Something trying to express it's feelings.

Does anyone else get the feeling that there is something creative

trying to get out, when you are out photographing alone? Or to put

it in another way,something is trying to express some feeling with

your pictures?...Jim

Didn't Michaelangelo say he could see/feel the sculpture through the marble - that it was allready there, all he had to do was chip away?

Philip Perkis once told me that the photographer is just another part of the medium,

meaning that you are just the vessel for this other thing that is trying to come through

you. Get out of the way and let it come.

 

Then he went and wrote this absolutely brilliant book of teaching notes from 40 years of

teaching photography. He is one of the finest teachers you could ever have. If you can get

a copy, check out this book and the review. You may have to cut and paste the link twice. I

can see it is breaking in the line, but my html is too weak to do anything about it.

 

http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbyCat.cfm?

Catalog=zb921&CFID=965913&CFTOKEN=67259831

I think you can approach photography using something a kin to Stanislawski's 'Method', that is, just look and wait until the motivation comes.

yes, chris, but you might freeze your ass in this time of the year, with that approach.

Unless you wait for something to happen/come in your cozy little warm home.

Here's a clickable link:

 

<a href="http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbyCat.cfm?Catalog=zb921&CFID=965913&CFTOKEN=67259831">Clickie Clickie Linkie Linkie</a>

Csab, we have to suffer for our art! I've stood in the corner of a field for two hours, up to my ankles in cold mud, in a cold, wet wind waitnng for my motivation.

Jim,

if you are serious about it and have faith in yourself, follow a discipline which helps you to develop what is inside you. Looking for a good tutor and endurance is essential on this way. Good luck.

<i>Or to put it in another way,something is trying to express some feeling with your pictures?.</i><P>

Despite my friends' claims that I'm from another planet, I try not to think of myself as some "thing." Yes, <i>I</i> am trying to express some feeling with my pictures, but I don't feel that some outside force is trying to do that.

Mike, this is something from within. I don't take many weird photos by most standards. If I'm ever able to get the proper scanner that does 35mm slides as well as 35 mm negatives or possibly prints, I shall try posting some of my stuff on PN. I'm pretty well computer illiterate,I'd imagine there are quite a number of people that normally live in a rain forest that can out perform me on a PC...Jim

Isn't PN the greatest place in the world to view the work of so many talented photographers. It's alot like finding a whole stack of POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY.

I don't feel so much that it's something trying to express itself through me as I do that my vision of the subject may be another portal for others to see that subject in a different perspective or in another light, perhaps expanding their appreciation of it.

 

Dick<div></div>

I think it's not a creative thing trying to get out when photographing but more like all sorts of things trying to sneak in,trying to convince the photographer of their importance. That way the creative thing is already there, it's everywhere. Only task is to filter the static things out and let the crisp and clear things in. So instead of letting the creative thing out, one can also prevent from keeping the non-creative things in 'cause the creative ones are already there anyway, no need for them to come out 'cause just by looking around you've already set them free.

"That way the creative thing is already there, it's everywhere. Only task is to filter the static things out and let the crisp and clear things in. "

 

Sounds like the Zen approach to photography and a very worthwhile exercise. By centering our thoughts, we can open the channels for creativity and avoid the distortions and pressures of those things that would suppress our ability to create our best images. Thanks!

I've always explained how I find images by saying "well its not so much

knowing what to shoot, as knowing what to ignore. We are surrounded by ALL

the stuff that can make good images, you just need to get rid of the stuff that

gets in the way of doing that".

 

And I didn't think too much about that process until I heard a wonderful

interview on the radio, a rather snooty middle-class (UK english) woman

talking to a 'rough' sounding country fellow who carved walking sticks.

 

She described the standard of work on one of the pieces..."I am holding an

exquisite walking stick made by 'Charlie', it's yew and ash combined and the

handle is a leaping fish and is an elegant and sensual evocation of a brook

trout in mid leap - and you can just visualise the elegant arching trajectory it

took when it grabbed the mayfly in the air above the brook's glassy surface.

And I'm running my hand over it, the individual scales are perfectly formed

and provide grip under your palm, the dorsal fin a raised lip under your

fingers. Its a wonderfully realised piece that encapsulates both the elegance

of a wild thing and the astonishing skills of the artist, for this is true artistry.....to

be able to take a piece of roughly hewn wood and through some almost

alchemical process create this sinuous and exquisite wild creature......tell me

'Charlie' how do you do it, how can you possibly create such life from

somethng inert?"

 

To which the master replied "......errr you want tae make a fish shape so ye

just cut away all the bits that dont look like a fish, and you'll be left

with.....err....um.....a fish".

 

Now, when I'm asked how I can make such photographic compositions I just

smile and say "I just cut away all the parts that dont look like fish"

 

JOHN

www.john-macpherson-photography.com

Not really - I try to avoid being creative; I just want to document things before they vanish (like my father's 1930s 70 foot glasshouse that is going to be demolished & replaced next year).

 

I loved the last post; the difference between the waffly woman who consumes and the concise chap who produces is hilarious.

"I just cut away all the parts that dont look like fish"

 

Great advice -- we should all tape it to the lids of our camera cases.

 

Thanks!<div></div>

Sorry to be mundane when this thread has taken flight so amusingly, but what Jim is talking about is his subconscious mind. It's pretty well recognised in the field of creative and artistic endeavour so let's not go reinventing the wheel here.

When you say, Brian, "what Jim is talking about is his subconscious mind." are you suggesting that it and our consciousness operate in different realms, or could there be a continuum that flows from one to the other? Would it be fair to say that the conscious decisions we make about photography are the manifestation of our subconscious and that the way we feel about our subject subconsciously will steer the course of our expression?

 

The question seems to be whether there's something within the subject seeking its own expression through us, or whether we're expressing something within ourselves via the subject and our expression of it.

Dick, I don't think Jim mentions the subject in his question. Unless you are thinking of a person asking you to take his/her photo, I don't go along with the idea of the subject influencing the photographer directly. What I was suggesting was that, if you find yourself taking creative decisions that you don't fully understand, it's most likely your subconscious prompting you.

I think that the subject does affect the photographer, although not in some of the mystical ways described here. we can all look at the same scene and think of it in different ways--such as with the elephant and the blind men....I have many images that in no way conveyed sexual imagery to me when creating them, but somehow my wife always sees penises and vaginas in them.....hmmmm

I want to thank each of you for your thoughts. I am almost sure it is my subconscious trying to get me to express to others in such a way so as to communicate to others what I felt as I saw the scene in the veiwfinder. I've always felt I should not machine gun a scene,but be more thoughtful about what I'm photographing...Thanks to all...Jim