Mental machinations as viewer vs photographer

[awty]

@awty I dig it. "atmospere" is a good term to apply. It's interesting that you pulled inspiration for a visual medium from a written(spoken) one. I really had to sit and think for a spell whether that had happened for me or not. I read a fair amount, so I feel like it must have but not recently. Wanting to echo/capture/outright steal the feeling from various scenes in movies however is a very frequent occurrence for me.

Moby Dick Full Text - Chapter 2 - The Carpet-bag. - Owl Eyes

Read Full Text and Annotations on Moby Dick Chapter 2 - The Carpet-bag. at Owl Eyes

www.owleyes.org

 

[Don_ih]

Clearly the trick is to grow a big bushy beard and talk a lot of BS.

Yet, from what I've read about Rubin's ideas here and elsewhere, and what I've read from your posts ... you two seem to agree? You just said, "Honestly think creative people just need the right environment to get their best and that will differ from person to person." -- and Rick Rubin is actually well known for doing exactly that.

I don't think it's all BS. Vacuous truism, maybe.

 

[awty]

Yet, from what I've read about Rubin's ideas here and elsewhere, and what I've read from your posts ... you two seem to agree? You just said, "Honestly think creative people just need the right environment to get their best and that will differ from person to person." -- and Rick Rubin is actually well known for doing exactly that.

I don't think it's all BS. Vacuous truism, maybe.

Johnny Cash was an extremely talented and creative person. Rick Rubin's a promoter.

 

[MattKing]

Johnny Cash was an extremely talented and creative person. Rick Rubin's a promoter.

Yes to both.
But the Johnny Cash sessions wouldn't have happened if Rick Rubin hadn't inspired and energized Cash.
There is a reason that after their work together was finished Johnny Cash - a lifelong Christian - gave his personal Bible to Rick Rubin - who is of the Jewish faith.

 

[VinceInMT]

Clearly the trick is to grow a big bushy beard and talk a lot of BS.

Some of my former high school students might say I resemble that statement.

 

[MTGseattle]

I think Rubin has sported a beard of some sort for most of his adult life. The strange thing about how it seems he works is that he just sits there and asks the current musician/s if they feel like they did their best. If they haven't, they keep on going until they feel like they have.

As photographers, I feel like our "best" can fluctuate. Maybe you revisit a negative a few years on and decide it needs a slight crop and/or a whole different printing map.

I'd be curious how some of the musicians Rubin produced 20-25 years ago still feel regarding that particular work.

 

[Bill Burk]

My friends you missed my comment.

I truly believe that what makes a photograph memorable is the relationship of the photographer to subject.

As example I offer Steichen and Rodin.

Good friends. Steichen took a great photo of Rodin’s sculpture Balzac when it was being transported in a fog.

So my spirit broke when a sculptor friend of mine brought me his works to photograph.

I felt nothing.

But I knew I wanted to.

It’s the strangest feeling of my life.

The friend proved false, so it might be where the breakdown occurred.

I really wanted to feel something.

 

[Don_ih]

I really wanted to feel something.

Was it that the friend was false or that the sculptures were not compelling? If you couldn't make the sculptures compelling through light and composition, perhaps the sculptures were themselves indifferent. There's far more art than there is good art.

The story of the photo is interesting in its own right. I read about it here. Particularly interesting is it was Rodin's idea to photograph the statue by moonlight - something Steichen had not done before. He took a couple of days to figure out how to do it.

"It was not just the statue of a man; it was the very embodiment of a tribute to genius. It looked like a mountain come to life." -- Steichen

 

[Bill Burk]

Exactly, this is the feeling I wanted. It involves the sculptor, the photographer and the viewer. Magnificent.

I wanted to feel this. I still want to.

 

[warden]

My friends you missed my comment.

I truly believe that what makes a photograph memorable is the relationship of the photographer to subject.

As example I offer Steichen and Rodin.

Good friends. Steichen took a great photo of Rodin’s sculpture Balzac when it was being transported in a fog.

So my spirit broke when a sculptor friend of mine brought me his works to photograph.

I felt nothing.

But I knew I wanted to.

It’s the strangest feeling of my life.

The friend proved false, so it might be where the breakdown occurred.

I really wanted to feel something.

Thanks for relating that story, Bill.

 

[Pieter12]

Returning to the Op's situation, here is an excellent example of photos that can be taken at a construction site. Of course, the site was the Millenium Dome in London, but similar details could be found at a smaller-scale site as well.

https://www.markpower.co.uk/photographic-projects/DOME

 

[VinceInMT]

Returning to the Op's situation, here is an excellent example of photos that can be taken at a construction site. Of course, the site was the Millenium Dome in London, but similar details could be found at a smaller-scale site as well.

https://www.markpower.co.uk/photographic-projects/DOME

Those are great. In what seems like as past life, for quite a few years I worked for an engineering and construction company and quite regularly took my camera along and shot lots of film at various site. Most had something to do with piping and storage tanks. I’ve considered going back through the files and printing up a series.

There were only a few places I worked where cameras were definitely verboten. Hughes aircraft where they built satellites was one. I was installing a waste tank for their plating operations. And Skunk Works at Lockheed in Burbank where I was putting in a fuel system. On that one we were working late, after dark, to do a tie-in and security came over and made us stop and had us stand behind a building. All the lights went out and a plane of some kind came out of a hanger and took off in the darkness. Who knows?

