Tag Archives: photography
Photography Movement – Minimalism
national cemetery, santa fe, nm
For people who know me well they know that I love minimalist composition. That empty space, negative space, in a composition can say so much by being there and being used in the correct proportion. Minimalism came into being as an art style after World War II, but it showed up strongly in America during the 1960′s and 1970′s. It is an outgrowth of the larger art movement of Modernism where everything modern and high tech were the rage. It began in the early 1900′s and coincided with the American Industrial Revolution. This is when we begin to see people experimenting more with art styles and many other genres formed, like Surrealism, Cubism, and Art Nouveau. This trend continued on into the middle of the century. Think about the styles, the houses, and the cars that popped up in America during the 1950′s. They all wanted to be futurist and celebrate technology. When Minimalism came along it looked more at the spare nature of things. Things were reduced to their elements and then only their essential elements. Line, shape, and form became primary in the aesthetic of the piece.
In my mind photography never really fully embraced the minimalistic tradition. We see it in various artists, but it always seems stronger in the other art forms, including painting, sculpture, architecture and writing. The minimalistic style has to do mainly with composition. Because you have very few elements in your photograph, or art piece, these need to be arranged well. You can see some good examples of this type of photography here. Minimalistic works have a clean, orderly nature to them. There is no waste and all of the space of the frame or canvas is used. Very often when students are beginning photography they tend not to use their camera frame to its maximum potential. I always remind them that they should view their frame like a piece of real estate in Manhattan. That real estate is expensive and you want to use it wisely. It would be good to look at Zen gardens for some inspiration.
It is hard for many people to leave the open space in a composition. We are trained to acquire things and the principle of ‘more is better’ is common in our society. Minimalism is about not acquiring things and the idea of ‘less is better.’ It is a very different mindset than most people are used to and I think that is why many people have so much trouble creating in this style.
A good way to practice creating minimalistic work is to set up an image. Take your photograph. Then take something away. Repeat this process over and over until you have just one element in your image. Then try moving it around in the frame. By practicing this methodically you can learn how to create beautiful and simple images.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, photography techniques
Also tagged art, composition, digital photography, fine art, minimalist photography, minmalism, modernism
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Make Your Photographs Special
that was a priceless ming vase
“A Ming vase can be well-designed and well-made and is beautiful for that reason alone. I don’t think this can be true for photography. Unless there is something a little incomplete and a little strange, it will simply look like a copy of something pretty. We won’t take an interest in it.”
John Loengard
This quote from John Loengard is a good one to keep in mind when you are either making photographs or looking at them. One of the advantages to being a photographer is that you acquire an eye for detail. You notice little things; the way a light strikes an object, the subtle texture on a surface, the shape of simple object. Having the ability to slow down and train yourself to notice these subtle things is a great gift that comes from being a photographer, or an artist in any medium. But photography, because it occurs in fractions of a second, demands a keen eye and an awareness for what you are really seeing. I spoke about this recently in my post ‘Slow Down and See.’ But the quote above reminds us that there is another dimension to just seeing and that is seeing a little differently than the next person. This could be thought of as part of your personal style. For some tips on developing this further check out ‘Stand Out From the Crowd.’ Once you are past the stage where you develop the ability to notice the world around you in fine details and patterns, and you have the technical capabilities to record it with your camera, you have to get your brain out of the way and let it be recorded creatively. Everyone is an individual. In fact, the most important thing that you can do to improve your photography, or anything else creative in your life, is to be an individual, to be honest, and to let your own style emerge. Getting out of the way of creativity is something that while it might sound easy to do, it really is not. For our minds to get out of the way of anything and not to interfere with natural processes is quite a challenge. For detail on this you should read my post ‘There Are Photographs All Around Us.’ The normally dominant left brain, the logical side, always wants to take over and categorize everything. That logic and order is great for many things, but it stifles your creativity and your personal style. So it is key that an artist learn how to turn it off for those brief periods when you are in the creative zone. Don’t ignore the obvious and let the extraordinary get away.
