Chicago
Skyline
Olympus OM2n, 35-70mm f3.6 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome
100
Blog note: This is the second installment of an article I originally wrote for Rangefinder Magazine more than twenty years ago and posted on this blog in January, 2020
The
second stage of progression in photography is involvement with photography itself.
For the more senior among us, it may have been learning to develop
film and make prints. More recently, many have come into photography by way of
computers and software. Either way, there's a whole new world of things to
learn and do. Some people begin at this stage, rather than at the equipment
stage, perhaps hooked by the magic of seeing a print come up in the developer
for the first time or the gift or impulse buy of a digital camera. They may
partially or completely bypass the involvement-with-equipment phase,
intuitively understanding that equipment is only a means to a end.
At
this level, pictures become more than a by-product. Good photographs are an earnestly sought
goal, and occasional successes whet the appetite for more. We attend workshops, read books, and find it
all endlessly fascinating. Influenced by
photographers we admire or who we have been told are masters of the art, we try
to make photographs like theirs. There's a lot of emulation, imitation, and
even some outright copying as we seek to master the medium and find our
individual place it.
As
our skills increase, we may find ourselves making photographs which are
considered excellent by others. They may
even win prizes. Yet, in the deepest
sense, they are not really our own.
"Son of Cartier-Bresson," maybe, or perhaps "The Return
of Arbus." Excellent, but not
spoken with our own voice, as it were.
Many technically-capable amateurs and not a few professionals arrive at
this point and never go any further.
In
fact, it could well be argued that professionals are especially susceptible to
topping out at this level. We are
involved with photography on a daily basis, most of us are deeply in love with
photography, and some of us find that we
can be reasonably successful by producing photographs according to rules and
formulas. In addition, any number of
seminars and workshops stand ready to teach us to make photographs just like
the hot photographers of the hour.
Imitative photography is actively encouraged by trade associations such
as the Professional Photographers of America, with its print judging system
which awards merit points to photographs made according to the standards they
have established.
My
Brother Steve
Olympus
OM2n, 85mm f2 Zuiko lens, Kodachrome 64
A
skillful promoter/salesman with moderate camera skills can have a financially
successful career as a professional photographer without ever having an
original thought or making an original photograph.
But
that's okay. It's all good fun, and
harms no one. Even if a professional
sells hack work, what of it? Are his
customers harmed? No, they're
pleased. Kathy the new bride is happy
because her wedding pictures look just like Jennifer's and Karen's.
Involvement with equipment and with the
photographic process itself are
necessary stages in the development of most photographers, but they are not
what photography is about. To learn
the true meaning of photography, to come to a place where we can make
photographs which are truly our own, we must advance to the third level. (To be continued.)
If you like my photographs, you can see more of them in my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/ Looking is free, and, who knows? You might find something you want to keep.
The second edition of my book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia
will be released in June, 2023.
Photograph and text copyright 2022 David
B.Jenkins.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless
life gets in the way.
Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.
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