Break Through Moments in Your Photography

[nhemann]

Kickin this back to top of the pile. I liked reading the responses and I know there are more of them out there

 

[Alan Klein]

Interesting. I had a similar discovery with the Empire State Building going across the 59th Street Bridge (Queensboro) from Queens into Manhattan. I've seen the view many times while crossing the bridge, but was only able to grab this shot when the traffic slowed considerably. I love the Empire's juxtaposition with the Chrysler and Trump and others.
http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=14840113

 

[benjiboy]

After sixty years in photography I'm still waiting for my "breakthrough moment"

 

[nhemann]

Thats a great photo, Alan. I'm still trying to figure out the perspective that lets the ESB be 400 feet taller and still appear shorter than the Chrysler!
N

 

[Alan Klein]

I'm shooting south from the 59th street Queensboro Bridge. The Chrysler Bldg is closer to the camera at 42nd Street so it appears higher than the ESB further south at 34th street. There is a little bit of illusion that the ESB is in front of the Chrysler, but it isn't if you look closely. Of course, Trump Tower on the left is higher than all because it's closer than all. Thanks for your comments. Yours is an interesting shot as well. Al.

 

[PeteZ8]

The day I started shooting film again!

 

[c6h6o3]

Light is the key. Avoid burning film in bad light. Shoot in good light and you may or may not get something.

There is no such thing as bad light when I'm photographing. "Wherever there is light one may photograph." --Alfred Steiglitz

 

[darkosaric]

My first visit to Istanbul: I used b&W film for the first time, and also I noticed clearly that life on some places is more alive - people are more alive, it is hard for me to explain in simple words, but on places where life is more alive I make better photos, it is like I see more clearly reality. Still missing exact words to explain this to the end

 

[Toffle]

I am enjoying this thread so far. I'll say a couple of things...

Like others, I found it a revelation to see real, good prints in person, not in books or on the net. To stand in front of a fine print really opens your eyes to what a good photographer can do with a subject.

The other point for me is that while I do recall conscious efforts to compose my photos even very early on, I don't think I knew what it was that I was trying to do. Now, when I photograph a subject, sometimes I photograph light, sometimes shadow, sometimes I photograph lines, sometimes shapes, sometimes patterns. Sometimes I emphasize what is in a scene, sometimes what is absent from the scene. (Oh, ya... sometimes I photograph things.) Sometimes a scene defies nearly every attempt to capture its essence while other times a scene or subject can be photographed in any of the ways above. My daughter calls it living life through a lens. (I think she means it as a compliment.) But I think it is the development of my photographic eye that allows me to see possibilities when I reach for my camera.

One last point, I began the 365 day photo challenge on January 1, 2010. I have shot at least one analogue image every day since then; today being day 790 by my count. The discipline imposed by this regimen has challenged me to overcome all sorts of photographers' block, and has resulted in some of my best images on days when I thought I had reached a dead end. (I actually got a pretty cool picture of a brick wall when I thought I was up against one, so to speak.)

Cheers,
Tom

 

[perkeleellinen]

A couple of things:

Firstly, learning to print in colour and the realisation that it wasn't anywhere near as difficult as many had told me it would be. This has led me to be less fearful of photographic processes out of my comfort zone. It's a shame I never got things in order to try Ilfochrome.

Secondly, the year I spent living in Sweden during 2008. Moving somewhere new and seeing things differently really helped widen my photo ideas of what is possible. Great light compared to the UK also. Because I didn't have a darkroom I shot lots of slides and this helped me to 'see' in colour and was the first step toward my point above. It was also great to live in a city and meet fellow film photographers - something that never happens in my current rural location.

 

[Chuck_P]

It's been a good thread to follow-------

The skinny---my moment arose out of process rather than art. I started in photography when I was a senior in highschool ('82), stayed in for the next 5 or so years, joined the service, had all my Canaon A1 equipment stolen in '88, and then just gave up after that----did not pick up a camera again (at least with any serious thought of getting back into it) until 2002, when I bought a Canon A2 and a book called The Negative, that I had no awareness of in 1982, as strange as that may seem. I just didn't know much of anything about exposure and development, about good photographic process in general. My breakthrough moment came when I started to apply what I learned in that book, what an eye opener, even though it came later than I would have liked-----like I saw in an earlier post, I came to realize that I had so much more control of what I was doing than I ever realized, and it only got better when I moved to LF.

