“It’s good for me to remember to be true to yourself and really find something that resonates with what you feel as a photographer — and not what you think someone else wants to see, not some typical shot — and go with that.”
–John Keatley, photographer
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I recently photographed one of my favorite hip-hop artists, Brother Ali, for ONE magazine during his tour stop in Milwaukee. As a throwback to my newspaper reporter days I also interviewed him for the mag. We spoke about music, the strength of Minneapolis’ creative scenes, and following your creative dreams. Some advice that I think can be applied to any creative pursuit:
“Everything is you. So the way that you paint or draw or snowboard or … it all has to be who you are. And then how far you end up going is 100 percent you. It’s all your work and your talent. It’s a mixture of your work and your gifts. Nobody else can do it for you and nobody else can keep you from it when it’s yours to have. I see so many people say, ‘I’m trying to make it,’ but they’re still in the emulating phase, you know? … You have to, first, before you can ever expect anybody to pay you any attention, you have to figure out the way you do it and work on perfecting the way you do things. And then don’t expect anybody to ever give you anything.”
“It’s always about being prepared, being quick, knowing your vision, never losing sight of that and getting distracted with the insignificant moments, to always search out the significant ones, even if they are very quiet and intimate … the one moment that Lil’ Wayne is by himself in the corner of the room.”
–Hip-hop photographer Jonathan Mannion (here)
Three frames shot at Bay View’s Club Garibaldi before and after the Dim Suns took the stage (see this earlier post). In my most personal work — literally the shooting I do when I bring my camera along for the ride — I often find myself capturing fragmentary photos that frame some of what’s happening and hint at the rest.
In a previous post I talked about fixed-focal length lenses and a favorite creative exercise: leaving the house with one lens, challenging myself to make interesting pictures with whatever’s in front of me. (It really helps you see the world from a new, or at least different, perspective.) The frame above was made that way, with a 50mm lens.
Unlike a wide-angle lens, a 50mm starts to really allow a shallow depth of field. I like to find a tangle of branches, set a good baseline exposure, and lock focus, then look around via the camera. With a shallow depth of field, it’s amazing how many patterns — unseeable to the naked eye — reveal themselves.
Some fuel for the creative person’s fire…
“Only the mediocre are always at their best.”
–Jean Giraudoux (via here)
“The WAY you SEE is WHAT you are hired for as a photographer. Seeing photographs is just one facet of the business, and if you want to make money at photography, you must build a business around it.”
–Nick Onken (via here)
“I never have taken a picture I’ve intended. They’re always better or worse.”
–Diane Arbus (via here)
“I’m sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.”
–Salinger (via here)
Some key words from photographer Dan Winters in an audio interview floating around the photo blogosphere:
“It can be incredibly simple. It’s not, you know, the latest light-shaping tool from Profoto that’s making this picture. It’s the idea of you looking at what’s going on, being aware of what’s going on, and kind of making decisions based on looking at it … having a real ability to look at the light.”