by C J Chilvers
This is why it makes no sense for a photographer, with no professional mandate, to keep a portfolio section on their website. Viewers would be better served, and thus photographers would be better served, by telling stories. Those stories are better served with great writing. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the worth of a great story is incalculable.
It’s believed that there may be evolutionary reasons for humans to be attracted to stories, as stories help us anticipate the future. If we’re good at figuring out where a situation may go, we’re more likely to survive the situation.
Humans don’t just want stories, humans need stories.
Videography is a combination of several methods of storytelling, not limited to the consumption preferences of a single type of audience. National Geographic presents all types of audiences with impeccable storytelling, catered to their consumption styles. That’s why they win.
25
Stop Making Photos for Photographers
The majority of photos I see every day are made to impress other photographers.
“Perfect composition!”
“How did you do that with a
“That ISO range is INSANE!”
How boring we must seem to everyone else.
You have a gift. You see the world in a different way. You’ve trained your eyes to notice things most people would not.
Why would you use those talents to impress those who have had the same training?
There’s a whole world of people out there who could use a great story, and you have the tools (the knowledge that is, not the gear) to deliver the story.
Photographers have been served enough. How could you change the way you share your photos to let your talents loose on the rest of the world?
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Be Honest, Not Truthful
Photography may be at its most powerful when it tells a story. But is that story more powerful when it’s a truthful story? I think that’s a false pursuit.
In storytelling, there is no truth.
Art is the perception of an artist, usually objectified. That perception will not be the perception of the viewer. The more unique the art/artist, the further from the viewer’s perception the story will be, no matter how honest the artist is to their own vision. The story is not truthful, but that doesn’t mean it can’t reveal truth.
Honesty in storytelling is just being open and vulnerable. Even so, there’s nothing your brain will fight harder against.
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Honesty Is Your Competitive Advantage
This is the everyone-is-trying-to-teach-you-something era.
The quickest way to make money these days is to tell people what they want to hear. Package it in as many appealing formats as possible and launch it to the masses.
Honesty is a much more long-term proposition. It’s about reputation. Its about building trust. It’s rarely neatly packaged and satisfying, because that’s not what the real world is.
If you discover your form of sharing your work with the world is incompatible with the current norms—good! That’s what we hope for from artists.
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Honesty Is More Interesting Than Truth
Arguments ensue over whether all photographers are liars, or all photographs are lies.
What’s more interesting is the debate between “artists” who manipulate the hell out of their images and photographers who attempt to capture a scene as close to “as is” as possible, without boring the viewer.
There’s so much gray area in there that you could meter off it. But what’s great about it is the difference in the reaction of the viewer.
There’s a visceral reaction to “as is” photography. It deeply engages the viewer (see the rise in photojournalism-style wedding photography or the endless photojournalism manipulation controversies as examples). This isn’t limited to photography.
When Rage Against the Machine released their groundbreaking debut album, the liner notes informed the listener, “No samples, keyboards or synthesizers used in the making of this recording.”
Any movie “based on a true story” is analyzed to death to discover mistakes.
Why are we so emotionally connected to this fictional honesty? The audience loves a good constraint as much as the artist.
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Don’t Improve on Perfection
There’s an old saying among musicians, “If you can’t do it in jeans and a T-shirt, it ain’t rock ‘n’ roll.”
If you’ve committed to being honest in your photography, avoid the temptation to improve the imperfections by dressing up your story.
If you can’t say what you need to say in a photograph without resorting to the latest trends in post processing, you’re probably not saying much of anything. Concentrate your skills in photography to those things that will put you in the right place at the right time while being adept enough to capture that moment in the most compelling way. Anything more is just covering up your creation.
Don’t let someone else’s constraints dictate your art.
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You Already Know What to Photograph
Way too much time is wasted in search of the kind of photographer you should be. If you’ve been photographing for a little while, you already know what to photograph.
Whatever it is that you’ve taken the most photos of (people, animals, landscapes, buildings, etc.) is probably what interests you the most.
