Photography is as easy as speaking to another person. If you don't know what to say, it is hard to start a conversation of any kind. It doesn't matter if you speak as a kid or a poet. It's all part of a visual language that needs practice and a vocabulary to express your own voice. People need to stop looking for rules to break and start looking for visual patterns that can build layers and layers of interest.
@@michaelhall2709 art in general, but more specifically to paint/drawing and photography, since they’re not text based and more about visual communication
Why is it so hard for photographers to convey their artistic vision? Perhaps the same reason that there are only a handful of truly great painters per century. Most of us are just going to strive towards ordinary. Doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy trying.
Why limit yourself to a certain photographic artistic vision? When I go out to photograph birds, I look at everything. If I'm in a park or by the river, creek or a city festival, I look at everything that moves me to take that photo. I have great photos of birds, landscapes, people, flowers, buildings, street photography. Photograph what moves you !
I understand your perspective as it has been mine for ages, but for me I've discovered that by focusing on a "STORY" where my images share a consistent theme my vision became sharper and more artistic and my images stronger
@@daviddyephotography I do understand what you are saying. Your vision became sharper because you became more focused on your subject. That's cool. But what did you miss that could have been a major photograph of your life? I sat on a city bench one day with my camera, I happened to look down and there was a crack in the road. As I followed the crack, I saw a piece of Cheerios in the shape of a heart next to the crack. I photographed " The Broken Heart"
I think you are confusing artistic vision with genre? You can see it in a lot of photographers that worked in different genres (or didn't shoehorned themselves into a single genre), the subject matter changes, but the voice is still the same, that's what the artistic vision refers to. It's about finding your own voice in photography, to be able to show what you want the way you want it to be shown.
This is such a novel and mind-blowing take on the art of photography. I don't know how a medium that is over a hundred years old has never had a visionary such as yourself state something so... revolutionary! "Look at everything". Mate, I don't don't know what I could do, but if you don't hear from the Guggenheim, let me know. I know a guy who watches reels on facebok and ig, he'll definitely be interested in your take on a host of other subjects.
Creating your own style is very simple. All you have to do is keep repeating the same thing over and over again. Over time you will master it and there is your still. What kills your style? Watching and reading about hundreds of different techniques and then endlessly jumping from one to another. Trying them all out. Style example, you take pictures of old cars, you use the same film recipe or editing techniques, the same types of filters , the same type of lighting, the same type of focus. Style is sameness. All you need to know is what do you like taking pictures of. And then figure out how you want to express it. And then don't change. Outside of learning your specidic techniques better.
A creative vision needs a creative person , not everyone visualises the world in appealing ways. Pre visualisation of a subject is not that difficult but to predict the future ,and all the elements coming together to create beauty needs practice , or study someone like Van Gogh for inspiration
I think it is redundant, but not sure it'd rise to the level of a tautology. But, since you bring it up, it bugs me a bit when the sports people say it is what it is. Someone says that and one doesn't know any more than before. What's that? It is what it is.
Hi Alex, when we look at a photo that has stillness and before taking that shot there was a lot going on and busy, If you can only see that stillness that's a great photo. Great advice and good points, thanks 😊
Another great video Alex! I particularly liked your comment about the photography of Sally Mann. You described it as having a sense of "stillness" which is absolutely spot on. That is the emotion i get when I see her photos. This got me wondering - perhaps that "stillness" comes from the fact that these are works by photographers in an era before Lightroom and Photoshop and where the artist has to create their work based on the existing light. Nowadays the photos we see are so processed that it almost seems unnatural and maybe that is why it is hard to achieve that same sense of "stillness". That is one of the reasons I have started exploring film photography..... Perhaps an idea for your next video in discussing whether the advent of Lightroom etc has been beneficial to photography and the development of photographers!
I do find it disappointing that it is now too easy to create effects on the computer rather than waiting for the right conditions to capture scenes with mist or fog for example. Why would anyone want to fake it in post? All I use software for is for basic editing to enhance my photos, rather like someone editing prints in a darkroom.
Wow - your ability to connect us with other photographers! This is fantastic - where you suggested some reluctance to Sally Mann I really connected - that's ART right? I recently went to Madrid looking at art and it fundamentally challenged AND confirmed my impression of "modern art". I have to say Sally Mann REALLY resonated (your wording) with me.
Yes I am. Eight months ago I thought I wanted to develop a 'street at car meets' style, but looking at my twenty five favs on my Flickr profile at the moment that isn't happening. Thirteen are monochrome and fourteen are of buildings or part there of. I think this is because I'm still finding out how to operate my gear so anything 'street' that happens in an instant just isn't being captured well. Mind you I do have a few old books about buildings and architecture on my book shelves...