Making good negatives is not near as much of an issue anymore, however, making good photographs is quite another question, but at 48 now, with a new darkroom, I'm going to love trying to make a good picture.

 

[dehk]

Break through moment is long gone, all I got left is thinking everything I do is mediocre at best.

 

[darkosaric]

Break through moment is long gone, all I got left is thinking everything I do is mediocre at best.

No - I like your street photography photos a lot, they are more than mediocre for sure.

If you can afford it - go on a nice trip somewhere far, far away - and try to find new break through

 

[dehk]

No - I like your street photography photos a lot, they are more than mediocre for sure.

If you can afford it - go on a nice trip somewhere far, far away - and try to find new break through

Thanks for the reassurance, and I'd have to agree a Trip would be very nice, oh right, its the money thing again

Thanks.

 

[Maris]

My moment was in the vaults of the National Gallery of Australia surrounded by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Edward Steichen; or at least their precious original photographs. And I could look as close as I wanted for as long as I wanted.

I had been making photographs for about 20 years and had done quite a bit of large format work. What I had to know was how good were they quality-wise. Well, you know what, those famous figures put up with the same dust, subject movement, camera shake, lens flare, bad print spotting, surface imperfections, that I was battling against on a daily basis. Technically I was as consistently good or better than any of them. I could go ahead with confidence, nay, arrogance.

Only a few days out from the Gallery I realised that for serious work in photography total technical competence is assumed, it's the basic stuff. And it's only one tenth of the journey. The real challenges are imagination, creativity, vision, and energy. I'm still working on those and win occasionally, humbly fall short on most occasions.

 

[Toffle]

My moment was in the vaults of the National Gallery of Australia surrounded by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Edward Steichen; or at least their precious original photographs. And I could look as close as I wanted for as long as I wanted.

I had been making photographs for about 20 years and had done quite a bit of large format work. What I had to know was how good were they quality-wise. Well, you know what, those famous figures put up with the same dust, subject movement, camera shake, lens flare, bad print spotting, surface imperfections, that I was battling against on a daily basis. Technically I was as consistently good or better than any of them. I could go ahead with confidence, nay, arrogance.

Only a few days out from the Gallery I realised that for serious work in photography total technical competence is assumed, it's the basic stuff. And it's only one tenth of the journey. The real challenges are imagination, creativity, vision, and energy. I'm still working on those and win occasionally, humbly fall short on most occasions.

How true. Very well put, Maris.

 

[slackercrurster]

My breakthroughs are varied. Here are just a few of them...

Back in the 70's I tried using a 4 x 5 Toyo view with Super Angulon for doing street portraits. I was much happier when I switched to a a more practical Hassy SWC.

Making the switch from film to digital was another breakthrough moment. Although it took 8-9 years to get comfortable with it.

Learning how to do what I did in the wet darkroom with Lightroom was a breakthrough that took years.

Figuring out how to be able to afford shooting in NYC was a breakthrough.

Developing a technique for IR flash took a few years of experimentation. The first time I went into a totally black room and shot a photo with no visible light was a fantastic breakthrough. Same with developing a technique for circular fisheye photography. Anyone can shoot circle fisheye, but producing museum quality work is something else.

With my Archive, one breakthrough many times leads to another. For instance, working with the beat generation archive led to expanding the collection to the mimeo revolution which let to collecting underground press of the 60s & 70s.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Break through moments:

• Joining APUG
• Private printing class with Per Volquartz
• Group "Silver Gelatin" class with Alan Ross in Yosemite

 

[removed account4]

i don't know if it was a breakthrough, or an a-ha moment or anything like that,
but when i realized that when i am using a camera i am outside myself.

also when i realized there is no such thing is perfection or silver bullets and to do whatever i wanted
because there are really no rules and it doesn't matter anyways ..

 

[naaldvoerder]

Reading the Master Photographer Printing Course by Tim Rudman. Before that is was about to ditch analogue printing altogeteher. After reading it I realized what was possible and what was in realm of my own possibilities.

 

[Arklatexian]

When I finally got the chance to see real prints by Adams and Edward Weston. It was somewhat liberating for me because I was disappointed - as my father, my first photographic teacher predicted I would be.

