The problem is that there is a very real tendency to unconsciously appropriate someone else's vision. You see something and go, "Ooo shiny!" and end up creating a photograph that looks *just like it*. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you're not putting your own spin on it, you're just regurgitating someone else's art. It's why so many photographs and trends happen, because photographers are a bunch of visual magpies.
In my case, I do it on purpose. I look for things that ring my bell and then I see how far I can run with it. It's also a, how many photographs can you take of a nude body? At a certain point, you have to be speaking in a visual language that has specific meaning to you, even if no one else gets it.
Now yes, I personally never run out of ideas. But sometimes you sit there with a camera and go, "Really? Another picture of another flower/landscape/naked girl/child/dog/cat?" It can feel flat and lifeless and not worth it. For me, it's finding whatever the emotional truth of that moment is, even on the days when I don't like or feel like shooting. And those days happen even when I've planned for a shoot months in advance. But like writing, once you get going, you get something.
I am tired and rambling. I have no clue if I'm coherent here. I hope I am. But I know what he's talking about. About the vast gray empty that sometimes hits, the same way I've sat and stared at a blank computer screen and gone, "Fuck, now what?"
If I'm not too afraid, if I'm rested enough, fed enough, centered enough, I can look inside and start from there.
Sometimes.
When it works, it's bliss. When it doesn't, it's a slog.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: O_O
Date: 2010-06-17 06:13 am (UTC)The problem is that there is a very real tendency to unconsciously appropriate someone else's vision. You see something and go, "Ooo shiny!" and end up creating a photograph that looks *just like it*. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you're not putting your own spin on it, you're just regurgitating someone else's art. It's why so many photographs and trends happen, because photographers are a bunch of visual magpies.
In my case, I do it on purpose. I look for things that ring my bell and then I see how far I can run with it. It's also a, how many photographs can you take of a nude body? At a certain point, you have to be speaking in a visual language that has specific meaning to you, even if no one else gets it.
Now yes, I personally never run out of ideas. But sometimes you sit there with a camera and go, "Really? Another picture of another flower/landscape/naked girl/child/dog/cat?" It can feel flat and lifeless and not worth it. For me, it's finding whatever the emotional truth of that moment is, even on the days when I don't like or feel like shooting. And those days happen even when I've planned for a shoot months in advance. But like writing, once you get going, you get something.
I am tired and rambling. I have no clue if I'm coherent here. I hope I am. But I know what he's talking about. About the vast gray empty that sometimes hits, the same way I've sat and stared at a blank computer screen and gone, "Fuck, now what?"
If I'm not too afraid, if I'm rested enough, fed enough, centered enough, I can look inside and start from there.
Sometimes.
When it works, it's bliss. When it doesn't, it's a slog.
Wouldn't give it up for anything.