 

[Pieter12]

Those are great. In what seems like as past life, for quite a few years I worked for an engineering and construction company and quite regularly took my camera along and shot lots of film at various site. Most had something to do with piping and storage tanks. I’ve considered going back through the files and printing up a series.

There were only a few places I worked where cameras were definitely verboten. Hughes aircraft where they built satellites was one. I was installing a waste tank for their plating operations. And Skunk Works at Lockheed in Burbank where I was putting in a fuel system. On that one we were working late, after dark, to do a tie-in and security came over and made us stop and had us stand behind a building. All the lights went out and a plane of some kind came out of a hanger and took off in the darkness. Who knows?

Depending on the year, it could have been the F-117 Stealth Fighter (a bomber, really). Or the F-22 later on.

 

[VinceInMT]

Depending on the year, it could have been the F-117 Stealth Fighter (a bomber, really). Or the F-22 later on.

I looked through my negs (which are all scanned an in my local database) and found a few from one of the jobs when I snuck my camera in there. It was 1982. I took photos of the equipment as we were usually doing a design update and it backed up the sketches I did on site.

 

[Pieter12]

Quite possibly the F-117. Although it was produced in the early 80s, it was a black project until 88.

 

[MTGseattle]

@Pieter12 That is a good link (the Millenium dome pictures). Thank you. A large scale project to me is much more interesting than a kitchen remodel or an addition but again, there's familiarity breeding contempt.

 

[MTGseattle]

It occurs to me that I (and possibly others) struggle with being a "hobbyist." Time that I can devote to photography gets shoehorned into my day or weekend when I can make it work. This leads to a worry that I am on a limited schedule and must make the pictures "count." Expanding upon that, sometimes I worry that I am photographing subjects that have been photographed before ad nauseum. I need to let this line of thinking die. The recent thread regarding Andre Kertesz is a fine example of one of many photographers who have made very interesting images out of very common dare I say mundane subjects. It can be done, and any time spent photographing should in theory help one's craft.

@Bill Burk That is an interesting conundrum you posted regarding your friend's sculpture. I wonder if Julius Schulman ever had to photograph a building he really didn't like? Didn't like isn't exact enough, a building he had no affinity for is more apt.

 

[Pieter12]

It occurs to me that I (and possibly others) struggle with being a "hobbyist." Time that I can devote to photography gets shoehorned into my day or weekend when I can make it work. This leads to a worry that I am on a limited schedule and must make the pictures "count." Expanding upon that, sometimes I worry that I am photographing subjects that have been photographed before ad nauseum. I need to let this line of thinking die. The recent thread regarding Andre Kertesz is a fine example of one of many photographers who have made very interesting images out of very common dare I say mundane subjects. It can be done, and any time spent photographing should in theory help one's craft.

@Bill Burk That is an interesting conundrum you posted regarding your friend's sculpture. I wonder if Julius Schulman ever had to photograph a building he really didn't like?

Most commercial photographers cannot afford to turn away jobs. That is part of being a professional: being able to deliver a good photograph no matter the circumstances. Of course, if one is a "celebrity" photographer with clients lined up all year, then one can pick and choose.

I once needed to photograph Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler for an ad. I wanted to use Walter Ioss for the job. Can you believe he turned me down because he would be in the tropics shooting a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue? Plus, on the day of the shoot, Marvin Hagler decided not to show up, probably to psych Leonard.

 

[awty]

Nothing worth doing is easy, if you want something you must make it happen yourself, must stay focused on the end goal.

 

[Don_ih]

Nothing worth doing is easy,

Well, lots of things worth doing are easy. Most things are, actually. Almost nothing anyone does is actually difficult.

 

[awty]

Well, lots of things worth doing are easy. Most things are, actually. Almost nothing anyone does is actually difficult.

Well might be easy for you, your not married to my wife.

 

[snusmumriken]

Well, lots of things worth doing are easy. Most things are, actually. Almost nothing anyone does is actually difficult.

I know you like being provocative, but that is too obviously incorrect. Many things worth doing are incredibly difficult. And even things than can be done with ease are not necessarily worth doing at that level. Outstanding is always difficult.

 

[Pieter12]

I know you like being provocative, but that is too obviously incorrect. Many things worth doing are incredibly difficult. And even things than can be done with ease are not necessarily worth doing at that level. Outstanding is always difficult.

It depends on the individual. What came easily to HCB or Picasso may be incredibly difficult for someone else. I have witnessed folks labor over creative tasks with quite a bit of focus and intensity, only to come up with mediocre results.

 

[Don_ih]

I know you like being provocative, but that is too obviously incorrect. Many things worth doing are incredibly difficult. And even things than can be done with ease are not necessarily worth doing at that level. Outstanding is always difficult.

What I said didn't disagree with what you said here. Most things worth doing are fairly easy. The vast majority of regular human actions which require a basic competence or simple understanding of morality fall under that description. Don't hurt people. Try to help people. Keep yourself clean. Be honest. All easy to do, all very worthwhile. As for art or your job, skill is honed and, what some people may find difficult, others may find easy - also, what you at one point may have found difficult can become easy. Difficulty and worth are not bound to one another.

 

[awty]

What came easily to HCB or Picasso may be incredibly difficult for someone else.

I doubt if it was at all easy for them to become established. I'm sure they worked tirelessly and were heavily focused to achieve there goals. Talents not everything, intact some less talented people have managed to convince others they are with a lot of hard work.