Hoist the freak flag

If you have an upcoming car or plane trip I recommend downloading Mariette DiChristina’s incisive look into the creative process, “Brainstorm: Using Science to Spark Maximum Creativity”. One reoccurring theme in the book is the idea that we are all born with creative talent. But conventional educational wisdom rewards conformity, following the rules and staying in one’s box…all potential enemies of creative thought.

According to DiChristina, by the time students reach the second or third grade thinking creatively has been pushed aside by a more linear approach governed by established rules and regulations. In other words, don’t color outside the lines or be labeled misfit. 

But immunity from convention has an unfurling affect on one’s freak flag. By accepting that they are not part of the mainstream, contrarian students (the ones with the weird clothes) feel freer to exercise their creative pursuits.

http://www.amazon.com/Brainstorm-Using-Science-Maximum-Creativity/dp/1427204411/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219239821&sr=8-4

The meaning of photography continues to evolve

Photographers have been debating the implications of post capture image manipulation for some time now. The amount of acceptable manipulation depends largely on your photographic “tribe”. At one end of the spectrum are the photojournalists (who limit reality bending to moment of capture only)  I’m not sure where the other end is.

I’m opening this sore again because of a New York Times article<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/fashion/17photo.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss> which addresses an issue I’m been thinking about for the last couple of years. The idea that while we, the self appointed guardians of photography, have been parceling out however much manipulation we deem appropriate, the end users of our art have been making up their own minds. 

From the Times “..as people fiddle with the photos in their scrapbooks, the tug of emotion and vanity can win out over the objective truth. And in some cases, it can even alter memories — Cousin Andy was at the wedding, right?”

If a mistake was made on our parts, it was the idea that expectations about photography would remain constant….namely, photography represents an objective slice of reality. While this has never been true, consumers of photography have frequently believed it to be. 

This universal shift in expectations about photography is bound to have lasting effects. Stay tuned. 

Keith

Better photos through neurochemistry

What’s more important, the process you use to produce photos or the actual photos you produce? OK, this is probably a circular argument but it’s a worthy thought exercise so stay with me.  

Several years ago I was photographing a Chinese calligrapher who explained that he cared only about his process, not the end product.  His world was reduced to the patch of paper meeting his brush. He drew energy from that spark in the brain generated by creating something. 

Experts who study the mind would probably say that spark is a chemical reward for positive behavior whipped up by the brain’s bartender.  I’m not sure how many bartenders are on duty in my brain but I know how the spark feels and I know when it occurs.  

Which brings me to the question of process vs. product. That buzz in the brain happens at the moment of photographic creation for me. Capturing a moment IS the fundamental photographic process….and the cooler the capture, the bigger the buzz. The tingle isn’t there for me during post capture work, even if I’m adding great value in Photoshop, LIghtroom…or printing in a wet darkroom.

Photography is about capturing a unique moment, enjoying the resulting neurochemical release and using that flush of energy to do it again. Congratulations. You are now addicted…but in a good way. 

 

keith

The flow of it all

Many years ago I was traveling through South Korea and had the opportunity to visit one of the country’s national treasures. This particular treasure was an actual person and the thing he did that made him treasure worthy was Chinese calligraphy (or, at least a Korean version of it).

I’ve mentally revisited the old guy several times over the years and last week during the Sundance photographers series I was back in the land of the morning calm. I was transported after hearing Henry Cartier-Bresson talk about his photography work. Although I believe Bresson cared about the photographs he created I had the feeling he cared more about the process of photography. The thing that really rocked Henry’s world was the act of making pictures…the take.
Which is why I thought of the Korean calligrapher. This man said the real joy for him was the process of creating. I had the feeling there were no production goals rather, the goal was to stay in production.

Although ink and brush are different than silver halide and glass the mental state the creators achieve is similar. Time stands still. There is a merging of action and awareness. There is a balance between ability level and challenge.

