I am in a hotel in Omaha as I write this. Kind of a jumble of ideas and notes I wrote while thinking about my place in the world. I know what you are thinking… right now my place in the world is Omaha. Right, but I was really thinking a bit more metaphysically, so bear with me a bit. Some random thoughts here, and an over riding message that I hope gets through. Not sure if it is a rant or a rave… we’ll see at the end.

There was a time when I thought photography was simply about making art. I was wrong.

There was a time when I thought photography was all about commerce. I was wrong.

There was a time when I thought photography could, and would change the lives of the people who viewed it. I was wrong.

There was a time when I thought that it had all been done. That every approach to making photographs had been done and done again and all we could do was simply follow along making cloned photos and dancing the dance that someone else made up.

I was wrong.

Photography has been my lifetime passion. It sits comfortably with my other lifetime passion of music and they both have a blast taunting me and filling my head with dreams and visions and tawdry stories of what could be if only I…

If only I…

Yeah, that’s a sure-fire way to live a life unlived. I may be more guilty of ‘shoulda’ than many, but not as guilty as most. And that is a shame. For me, and them.

If only I…

Three little words that carry so much loss. Three little words that can lead the listener to tales of triviality and devastation and joy and sorrow unimagined.

Photography, and her BFF music are always with me. They have been for most of my life. We traveled some amazing roads together, and we had a blast, and we laughed and we cried and we felt terribly helpless and incredibly transformed together.

Music opened my eyes to a sense of the world unseen, yet palpably, inexorably linked to the innermost thoughts and feelings of what it is to be human.

And, no… I am not referring to pop music, which by its very nature IS about commerce and sales and creating a larger life persona of the artist as being the most important component of the music. I am talking about music that has intrinsic values beyond the artist that delivers it. (Here’s a thought… if you are not sure if you like the music until you find out who did it, that is pop music… and the culture of ‘pop’.)

I have heard it more times than I can imagine: a piece of music comes on or is played for someone and the first thing asked is: “Who is this?”

Sometimes it is simply a need-to-know plea so that one may run over to Amazon and download it. Most of the time it is a filter so one can make a decision as to whether it is politically OK to like that music. “What would my friends say if they knew I liked ______” becomes an over riding concern.

It was for me when I was young. We had “music appreciation” class in the 7th and 8th grade. I was a punk. I hung with punks. We liked ‘punkass shit’ and no old lady was going ever make us like ‘classical music’ crap.

Except… I did. Oh, I would complain about it with my punk buddies, but I did love it. Beethoven, Brahms, Debussey… I had a lot of classical albums. All well hidden in my room – even better than the Playboy magazines under the mattress. Being caught with a Playboy was cool.

Being caught with Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” would have been a quick trip to ‘non-punkdom’ and who the hell knows where that would lead.

Photography is much like music. It has the power to move people. It has the power to inspire. It has been argued that a single frame of 35MM film lead to the end of a war.

And much like music we have the ‘pop’ and we have, well, other photography. I have no desire to make distinctions of value. I am not arguing against pop music, nor would I be so incredibly naïve as to suggest it has less value than any other form of music. Each must make that decision for themselves, I really have no interest in changing anyone’s mind. Been there, done that… takes too much damn energy.

And I am not arguing against ‘pop’ photography. It, like pop music, has a place at the table, and a full and vigorous fan base that will keep it there for as long as we exist.

That is probably as it should be. I would not want anyone to decide they were the harbinger of what was good in art and music – and we will be better off not to argue with them. Art snobs bore me as much as pop music does. Balkanization sucks wherever it is tried. Usually.

“There was a time when I thought photography was simply about making art. I was wrong.”

Photography is itself not art. It is a medium by which the photographer can choose to, or choose not to, make art. Or at least what in the photographers mind is art. In reality, we the viewers will make that distinction for ourselves. (And if we can’t, we can always look to the NY art world to TELL us what is art. So thankful for their distinctive and un-biased views we should be. Heh.)

I have rarely referred to myself as a “Fine Art Photographer” as I am not easily given to using that label for myself or anyone else. The viewer will decide if they like the work, and whether it is ‘fine’ or not seems to be more based on the print price than the actual definition of ‘fine’ – ya know?

I don’t think that one can take a camera and ‘make’ art. The art created should come from within the photographer and be presented through the camera and print. The camera becomes the medium, the print becomes the physical representation of the artists ‘art’.

I know that I stopped ‘trying’ a long time ago, preferring to let it flow – and I stopped censoring myself with a hundred questions on whether the shot was worthy and what would so-and-so say and would it fit in my portfolio. All questions to STOP the image from being created instead of encouraging it, I killed them off and will not let them enter my private discussion boards ever again.

Photography is not about making art, it is about providing a medium with which art can be conceived and created. The process of making art happens before the photograph is made. Make photographs of what you love, the art will be decided later, probably by someone else.

“There was a time when I thought photography was all about commerce. I was wrong.”