Of course, as an artist, you’re a naturally curious person, so exploration is a must. But whatever it is that you always come home to is your home.
No matter what area of photography offers the promise of more money or recognition, you will never be as prolific or creative in that area as you are in the area that naturally interests you.
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The Most Important Tool
“Saying no is actually saying yes to other things.” — Patrick Rhone
In the days of film, there was a mantra repeated by every high school and college photography teacher when introducing their students to the darkroom: the garbage can is the most important tool in the darkroom.
Effective editing is the skill that separates a decent storyteller from a great storyteller. Great stories have just as many dud photos as the decent stories, but the public never sees the duds.
Be liberal with your use of the trash. It’s your friend. An editorial photographer at a major magazine may take thousands of photos for a feature and publish only five in the story. Being conservative with what you show to the world protects your reputation and tells a better story.
A lesser photographer takes this principle a step further.
As much as editing may separate decent stories from great stories, there’s another principle that separates the great stories from the absolute best. The best storytellers eliminate photographs before they even begin shooting. They pre-edit. They determine what isn’t worth their effort to free up their time for the things that may prove to be remarkable.
There’s a reason articles abound on how to take photos of waterfalls and fireworks. It’s because everyone does it. It’s not unique. There are times when it makes sense to put down the camera and take in the world around you. You’ll often find a scene no other photographer is covering. One of my photography professors, Monte Gerlach, put it this way: whenever there is a sunset in front of you, turn around and start shooting what’s behind you.
If you can find it on a postcard, it’s already been covered pretty well and by better photographers than you. It’s probably time to move on to a more unique scene. The throngs of budding photographers, reading how-to articles, will take care of the dew-covered flower close-ups for you. Create something you care about, and it will rarely be a cliche.
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Inspiration Is Scheduled
Every successful photographer I’ve known schedules their projects.
Countless studies and interviews with my photo heroes confirm: Inspiration doesn’t “strike.”
Inspiration is scheduled. It happens when you allow it the time and attention it deserves.
It also has a better name: work.
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Inspiring Photographs…
Can teach you a lot about basics of photography.
Can expose you to new techniques and photographers.
Can provide great fodder for sharing.
Can be the ultimate creativity-killing distraction.
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You Are a Real Photographer
Decide for yourself, but I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument opposing these definitions:
Objective Words
Photographer: Someone who makes photographs.
Professional Photographer: Someone who makes the majority of their income from photography.
Amateur Photographer: Someone who does not make the majority of their income from photography.
Subjective Words
Good Photographer: The “rules” of photography that are used to judge the collected images of a photographer are almost entirely commerce-based and applicable only to professional photographers. You might as well just ask how much money the photographer makes. There’s no objective way to measure whether a photographer is “good” or “bad.”
Real Photographer: This one really stinks of arrogance. Some believe you’re not a “real” photographer if you don’t have a “real” camera (whatever that means). Some believe you’re not a “real” photographer if you don’t dedicate a certain amount of time to the craft. The truth is, 99.9% of photographers are amateurs, and the vast majority of them have a phone as their primary tool. If you’re looking for what’s numerically “real,” it’s an amateur with a phone.
Serious Photographer: See the above two definitions.
Advanced Amateur Photographer: Amateurs who are embarrassed to be lumped in with those who don’t use a “real” camera.
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Longevity
The longevity of an interesting photograph is inversely proportional to the lack of longevity in the subject.
I’ve spent half of my almost thirty years in photography on landscape photography. Now, as I digitize and archive that collection, I realize most of the subjects I captured appear exactly the same today as the day I took the original photo.
Plus, the number of photographers traveling those same back trails has increased exponentially.
This means, even if I were a modern-day Ansel Adams, my best photos from those years have probably been duplicated by dozens of like-minded photographers.
So, what about photography subjects is still scarce?
Scarcity must be sought in subjects that won’t be the same in 10 years or even 10 seconds—in the fleeting moments.