If you can let your creativity and personal style through then your image cannot by definition be a copy. It will not be a copy of the world or a copy of someone else’s work. It is actually harder to copy another photographer than people think. And that is a good thing. The world is more interested in what you specifically have to say in your work. We do not need another Ansel Adams, we need another you. So let your images have their own life, their own style, and be unique. That will get them, and you, more noticed and more appreciated. What seems so simple is actually something that you will have to work to make happen. So get your brain out of the way and let creativity flow.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, photography techniques
Also tagged Ansel Adams, design, improving your photography, John Loengard
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Back Up or Be Sorry
Digital photography is a wonderful technology. Film is great too, but they each have their own distinct advantages. Digital is convenient and gives you instant feedback. It is already in a format that allows you to easily manipulate it once you have transfered your files to the computer. For me digital gives you clay and then you can mold it and finish it any way that you see fit. And, unlike clay, you can remold and reinterpret it over and over again. On the downside, digital is easily lost, corrupted, or erased. It only take s fraction of a second, or a computer malfunction, and years of images and hard work, and possibly money, could be gone with little chance of recovery. I have read a few articles recently that spoke about how digital photographs have entered into the disposable realm. They pointed out that so many of the photographs being taken today will not be around in a few years. Think of all those images that you take with your phone. I think that there is an implied disposability to them. Now when film was around, if you remember, there were many photographs taken. Kodaks estimated that number to be in the billions per year. But even when the negatives were misplaced there was the chance that the prints lived on in some album or some drawer. You can read an interesting article from 2000 about how much information is produced each year here.
So I am encouraging everyone to have a back up strategy in place to preserve your images. Even if you think that you do not care about them now, in time you may, and some images may become very significant. Keeping extra digital copies is easy. It just takes a little time and some storage media. Whether you are a hobbyist or a professional will determine the level of safety that you set up.
First, you should never leave any images on your computer that you cannot afford to loose. I would say just don’t leave the only copy of any image on your computer. Computers crash, they get viruses, they get replaced, and things don’t get transferred. So take the images off of the memory card on to your computer, then immediately copy them to an external hard drive. Don’t erase the memory card until you are sure that you have the images saved. Then you should reformat the card in the camera. Don’t add to the images already on there. The cameras don’t like that and the cards can get corrupted. External hard drives are cheap and you should have a few. I would recommend copying the image files (the originals) to two (2) external hard drives. I would also suggest that you put the images on another form of media, one that is less prone to being erased. That would be either a CD, DVD, or BluRay disk. If you are a professional, or someone who is very serious about your images, you would make a set of disks and store them off site. It does you no good to have an external hard drive back up right with the laptop that gets stolen, or alongside the computer that gets water or fire damaged. So if your images are important to you, and they should be, get a back up set off site.
Luckily I am not writing this because I have had a data crash. I am currently teaching a class in Digital Asset Management so I have been keenly aware of this recently and I have been accessing my own back up systems. I just added a BluRay burner and a few fast, 7200 RPM, external hard drives to my system. I will be adding a RAID system in the future. And some larger photographers will want to set up a server. Delkin makes gold CDs, DVDs, and BluRay disks because the regular ones only last a few years. The gold ones are archival and should last up to 200 years. They are worth the extra cost. I keep a set of gold disks along with a set of regular ones.
Everyone will have their own system based on your level and how much you want to invest in backing up. It is not expensive to do it the right way. No matter what type of images you create, please back them up so that you will have them for long periods of time. Don’t keep putting this off until you have a disaster on your hands.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, photography techniques
Also tagged archive, back up, digital asset management, digital photography, film, gold DVD
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Never Stop Learning No Matter What
Many people are afraid of learning. Somehow they have painful memories of being forced to memorize page after page of facts just to blurt them back on some test. I don’t blame many people for not enjoying learning because many times in our lives the learning process has been painful and ineffective. While these is some reason to memorize facts and procedures, there are better, more interesting ways to gain information and experience.
The first thing that you want to do is figure out what type of learner you are. There are visual learners who like to see things presented to them. These are the people that remember faces and can vividly describe a scene to you from memory. Another type of learner is the auditory one. These are those good listeners that you know. They like the lecture part of a lesson. Many of these people are really into music or are musicians themselves. The last type of learner is the kinesthetic one. These are the hands-on people. You can tell them how to do it, show them how to do it, but they prefer to get their hands in there and do it on their own. Now everyone falls into mainly one category. Many people have a mixture of the three. That mixing is usually an adaptation that they have discovered over the years to help them perform better in school. The reason that it is good to figure out your primary learning style is so that you can adapt whatever you are learning to better suit you. Do not wait for an instructor to come around to your style. There are subjects that just do not lend themselves well to all three styles.
