Good Monday from Prospect.
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| Winter here in Prospect. Glad that's over for another year. iphone and best camera app |
So here's the deal. I hinted at my desire to rant as of late, which has been holding me back from updating this blog.
I like to add positive content not negative, but this has been bugging me for a while.
Before I start I want to be clear, to each his own and far be it for me to lay the map of whats right and wrong. Creativity is subjective in it's nature, but bad is still bad. This is simply my personal opinion and nothing more. Take it or leave it.
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| Waiting in the airport before, Christmas, for the plane to arrive. iphone with best camera app |
Seems to me these days that anyone with a phone can be an artistic photographer. Really? Personally, I dig the use of mobile devices to share, visually, the events that shape our lives and this planet as a whole. Personally I thoroughly enjoy the freedom of using my iphone to explore new ideas and document locations (GPS built in). I also understand, generally, the concept of Lomography as an art form.
Social Media allows us to tell our stories, to share our experiences, with anyone who'll listen, Instantly. I mean the simple name Instagram explains it all, no lag in sharing an event as it happens.
This recent past Superbowl, as a great example, was shared by thousands in the stands to millions that couldn't be there. It allowed us to see what went on outside of the networks choices in broadcasting the event ( mind you they spread their story to millions of sports fans). By Instagrams' accounts, over 3 million photos at approx. 450 per second were taken and shared. It's that "being there" experience that happens.
Wow, what an amazing event share. Now that's the power of social media! Hmm, one picture worth a thousand words times 3 million? Now there was a story, albeit there was lots of duplication that would need to be edited, but you get the picture. As well, I suppose, that adds endorsement and credence to the event share (another story for another time).
Story Link here from intragram (http://blog.instagram.com/post/42254883677/sbroundup).
But I have an issue with individuals, especially self proclaimed professional photographers, randomly taking pictures with their phones, dragging it through some obscure, god awful preset developed for their phone and claiming it the most wonderful artistic photograph of all time that they simply must share.
I have even heard some claim that they use their good gear to make these low end, noisy, pieces of trite and say it's okay because they used expensive gear. Once again I say, Really? (A snow covered bush with trite preset post processing, with a funky ragged frame, does not a good photo make.) "Substance over style. Content over Technique!"
I have never been a fan of presets of the extreme. Yes I have been as guilty as the next guy for experimenting with the weird and unusual technique to explore another avenue of image processing ( I do have one image on my photo site with over the top HDR to accentuate the high contrast and crisp reflections of the car in the photo and the texture of the surroundings. It was an experimental personal project). But fortunately for everyone concerned I dropped the continuous use of presets art conversions back in the 90's where it belonged. I still experiment with a multiple array of post processing techniques to enrich the image, I see within my own vision, to come up with that final minds image. I'm even not beyond shooting film and cross processing to experiment. Creativity reigns.
I will pay tribute to Chase Jarvis's concept of the idea that the best camera is the one you have with you when it comes to sharing an event or exploring an idea to come back to. But, Great images take time, planning and thought. They are not random in nature but are deliberate. The democratization of photography is just that, sharing real ideas free of limits. With that said, in a random moment, and using Murphy's law, the best camera is the one you left at home (unless you are truly prepared and committed to photography).
A good friend of mine and landscape photographer, never just grabs his phone, or a cheap lomographic piece of junk for that matter, and shoots a "pretty" sunset. He invests his time and energy searching for just the right light and frame to capture the most elegant and enriching moment in time as our planet expresses itself to us it's guests. Ooo, that gave me the chills. But it's true. His work is deliberate and thought out. He views the subject in his mind and arranges what he wants through his lens to share that scene and moment with us.
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| Waiting yet once again for my daughter and wife. See a trend. Maybe this will be my next personal project. Waiting, waiting and waiting again. Where is everybody? iphone with best camera app. |
Maybe this all stems from being a designer. I look at every project from a logical perspective. I analyze my client and their needs and try to express those outcomes visually to help them with messaging that expresses what they want to say with a solid graphic voice. I never simply drop a random image on a client, that has no bearing with their message, because it looks nice. The brands I develop are planned and deliberate. Expressions of a message from the client to their audience, nothing less. So why should photography be anything less.
For that matter why should graphic design or fine art be any different. Once again another story for another time.
So as not to point at anyone in particular, although I think you know who you are, I've simply posted a couple of images I have taken with the camera at hand to express my feeling at that moment in a place and time that needed to be shared. May turn into a personal project, who knows. I did use the software I installed on my iphone to clean up an image or two, and photoshop some others, to express how I felt (simple b&w conversions are usually the best way to fix lousy quality, phone images, IMHO).
BTW, if you want to look extra dorky here's a skin for your phone, at least you'll look like you have a Leica in your hands (personally I have a skin of a cassette tape, since I have music on my iphone, Ha ha).
Remember, art is deliberate and not trite. Randomness is how you explore an idea, not what you use as the final presentation.
Photography is as much an art form as any when it's treated as such and carries a deliberate message.On a lighter note the cover came off the boat this past weekend. That should get me out of my winter funk.
Okay, I'm done and it's off my chest, Thanks and Enjoy, IMHO, Derek
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