For those who take naturally to people-based photography, this theory is nothing new, and it’s easy to implement. But for those of us who tell stories with and without people, including landscape, architecture, and abstract photographers, the search must begin for fleeting moments within our favorite subjects.
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A Gift Guide for Photographers
Every year, around the holidays especially, photographers are bombarded with gift guides, which often involve a kickback for the guide writers.
Here’s an honest guide of what to get the lesser photographer in your life, with nary a kickback in sight. Refer to this every holiday season:
Education
Workshops from trustworthy photographers and local classes can up a photographer’s game beyond the fastest of new lenses.
Travel
This adds experience and opportunity to a photographer’s toolkit.
Books
This is a little trickier. Be discerning. Seek out the masters, but question everything.
Time
Volunteer to do some errands or babysit so the photographer in your life can go out and shoot more.
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Photography as Fashion
Here’s to the fashionistas:
to the ones who wear a camera to complement their clothing
to the ones who agonize over the number of compartments in their bags
to the ones who wouldn’t be caught dead with black lenses on their Canons
to the ones whose judgment of an image is shaped by who and what made it
to the ones who lament the loss of their safe business models
to the ones who wish they were born a few decades earlier
to the ones who scoff at hobbyists and amateurs
to the ones who talk about creativity, then fully automate their shooting
Thank you. You make it so much easier for the artists to stand out.
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The ‘Self-Taught’ Lie
No one is self-taught. We all learn from each other, for better or worse.
No one arrives in photography. It’s a constant learning process, and if you’re not open to learning from others, you’re at a huge disadvantage.
Lots of photographers have come before you. They’ve made a lifetime of trivial mistakes. There’s nothing noble in repeating them yourself.
I’ve never met an expert that wasn’t dead wrong about something. I’ve never met an amateur who couldn’t teach me something.
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Proper Maintenance of Your Gear
Your photography improves with time and experience. Your responsibility is to ensure the most important piece of gear you have, your brain, gets to where the pictures are for as long as possible.
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The Best Photos of the Year
Every year we’re told what the best photos of the past year were by many publications. They’re always wrong. If you want to identify the real best photos of year, they tend to share the following criteria:
They are too personal to be found in any publication.
They are probably on your phone.
They are dulled by filters and cheap tricks.
They are not subject to criticism.
They are probably not for sale.
They are perfectly imperfect.
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There’s Nothing New Under the Strobe
The greatest revelations in photography every year are generally repeated revelations. They’re made every year in countless books and blogs.
There’s nothing wrong with this. In fact, it’s necessary.
Discovery is a problem.
It’s a problem in music, since unlimited access to unlimited music means TV and radio don’t have the influence they once had to tell us who to follow.
It’s a problem in news, since the three networks are now millions, and they all have a hard time agreeing on the facts, let alone an agenda.
The problem of discovery is a problem of recovery, as well.
Our notebooks are now infinite. We can collect everything, so we spend precious little time reviewing anything.
Photography truths have remained unchanged for a hundred years, but that doesn’t mean any of us can recall them at a moment’s notice or apply them to our current projects.
I’m grateful for those who spend the time to remix information and serve it to us in new ways. It’s helpful. But I’m aware there’s nothing new there.
Collecting information is easy. Reviewing and applying information is hard.
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Live First
“You just have to live and life will give you pictures.” — Henri Cartier-Bresson
Life happens between frames. If you don’t put down the camera to experience your subject, how can you bring anything uniquely personal to the story?
Great photography is just great storytelling. Great storytelling evolves from a life well lived. Live first.
The best camera is already always with you, because the best, sensor is your brain and the best lens is your eyes.
If you don’t take the time to live, see, and experience before you photograph, you’ll always be a cover band. Your goals will match the experiences of other photographers.
Technique and gear seem
insignificant if you have a message. Developing that message is worth at least as much time as you devote to the rest.
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What Photography Really Produces
The print isn’t the end product of your photography. Neither is the screen.