Overcoming your fears

Fear

As said in the book Art and Fear, written by David Bayles and Ted Orland, "Fear's about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about your reception by others". Fear is one of the main components that prevents people from being confident in their work and being willing to publish it to the world. Many people are scared to fail, and although it is completely understandable, it often prevents people from reaching their full potential. We need art in this world, to tell a story, to teach the future generations, and etc, but if people are too scared of other's opinions then no art will be made, and we wouldn't know much about the past and the world would be very dull. Whether it be paintings, pictures, music, or dancing, someone has to do it to keep us sane from the dullness that would be the world without those things. Photography is the way that I, personally, can portray stories (especially considering I don't have the coordination to dance or the patience to paint).

No matter what happens, people will always have different opinions on art, and no one piece of art can satisfy everyone. Some people don't like the Mona Lisa, some people don't like rap, while other's do. One of the hardest parts of doing art is reaching an audience that understands the meanings behind your work. And one of the main parts of this is going out and doing what you do, the way that you do it. You have to make it you're own, and as soon as you appreciate it, so will others.

Thanks for joining me on this journey of photography.

Don't Lose Focus!

Finding Inspiration

Many people think that in order to produce art, you need to be born with the talent needed to produce such meaningful art. This assumption, made by most people, is very false. All you need in order to produce meaningful art that makes people stop and think is to make the image mean something to you. This is the by far the most difficult step, as for many it takes years to truly understand yourself and to be able to make your work personal and distinctive. Having your work mean something important to you is the only way to get others to appreciate it as much as you do, which is why it takes a lot of consideration and tweaking before you publish an image. The work you produce has to have a story behind it in order for it to be good, and as a photographer my job is to record the feelings and emotions that come from the story behind the image.

This is why I enjoy portrait photography so much, because seeing people being themselves in their natural habit is one of the best ways to portray who they are and how the photographer feels about them. My photography teacher, Mr. Royce Thompson, once told me that "The way the photographer captures their subject often shows how the photographer feels about said subject." I abide by these words when working on an image, both when I'm am there, taking the picture, and when I am post-processing. While I have yet to reach my potential and realize my unique style, I am getting closer to it by the minute, and soon enough I will be able to shoot things very personal to me with full comfort.

Finding what makes you passionate isn't as hard as many may think. It isn't hard to track down in our past what attracts us to certain things, and it most likely comes from one specific memory. In the book Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland, the author (one of them, doesn't say which one) describes how they can "remember to within one heartbeat the moment I first saw an Edward Weston print." He describes how seeing the image changed his view on photography and changed his style entirely, turning it into something that he did not know he had within him. Finding inspiration in your photos is much easier than many people think, yet so many people have a lot of trouble finding it. Finding what you enjoy doing and what speaks to you is something that takes a lot of time and patience in order to properly understand who you are as a person and how your photos define you.

Post Processing and Assumptions About it

Post Processing

Lightroom

Lightroom is often peoples first steps to editing photos. After taking pictures, people import them into lightroom to do minor editing and to see what the picture actually looks like on a screen. This is an important thing to do, because when pictures are taken, they aren't necessarily the best that they can be, whether it be that they are under/over exposed or that their is some sort of blemish in the picture. I use lightroom every time I have a shoot to make a contact sheet, which is a piece of paper with all the images on it, just printed small. This way you can see how they will end up when printed later on. Also, it helps to see which images are blurry or in focus.

Before

After

Photoshop

Photoshop is an application that we use very much when it comes major edits of a picture. When it comes to cropping, removing, or adding something to the picture, Photoshop is the first place to go for many photographers. I generally only use Photoshop for the pictures that I will end up printing because the ones that you print are the ones you want to look the best. Photoshop helps you do that because it makes it easy to remove blemishes in the picture, cropping the picture, or adding/removing something in the picture. Also. Photoshop makes it very easy to print pictures and to make sure that they come out the way that it looks on screen. The program gives you a preview before you print, and lets you see how the image looks on different types of paper, which is very beneficial if you want the image to come out the way that it looks on screen. 

