I Rant About Photography Writing

6FPS V1#2

Welcome to the new issue of 6FPS. A lot of photography to talk about this issue, as I finally seem through the worst of the time crunches I've been tied up with most of the year, and so I can think of picking up the camera and shooting again.

And, of course, fall is coming, and with fall, the winter bird migration and the arrival of the many species that will spend the winter months here in California. That includes a few of my favorites like the geese and Sandhill Cranes in the central valley refuges, and so I'm starting to mentally plan my winter trips and what I want to accomplish.

Laurie and I are headed out on a vacation after Labor Day, up the Oregon coastline and including a couple of days near Portland to give us a base to visit Mt. St. Helens, Ridgefield NWR and of course the Columbia Gorge, which I'm both looking forward to and worried what I'll find because of last year's fires. But it'll be nice to get out and away from work and the day to day for a while and do some R&R.

Without further delay then, on with the show! And thank you for being part of this.

This issue brought to you almost live, from a secret lair deep within a secret volcano in the bowels of Silicon Valley...

What's New?

Here are a few other things I thought you might find of interest:

The New Portfolio Site: I've revamped my smugmug site to focus on my best images and enable prints and licensing (so no more Fineartamerica). it also has a new design. Simpler, cleaner, something I've wanted to do for a while but finally made the time to get it done.
Birdwatcher's Library: I finally got around to organizing my birding library, and it turns out I have 60 different titles in it. Well, 61 since someone turned me onto a book about hawks I had to have. For those of you curious about birding, some thoughts about how books will help you become a better birder.
Come Bird with me! One of those things that has been keeping me busy is my work running two committees for Santa Clara Valley Audubon and spending time with some of their staff helping them with their marketing and social media efforts. I've also started leading bird trips for them, and the next two are now scheduled, so if you're in the Silicon Valley area and curious about birds and birding, you're welcome to join me at one of these upcoming outings.
Why I'm giving up on Ulysses: Ulysses is a Mac/IOS system that I've been using for a lot of my writing for the last year or so, both with my blog and for my job. The problem is, there are a few issues where it just kept getting in the way, especially in my work writing, and so I decided to make a chance, and this explains why and what I'm doing differently.

Things Photographic

Last issue I talked a bit about some of my struggles with my photography, especially at wide angle; combined with a major lack of free time the last few months, it's really twisted my photography into a muddled mess of non-productivity. Going to work at a startup where your job is "deal with all that technical debt; by the way, we don't know how much technical debt we have hiding under the pile we just gave you" can do that.

That, combined with ongoing projects in house remodeling where I'm effectively acting at general contractor (lots of small independent things, like carpet and paint) and it's summer, which is by far my least favorite time of year to shoot, and it's been an unproductive and slow few months, as in I haven't picked up a camera and added new photos to Lightroom since about May.

But I've been seeing the things sucking all my free times mellow out, and I see fall around the corner, and it's gotten me thinking it's time to get back on the horse. I started thinking about what I could do to start pushing me in the direction of a project that would make me really grapple with and start getting comfortable with the wide angle, especially looking more towards the intimate landscape type image. I realized one way to do that was to start pushing into macro work I've wanted to explore for a while, and I decided on flowers as a starting point.

And that led me to this goal: flower images that I'm not embarrassed to print out and hang on my wall. I was thinking about the logistics of going out into the garden and shooting, and then I remembered one of the goals for the new office I've built -- one of those remodel projects that took months to finish -- was to have space where I could set up a tabletop photography rig.

Done. A couple of days later the boxes from Amazon started arriving, and I started playing, and for under $200, I had this going.

And after one night with a bit of white seamless and some experimenting, I have this, which I think isn't bad for a first try in a couple of hours. Of course, I started simple with a black on black glossy glazed piece of ceramic, because why stress yourself out from the very beginning?

But seriously, I'm rather happy with that as a starting point, although it needs a serious cleaning well beyond hitting it with a dust cloth...

I avoided going with one of the kits, because I'm just not a fan of the light tents or the look they bring and some of the stuff I want to shoot is on the larger side that will require some thought on how to do well. That's one reason I started with the bowl as a test. That and I figured it'd be a pain in the butt to do well and get lighted nicely.

