A Basic Guide to Photographic Bliss and Making Better Pictures … A Series of Periodic Musings … #5 Go to Photo Exhibits

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In the last two of my Basic Guide to Photographic Bliss and Making Better Pictures Periodic Musings I’ve discussed the learning opportunities that come from owning photo books and visiting museums and galleries to study paintings. It’s also essential see photo exhibits!

Last year, for example, I went to a lot of shows. Some were better than others, but I learned something from each one. Highlights included Vivian Maier, Robert Frank and Todd Webb and … no kidding … Paul McCartney!

Go to as many shows as you can. Why? Simple. You will be inspired by the works of the masters and learn many things. And now for something really interesting … when you go to photo galleries, you may well discover your work is as good or better than much of what’s being shown. That’s right. And not surprising at all, given the perceived need by galleries to show what is new and “hot”. Making this discovery should inspire you to press on and do even better work!

One of the greatest sources of information concerning photo exhibits, calls for shows and much much more is The Photo Review Newsletter. You can learn more about it at https://photoreview.org

Stay well,

Michael

A Basic Guide to Photographic Bliss and Making Better Pictures … A Series of Periodic Musings … #4 Visit Museums and Galleries and Look at Paintings

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Last time I talked about building a photographic library and looking at books. Now I want to talk about paintings. I’ve written here many times that we as photographers can learn a great deal from looking at paintings.  That’s right … paintings … most of which are in beautiful color!  I know, the vast number of paintings are not monochromatic (however there was a very nice black and white watercolors), so as black and white photographers, what’s the point?

Just to be clear, I’m no expert on paintings and those who have painted them, but I love to go to exhibits.  I’m lucky enough to live a few minutes away from the Michener Museum of Art here in Doylestown and I go there often.  I also have an easy drive to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and have become a frequent visitor.  I even go to New York, Boston and Washington, DC to see shows. The reason for all my visits to view the work of great painters is simple. As a photographer, I can learn a lot about light and composition from viewing great paintings. But that’s not all. I also learn a lot about presentation (horizontal vs. vertical), subject matter and perspective of view (think normal vs. wide angle or telephoto lenses).

A number of years ago I saw a wonderful exhibit of the great Bucks County painter Daniel Garber at the Michener. Garber has one of the most incredible senses of light I have ever seen and I have often taken students to the museum to see many of his wonderful paintings that are in its permanent collection. Why? Because as beginning photographers they can learn a lot about all the things I mentioned above!  But here’s the thing … you really need to actually go to see the paintings! You cannot get the full appreciation of the sense of light unless you are standing in front of their work!

Ok, so what about looking at exhibits of color photographs? Nah … not the same.  I feel differently about color paintings than I do about color photographs. Paintings seem to have a depth and luminosity that color photographs lack … especially digitally created ones.

Final thought … go and look at paintings … lots of paintings, but my favorites by far are the works of the impressionist masters. I’m a sucker for them. You want to learn about light … more importantly the feeling of light and composition related to light  … go see impressionist art!!

Stay well,

Michael

A Basic Guide to Photographic Bliss and Making Better Pictures … A Series of Periodic Musings … #3 Buying Photo Books By Photographers You Admire and Learn about the Tools They Used

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Fred Picker talked about the value of buying prints and that’s a wonderful idea, but it can be pretty expensive. I really wish I could own prints of the all the greats I admire. Unfortunately I’m not independently wealthy so I do the next best thing. I buy books, and own lot of them. While I do own some prints by photographers I admire, I am very proud of the library of monographs I have built over the years.

So let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Every serious photographer should have a library of wonderful books. We all have different tastes and there are enough quality books out there to satisfy all of them. I gaze at their contents to enjoy myself, to be inspired and most of all to learn. Ok, so what’s to learn?  Well for starters how about light, composition, where to stand when making a photograph and technique. And then about the tools used to get the job done and why they were chosen. This can be incredibly helpful to those just starting out, to those who are confused or have lost their way, and to those that want to sharpen their seeing and craft. Oh, and by the way, as recently reported, after seeing several wonderful videos about Don McCullin that featured his use of the Mamiya Universal medium format rangefinder camera and subsequent purchases of his wonderful landscape books, I decided to buy one for myself, along with a few lenses to go with it.  I absolutely love the camera and when I need it, it is helping me to make the kinds of pictures I want to make!

So, if you don’t have a library, start one! And if you have one, see if there are any holes in it that need to be filled. But most important of all, enjoy these gems, learn from them, and be inspired to create your own special art! A far better investment than that uber wide angle or big honker telephoto you really don’t need, but want, so you can finally fill that empty compartment in your camera bag.

You’ll be a better photographer for it!