A good class will mix together the three approaches. So I might lecture on aperture, shutter speed, and ISO as it relates to camera exposure. I then show people where to set these on their cameras. Then I would have people practice changing these settings, taking pictures, and seeing the effect that each parameter has on their final image. All three types of learning have been covered and everyone should be accommodated. You can read more about these in ‘Photography’s Holy Trinity‘, ‘What the Heck is ISO?‘, ‘Shutter Speed – It’s About Time‘, and ‘The Elusive F Stop in Photography.’ If your learning style is not presented, like in a history lecture when you are a visual or kinesthetic person, then reinterpret the event to accommodate your style. Maybe you watch a movie over that period of history or re-write your notes, or whatever it takes.
We should not become averse to learning. We should also not stop learning no matter how much we think that we know. The brain does well when it is challenged, exercised just like the rest of the body. There is always something new to learn. It is always good to review what you think you already know well. We should be embracing learning instead of avoiding it. Reading blogs is a good start, so read on.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography
Also tagged artist, digital photography, fine art photography, growing, learning, learning style
2 Comments
Stand Out From the Crowd
lost in the crowd
The time has come for you to stand out from the crowd. Now it doesn’t matter if you are a photographer, an artist, or an accountant. Being memorable and being important to others is the goal that you want. Do not strive to just fit in, stand in line with the others, and quietly prod through life. You can read some more of my thoughts about this in the posts ‘Get in Line and Follow‘ and ‘The Courage to Stand Out.’ So here are some suggestions to help you stand out.
1. Share your vision
Everyone sees the world a little differently. Just make sure to add that vision to your work. No one says that you have to do everything like everyone else is doing it. Think about what you are doing, how you are doing it, and if that really fits in with your personal paradigm.
2. Be unique
Why be ordinary? Oh sure it is safe and you may not get noticed. But is that your master plan? Do you want to just hide in the crowd and never be called upon or recognized for your own unique greatness? Some people unfortunately like this position. It is safe, it is predictable, it is boring. If you don’t take any chances then you will get very few opportunities. Remember what Thoreau said, ‘Most men lead lives of quiet discontent.’ That does not sound so attractive to me.
3. Speak up
Let the world know that you exist and what is unique about you. Don’t do this in an arrogant or pushy way, but in an informative way. Let other people you meet know what you do or how you are different. You can be subtle in this. For example, I can tell someone that I am a wedding photographer. But that does not tell them how I am unique. So I would rather say something like, ‘I am an artistic wedding photographer who works in a photojournalistic style.’ Or you can state your uniqueness by the customer needs that you fulfill. For me I could say ‘I help brides and grooms remember their special wedding day through artistic images and video.’
4. Stick to a plan
It is an old business adage, “Plan your work, work your plan”, but it is a good recipe for success. Decide on your unique selling points, make a plan to let the world know, and then follow through on it. The last step, the follow through, is the toughest, at least for me. I like the beginning part, the idea, creation, planning part, much more than I do the execution of the plan. You have to force yourself to do the things that you feel resistance to doing. The resistance is just a form of fear so you have to push through it.
5. Reinvent yourself
Periodically you should change things up, even if you are very successful with your current plan and self. Change is nice. Change is scary. But change is cleansing and will help to continue to challenge you to become better at what you do.
Now is as good a time as any to stand out from the crowd, take charge of your unique skills, and let the world benefit from all of these things.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography
Also tagged artist, creativity, Henry David Thoreau, stand out, unique
3 Comments
Your Camera is Not Your Eye
dorthea lange 'migrant mother' 1936
“Where there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.”
Dorthea Lange
This quote from photographer Dorthea Lange connects well with the idea that a camera and our eyes do not see the world in the same way. I mentioned an example of this difference in my post ‘There Are Photographs All Around Us.’ In that I used the example of how our brain interprets images from our eyes to create a sort of auto white balance. This is why we think that white piece of paper looks white even though we are inside under artificial lights. The camera, set on daylight white balance, would see this same piece of white paper as amber or some other color depending on the light source. This is a physical example. Ms. Lange is referring to a more metaphysical example.
