The video below “Chladni Singing” is exceptionally cool where by an artist sings certain tones to create patterns in salt on a Chladni plate. Beyond the cool factor of this what struck me is that this is a great visual example of an artist not just creating art, but imposing an impression of themselves in their work. If it were a computer generated tones the patterns would snap to exact formation, but this is inexact human tone where it is unique to the singer. Transitions between tones are inexact, pitch of tones vary and sequences of tones vary based on artistic choice. Now think of this in terms of photography where this is also true, but in a less obvious fashion. More after the video…
Let’s take a common photograph of Tunnel View in Yosemite, arguably one of the most common photographs of Yosemite you’ll find. The great thing about taking photos of this view is that its clearly amazingly beautiful, but every person who takes a photo of this view captures their own unique version. Capturing a unique version is not just a reflection of weather variation, seasonal differences, different camera gear, different photographic experience levels, etc. By definition we as photographers and artists place an impression of ourselves in our photographic work. We do not capture a clinically sterile view of the world around us. We inject our own unique perspectives, styles, areas of focus, life experiences and personalities into our work.
Yosemite Sunset Breaking Light, Yosemite National Park
Artistic styles or subject niches may be the more obvious forms of an artist’s impression in their work, but an artist’s impression can also be very subtle. As you view the work of other photographers see if you can observe the impression of the artist in their work. A finer eye or perhaps a longer term familiarity with the photographer’s work may be necessary to detect their impression. Conversely as an artist/photographer be aware even the photos you take from the most intensely crafted to the generic always contain your impression. What passions stir in your creative mind that are leaving an impression of who you are in your work?
I was recently interviewed by Marc Silber on the topic of Landscape & Nature photography for his online video series Advancing Your Photography! Marc has talked with some truly amazing photographers who I greatly respect and I was humbled to be asked to take part in his great video series. The video is only 9 minutes long and full of tips. I hope you find it informative and entertaining. If you enjoy it be sure to let Marc know by commenting on his blog to encourage him to invite other great nature, landscape and travel photographers.
On my recent trip to New Mexico I went out of my way in the hope I could photograph the Egg Factory in the Bisti Badlands under some dramatic lighting conditions. Unfortunately for me the weather forecast changed quickly on my drive from “20% chance of rain” to 100% chance of extreme wind gusts up to 50 mph. This experience was a great reminder that Mother Nature seldom works on your schedule.
Unfortunately for me I started my hike with my 70-200mm lens on my camera body versus the 24mm tilt-shift I had as my spare in my camera bag. I realized this half way out on my hike. Given the wind conditions there was no chance I was going to swap lenses in the field. Given the conditions and my available lens option I opted to scout the area and make the most of my time in the raging wind tempest that was. I tried my hand at a few photos, but I ultimately think I got better photos from my iPhone. I’ll post those in the near future.
I should note this was the windiest conditions I’ve ever hiked in. If I had my mouth open just slightly I had wind blowing out my nose. A super odd sensation when you’re trying to breath air in as you’re breathing heavy from a fast paced hike.
Here’s a great video with some classic famous quotes relating to art. You might just get a laugh out of it and if you’re lucky find inspiration. Enjoy and if you have any favorite quotes that aren’t in the video be sure to share in the comments section of this post.
This weekend I watched an incredibly inspiring photography documentary titled Manufactured Landscapes (photos taken during the making of his photo book Manufactured Landscapes). Manufactured Landscapes is a 2006 documentary on the work of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky who photographs landscapes created from civilizations waste, large and small. I’ve seen the photographic work of Edward Burtynsky in the past at some local galleries and was impressed, but seeing this film where he discusses his inspiration, challenges and epiphanies was awe-inspiring.
If you’re a photographer who appreciates either fine art and/or art that raises awareness to environmental challenges you’ll find this documentary fascinating. I was particularly impressed with the vision, dedication and ability to create visually engaging photographs from subjects most would turn a blind eye to. Definitely a must see photo documentary if you’re a landscape and nature photographer.
A few weeks back I was hunting for music that I could use on a web based video and had a challenging time. As a photographer who cares about rights to my work being respected, I felt it was important to share that same respect to musicians whose work I wanted to use. Searching and gaining permission to use music for my photo video proved to be a huge challenge and got me to respect the Creative Commons initiative all the more.