Excellent topic, as always! Thanks! Have you seen Sally Mann’s work ‘Body Farm,’ about the University of Tennessee’s forensics department? There is also an excellent documentary about her. I watched it several years ago. All the best! 😀
Completly agree with you. The greatests always climbed on former greatets. There is a lot of ego involved in art, but this ego has to be turned into a way to reach Nietzsche's Übermensch. To keep on philosophic concept, series are a very strong way to really says what you want to say, like Heidegger saying the "same thing" in many different ways because language is always approximative, same thing for a picture, a music...
Sally Mann is tge Queen of halarion in her large format camera. It's tough to reproduce in digital formats but it's fairly easy to accomplish through recreating a combination of the "Orton Effect" and selective gaussian blur applied correctly and some really creative image editing.
Totally right about photographs being seen in the context of a body of work - there are some photographers who can wow you with a single image, but even they only succeed if they do it time and again - with most, however, you need to see a lot of images to understand what they are exploring and you only start to understand and appreciate their images when you see that they are not random.
Great idea to create an image board of others work to help you define your own artistic vision! I've done this in the past and discovered that sometimes it's only part of an image that really calls to me. It's very helpful. Thank you!
I think what trips up most veteran photographers is they have lost the sense of wonder and joy of photographing whatever interests them at the moment. It becomes a chore to photograph anything not something that is a joy and the happy accident of taking an unexpected photo while out and about is not something that occurs any more.
Photography is as easy as speaking to another person. If you don't know what to say, it is hard to start a conversation of any kind. It doesn't matter if you speak as a kid or a poet. It's all part of a visual language that needs practice and a vocabulary to express your own voice. People need to stop looking for rules to break and start looking for visual patterns that can build layers and layers of interest.
Right! 🎉
Yes!
That’s quite insightful in its way. But is that statement truly specific to photography, or does it apply to the arts in general?
@@michaelhall2709 art in general, but more specifically to paint/drawing and photography, since they’re not text based and more about visual communication
Why is it so hard for photographers to convey their artistic vision? Perhaps the same reason that there are only a handful of truly great painters per century. Most of us are just going to strive towards ordinary. Doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy trying.
Why limit yourself to a certain photographic artistic vision? When I go out to photograph birds, I look at everything. If I'm in a park or by the river, creek or a city festival, I look at everything that moves me to take that photo. I have great photos of birds, landscapes, people, flowers, buildings, street photography. Photograph what moves you !
I understand your perspective as it has been mine for ages, but for me I've discovered that by focusing on a "STORY" where my images share a consistent theme my vision became sharper and more artistic and my images stronger
@@daviddyephotography I do understand what you are saying. Your vision became sharper because you became more focused on your subject. That's cool. But what did you miss that could have been a major photograph of your life? I sat on a city bench one day with my camera, I happened to look down and there was a crack in the road. As I followed the crack, I saw a piece of Cheerios in the shape of a heart next to the crack. I photographed " The Broken Heart"
I think you are confusing artistic vision with genre? You can see it in a lot of photographers that worked in different genres (or didn't shoehorned themselves into a single genre), the subject matter changes, but the voice is still the same, that's what the artistic vision refers to.
It's about finding your own voice in photography, to be able to show what you want the way you want it to be shown.
Me too
This is such a novel and mind-blowing take on the art of photography. I don't know how a medium that is over a hundred years old has never had a visionary such as yourself state something so... revolutionary! "Look at everything". Mate, I don't don't know what I could do, but if you don't hear from the Guggenheim, let me know. I know a guy who watches reels on facebok and ig, he'll definitely be interested in your take on a host of other subjects.
Creating your own style is very simple. All you have to do is keep repeating the same thing over and over again. Over time you will master it and there is your still.
What kills your style? Watching and reading about hundreds of different techniques and then endlessly jumping from one to another. Trying them all out.
Style example, you take pictures of old cars, you use the same film recipe or editing techniques, the same types of filters , the same type of lighting, the same type of focus.
Style is sameness. All you need to know is what do you like taking pictures of. And then figure out how you want to express it. And then don't change. Outside of learning your specidic techniques better.
A creative vision needs a creative person , not everyone visualises the world in appealing ways. Pre visualisation of a subject is not that difficult but to predict the future ,and all the elements coming together to create beauty needs practice , or study someone like Van Gogh for inspiration
I think it is redundant, but not sure it'd rise to the level of a tautology. But, since you bring it up, it bugs me a bit when the sports people say it is what it is. Someone says that and one doesn't know any more than before. What's that? It is what it is.
