'd like to try bromoil and cyanotypes, to buy an 8x10 and to do some more bird photography (probably not with the 8x10 though!).

Sometimes forcing yourself to work in one format/subject/process helps, but it can be stifling too. Sorry, no solution from me ...

cheers
Pete

sly said:

Fellow obsessives ....
...
Do others have this pull in 15 different directions? Anybody conquered it and settled to steady work and mastery of one, or even a few, projects?

Click to expand...

I also keep trying new things. For example, I can't resist giving an interesting film a try. Which costs a lot of energy and time figuring out a different development routine and different handling and printing issues. Often it leads to a lot of scatter. On the other hand, sometimes the new look really jazzes things up.

Here's how I've tried to narrow things down:

I do stick to silver prints.

I do limit my subjects, or projects. I have two main subjects: portraits and local landscape. I also shoot more casual 35mm pictures of my family and my kids and their friends, but I consider those to be snapshots. Or sometimes just practice. Or sometimes a way to get the creative juices flowing. I don't worry too much about them, but I enjoy them when they turn out nicely. Maybe that outlet helps me not feel limited in just having two subject matters for my serious stuff.

Every season or so, I add one new project. Just to shake things up and make my work more interesting to do. The project could be a new subject matter or a new technique or a new material. I only add one at a time. Maybe that sounds limiting on the page, but in practice it works pretty well.

The best thing I do is regularly look back at my work. Maybe every three to six months. I look again at the prints and even the contact sheets. It's editing and then re-editing. It clarifies what I've done and gives me a better sense of how I see and what I can do better in the future.

Recently, I've begun simplifying too. I sold one camera system that I loved but didn't use enough, as well as several lenses in focal lengths that didn't really work for me. As with the new films, sometimes a new tool can add a little bit of spice, or get me out of a rut. But in the long run, for me, too much stuff will just divert energy. And take up shelf space and mental space.

This is a process that has taken about two years to evolve. But right now, it seems to be working. At this exact moment.

-Laura

Hmmmm, there is a fine line between careless repetition and style, formulas and recipes. The odd bit of spice to inspire is not a bad thing. I came from a 35mm background and now I do MF and LF. I dabbled in Alt processes, and lith, and I prefer straight printing...but every so often I do a lith print..and maybe an alt print (though that has been a while).

My point is getting to be a master of the process is not the end point, if creativity is your true aim...some of the greatest stuff I have seen has been experimental...inspired moments...not masterful (unless you are referncing the idea...)

Just have fun.

K

Pete, thank you. I'm glad you enjoy the lith print. I was pleased with that one too, but it was the only neg I tried that printed well on the chamois paper - everything else was terrible. Sometimes when I try to print lith I get nothing - everything goes to the bin. Hardly mastery.

Thanks to everyone who commented.

For a short while I was sticking to one film with my 4x5, getting to know it well, happy with the way I was developing it, making silver prints, and some pt/pd. Then they stopped making it. I'm still looking for a film I like as much - haven't found it.

Silver printing is the backbone of photography to me. I hope I will always be working to improve my skills with that. I love alt printing, for the different look, for the fun of mixing things together and painting them on paper, for the infinite variety that's possible. I don't feel that I could stick to only alt, or only silver. It might be wise though to pick one alt process and stay with it for a year or two until I can really make it mine. Hmmm.... which one to pick?

Sly - I suffer from the same condition as you. As a former colleague of mine once said, the problem is becoming a jack-of-all trades and master of none.

I think part of trying the different processes and formats is to find the one (or two) that works best for what I want to achieve. The way I look at subjects, and photography in general, completely changed once I started doing alt processes (for me it was lith) and using alt cameras (like a Holga). I feel like I've broken the bounds I didn't realize I was in.

Interestingly enough, I've been going through a lot of old photos of mine I shot while I was living in Japan (all chromes) and I have to say I'm really disappointed in most of them. And I realized it's because of shooting squares, because of the black and white, the silver printing, the lith printing, the cyanotypes, the Holgas and the 4x5's, etc. that I've developed more of my own style (in terms of vision and execution). Before that I was just a glorified point-and-shoot photographer who just happened to know all the controls on my camera. Now, I actually think about why I'm taking the picture in the first place, and what I want the end result to be. I don't know if I'll ever stick with just one format and development, because I like the creative challenges of different cameras and processes, but I definitely will need to eliminate the ones that suffer from lack of purpose.

I'm going to have a lot of time off in the next couple of months so I'll have a lot of time in the darkroom and hopefully that will me determine where I want to spend my time and energy in the near future.

Some times a person from outside can see better where your focus is or lack thereof. I'm in the same situation, starting many things and finishing only few in the little time I can dedicate to my photography hobby. I made few resolutions most important being to stay focused on one task at the time and don't change until completed. I take a step by step approach and divide big goals into smaller tasks so I increase the chance of completion and offer myself some positive motivation.