Changing the direction of your photography

gone · Jul 16, 2021

I'd been wanting to get my work more in line w/ studio type fine art w/o going the full Monty and buying a LF camera, lights, tripod, and all the stuff that slows you down. By accident, two frames on my last roll (35mm) were what I was after......softly lit, and more about the feeling and association of the image w/ various things. It took a fast Leica R lens w/ great bokeh to make this kind of photography work, as well as experimenting and finding the right film, paper and development, but the idea came first, and led to all that.

Old ways hard to change though, so I've taken to going out early w/ the camera before being truly awake. That helps. I'm wondering if those 2 frames were an accident, or if my subconscious has been working on this w/o my conscious knowledge? Has anyone else got to a point in their photography where they had to change direction? How did you do that? I had no plan, and it either just happened, or more likely I was in the right frame of mind to make it happen. There's no way to know.

Vaughn · Jul 16, 2021

I shifted from 4x5 B&W negs enlarged to 16x20 silver gelatin prints with much burning and a little dodging to contact printing in an alt process I learned from a magazine article...no longer doing burning or dodging.

But that was not a change in direction, but new territory discovered along my journey. All previous steps have brought me here.

gone · Jul 16, 2021

Yes, that's a good point, it's probably more correct to say that all the steps led me to the change. Causation is a bit of a mystery at times. I can't blame you for getting away from burning and dodging. It's so much easier in the darkroom if you nail the image in camera if possible. Contact prints have a different look and feel than an enlargement. What you're doing Vaughn is exactly what I would like to do, but I don't drive, and a LF camera on the bike, well.....

My halfway solution has been to use finer grained film and developers w/ 35mm, along w/ carefully selecting the shot, but honestly, there is no substitute for great light. Even at low levels, it needs to be uniform and illuminate just the right areas.

Vaughn · Jul 16, 2021

I loved burning in silver gelatin prints. I saw it as having a chunk of rock and as I burned, chisels of light were digging deeper into the rock into its dark center -- creating an image in black silver.
Going to contact printing with no 'manipulation' (I do control contrast and exposure, of course) was a major artistic choice that paralleled a change in the way I see and appreciate light on the landscape.

5x7 by bike!

Horatio · Jul 16, 2021

^
Nice bike!

(and image)

awty · Jul 16, 2021

I dont understand why people need direction and boundaries, the less control I have the better.

eddie · Jul 16, 2021

I think it's possible to over-analyze what we're doing. When my work changed direction, a friend said I was turning in a new direction. I told her it felt more like I was being pulled in a new direction. I didn't feel like it was completely under my control and, like Paul, I didn't want it to be.

Vaughn · Jul 16, 2021

awty said:
I dont understand why people need direction and boundaries, the less control I have the better.

Of course. Some people use directions because they are dang rockets and there's no time for side trips. If you are not that type of person, how could you understand their needs as artists...especially if you have already decided you can not?
What do you think you have control of, that you want to have less control of? That is an interesting train of thought.

awty · Jul 16, 2021

Vaughn said:
Of course. Some people use directions because they are dang rockets and there's no time for side trips. If you are not that type of person, how could you understand their needs as artists...especially if you have already decided you can not?
What do you think you have control of, that you want to have less control of? That is an interesting train of thought.

"Artists" needs dont concern me, any more than plumbers needs concern you.
Theres controls, limits and borders every where. (incidentally a lot of Austrian towns and cities that have a "Border" street, this was the town limit to where the black fellas could go, sick isnt it).
When I make creative stuff for myself I dont wish to limit myself with mine or anyone else bizzaro limitations, its the only time I feel free. I make things by hand cause I enjoy crafting things that way. What I make has no real consequence and that's the way I like it.

I want to fall into eddies like Eddie and see what happens.

MattKing · Jul 16, 2021

awty said:
"Artists" needs dont concern me, any more than plumbers needs concern you.

If you have a leaking toilet, your plumber's needs concern you a lot.
Replace "Artists" with "those who want to make photographs" and Vaughn's statements may resonate more with more people.
I think he, like I, has a generous and expansive definition of Artist.
As an example, I consider both versions of Vladimir Guerrero - senior and junior - artists when it comes to hitting a baseball.

Vaughn · Jul 16, 2021

Yes, my definition of 'artist' is wide!

Can limitlessness be limiting?

eddie · Jul 16, 2021

Vaughn said:
Of course. Some people use directions because they are dang rockets and there's no time for side trips. If you are not that type of person, how could you understand their needs as artists...

Some of the most interesting travels I've taken have been on the side roads. Same for my artistic trips. I think every artist approaches creation differently.

Vaughn · Jul 17, 2021

I agree...my photographic side trips on the roads of art, while tend to be short, add to the journey. Some do not need the side trips, some peoples' trips are nothing but side trips, and then everything in between.

A short side trip using a female nude model in the redwoods in the mid-80s became valuable experience 15 years later photographing my boys in the environment...as did making these when my world had shrunk to the size of three babies.

awty · Jul 17, 2021

Lifes a journey, hence my user name.
We all do what we have to do and get through it how ever we can.

whojammyflip · Jul 17, 2021

Really interesting post. This feels similar to the "maintaining exploration" dilemma, from reinforcement learning, to me.

In reinforcement learning, in order to learn what is the optimal policy, a range of different actions need to be considered and attempted. This necessarily means trying stuff out including stuff which currently appears suboptimal, relative to the current policy. However, some of the time, the random actions leads to learning a better policy.

As a general rule, 10% of the time, break the rules.

removed account4 · Jul 17, 2021

hi momus
I think about it like im building a stone fence ..
first there is a wood fence (initial project, initial way of working / thinking )
and I am doing my thing .... chugging along digging up rocks as I till my field I heave them over the fence
sometimes the rocks are little, sometimes they are heavy and it takes a while to lift them, sometimes its more
work than I can do and it requires others to help me with a lever, but its over the fence ...
eventually the wood fence is gone and it is the stone wall made of all the rocks I heaved over.
but where I live there's always a fresh crop of rocks that bubble up from down below.
its always the same field, it seems I am always asking the same questions, always doing the same project
but they are always different rocks that I am pulling out of the ground ... not sure if any of that makes sense ...
don't forget to have fun !
John

Ko.Fe. · Jul 17, 2021

"Has anyone else got to a point in their photography where they had to change direction? How did you do that? I had no plan."
In 2012 I realized I like film look more than digital. Went to try it all before it was kind of late.
In 2019 I had new job with 3+ hours of commute per day instead of half-hour. I had to switch back to digital.
Both changes have its positive sides. First it was for particular look, second for creativity with convinince and with content rather than bokeh

juan · Jul 18, 2021

When I get stale, I change formats. I move from 8x10 on a tripod to a TLR or 35mm. Or even a digisnapper. The move completely changes the way I view things and makes my brain function differently.

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