As humans we react to photographs with our own subjective nature. It can be difficult or impossible to react in a purely objective nature. Each of us has had a life history and we bring that personal frame of reference along with us everyday. When you look at a situation you see it “through your own eyes,” as the expression goes. So if your think that your significant other is cheating on you, and you see a picture of them with someone else on Facebook, you immediately conclude that they are cheating. You don’t consider that the picture may be of an old friend or someone else. This memory trigger is what makes photography, and all art, a very personalized experience. It is the subjective experience.
I like to think of photographs as a mirror into the viewer. What you see in an image is based on your beliefs, your current frame of mind, and how you see. That is why when I have fine art exhibits I always want to know what the viewer likes or does not like about my work. Many artists present their work with a certain agenda. They want to garner a specific type of reaction from the viewer. I like to present the viewer with a clean slate and see what they come up with. It is a bit of a twist, but it is much more in alignment with the quote above. I think that this type of art can really let a person learn more about themselves, to see more about themselves. Hence, the idea of art as a mirror.
You can read more about Dorthea Lange and look at some of her amazing work here. Her image of the ‘Migrant Mother’ is the most recognized photograph in the world. You can read all of the details of this amazing image here.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, photography techniques, wedding photography
Also tagged art, camera, digital photography, Dorthea Lange, eye, fine art, FSA, Migrant Mother, seeing
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There Are Photographs All Around Us
People who have just begun photographing always lament over how difficult it is to find good subjects to photograph. Many people, even experienced photographers, believe that they have to go to some exotic location to find great photographs. While it may be fun and interesting to travel to some exotic outpost, you do not have to go there to find and to make good photographs. Images are all around you. One of the most important things that someone can do to develop as a photographer and artist is learn how to see. Wherever you are right now there are thousands of photographs right there in front of you. The trick is learning to see them. The more familiar you are with your environment the more difficult it is to really see it. Our brains love to categorize and define everything that we see and encounter. This is a survival mechanism and is built into our physiology. This type of thinking is controlled in most people by the left hemisphere of the brain. This is the logical, verbal, rational side. The other side of the brain, the right, is the creative, abstract one in most people. The left brain naturally dominates. In our society today it dominates even more because the types of skills that it handles are more prized. Everyone has been pushing you into math and science your whole life. So it is no wonder that these type of logic-based skills become strong in most people. I have read that there are many people that believe that we were all creative when we were younger. Then, somewhere during our school years, our creativity was no longer celebrated and it faded. Sometime during our schooling it was time to get down to business, to logic and reason, and to step away from art and creativity.
The good news is that you can train yourself to see creatively. It is just a matter of slowing down and quieting down your dominant left brain. In fact, the logical side of our character is what really hinders someone when they begin learning photography. Your eyes do not see the same way that a camera does. Your eyes are connected to your brain and that interprets what it sees. A good example of this is when you have a piece of white paper under artificial lights. You look at it and you see it as white. But take a picture of it, using the daylight white balance setting on your camera, and you will see that the image comes back amber or green if you are under fluorescent lights. We see it as white because your brain knows that it is a white piece of paper and therefore it corrects the image from your eyes. In essence your brain has auto white balance.
So if you want to find more photographs learn not to blindly follow your brain. When you look at a chair stop, take time, and look at the shapes, light, shadows, textures, and how it fits into the environment. The more that you practice this kind of seeing the more you will be able to really see the world around you.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
What Makes a Good Photographer?
I have posted several times here about how to improve your photography and how to become a better artist. You can read more about these subject in the articles, ‘10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Photos (Part 1)‘, ‘10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Photos (Part 2)‘ and ‘Looking at the World Differently.’