When I first started photography, the printing standards I set for myself were based on a false reference point - the laser-scanned duotone reproductions I poured over in some of Adams's books. They were ultra-sharp, silvery jewels with a heightened, almost three dimensional presence. No original prints I had seen up to that point by other photographers looked that way, and no matter how hard I worked I could not get photographic prints to even remotely resemble the Adams reproductions I saw in those books. It was immensely frustrating until I finally saw the real thing. They were great prints to be sure, but my father was right on. Even the small print sizes, and contact prints by Weston didn't have quite the sharpness, silvery tonality and jewel-like sparkle I knew from the books. This experience gave me the confidence to keep printing. I immediately signed up for a John Sexton workshop (something I had previously been afraid to do), mostly so I could show him my prints and get a reaction from a top printer. As it turned out he liked them very much and didn't see anything lacking in the tonality I had been so frustrated by for so long. I'm still extremely self critical, but at least I'm no longer chasing a false reference point.

Michael

My "breakthrough moment was when I realized that Ansel Adams was a human being and I, as another human being, could do "out of the ordinary" photography also if I became as committed to photography and was willing to work and study like he did. Then I began to read other photographer's books such as Faye Godwin and Tim Rodman's Master Photographer Course, both from Great Britain, which made me realize that really great subjects could be found near my home, even in my back yard, to shoot only black & white and print it myself in my own darkroom. Have not gotten there yet and time is running out. Better hurry!....Regards!

 

[slackercrurster]

Breakthroughs aka enlightenments may take some time to sink in and sprout. I was shooting on 5th Ave a few years ago. I saw a guy with a cell phone mounted next to his camera on one bar. I thought it was odd, but didn't shoot it cause it was snapshot material and not portfolio or museum material. As I walked down the block it sunk in that I could do a project shooting candid's of other photogs I run across. While this project is no big deal, it is something else to shoot while wandering around. I turned around to get the shot, but by the time I got back he was gone.

Now I shoot photogs wherever I find em!

YouTube gave me an enlightenment when it comes to archival work. I was watching a vid on a gallery at lunch on YT. I got through half of it. When I went to finish it the next day at lunch I saw it was removed since the gallery claimed it violated the copyright of the gallery. Apparently showing videos of the art is the same as owning the art? What goddamn numbskulls...huh. Anyway, that led me to do serious archival work since the internet is soooo impermanent.

 

[scheimfluger_77]

I think mine came in my pre-teen years, before I every really picked up a camera. My dad was a camera hound and had been from his youth. Naturally this rubbed off on me. Growing up we had many family friends of like mind and vacationed in Colorado and Utah together often. The crowning moment of these forays were the late night slide shows we shared with each other.

My mother was an artist, she used to do many of the fabulous projects found in Sunset Magazine (50’s and 60’s), fabrics and other hand work. She took a pottery class and that became her chosen medium. She got very good at it. She taught it up until her passing. We had many family friends doing the same thing and when my dad built her a kiln in the back yard, it made for a wonderful community where we had weekend “firing” parties. Mom and her friends would create their work, they would finish it, and fire it together. The weekend firings were something special for me. She went on to teach pottery and was a co-founder of the Colorado Potters Guild in the mid 60’s.

I said all that to say this; mom wanted to help her young son develop an appreciation for the arts. I wasn’t unwilling, just unexposed, so to speak. She sat down with me one day with a book of Andrew Wyeth’s work, telling me she would like to see me develop an interest in something. The book was open to Christina’s World. I was mesmerized! I gazed at it for a long time and wondered at the meaning of the (crippled?) girl sort of abanded in the field, looking at the old homestead with longing. It wasn’t until much, much later I learned the subject of that painting had lived for a time as a young girl in that farmhouse. And that she was actually a parapalegic. A truth that somehow seemed appropriate the moment I laid eyes on her. That was the moment, even though my chosen medium is not quite the same thing.

I don’t think I realized that was the defining moment until this thread re emerged this last few days. I didn’t read the thread at first, but the first thought in my mind when I read the thread title was... Christina’s World.

 

[CMoore]

That is a great story.
Those memories, often become Stronger/More Important as we age.
When you are young, your friends, your parents and your parents friends, they are ubiquitous and seem like they will live forever. Then, one day, you realize that is not so.......

 

[Berkeley Mike]

I remember the day my FM and 105 became organic in my vision, as my body moved it around, my brain Tri X.