After almost 2 years of meandering through life, I’m actually putting renewed energy into my photography. Like Arnold said, “I’ll be back!”

In my last post, Who’s in the Driver’s Seat?, I started to explore the conflict between your inner creativity and what of visual style will help create/sustain a viable business. And for 2 years, I racked my brain over that exact dilemma. I debated, in my mind, what kind of photos do I want to create and be happy creating at the same time. Have I come to any strong conclusions? Not really. Nothing that I didn’t already know, at least. I’ve known what I need to do for a long time now, I’ve just had too many things on my plate or just Paralysis by Analysis.

For me, I still want to create beautiful images, but I have to make it a business, if I want to survive (in life). After all, I still have to pay my bills, eat, save for retirement, etc. You know, all those things you need to do if I or you still need to do to maintain a healthy life. So what does that mean for me? First, really start treating it like a business. Creative people have a stigma of being poor business-people. Second, shoot as much as possible and show many respected industry professionals as possible and get their constructive feedback. I sought out some industry feedback last year and while mostly positive, they guided me to fill some holes in my body of work.

So in the coming weeks, my website will be updated with new and old work that you may have already seen.  Please Stay Tuned…

In “Did the Web Kill the Art of Photography”, I mused that “we were at one time (or still are?) terrible photographers.”  So how do you graduate to higher levels of photography? Easy, you shoot photos every chance you get, develop your skills, try new techniques, and perfect your eye.

Here’s the caveat.  You have to shoot the photos YOU want to shoot and the photos YOU enjoy shooting.  Don’t let others dictate what you should enjoy shooting or what photos they think would bring the most success.  Accept constructive criticism, but be mindful of who is giving you that criticism.  Do they have relevant experience? Do you respect their opinion?  The criticism of your art/design professor or mentor should hold more value than the casual comment of your ex or college roommate who majored in managerial accounting.

What if you don’t know what you want to shoot?  What if you’re having a difficult time honing in on your particular interests and all you can say for sure is that you’re a photographer, and you like to shoot, um, photos?  Discovering what inspires you involves a bit of legwork.  Do your research. Pay close attention to all the images you encounter and save them if you can.  You know that aunt of yours who hasn’t thrown out a single possession since 1972?  Channel that pack-rat energy and become an image collector of sorts.  Then, study them.  Analyze them.  Try to figure out how a photo was lit.  If it was a magazine shoot, there might be behind-the-scenes videos on the web.  Observe the process and take notes.  Don’t straight up copy what you see, but draw out what vibes/moods are being communicated in the image.

Some photographers and art directors like pinning images on a wall or board.  Recently, I’ve been going through old magazines and tearing out images that I find appealing or create a mood that I enjoy.  Recently, I’ve been doing some house cleaning and recycling some old magazines over the past 5 years. The photo below is a wall of some tear sheets in my apartment.

This is a great exercise for visual stimulation.  And, since I tend to find most of my inspiration on the web, I save all electronic images into different folders on my computer, separated into categories like style, sports, couples, fashion, etc. for future reference.  The more you evaluate what makes an image speak to you, the more refined your visual palette will become.  Pretty soon, you’ll know exactly what YOU want out of your photography.

And, remember to specialize!  So when you land an assignment, you’ll get a subject/shot that you’ll enjoy shooting.

Recently, I’ve been trying to make a concerted effort to splash around in the networking pool to help promote my brand.  Author and public speaker, Seth Godin says, “…that marketers tell stories. We tell them to clients, prospects, bosses, suppliers, partners and voters. If the stories resonate and spread and seduce, then we succeed.”

My story is that I’m an aerospace engineer turned photographer, but I often wonder if that’s enough to leave a lasting impression.  Will my story stick with my audience?  Have I made interesting conversation that sparks curiosity?  If not, how can I put a seductive spin on my story without coming off as grandiose or a down-right liar?  And after all that effort, will they like me?  Sounds like the questions I ask myself when I’m on a first date!  To think of it, networking is a lot like dating.  You never know who you’ll meet and how that person could change your life unless you give it chance.  I should take my own advice when it comes to dating. I’ve been single for how long now!?!  Sorry, that’s irrelevant.

A lot of people find networking to be very uncomfortable, especially if you don’t have the gift of gab or a natural instinct to socialize.  But, if you’re in the business of promoting your business, then gird your loins and learn to put yourself out there.  It will be awkward at first, but the more you do it, the more you’ll get the hang of it (again, like dating!).  Here’s a tip: If social situations are really unbearable for you, ease your way into the networking scene by bringing a friend who has a knack for approaching strangers with confidence and grace.  And if your friend is attractive, that helps too.  And don’t forget to dress appropriately.  You don’t want to make a first impression with a potential client in your gym clothes or PJs (unless, of course, they’re that kind of client).

