Tom Gallien,
A.K.A., Drifter, is a close and trusted friend. His photography
is phenomenal, which is why I tag along with him. He makes my
work look better. Tom and I talk a lot and share as friends
do. Something happened last night which I wanted to share and
there was no one better to share it with than Tom. My story
follows, along with his reply.
It has been a tough
month, with Betty in the hospital, Woosie having to be put
down, a tough time at work and just a depressive feeling of
my own. I want to get pumped up for some photography and
may well have that opportunity next week in Arizona, but I
want to share with you that sometimes just seeing is more
important to your soul than taking the shot.
Being home alone for
like the 10th evening in a row, feeling sorry for myself, I
poured myself a glass of wine, cranked up the iPod and
walked to the dock, with a magazine in tow. I only got
through a few pages of the zine, and Hotel California, when
I noticed that tonight was going to be something very
special. In 15 years here in my home I have never seen the
sky so blue. Nothing spectacular with the clouds or the
sunset but something told me to just be patient. As the
evening unfolded the sky got bluer. The clouds got golden
and the sun became more spectacular as it said goodnight.
About that time the Canada Geese decided to leave for the
evening and took off in three flights of 40 or more.
Spectacular as they winged past the sunset. But then there
was a lone goose that was sort of the cherry on top. Maybe
he was the lone ranger but he sure did pull up the r ear re
al nicely. The sky was still blue, but the golds were
fading to red and then pink. There were a few dark gray
clouds that floated by, just to accent the easel. To the
south, there were massive storm clouds, without the rain or
thunder. To the west, the sun took a bow for the 12th time,
as the applause of my mind gave it many standing ovations.
Suddenly, a pontoon
boat came out of the trees to my right. It was a new
neighbor that I had only had a few conversations with. He
said he surfed the lake every evening at sunset, along with
his golden lab, just to chill from his day's work. I told
him that his lab had escaped some months back and I had shot
several images of that beautiful hound basking in my cove,
and I would be happy to send him the shots. He allowed,
knowing that Betty could no longer go out in the Jon. boat
with me, to bring me his pontoon over to let us sail the
lake, together, yet once again.
I had to leave shortly
after that, as the mosquitos were about to carry me off, but
the hour of this evening is an hour that will go down in my
memory forever, for tonight I saw the bluest blue of the sky
and the goldest gold of the clouds and the reddest red of
the sunset. I am sorry that I could only share this image
with myself, but if I have said this right, and I have
conveyed an image to a close friend, then I have described
seeing, without the camera.
And the lesson is,
maybe sometimes seeing is more important than taking the
shot. Just maybe, what this is all about is enjoying every
once in awhile, the beauty of nature without a camera
between us and the sunset.
It certainly was
tonight.
Your friend, Homer!
Homer,
Your words
are powerful along with your generosity in sharing
them.....and I will indeed share this with my students.
Consider it "Newsletter # 2".
I started
out this class by telling them that a photographic image
starts with the mind and eyes working together to create
a composition that can be captured by a camera...but to
realize that the image captured by a camera is always a
poor substitute for real life. So, I told them, one of
my goals of this class is to teach you to "see life
with different eyes". Last night as I projected some of
their images that they have taken since they started my
class, I saw some of the wonderment of creative
photography in their eyes.....it was evident in their "Ooooooooh"s
when a new pastel rosebud popped on the screen that
someone in the class (actually an oncological surgeon)
had taken yesterday. Then an "Aaaaaahhhh" when an Ozark
sunset jumped up and warmed the room. I love my job. And
I thank you for passing along a special moment.
Sometimes those moments are too long coming and too soon
forgot ten... ....but I hope not.
D.
PS, what's
going on in Arizona? And don't forget the ET rendevous
in 3 weeks....I'm pollishing my optics and formatting my
CFCs
IN FOCUS
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make
mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.". . . Scott Adams - The
Dilbert Principle
How does one write a newsletter that appeals
to all readers, maintains interest, is informative as well as
entertaining, covers the ranges of topics from beginner to prosumer (new
fangled word for advanced amateur) and can entice everyone to pay a
thousand dollars a year to subscribe (just kidding about the
subscription fee, but if I could get a hundred, or so, of you to
volunteer the subscription fee, then I could quit my day job and live
happily ever after)?