I have known too many photographers for whom the work was purely and unconditionally about business. If there was no paycheck at the other end of the shoot, there was no reason to do the shoot. I have heard some brag that they “never shoot unless I am getting paid.”

Really?

Sad. To not collect garbage unless being paid is something I can be good with. Not climbing power poles or installing cable or laying asphalt or doing accounting when not being paid is cool. I get that.

But if photography is only about the Benjamins, then I am afraid that there will be a reckoning at some point. And I am not betting on the photographer. Too many damned inspired and engaged and empowered and downright-friggin-over-the-top-amazing young folks coming up. They LOVE shooting. They will tread right over then un-passionate, un-engaged photographer as they would ants. Seriously.

I briefly fell into this position because I was so damned busy shooting towels and garage door openers and hams and ATV’s that I rarely had time for anything else. It began to make me a not so happy guy, so I delegated some and got back to making images just for me. This was a tough period in my photographic career. I knew that it was going to strangle me if I wasn’t careful.

“There was a time when I thought photography could, and would change the lives of the people who viewed it. I was wrong.”

Well, I was wrong to a point. There have been some amazing photographs that have changed many people’s lives. The photographs from the starvation in Africa led to a huge global outreach. War photos and atrocities have moved nations to make sure that those terrible things never happen again. A sure-thing presidential candidate was dismissed by a shot of dalliance on a yacht. And there are more.

But for the most part, the billions of photographs out there can not / will not change the world. Not for the better and not for the worse. They are simply photographs that are used for recording or sharing the physical environment, or how cute that girl is in a bikini or what lunch looked like on Thursday.

Life changing? No. Interesting? Maybe – depends on the bikini.

Ubiquitously available, ‘art’ery clogging and overwhelming in sheer volume, photography is an ‘everyman’ endeavor. The ability to make an image is so incredibly simple, that the bar for entry is not just low, it is practically non-existent.

I cannot think of another art form (former art form?) that requires so little investment in either study or tools. Today’s point and shoot cameras get it in focus, with perfect exposure, and ready to print… for less than a hundred bucks.

Trying to make an image with the power to influence may be difficult to do with such a tremendous glut of ‘noise-to-signal” that exists today. For many people, a photograph is simply what happens when they want to make a pic on vacation. Now, try to explain why ‘this’ photograph is better than ‘their’ photograph when all they were trying to do was make a memory to show the folks back home… not create a masterpiece.

(In comparison… it is exactly as difficult to learn to play the Oboe, or paint or sculpt or write or dance or sing as it was a hundred years ago. In photography… well, not so much. Just something to think about as far as training and practice and passion goes.)

“There was a time when I thought that it had all been done. That every approach to making photographs had been done and done again and all we could do was simply follow along making cloned photos and dancing the dance that someone else made up.

I was wrong.”

Blissfully, gloriously and entirely wrong.

Looking at photographs, meeting young photographers and listening as they talk about their work is invigorating. It is exciting and wonderful… and it presents us with new and engaging work at every turn.

Photography is alive and well. It has new voices and new mediums and new approaches and new goals and new challenges to be met at every turn.

Measuring the work of today against the goals of yesterday is a fool’s passion.

I remember seeing some early portraiture of Edward Weston. It knocked me out with the freshness of vision, and the wondrous expression of a passionate photographer who was completely and totally in love with making images. I see that in many photographers working today.

Whether in the commercial, consumer or personal realms of photography, there are many, many shooters who will completely surprise and delight the viewer. Subject matter may be the same. Approaches may be similar, presentation too.

So what.

Does the work engage you? Do you feel something when you look at the photograph? Does the photograph make you want to see more? Does it quell your interest? Does it move you… in any way?

Does it matter who made the image?

Should it?

At this point I have been a photographer for over 40 years. From hobbyist to professional to buyer of and back again. I make no apologies for most anything I have done. There were terrifying moments and long periods of stability and some very interesting adventures that make me smile. And occasionally cringe.

Still engaged with making photographs. I still love looking at photographs. The still image captivates me and makes me think and opens my imagination. And where that leads is anyone’s guess.

Make photographs. Do not let anyone or anything stop you. If you want to make images, then you simply must go and do it. Do not let preconceived notions of what you ‘should’ do or what is prudent to do or – God forbid – safe to do stop you from making images that YOU love.

This isn’t ‘fine’ art time, or ‘pop’ culture rules time… this is your time. Make YOUR images and see where they lead. Copy everyone. Copy no one. Look at images from a hundred years ago. Look at art from hundreds of years ago. Listen to music that makes you confused. Listen to music that makes you want to dance. Try things unfamiliar and strange… it really won’t hurt that much.

Do not censor yourself to what other people think you should be doing or how you should see/hear the world. I can guarantee that their motivations for telling you what to think are not what you may think they are.

See you soon… next post will be less wordy, I promise. Just had some thoughts on my mind and wanted to share.

Follow me on Twitter, see my Facebook page and of course, if a workshop is in your future, check out Learn to Light for information on one of the best around.