Conceptions about Photoshop

Many people disagree with the use of Photoshop, whether it be for private use or in the media. The reason behind this is the fact that people believe that it is 'lying', or not telling the entire truth behind the image. While this is true, I believe that Photoshop is no more harming than a girl wearing makeup, because the main image is still present, but some of the blemishes and problems are no longer visible. Photoshop isn't meant to hide the true meaning of the image, but instead help intensify the emotions and thoughts you get from looking at the image. In the book Art and Fear, by Ted Orland and David Bayles, they talk about the difference between approval and acceptance, stating that "Acceptance means having your work counted as the real thing; approval means having people like it. It's not unusual to receive one without the other". They go on to talk about how some people spend millions on props, actors, and setting only to have the movie be a total bust later on. It counts as a movie, but the approval for it is very low. This applies to what I was saying because while people may not like the use of Photoshop, the story behind the image is still there and it comes down to the person's feelings/emotions to determine whether or not they like it.

What the F(Stop)

What is an F-Stop?

An F-Stop is also known as the aperture of a camera. This is the size of the opening in a camera when taking a picture, and usually ranges anywhere from  f/1.4 to f/36, with the larger the number the smaller the opening. Cameras usually come stock with a lens around f/3.6, and any lens below that cost more money, the lower the aperture the more money the lens generally costs. Having a lower F-Stop, thus a larger opening, allows more control over the depth of field of the picture and allows pictures to have a shallower depth compared to higher F-Stop lenses.

Basically, it means you can focus on something up close with the background all blurry, which can be very beneficial depending on how you use it. This is why it is very desirable for aspiring photographers (and professionals), because it can allow you to create greater quality pictures and can also broaden the limits the restrict you with a higher F-Stop lens

Recently, I purchased my own 50mm F/1.8 lens, which I believe has been very beneficial to me and has allowed me to create a lot of work that I previously could not. I believe that anyone could improve their photo skills with the simple purchase of a low F-Stop lens. The fact that lenses can be pricey is one of the main things preventing many photographers from going beyond what they believe they can do. The highly recommend to any aspiring photographer to save up and get out of their comfort zone, which many are scared of doing but it can also create very nice and surprising things. The book Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland, often talks about the things that prevent people from reaching their full potential when it comes to any form of art. They say that "the dilemma every artist confronts, again and again, is when to stick with familiar tools and materials, and when to reach out and embrace those that offer new possibilities." This means that every artist at some point in their career has the moral issue of when to reach out and explore new things with new equipment, and when to stick with what has been working for you. I believe that it would be very beneficial for people to try new things and get out of their comfort zone, because most of the time you learn things about yourself and may in fact surprise yourself and produce work better than what you used to make.

Staying focused on photography

Photography 

Past experiences

I've always enjoyed photography, but I have never been that good at it. Even though I've taken many photo's throughout my life, it wasn't until last year that I decided it was a passion of mine and to pursue it as a hobby. Last year I was enrolled in the Photo 1 course at Kentridge, and this year I am in Photo 2, and will most likely continue on to more advanced classes in the years to follow. Earlier this year, I had bought my first DSLR camera, which had been a huge upgrade from just shooting on my phone. Also, I just bought a second lens, which will help to further my capabilities and the range of photos that I can take.

Current Achievements

Over the course of the two years of photography class that I have taken, I have learned a lot both about the photo and about the camera. It is important to know your camera, and it is equally important to know what you are shooting. I haven't won any awards (yet), but I still have taken some pictures that I am proud of.

These are an example of some of the photos that I took over the summer. 

The Future/Photography Explained

Just as any form of art, many people think that you need to be born with talent to make good art. Towards the beginning of the book I am reading, Art and Fear, it stated that "Artmaking involves skills that can be learned. The conventional wisdom here is that while 'craft' can be taught, 'art' remains a magical gift bestowed only by the gods"(Bayles, Orland, 3). This shows that the thing that we are taught from a young age is that being able to create art is genetic and is out of your reach if your parents aren't artistic. However, this isn't true. Being able to create art is something that anyone can master, so long as they set their mind to it and work hard to achieve their goal. I work hard on photography, and little by little, day by day, I am reaching my goals and sometimes accomplish things that I didn't know I have within me. 

Having nice pictures isn't just meant to look pretty and to please the eyes, but it is more about capturing the story behind that picture, and making a memorable impression on the people who see it, which is why I personally think that photography is one of the more beautiful types of art. What do you think is the most beautiful forms of art?

Bayles, David, and Ted Orland. Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. Santa Barbara: Capra, 1993. Print.