First of all, by way of introduction, I
consider myself a prosumer. I am not as good as some, and I am better
than others. My good friend, Dr Tom Gallien has nudged me, no make that
pushed, no make that shoved me into writing this. Tom does exceptional
work (check out
www.molliebiscuit.com for proof),
is an exceptional teacher and mentor. He is teaching a course at his
local college, which I envy his doing. Tom and I are working together
on a workshop in the Smokies for next year. Just by taking a few days
off to scout out the area, having no one to show off to, as in most
workshops, and with a schedule all of our making, I personally found I
learned more in just a few short days than in most of the workshops I
have attended. But this is not where I wanted the newsletter to begin,
so I will save the workshop for a later volume.
Tom (aka Uncle Drifter) and I discussed
where this newsletter should begin, and the logical answer is at the
beginning. The hard part comes in defining the beginning, but here
goes. I think that today's photographer must possess the following: A
desire, a knowledge/skill and a wherewithal to do photography.
The desire is inherent. You cannot pick up
a camera and think that you will just go out and become a great
photographer. You can become someone who uses a camera to make
pictures, but without the fire in the belly, you are going to pull up
way short of what this art (and I do mean art - a subject we will also
deal with later) is all about. My undergraduate degree was in art (from
the finest university in the SEC I might add), with emphasis on
photography. The fire was not there and I set my art aside for almost
30 years. A few years back I picked up an old Canon AE-1, took a shot
of a sunset, had the film developed, and the flame flickered a bit. My
graduate degree was in Technology (also from a fine Southern
University), so when digital came along, my art and technical degrees
convinced the right side and the left side of my brain that they could
actually get along and work in harmony. The rest in history, or so they
say. This artistic technology relit the fires and rekindled the
creative outlets that I have always had, but seldom used. Fast forward
to the point in my life where I receive Social Security updates every
quarter, and I find there is just enough time to fit one more thing I
want to do in my life before it is time to quit. It is something I
dream of doing. It fits my philosophy of "we do what we do so we can do
what we want to do." Tom is a dentist. I am an IT Director. These are
merely job titles that enable us to do what we want to do. Do not
mistake desire for passion. Passion is a meaningless word that every
photographer throws around nowadays to describe themselves. Desire is
the fire within.
Today's photographer, particularly those of
us who gave up the film for the digital, must obtain and retain so many
skills beyond the "basics." Not only must we understand shutter speed
and apertures, composition and color, we must take our art another step
farther with the understanding of the histogram and white balance, RAW
images and file management, Photoshop and Bridge, Epson and ink
profiles, the difference between archives and archival, PSD and TIF and
the compression factor of JPGs. We must decide between Nikon and Canon,
laptops and desktops, thumb drives and multimedia storage drives,
gigabytes and (yes for some of us) terabytes. The darkrooms have been
replaced with the desktop computers, dual monitors, external storage and
backup systems. The chemicals have been replaced with inks designed to
be around for a hundred years, even though we won't. We created our art
using something called PhotoShop that really does about a gazillion
things more than you need for it to, but it makes you feel good to say
you use it. There are forums and magazines, DVDs and videos, iPods and
workshops, all designed to teach you to be a better photographer. I
will say I have fallen prey to this newfound industry, as I have spent
many dollars to think that one more class or one more book will make the
difference between a wall hanger and an award winner. Regardless of how
you do it, you must do it. Desire is free. Knowledge costs a bit.
