Guidelines can improve many photo's - what else?

[Ricochetrider]

Bottom line, you can listen to, and look at everything. Take inspiration from all sorts of media.

 

But, the reality is, it has to come from yourself. Not from a thousand words, or, a thousand photos. Or, from folks who seem to have the wisdom of ages. Seem is the operative word.

 

Just you.

 

While I agree for sure that eventually whatever one achieves must come strictly from within oneself, a solid foundation never hurts. For those of us who don't grow up around art or weren't born into a creative family, the next best thing IMO is to see what's out there and to broaden our own foundations through formal or informal education on art & design. Finding artists whose work one admires is also IMO a good way to gain insight into what one hopes to achieve with their own work. I actually found inspiration in a few photographers' work. But most of my effort to seek out others' works (for inspiration) intensified only after I got more serious about photography, and began self-learning the mechanics of analog photography on manual film cameras.

 

One such photographer, Ralph Gibson, who mentored Renato D'Agostin- some one who sparked my own interest in no small way, Interestingly, Mr Gibson just won the Leica Picture Of The Year Award for his work with the new M11. He switched from analog photography to digital some time ago and apparently never looked back.

 

Ralph Gibson

 

Nomadic Editions 4 - 7439

 

I've met Mr D'Agostin a couple times- once at a Leica Store appearance supporting his 7439 book, and another time at the Italian Embassy in Washington, DC at a speaking engagement- and actually bought a print from him prior to all that. Super nice guy. The photos in his book, 7439 (linked above)- taken on a motorcycle journey across the United States, sparked me in no small way.

 

Recently I became aware tho, of a photographer whose portraiture we've all seen- Platon. His father was an architect and illustrator & his mother was an art historian. He studied graphic design and got a masters degree in Fine Arts but also was fortunate enough to meet a significant someone who mentored him in fashion and commercial photography. I own a couple Avedon books of portraiture and have long admired his work. Now, seeing the work of Platon interests me because at this juncture, I hope to begin shooting people more often- perhaps eventually doing some actual formal portraiture.

 

Everyone comes to things differently for sure but for me, seeing what others have done and are doing has helped me infinitely on my own photographic journey. Hence the suggestion that gaining an understanding of the broader sense of art, design, and photographic history could be one deeply important element of an organic journey into artful photography.

[samstevens]

While I agree for sure that eventually whatever one achieves must come strictly from within oneself, a solid foundation never hurts.

I don't think anything comes strictly from within. But I actually don't think that's what your post is saying, which seems to balance within and without reasonably well.

 

Personalization and feelings often come from or seem to come from within. But photographers also observe, participate in, and picture the world. Photography has a fairly naturally within/without counterpoint going for it.

 

As to learning and experience, it's hard if not impossible to separate all that from what we wind up feeling "within". From the beginning, we experience outward stuff, our surroundings, our culture, our class, our politics, our families, our teachers, the art we see, the TV we watch, the books we read, the people we meet. That has effects, some that we know, some that we barely begin to scratch the surface of. One could spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out what comes from within and what comes from without, but I doubt anyone's going to nail it.

 

So, I just try to get by with the knowledge that I'm an individual with both ego and personal truths and with a lot of experience in the world being absorbed as well. I see a lot of photography not as photographer isolated from the world but as photographer collaborating with the world ... and history.

[samstevens]

Interestingly, given all that, we can both reflect and create worlds, sometimes simultaneously.

[Ricochetrider]

Nice, Sam

I agree. I think really we shoot the world that we see, the way we see it and dial in on what matters to us. For some, the vision of what, how, etc might come naturally. Other people may have to work harder to even begin to have any specific “vision” of how they want their photos to look.

 

I was mostly speaking with a nod to the theme of the thread- guidelines for beginners, but did flavor my commentary with a taste of stuff I’ve experienced in my own photographic & artistic endeavors.

 

 

Cheers man!

[Allen Herbert]

We all have various influences from the world about us....the list is endless.. However, the Art itself comes from ,what is inside us.... that's where the magic is. That's why we are not all listed as masters of Art, only the very few achieve that status.

 

And, yes, all Art forms are akin to each other.

[MrAndMrsIzzy]

all Art forms are akin to each other.

 

There you go!

[je ne regrette rien]

Master your craft (of photography) and then forget about it.

 

Then just move on and live!

Edited February 7, 2022 by je ne regrette rien

[q.g._de_bakker]

Interestingly, given all that, we can both reflect and create worlds, sometimes simultaneously.

Where is the difference between reflect and create?

[inoneeye]

Mirror or Window or both :) Edited February 7, 2022 by inoneeye

[Ricochetrider]

Where is the difference between reflect and create?

 

One happens in the rear view mirror, the other on the road ahead.

[samstevens]

Where is the difference between reflect and create?

The type of question that begs for a metaphor, which inoneeye and ricochetrider have adroitly provided.

 

"The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." —Charles Dickens

[q.g._de_bakker]

If you say so, you probably think that, Sam. I do not.

But anyway.

[samstevens]

you probably think that, Sam. I do not.

I already knew about that difference and suspect you did, too, when you asked the question. Anyway, good, now we're more sure.

[q.g._de_bakker]

I already knew about that difference and suspect you did, too, when you asked the question. Anyway, good, now we're more sure.

Erm... What difference? ;-)

[samstevens]

Erm... What difference? ;-)

That I think that and you don't. Obviously.

 

QG, if you have something to say on the subject of reflecting and creating with regard to photography or on the Dickens quote or on the metaphors offered by inoneeye and ricochet or on the general subject of the thread, say it.

[q.g._de_bakker]

That I think that and you don't. Obviously.

 

QG, if you have something to say on the subject of reflecting and creating with regard to photography or on the Dickens quote or on the metaphors offered by inoneeye and ricochet or on the general subject of the thread, say it.

I'm sure i did.

[samstevens]

I'm sure i did.

Great. If you’re satisfied with what you’ve said, we can move on. Sounds like a plan.