Don’t shoot Johnny-5, he’s alive!

I once had a great professor tell me that in order for a photographer to make a strong edit, sometimes you have to kill your babies.   This is probably some of the best advice all photographers should take.  Photographers should never make edits themselves- they’re too close the work which makes it hard to get rid of mediocre pictures and just stick to the great ones.  Photographers have to learn to kill the pictures they love, and leave them out, for pictures that are stronger and more cohesive with the rest of the work  you’re showing.  You can have your favorites, sure, just keep them out of the edit unless they’re good enough.

I had to start thinking about all this again as I’m starting to re-edit my book to start sending out.  I’m nervous, and I keep putting it off, but the sooner I get it done, the sooner I can either start facing rejection, or getting jobs.  Hopefully the latter.  I’m also facing another problem with the direction my book should take.  It’s the whole fine art versus editorial/commercial conundrum, and well, I don’t know, I’m stuck.  This is where I need a strong edit.  I’m sure theres a way I can mix both, but I’m still working on it.  I’ll post my final edit, or edits in between, and you can feel free to write and let me know what you think.  Just remember, stab in the front…

Here’s a great article I was reading earlier today on Exposure Compensation about portfolio editing.

Also one of my favourites, A Photo Editor, was talking about how everyone takes bad photos:

Yes it’s true. Everyone. All the top editorial photographers take bad photos.
They just don’t show it to me. Ever.

This really stuck for me.  Read the rest here.

…make sure you go and check out work by Jesper Ulvelius. Better yet, click through his photo diary here. You will not be disappointed. His photos are simple, but that’s partly why they’re so great. They’re not so much about the technique, but about the content, and his subjects. He takes beautiful portraits. There is a comment thread in A Photo Editor that discusses “visually acceptable” photography, and one commenter says:

Without the content, or copying someone’s images because they have the look of the day, seems like chasing after someone else’s dream. Examples that I remember are the Hosemaster Phase in the late eighties, the overpower the sun Octabank phase in nineties, the make the subject look like an idiot short-lived fad in business magazines in the eighties to the lens-baby throw it out of focus trend, the over-exposed FL look on color-negative, the list goes on and on.

If the image has content and a purpose, then you remember it or are impacted by it. If it is just the trend of the moment, it glosses by.

Jesper’s images are just this. There is a lot of this point and shoot style going around right now (I’m guilty of shooting this way too), and I’m not quite sure if it’s a fad, or a cop out (more on this later), but when you throw out the complications of bulky equipment and fancy cameras, what you’re left with is pretty much a raw image. What you see is what you get, and this where the content becomes important. Take a look at Jesper’s pictures and see for yourself. I think you’ll agree that his content is what carries his pictures.

William Hundley takes pictures of ghost, and I really like them.

*all photos on this post © William Hundley

Davin Youngs, check him out. He has some beautiful work over at his site thesearemypictures.com. This Midwestern boy takes pictures in Chicago, and you should really check him out. Here are some of the gems I found…

*All images on this post © Davin Youngs

I love putting images together, and I’ve been experimenting with that lately. Check out these words on diptychs from MediaCoolHunting.

I really like how multiples push and lean on one another, where collectively they all lead to the big picture.

Here are a few of my most recent works.

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Brad Troemel’s work and blog at Very Young Millionaire. He’s doing some great things right now with the way he’s herding up and rallying troves of young photographers who share a similar aesthetic. He’s showing some great work, and writing some nice posts that have started some good dialog. In his most recent post, I’m Boring Myself, Brad talks about shooting in a safer style that results in a more bullet proof crit. In doing so, he came to the realization that in shooting this way, his work has become boring and soulless. But what is it to shoot less safe? what makes work safe, and what makes work risky? or groundbreaking? I think photographers are constantly asking themselves this, to see how their work stacks up. I know I have. I do think my work is safe. Sometimes. Okay, a lot of the times. But why is this so? Shoot in the moment! Really, shoot in the moment.

The camera is an extension of yourself, like a finger, or your dick. Think less, shoot more? I’m not sure, but I think a big reason that some of my work is so safe is because maybe I’m using the camera as more of a tool than an appendage. It needs to be more personal. In all my years of shooting, I have never really shared my shots of my family, or my lovers. I mean really shared. Like the gritty, the sexual, the ultra-personal. Is it too personal? Probably not- but it’s my way of keeping something for myself. Something that no one else sees, something that’s mine only. One of my favorite comments from this post was the following:

really interesting. i didn’t know we were the same age. your desire to want to shoot “mid-laughter, mid-awe, mid-shock, mid-boner” is exactly what i’m afraid of. to publicize too many private moments in my life via a camera is my version of slaughtering a “sacred cow”.

I think it’s time to get over it and just slaughter the sacred cow already, or at least break it’s leg. What do you think?

*All images on this post © Brad Troemel

I just recently started shooting film again. Not just any film, 35mm. I know, how archaic, right? Not really. I was just discussing with a friend about how film is actually considered an alternative process in some school’s photo curriculum! Can you believe that? Yeah, daguerrotype, alternative process- check. 35mm? I don’t think so.

After shooting digital for so long, it’s really nice to go back to film. It’s my whole attempt at getting back to basics. Some of the things that have been hindering my production of new work is the irrational complication that I create for myself in my head of all the things I need in order to produce a nice photo, mainly a nice expensive digital camera. I grabbed my old contax, some portra, and just started carrying my camera with me everywhere. It’s been pretty awesome. I found myself smiling with a sense of giddyness while I was out shooting on the street the other day. Giddiness! I hadn’t felt that way while shooting in a while, and it was nice.

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So, this is my first post, and it’s probably gonna sound pretty crappy, so bare with me here. I promise they’ll get better once I get into the groove of writing more often. I started this blog because I’m in a rut. That’s right, a rut. I’m 26 years old, and I thought by this time I would be doing what I want to be doing, and that’s shooting. Even though I don’t shoot as often as I’d like, and I don’t pay the bills with my photography, I still consider myself a photographer, and even call myself one when people ask what I do. I once heard that if you get used to this concept of telling people confidently what you are, in this case a photographer, even if it’s not fully the case, then eventually your subconscious will catch up to get you there. I don’t know if that makes sense. Bare with me, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to do this kind of stream of conscious style writing where I just get my thoughts out, or if compose it in my head first and then write.

So yeah, a rut. For the past several years, since graduating from college (BFA in photo), I’ve been working in or around the photography industry. I’ve done photo editing at a magazine, and now I’m a senior retoucher at a retouching studio here in the City. Retouching, I see a lot of really crappy photography. I saw the same thing when I reviewed portfolios at the magazine. So much crap. I definitely had my share of “I can do that” moments. The difference between myself, and the guys who are getting jobs shooting, is that they are putting themselves out there. They’re taking risks. Well, this is where I say I’m ready to put myself out there. I’m ready to own up and start showing some work, and start being the phtographer that I say I am. Long story short, this blog is a venue for my work, my thoughts on photography, as well as a place to share the work of other photographers I like (or don’t). I’m up for critique, and I encourage that dialog, so please don’t be offended if I critique your work, or say something you might not agree with. That being said, welcome to DSJ5!

word up! let’s talk photo!