The last element is the wherewithal. I will
be as blunt as I know how to be. This is a very expensive hobby! If
you try and get by on the cheap, your work will show it. Your basic
entry fee will be the camera. Both Nikon and Canon (I don't look at
other brands that much, as they just are not major players in this game)
start around $500 - $600 for the basic body and a lens (maybe 18mm-55mm
zoom lens). I personally do not like the bonus lens they package with
the camera. No reason - I just don't. I prefer to put my own suite of
lens together. As a minimum, I want a wide-angle lens, somewhere in the
neighborhood of 18-35mm (remember that digital sensors add a factor of
1.5, so a 100mm lens on a digital camera is actually prorated at
150mm). My second choice of lens would be the medium telephoto, usually
a 70 - 200mm zoom, that can also double as a macro lens. My final
choice would be the super zooms, or those that reach out to at least
400mm. You will appreciate this lens when photographing the grizzly
bears in Alaska. If you can afford it, add image stabilization for sure
for your longer lens. That said, if you go out and buy these three
lens, even those that do not carry the Nikon or Canon logo, you just
set yourself back by around $2,000 - $3,000 dollars, give or take a few
dollars. Yes you can get by with less, but eventually you will work
your way up. Just remember - do not fall prey to the belief that one
more lens is going to make you a better photographer. It is going to
make you a poorer photographer. Capitalize on what you have to become a
better photographer. Then as you get better and master what you have,
add to your arsenal. But also remember, you have to carry all this
stuff around and it gets awfully heavy after a short while (if you don't
believe me, try lugging it up to the tower at Clingmans Dome). At this
point, I have just touched the surface. You will want to add flash,
camera bags, tripods and tripod heads, compact flash cards and card
readers. You will want a laptop or digital media storage device
(The Epson P5000 is a good choice) to store your images in the field.
I've just added another $2,000 - $2500 to the bill. You will want a
desktop, 4Gb of RAM, a 160Gb hard drive, two monitors (one for the
image, which must be calibrated to match what you see on the screen and
what comes out in print, and one for the tools), an external hard drive
and you might as well throw in the printer, say an Epson 2400. Ink cost
$12 - $15 a cartridge and there are nine cartridges. Hey, Cha Ching! We've
just upped the kitty another $4,000 - $5,000 and we forgot the cost of
PhotoShop, plus all the stuff that you will want to learn Photoshop, so
just chip in another thousand to be safe. I'm not gonna do the math
because I was an art major and art majors do not do math very well. You
do the math, because this hobby (I now call it an avocation) is strictly
going to be a relationship between you and your bank account. There are
some things you can do to offset these costs (have a good CPA) but if
you think you can sell your art to make a living, I would strongly
advise you not to quit your day job. You will have a lot of people tell
you what a good photographer you are. If compliments were cash, I would
be a millionaire. Nuff said about that.
So desire, knowledge and wherewithal are my
three key ingredients. Yours may be different or you may add something
to the mix. That's ok, but I think anything you come up with will
eventually lead back to one, or all three of these ingredients. That
said, welcome to the newsletter, In Focus. It is a start and if you
don't want to get it, let me know and I will take you off the list. If
you want to spread this out to your friends, that is ok too. Just
remember the subscription fee (a man's gotta try). For some of you,
this edition will be ho hum, mundane and boring. Well you have to start
somewhere, so just be patient and wait until we catch up to the
considerably serious stuff. If you have burning questions, please let
me have them. I have enough friends that we can get your answer pretty
quickly and accurately. If you want to share something with all of us,
such as a tip or two, please feel free to do so. If you want a
discussion topic, let us hear it. If you have found a great, legitimate
source for photographic equipment and supplies, such as great OME ink at
www.atlex.com,
let us know. Conversely, if you get ripped off by one of the on-line
providers, please tell us (boy have I got a great story to tell about
on-line rip-off). Since I am the owner, editor, author, opinionator and
coordinator, we can make this into anything I want it to be. So lets
have fun and share those images.
The next chapter is due out when I have time
to do it. In the meantime, you can't take a great image with your
camera(s) in the bag. Go out and shoot, even if for practice. . .
Dwain!
THROUGH MY EYES
My thoughts on the subject of nature photography
Where would
you start if someone asked you to teach what you know about
photography? The subject is as simple as “point and shoot” and as
complex as f-stops, resolutions, depth-of-field and “fast glass”, just
to name a few. Interesting concept if you get lost in it all, but my
real answer is that photography begins through your eyes.
I was fortunate a few years back to be singled out to travel the country
and deliver presentations on a subject that many thought to be complex.
My talent, as I was told, was that I had the ability to take a very
complex subject and make it simple. If this is true, then my thoughts on
the subject of photography, and particularly nature photography, should
be simple to tell and simple to understand. Let’s see if that might be
true.
Read more ...
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