Multiple views and a hypothetical question

eddie said:

John- Ken's post made me think differently about certain aspects of creativity (always a good thing). I have always thought of it as linear, but now see the case can be made for it being somewhat circular. It certainly won't change what I'm doing, but it may give me better insight into why I am doing it, which is a positive thing. If I know more about my motivation, I may be able to do better work.

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A number of years ago a few friends and I got into this circle of life stuff and how we start out in a room, and at the end of our lives, we end up in a room again. Our lives and spheres of influence are back where we started.

My take away from all this stuff, and how you mentioned about having a style and sort of a formula for how you work and see yourself, is merely ego and a trap. From a marketing perspective, that way of working is a plus but not necessarily good for the soul. The whole, be different, be easily identifiable, and have a signature style is a great mantra but it can still be a rut.

Remember when we end up in that room, none of this shit is going to matter anyways. It's just all ego.

So my feeling is, do what we love, celebrate it, change when we feel like it, celebrate it, and let ourselves move and evolve. And celebrate it.

eddie said:

John- Ken's post made me think differently about certain aspects of creativity (always a good thing). I have always thought of it as linear, but now see the case can be made for it being somewhat circular. It certainly won't change what I'm doing, but it may give me better insight into why I am doing it, which is a positive thing. If I know more about my motivation, I may be able to do better work.

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that is great that it might help you creatively, more power to you !

i don't dwell on philosophy too much
.. i leave that to ted + so-crates ...
or the dead-heads i knew who'd go on and on about
pigpen coming back from the dead as they listening to filmore 73' ...

Ian Grant said:

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To answer Clive it's about spatial awareness, as you approach what you're photographing you are mentally watching how parts of a scene in front of you change with distance and angle, it's the same shooting people or still-life images. It's similar with any sport the top players will have the ability to be subconsciously aware of their position and others around them.

When I approach what I'm photographing I'll be watching how the possible shot will change depending on my positioning, this is mostly instinctive but it's not random. Having decided to make an image I'll decide what defines the edges of the frame. I may sometimes make other images from slightly different angles but invariably it's the first image that works best

Back in the mid 1980's I set my self a project photographing a small cast iron bridge over a period of a year in all seasons and weather conditions, at the same time I began using the Zone system and towards the end large format. I was a good exercise and I learnt a lot from it and the changes I made in my approach gave me confidence and freedom to shot in a way I wanted, it's also about achieving one's own personal style.

Perhaps what's most important is the pre-visualisation is in your own mind, the camera and it's position and subsequent exposure is the craft you use to achieve the final image/print.

Ian

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Perfect description. Sounds like a great project, also.

Theo Sulphate said:

Perfect description. Sounds like a great project, also.

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It's something I've been thinking a lot about over the past year. Strangely it's having a dog (for 2½ years after never ever wanting one), I now have to take it for all its walks as my wife's health is failing, this gives me time for contemplation.

We have a regular walk that we do twice a day, part of it through some woods, that part is a dead end so apart from a small loop at the end so itt's back the way we came. What's this got to do with photography, I rarely take a camera. It's about looking, seeing, observing, absorbing and playing visual mind games, I'm watching how the same objects change with the seasons, weather, lighting conditions, if their wet from a rain-storm, angle of approach, position etc.

It's important to approach objects/scenes from different directions, you notice different juxtapositions possible compositions, you may miss them if you're too close.

Back in the mid 1980's I decided to work on specific photographic projects rather than make random images. The first came from some of what appeared initially to be random and others have followed from there. The worst thing we can do is just shoot randomly, we achieve nothing, personally I don't shoot random images unless I feel there's a particularly strong image, those may be the start of a new project and I keep that in mind sometimes expanding on it.

blansky said:

So my feeling is, do what we love, celebrate it, change when we feel like it, celebrate it, and let ourselves move and evolve. And celebrate it.

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I think this comment is particularly apt, change and evolution are important, and I'd add variety, while most of my personal work is project based I'm always working on more than one, even if one predominates for a time.

Ian

Ian Grant said:

It's about looking, seeing, observing, absorbing and playing visual mind games, I'm watching how the same objects change with the seasons, weather, lighting conditions, if their wet from a rain-storm, angle of approach, position etc.Ian

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I can appreciate and identify with this.