The setup does need some tweaking; those clamp on lighting stands aren't maneuverable enough, but I had them handy, so I'm replacing those. Overall, though, I think it's doing just what I wanted of it.

But it's nice to be creating images again.

One Thing: Gear is good; Vision is better

The title of this section is a quote -- really, almost the definition of his brand -- of photographer David duChemin. He's been a photographer for 30 years, an author of many photography books, founder and publisher of Craft and Vision ebooks; mentor and educator. His newest course is Have Camera Will Travel and is just coming out, and if you're at all interested in travel photography, I think it'll be worth your time.

I have once again been spending time wandering the internet wondering why there's so much photography content being generated, and why so little of it I find even remotely interesting. This is a dangerous path to trod, because it got me into the project that almost had me launching that Youtube channel before sanity caught up with me.

This latest exploration has given me some insights here, which I wanted to share with you here.

Writing about photography online seems to boil down into two big styles of content, along with a number of tiny niches. Content bucket #1 is beginner content. It's obvious why there's so much out there -- it's relatively easy to write, and it's generally pretty straightforward: but honestly, how many dozens of articles do we need explaining the concept of aperture priority over and over again?

The second big bucket of content is the gearhead talk. And seriously, I look at and read up on stats before buying a piece of gear and I expect most of us should, but so much of that talk makes me feel the gearheads see the actual image as irrelevant.

There are some exceptions; David duChemin has been pushing this message for years and his books are vehicles for promoting this idea of vision and creativity. (you knew I was going to tie him back into this, right?)

Two others that I think are worth mentioning are Guy Tal and Art Wolfe. I want to also mention a couple of Youtubers here, Ben Horne and Thomas Heaton.

When I first started digging into Youtube I kept seeing photographers suggesting Horne's channel, and I'd take a look and just didn't see why; Horne is a large format photographer and it just didn't seem relevant to me. But as I watched his videos of his trips, it suddenly clicked: this channel is really about learning to visualize composition more than it's about the gear. His choice of large format is more about imposing limitations on his work and his videos are about using that to drive the compositions. His videos are in many ways exactly what I'm talking about when I complain about what is missing from the online curriculums today.

Heaton's channel is -- well, many/most photography Youtube channels seem to be about a person who's talking to you who happens to be out and about with a camera. Heaton is more a channel with a photographer talking about photography. He consistently how he visualizes and sets up for his compositions, and unlike many of his peers, doesn't downplay or ignore the mistakes and challenges in doing quality landscape photography.

When I was trying to define the content of the Youtube channel I was thinking of building, I knew from the start that I wanted to focus on this intermediate/advanced content. The challenge, not surprisingly, is that it's really hard to do well; in fact, it's difficult to do even a mediocre job.

That's why I think that when photographers do try to dive into these more advanced topics, I rarely see much depth beyond "hey, rule of thirds! it rocks!" or if they feel really motivated, they might even mention the golden spiral.

Here's why I think this is a problem: I think that the way we discuss and teach photography online hurts many photographers because it convinces them that what's out there is all that matters. They become inoculated into the ideas of focusing on the mechanical and technical aspects of photography because there are so few people attempting to teach what happens once you master the basics.

So as I look for interesting content online, and as I am starting to figure out how to create that interesting content, I'm trying to look beyond the easy topics and quick talking points.

It's hard, but I think all of us who aspire to make content for our fellow photographers have to think long and hard about this.

We're crippling many photographers because we're writing about what's easy to write and pushes easy pageviews, and not doing a good job of creating that intermediate and advanced material that helps photographers take that next step into being a creative photographer not just a technician.

Because if you look at what we say and teach, what we're saying and teaching is that this is all there is. And that's really unfair to the readers and watchers who believe us and never try to take the steps into true creativity.

And that's a sad reality, and one I think we all need to find ways to start changing.