Hi Alex, when we look at a photo that has stillness and before taking that shot there was a lot going on and busy, If you can only see that stillness that's a great photo. Great advice and good points, thanks 😊
Another great video Alex! I particularly liked your comment about the photography of Sally Mann. You described it as having a sense of "stillness" which is absolutely spot on. That is the emotion i get when I see her photos. This got me wondering - perhaps that "stillness" comes from the fact that these are works by photographers in an era before Lightroom and Photoshop and where the artist has to create their work based on the existing light. Nowadays the photos we see are so processed that it almost seems unnatural and maybe that is why it is hard to achieve that same sense of "stillness". That is one of the reasons I have started exploring film photography.....
Perhaps an idea for your next video in discussing whether the advent of Lightroom etc has been beneficial to photography and the development of photographers!
Agree. I feel like lots of photography today seems overproduced and almost to "clean" it makes it seem fake for lack of a better word
I do find it disappointing that it is now too easy to create effects on the computer rather than waiting for the right conditions to capture scenes with mist or fog for example. Why would anyone want to fake it in post? All I use software for is for basic editing to enhance my photos, rather like someone editing prints in a darkroom.
Wow - your ability to connect us with other photographers! This is fantastic - where you suggested some reluctance to Sally Mann I really connected - that's ART right? I recently went to Madrid looking at art and it fundamentally challenged AND confirmed my impression of "modern art". I have to say Sally Mann REALLY resonated (your wording) with me.
Excellent advice. I've been in the photography doldrums over the last couple of weeks and this has put the wind back in my sails. Thanks.
Yes I am. Eight months ago I thought I wanted to develop a 'street at car meets' style, but looking at my twenty five favs on my Flickr profile at the moment that isn't happening. Thirteen are monochrome and fourteen are of buildings or part there of. I think this is because I'm still finding out how to operate my gear so anything 'street' that happens in an instant just isn't being captured well. Mind you I do have a few old books about buildings and architecture on my book shelves...
Clever trick to get around the different colour from the second camera.
I do appreciate that the audio matched this time also, definitely an improvement here!
I come for Alex’s discussions. The technical aspects of his videos and editing ability are not really an issue to me.
I like how you're doing the second camera angle and the change in color adds something to it.
Photography for me is either a burning passion or a doldrum.
Really liked the sequence of your images at 7:00.
Exactly! Narrative and sequence
I absolutely love the image you present at 7:12
Do you have a list anywhere of all of the books you reference?
Not as such, but I could put one togther
Excellent topic, as always! Thanks! Have you seen Sally Mann’s work ‘Body Farm,’ about the University of Tennessee’s forensics department? There is also an excellent documentary about her. I watched it several years ago. All the best! 😀
Completly agree with you. The greatests always climbed on former greatets. There is a lot of ego involved in art, but this ego has to be turned into a way to reach Nietzsche's Übermensch. To keep on philosophic concept, series are a very strong way to really says what you want to say, like Heidegger saying the "same thing" in many different ways because language is always approximative, same thing for a picture, a music...
Sally Mann is tge Queen of halarion in her large format camera. It's tough to reproduce in digital formats but it's fairly easy to accomplish through recreating a combination of the "Orton Effect" and selective gaussian blur applied correctly and some really creative image editing.
Thank you for another great video. I look forward to seeing new video on your channel as they are thought provoking, interesting and informative.
Totally right about photographs being seen in the context of a body of work - there are some photographers who can wow you with a single image, but even they only succeed if they do it time and again - with most, however, you need to see a lot of images to understand what they are exploring and you only start to understand and appreciate their images when you see that they are not random.
Great idea to create an image board of others work to help you define your own artistic vision! I've done this in the past and discovered that sometimes it's only part of an image that really calls to me. It's very helpful. Thank you!
I think what trips up most veteran photographers is they have lost the sense of wonder and joy of photographing whatever interests them at the moment. It becomes a chore to photograph anything not something that is a joy and the happy accident of taking an unexpected photo while out and about is not something that occurs any more.
The audience is critical to the acceptance of the art.
Thank you ned this
Good one, Alex
Another cup taking centre stage I see. Most distracting!
Oh my. Get a life
review your work, look for commonality or theme and try to expand on that theme let it grow and mature into a vision
In a bit of a funk right now, but enjoyed the video. Thank you.