While getting permission to use All Rights Reserved creative content is as simple as asking permission it can be frustrating. I’m normally a very patient person, but when I had my video ready to go and I found the music I wanted to use it seemed like an eternity to hear back from the artist. Eventually the artist wrote me back 48 hours later and gave me permission to use any of his work in the future regardless of current licensing designation. I was lucky and found a very cool artist to collaborate with.
Ultimately I burned a lot of time searching for music. It would seem that there is a huge opening for a site to be created matching artists who want to share their work in conjunction with other artists for promotional and non/pseudo-commercial purposes. To me having a directory that matches musicians and photographers to use each others work for mutual promotion seems like a win-win proposition. Until my dream of such a directory becomes a reality below are 5 copyleft resources to search for music and 5 royalty-free stock music resources.
An important note:
Music designated as “No Derivative Works license” cannot be used for photo videos as explained on this Creative Commons page Legal Music for Videos.
So even if you find music you like with this CC license you’ll still need to retain approval from the artist, so build in approval time as you plan your videos release.
“Under CC licenses, synching the music to images amounts to transforming the music, so you can’t legally use a song under a CC No Derivative Works license in your video.“
Film Music by Moby
“‘film music’, is for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short.
If you want to use it in a commercial film or short then you can apply for an easy license, with any money that’s generated being given to the humane society.”
The past few years online have been an interesting ride and things are only going to get more interesting thanks to Social Media. We are all consumers and now through Social Media the strength of our voice and influence is amplified by the size of our networks (see my previous post 4 Metrics of Social Media Impact). On the other side of the coin many of us are also our own company and brand, this is particularly true for photographers.
Social Media is both loved and feared. How you feel about Social Media for one depends on how much knowledge you have about it and secondly how you use it. Do you use it as a consumer or a company? More times than not we use it as both but with a tendency of one versus the other. Social Media is very easy to fear and several businesses small and large fear it to the bone. Sometimes this fear is warranted and other times its not.
I had an interesting experience with my wife just the other day. We had her car in the shop for some repairs. We were on our 4th visit bringing the car back in a two week time-frame for the same problem. My wife was extremely frustrated with the auto repair shop. Promises had been made and various employees were giving her different information about cost. Did we owe another $700 on top of the initial $500 spent even though they had told us it was guaranteed work? A communication breakdown happened, but by the time we talked to the manager in person we were told that there would be no cost to our most recent repair. The manager stated to us more than once, “Customer Service is important to us and we want you to be happy.”
I did not envy the manager of this shop eating $700 in parts and labor. He seemed like a sincere guy, but his statement and delivery were different than times past. In the age of Yelp neighborhood repair shops live and die by customer reviews. Did he look up that my wife is active in rating neighborhood shops? Did he know that my wife had been relaying her displeasure through sites like Facebook? Check out this video on the relevance of Social Media and read on…
As a photographer I always strive to capture the beauty of a scene I’m photographing and often it is more than possible to do so. Still Photography by its nature is revealing, yet also not so revealing. Still Photography by definition has its limits displaying a split second of time or a short duration of time if using a slow shutter speed. Freezing time has its merits lettings others see something they’ve missed and/or wish to remember. Here in San Francisco, California the weather is both fleeting and unpredictable. Having the perfect weather conditions, lighting and ability to be in the right place at the right time all are dependencies when capturing fog rolling through the Golden Gate Bridge. But is this as good as it gets?
Foggy San Francisco & Golden Gate Bridge Sunrise
When looking at this photo are you missing anything? I can assure you you’re missing out on the adrenaline rush I got running to get in place to take this photo, but as a viewer sight is only part of the experience. Our other senses provide so much more and its for this reason you always hear photographers repeat over and over “enjoying the experience behind the camera is as important as getting your photo”. Smell, Taste and Touch have yet to be addressed in the world of photography and for most subjects that’s just fine! Audio on the other hand can really enhance the viewing experience of a photograph or series of photographs. Adding motion into the mix and you add yet another dimension that transports viewers to what you’re capturing. Is it all too much? For some purists it will likely be argued “yes”, but as time goes on we may find Still Photography relies less and less on being “still” let alone silent.
For your viewing and listening enjoyment 30 seconds of birds, wind, fog horns and ambient traffic noise heard while photographing fog rolling through the Golden Gate Bridge into the San Francisco Bay. While this looks as though its just audio put to a still image this is in fact video so watch carefully for the movement in the fog.
Jim Goldstein’s Tips on Landscape & Nature Photography