A few other links that relate to this:

Now is the Best Time Ever to be a Photographer (Petapixel): Every so often I find myself thinking "If only my gear would do....", and then I stop and think about the camera Galen Rowell used to take his pictures, and the camera I'm using today, and that ends any complaint I might have about the quality of my gear. And that is, in a nutshell, why I don't waste time arguing with gearheads.
Photoactive Podcast 12 with David duChemin: Yes, I'm sneaking another reference to duChemin. Almost as if I'm yelling at you to dig into his writing if you already haven't. In reality, though, I want to point you at the Photoactive Podcast, a relatively new photography podcast hosted by Kirk McElhearn and Jeff Carlson (disclosure: a friend). This podcast would be a good introduction to duChemin and his philosophy of technique being a tool to drive vision and not an end in itself. Photoactive itself is an interesting mix of technology discussion, especially in the Apple ecosystem since both of the hosts have long history there, and interviews with photographers in a wide range of styles.
Sometimes, It's the gear (Mason Marsh): It seems like much of online photography breaks down into two camps, one yelling about now gear doesn't matter, and the other only caring about the gear and seemingly finding the actual pictures created irrelevant. Mason Marsh where I think he does a great job of explaining why gear really does matter, but you can't let it define what you do as a photographer, but instead enable it. Well worth a read, and I expect both camps will end up yelling at him about this. Well done, Mason.

For Your Consideration

Milpitas’ lucky eagle roosts with condors in San Simeon (San Jose Mercury News): For the last two years we've had a pair of bald eagles nest and raise young in the pine tree in the front yard of an urban elementary school. Not your usual eagle habitat, but it's allowed for amazing access to the species (for better and at times worse); this year, one of the chicks fell out of the tree before fledged and had to be rescued. Ultimately it couldn't be returned to the parents, so it was raised by a rescue group and now has been released on its own -- a nice little success story.
Take Yourself Seriously (Guy Tal): Tal is a photographer with a different style and a very different viewpoint on his photography. If you're not currently reading his blog, it's worth your time to check it out.
Printing at Home (Alexander Kunz): I haven't ranted at people about how printing your images improves your photography, so allow me to point you to Alexander Kunz, who does the ranting for me here.
The Ten Commandments (for Outdoor Photographers) (Michael Gordon): I could boil this down to one big idea: respect your subject (or stay home). Unfortunately, too many photographers put getting the shot above all else, including the health and well-being of the subject, and that includes the place you're shooting those landscape images.

Reviews

To start 2018 I gave myself a challenge to finish two books a month and get back to reading more. About half of my reading is actually listening, since I hit middle age and progressive lenses in my glasses, I've discovered the joy of audio books, and that's helped me keep up the rhythm.

My reading splits into two main categories: Science Fiction and Fantasy, and history/biography, especially military history non-fiction. I also end up reading a sprinkling of business type books. As of August 1, I've finished 26 titles, and here are a few recent reads I can suggest you might find interesting:

The Storm before the Storm (Mike Duncan): This is a fascinating look into the period of history where the Roman Republic was winding down and making it's shift from democratic rules and republican ideals to autocratic rule in the Roman Empire. Some real insight into how this kind of shift happens within a population, and I found it suprisingly relevant to some of what's going on today here in America.
King of Ashes: Book one of the Firemane Saga (Ray Feist): The first book in a new series by Feist, and the first time he's written something other than his Riftwar universe in a couple of decades. It's a good, entertaining, well-written epic fantasy, and if you haven't read Feist yet, it's a good book to jump into as he kicks off this new universe.

About 6FPS and Chuq

6FPS (Six Frames Per Second) is a newsletter of interesting things and commentary from Chuq Von Rospach (6fsp@chuqui.com).

Coming out about every two weeks, I will place in your inbox a few things I hope will inform and delight you. There is too much mediocre, forgettable stuff attacking your eyeballs every day you're online; this is my little way to help you cut through the noise to some interesting things you might otherwise not find.

See you in a couple of weeks

And with that, I'll see you in a couple of weeks with the next issue. I'd love feedback on this, what you like, what you want more of, what you want less of. And if you have something interesting you think I might want to talk about, please pass it along.

Until then, take care, and have fun.

Chuq

(P.S.: some links in this newsletter may point to products at Amazon; these are affiliate links and if you use them to buy a product, I get a small cut of the sale. This doesn't make me rich, but it does pay for my site hosting every month, and maybe a coffee or two. If you use the link to buy something, thank you. If you prefer not to, that's perfectly okay, also.)