Stay well,

Michael

Be Happy!

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Of late my wife has been asking me if I’m happy. Good question. I am doing my best to compartmentalize all that gives me joy in my life from the insanity that is taking place on a daily basis. Yeah there’s the occasional stuff in my personal and working life that occasionally bugs me, but all things considered, not important. So yes, I can say that I’m happy.

Here’s a news flash … a good part of what makes me happy is living my photographic life!  And you know what, I’m doubling down on it, and everything else that’s meaningful to me!

Believe me, I am aware and active … and we all need to be … concerning the threat to our democracy and the abandonment of our post-World War II role in the world. But finding a way to stay focused on the other things that are important in my life is essential to moving forward one day at a time and remaining happy.  Because the bad guys want to wear you down into submission … and they will if you don’t find the right life balance and keep it steady.

Make photographs, hug your family and do other neat stuff.

It’s working for me.

Stay well … and be happy,

Michael

“For Your Hobby, Perseverance and Patience Will Pay Off” … Sang Kee Noodle Café, Cherry Hill, New Jersey

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This past Thursday I met up with three of my audiophile friends for Chinese in Jersey. After we finished eating and discussing all things stereo and the mess our country is in I cracked open my fortune cookie.  And there it was. So simple, yet so profound!

Yes, perseverance and patience really do pay off in audiophilia, which is my obsessive and somewhat out there hobby. But also in life. And of course in photography … which in my case, is much more than a hobby!

I remember how long it took to make my first good photograph. About three years of trying until I finally saw and made a photograph that looked to me how I truly envisioned it to be in my mind’s eye. The results of that fateful moment led to a rage to photograph that has sustained me for over 50 years.  But it hasn’t always been easy. In fact it usually isn’t easy at all. Most of the pictures I make are also rans or worse, and the keepers are a small percentage of the pictures I make.

I’m often reminded of what Ansel Adams said, “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.”  Think about that for a moment.  Adams made thousands of images most of us would die for, yet very few made the cut!  Beyond the journey photography takes me on and the ideas I want to express, the most important thing that keeps me going is knowing that those keepers are out there. I just need to persevere and be patient. If I am they will come.

Stay well,

Michael

It’s a Real Sh*t Show All Right!

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A month or so I wrote about a chance sighting that required … at least in my mind … the making of a photograph. Here are the high points for those that foolishly missed reading it:

“So I happened onto something this week while walking with Sparky. When I saw it I couldn’t help but laugh. Then Sparky and I continued on, but I kept thinking and talking to Sparky about it … all the way home. Was it worth the bother? Afterall, I was just going to have enough time to take a shower, get ready and get going to where I needed to be. Then I thought to myself, I need to make that picture and what would I be if I didn’t!  And of course there was the possibility that if didn’t make the picture now it might not be there when I returned … gone forever!

As soon as I got home I quickly went downstairs to my workroom, loaded my camera with film, grabbed my light meter and ran out the door! To be  clear, we’re not talking monumental subject matter.  But it was epic in its perfect absurdity and captured the sense of sophomoric humor necessary to express the way I feel about the strange time in which we live. So much so that I don’t give a flying fig what others think. It’s my picture, and it’s funny and meaningful to me!

The next day the snow melted and what was once there was now gone.”

So, this past week I finally developed the film, made a proof sheet and printed one of the images. Great, but is this art or something else … and does it really matter? Well, not to me. Oh … and what a surprise … given the opportunity, I’d do it again!

Stay well,

Michael

A Basic Guide to Photographic Bliss and Making Better Pictures … A Series of Periodic Musings … #2 Adopting a Two Hour Plan

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A Basic Guide to Photographic Bliss and Making Better Pictures … A Series of Periodic Musings …  #2 Adopting a Two Hour Plan

 A couple of months ago I posted the first entry of my humble Basic Guide to Photographic Bliss and Making Better Pictures … A Series of Periodic Musings. Without further ado, here’s my second installment. That’s right baby, were talking about the Two Hour plan! I’ve written about it a number of times, starting with an entire entry to the topic. To say this epiphany has had a tremendous impact on my photography would be an understatement; it has liberated me in a way that has been surprising!  Here’s what I wrote:

Two Hours

 That’s the name of the new focus I have established for myself, and I am suggesting it might be one for you as well.  So what do I mean by Two Hours?  Glad you asked. Looking out for and discovering things of obvious and potential photographic interest that are within two hours of where I live. That sounds pretty vague but I actually think it’s a stroke of genius.  I can always be on the lookout for interesting and even bizarre and other out of the ordinary events to checkout. Or I can learn about things that are important to those I live near me and hang out with them. And guess what – it takes a lot of pressure off me concerning what to be photographing.  Now I’m surrounded by all sorts of opportunities!