Or, as Bresson says, “The eye, mind and heart have to be aligned.”

Another word for this is flow. Coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentimihalyi, flow “is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling or energized focus, full involvement and success in the process of activity.”

I like flow. I’m a big believer in finding your flow and going there often. Live there if you can. I can’t imagine a more satisfying pursuit…except maybe learning how to pronounce Csikszentimihalyi.

Keith

Attention spans: the shorter the better

I’ll admit it right up front. I like new stuff. I’m not talking about shiny toys (although I like them, too) I’m talking about ideas. I like the fact that our paradigm seems to shift every couple of months. I like the fact that not only is change ubiquitous but the rate of change is accelerating every day.

For a long time I attributed this to being an early adaptor. But I can’t decide if I’m a true early adaptor or just have a really short attention span.

Historically, having a short attention span hasn’t been particularly useful especially when we had to focus on one job for 20 years and there were only three television channels. But the information age changed that.

People who study human brains say the fire hose of information that confronts us every day is forcing our brains to process information differently. We now live more moment to moment as dictated by the current data stream hitting us in the face.
Could it be that multi-tasking is actually multiple, micro spans of attention oscillating up and down the radio dial of life?

An art director once remarked to me that all photographers have ADD. She said it in a way that implied if I didn’t know this already….well, I must not be paying attention. Maybe she had something. Individual photographs are graphic representations of a moment in time….or span of attention. And we have been dividing reality into 1/60th of a second increments since Henry Bresson’s decisive moment.

Seeing the whole and its parts at the same time is a helpful skill for story-tellers (visual or not). Plucking significant moments out of time requires a thought process that’s part multi-tasking and part short attention span. Thoughts move laterally rather linearly.

keith

Shopping for ideas

One thing I’ve observed about myself is that the best photos from a given assignment often come at the end of the take. For lack of a better term I’ll call this the “boutique effect”. Like when you walk around one of those cute little stores and on the fifth orbit you discover something completely missed…completely unexpected.

This same orbit often happens when I’m shooting. The more times I circle an idea the more likely I’ll discover something completely missed…completely unexpected. I think this is because once I’ve worked through the obvious things I have to look harder to see something new. During the first orbit I’m usually working through my inventory of past successes (some people might call this style). The magic happens on those final trips around the idea.

I’m not alone in this observation. Many authors of books on creativity suggest tossing out the first half dozen solutions you come up when problem solving. I’m not ready to throw them out yet but I’ve learned to pay special attention to those last few that trickle out.

keith

Trick Photography

You don ‘t hear this term much anymore. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I heard someone say it. I have my theories about why. One is that the end consumers of photographs are gradually changing their expectations about what photography represents. Young people especially are beginning to see photography more as manipulation than a record of reality.

It’s possible the term trick photography has become redundant. Whether we’re manipulating little particles of silver halide or 1s and 0s the end result has always been a trick. I think trick photography evolved as a term to describe “over” manipulation…whatever that means. Maybe, one person’s trick photography is another person’s reportage of the civil war.

So, what about the changing expectations? Wide availability of image manipulation software has now made if possible for anyone to make fundamental changes to any image. Anyone can have Oprah’s head on their body and everyone knows this. Pre-digital photographers and other skilled pros tweaked reality whenever the agenda called for it but our expectation about photography was that it represented a record of reality. I think this is because that’s how photography evolved…a technology used to make a graphic record of something in front of the camera lens.

So, while there is nothing new about digital imaging (it’s been around for at least 25 years) what has changed is the man on the street’s expectation about photographs.

keith

A hankering for haiku

As creatives I think most of us look for ways to flex the right side of the brain. One good way to engage that side of the brain is to screw down the parameters to a very specific problem/solution scenario. Like, oh I don’t know, a haiku poem that tells the story of a solar eclipse. Here’s one I wrote.

Dark day announces

Like trousers at the ankles

The sun has been mooned

keith