I have a guest post right now at Your Photo Tips. The article is about some things that I think make a good photographer. You can read the post here. Please make sure to ‘like’ the article and put down a comment. If it is well received I can be a regular guest poster on the site. Thanks.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Photography and Life Don’t Have to be Perfect
eiffel tower carousel, paris
Everyone seems either obsessed with being perfect or not even trying. There seems to be no middle ground. What is perfect anyway? Perfect is a concept. It is what we believe to be the best that can be done. Once we reach perfect there is no further to go. The game is over at that point, so why play? I have written before about being a good photographer and being an artist. You can read about it my posts, ‘Looking at the World Differently‘, and ‘Photography and What is Art?‘ I don’t think that perfect is a good goal for people to have in art or in life because perfect is the end. Being perfect means you have nothing more to work on. There is no momentum there. I have said many times that the day I am satisfied with my photographs is the day that I will stop photographing. The slight dissatisfaction, the thought that I can do it a little better, that I can grow some more, is what motivates me and keeps me producing more and more art. You should not get dismayed by this fact. It is fine to not be totally satisfied by your work. That is what drives you on. You should want to always be better, to do better, to learn more about yourself, and to help others around you to understand themselves. We are striving towards our potential. But the best part of that is that we never reach it. And that is fine. Don’t get depressed because there is no end, no perfect, no finished.
On the other end of the scale are those people that don’t try. These are the ones that I refer to in ‘Mediocre is Not Acceptable.’ It is all too easy to give up before you try because the task ahead may be difficult. Many people remain blissfully mediocre and support themselves with the delusion that they are producing good work because they are afraid of trying, afraid of working. That altered reality is not going to work. Once again it becomes an issue of balance, moving forward, and having realistic expectations.
If you are in doubt and do not know what to do, just do something. The forward momentum will help you to progress. So don’t try to be perfect. I often like photographs that are ‘sloppy’ or ‘chaotic.’ They have their own special sense of rhythm and not every rhythm is simple. Learn from life and learn from your photographs.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, photography techniques, wedding photography
Also tagged artist, creativity, fine art, mediocrity, wedding, wedding photography
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Taking Photographs with Love
jacques-henri lartigue 'avenue du bois de boulogne, paris' 1911
“I take photographs with love, so I try to make them art objects. But I make them for myself first and foremost – that is important.”
Jacques-Henri Lartigue
This quote goes back to the turn of the 20th century and photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue (June 13, 1894 – September 12, 1986). He is an interesting character. Lartigue was born into a wealthy family in a city just outside of Paris. At this time photography was seen as a very respectable hobby for both men and women of wealth. Even though there were ‘professional’ photographers around who did mostly portrait or documentary work, photography was seen as an appropriate leisure time activity for the rich. I think that they liked the scientific and gadgetry nature of it and probably enjoyed owning beautifully crafted cameras of wood, brass, and fine optics. I am sure that these wonderful cameras drew much attention, just like they still do today. I was photographing a waterfall in Vermont one time and I was using a handmade large format, 4″ x 5″ film camera. The camera was made of rich dark cherry wood and gold plated hardware with a leather bellows. I had it set up on a tripod and I was waiting for the light to get just right. In that hour or so I must of had a dozen people approach me and ask me about that camera. I didn’t mind even though I was ‘working here people.’
Jacques-Henri Lartigue started taking pictures when he was 6 years old. He would record the people and events of his life. And since it was a privileged life the world we get a glimpse of includes the sites of Paris, beautiful country homes, and the fine toys and leisure time that was available to the upper levels of society. It is like Lartigue was a little spy into the high society world of turn of the century Paris. In his day no one really knew Lartigue for his fine photographic work. In fact, he was not discovered until he was 69 years old. This lead to a photography spread in Life magazine in 1963 and his fame grew. Lartigue is well known for his images of automobile races, airplanes, and fashionable high society women. His most famous images were from the period of the early 1900′s.
The quote above reminds all of us engaged in photography that we should be doing it for ourselves and for the joy that it brings. It is too easy to get caught up in the commodification of this art form. I am not saying that it is bad to make money as a photographer or artist. It is just that money should not be the driving factor. You passion for your art, whatever it may be, should push you on. In some previous posts I have talked about the importance of passion for an artist. Read ‘Reflections on Reflections, ‘Looking at the World Differently‘ or ‘Photography and What is Art?‘ for more information and inspiration.
So no matter if you are a business person, or an auto mechanic, or a visual artist you should do it for yourself first. Without passion you are just going through life asleep.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in black and white photography, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, photography techniques
Also tagged art, fine art, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, love, paris
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