All of the sudden local news and nearby events become more worthy of note.  For example, over the past few months I have attended several protest events here in Doylestown organized and made up mostly of high school students (my faith in the young has been rekindled!), attended the annual Peace Festival put on by a local Quaker school here in Bucks County about 10 minutes from where I live (I felt like I stepped back into the Sixties), visited Ocean Grove NJ, a small community on the Jersey Shore founded by Methodist clergymen in 1869, and mingled with some strange rangers at the annual Zombie Walk held in Asbury Park.

So you might say I am pretty lucky to live where I do and that I have an unfair competitive advantage – Bucks County, Philadelphia, the Delaware River, New York City, the Jersey Shore, the Poconos … I could go on.  Yes it’s great, and I love living here, but I don’t think I am better off than anyone else. I truly believe that there’s always fertile opportunity wherever one might be if you’re open to it.

None of this means I have dispensed with specific projects. Far from it!  A benefit of the Two Hour plan is that with enough outings and results new themes demanding additional focus may emerge.

I never thought about this idea before, despite it being so utterly simple and obvious.  Now that I’ve had this news flash I feel much looser, less pressured, and yes, somewhat liberated. When I am out and about I feel more creative and have even more fun.  Consider the Two Hour plan for yourself. You might get similar benefits!

Stay well,

Michael

Friday Afternoon Raw, White House Edition

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I had really hoped to get back to concentrating on photography here. But events spun so far out of control on Friday that I felt compelled to write about it. I was in New Jersey at the time, not too far from the shore when my wife called me somewhat frantically about what she just witnessed on television. My immediate thought was that she was overdoing it a little and it couldn’t be that bad.  But then I thought about it and realized it could be that bad!

As soon as I got home I got onto the Internet and watched the video. I’m still in somewhat of dazed feeling as I write this on Saturday. But on Friday my initial feelings were nausea and deep sadness. As a student of American history and international affairs, and someone who had worked in the legislative and executive branches of government where I was involved in dealing and negotiating with our allies and adversaries, I knew this was a very dark day and a low point in our nation’s history.

I felt like I needed to take a cold shower and wash off the remnants of what I just watched, and for the first time in my life I felt ashamed to be an American.

The whole event reminded me of watching Monday Night Raw with my son when he was young. We knew it wasn’t real. This was. Raw was scripted and perhaps this was too. The venues were different. Large stadiums filled with screaming fans … here a beautiful room steeped in history, filled with advisors and reporters. The result was the same. Linda McMahon of WWE wrestling fame is a cabinet member. Perhaps she was brought in for consultation. On Monday Night Raw you could have the good guy sparring with villain and then all of a sudden another bad guy jumps into the ring and hits the good guy with a chair. Soon both of them are piling on. While the good guy tries to fight back he’s outnumbered and gets pretty beat up.

That’s what happened here, only the good guy was President Volodymyr Zelensky. The villains were Trump and is lap/attack dog JD Vance. Vance’s likely scripted attack was as shameful as it was stunning. Trump can’t follow a script, but his stream of conscious insults and demands were none the less even more shocking.

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the current situation we find ourselves in and now I think I’ve come to a conclusion. Trump has mental health issues that go beyond his narcissism, lying, alternative reality, need to be seen as winning at all costs and an obsession to undo and destroy anything Joe Biden did as president.  This is further compounded by his being surrounded by treacherous individuals that want to tear everything down and capable sycophants eager to please. Vance’s premeditated attack was one for the ages and will long be remembered. But I think Trump finally completely snapped. And with this, perhaps the world as we have known it.

I’m afraid this is just the beginning of what may be even worse than all the terrible things I worried would happen. After the SmackDown was over, Republican sycophants not surprisingly began to praise our dear leader for what he had done. Lindsey Graham said “I have never been more proud of the president”.

 So there you have it.

Will anyone in what once was the Republican Party have the courage to stand up and mount a true resistance to this insanity?  Unlikely, but I can hope. Maybe their Styrofoam backbones will begin to strengthen when things get so bad that they’re in danger of being voted out of office.

In the meantime, what about the rest of us? Don’t get caught up in the daily noise, but do what you can concerning the issues that really count … defending our democracy and standing by our friends and allies instead of betraying them vs. cozying up to murderous dictators like Vladimir Putin.

Getting back to photography, we have already seen the Kennedy Center massacre and Trump has pledged to shut down the National Endowment for the Arts. What will be next? Keep making meaningful pictures. And if you’re of a mind to and have the opportunity, make some that reflect and challenge the difficult times in which we live.

Stay well,

Michael