In my networking experience, I’ve found that people like to talk…a lot.  So if you’re brave enough to step out from behind your camera and start networking, ask questions.  Have them tell you their story.  That way, all you have to do is listen, and people will actually remember you for being interested in what they have to say.  And who knows?  Maybe after all that listening, you’ll find that you’re able to share your perspectives sans nervous stuttering.

So, what’s your deal?  Do you have an interesting journey into photography?  I’m all ears.

Admittedly, we were at one time (or still are?) terrible photographers.  Yes, I understand that “terrible” is a relative term, but every photographer went through that awkward period of learning how to use cameras, how to read and see the light, how to use angles to our advantage and create great photos (and yes, “great” is relative too).  But, terrible learning stage aside, I’m noticing more and more crappy work out there, which brings me to this: Did the Web Kill the Art of Photography?

Is it just me or did Web 2.0 give birth to a ghastly crappy-photography-being-touted-as-art phenomenon?

We live in a visual society and with the Internet disseminating hordes of media in text, photos, and videos, I sometimes wonder if our capacity for deep thought and subsequently brilliant photos has been stunted.  Because after all, especially today, media is super reflexive, meaning that when we see/hear/feel something, we want to spit it back out and try to pawn it off as our own.  It’s becoming increasingly difficult to be original, these days, and we may just be trying to re-invent the same mediocre photo over and over again.

In a couple of recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) articles called “Does the Internet Make You Smarter?” and “Does the Internet Make You Dumber?“, they explored the impact that the web has on modern society.  I’d like to explore how the web is affecting photography.

In the “Smarter?” article, they compared the information boom to 16th-century rise of movable type and how “Gutenberg’s press spread through Europe, the Bible was translated into local languages, enabling direct encounters with the text; this was accompanied by a flood of contemporary literature, most of it mediocre.”  So what about today’s photography?  We have access to a lot more photos today than ever before, and the means to create photos is so widely accessible.  Does that mean that many of us are creating mediocre work?    The “Smarter?” article continues to say, “The issue is whether there are any ideas so good today that they will survive into the future.”  So will today’s photos go down in history as being great?

While many or most of today’s photos will not be considered great, I think the Internet has pushed photography a step further.  We’ve been granted global access to a wealth of really amazing and really crappy photos; it’s up to us to be able to make an educated comparison and pick out what we feel is best and what will have the most impact.

Moreover, it is widely accepted that competition spurs innovation. So the competition created by the “new” photos on the web has given birth to a generation of would-be photographers who may or may not be great competition.  (Check out this article for more on competition … Here)

“Increased freedom to create means increased freedom to create throwaway material, as well as freedom to indulge in the experimentation that eventually makes the good new stuff possible.”…See…some good stuff can come out of it, says the “Smarter?” article.  But “throwaway material” is another way of saying crappy photos will also be a result.

Conversely, in the “Dumber?” article, “…a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the Net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is also turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers.”

I definitely agree with that statement.  In a photography sense, we click from “cool” photo to “cool” photo, seldom stopping to contemplate one, much like any visual art.  And people who juggle many tasks are less creative and less productive than those who do one thing at a time.

We’re becoming, in a word, shallower.  Everyone is consumed with the latest amazing, knarly, photoshop action or Lightroom/Aperture preset that you can apply to all of your photos at once without having to know a thing about exposure, light, shutter speed, aperture, or composition.

My opinion?  Use the web as a research tool, but try to unplug and strive to create truly original and great photos. Do not let all of this visual barrage of mediocre images kill your own creative vision.

In solitude, I come up with concepts.  But it’s in the pre-production meetings that things really come together.

Zen Habits says that the Number 2 habit of highly creative people is: participation.

Especially with photography, I can not do everything alone.  If I’m photographing a model, particularly a female one, I need specialists to help me out, such as with hair, make up, wardrobe.  Sure, I can probably pull off an ehhh…ok shoot, solo, but that would be a ton of work and super stressful.  And the photo shoot probably would not go nearly as smooth or turn out nearly as well.  I also have next to zero experience with hair and make up.  I’ve picked up a couple things here and there by watching, but rarely do I practice.

So to have a truly successful project, you need to enlist the help of your friends.  This marriage proposal is a prime example.  Try to count how many friends this guy employs….  Link Here.