I just finished teaching a course at Delaware Valley University’s Center for Learning in Retirement called “Planning and Creating a Photographic Project”. My thinking in putting it together was that we often snap pictures without much thought or make them without a larger purpose in mind. Or sometimes we get in a rut and can’t get motivated to make any pictures at all! Guess what … our horizons need expanding!

The objective of the class was for students to produce a theme-based photographic project with a specific objective in mind. I would help them along the way in terms of producing better photographs that they would be proud of and perhaps want to display.

Lofty goals for sure, but why not!

Back in February at the beginning of the semester I could tell most of the students were either ambivalent or nervous about what they had signed up for. First, they had to plan a project based on personal research concerning their chosen subject or area of interest. Then they had to create a thematic body of work and produce a portfolio containing 10 printed photographs. Finally they had to prepare a written essay describing the theme; why they chose it, what it meant to them, and what they learned during the course of making the photos and arranging their portfolio. Of course, each photograph had to be accompanied by a short written description of what it was and how it fit within the project theme. Piece of cake?

Ok, so it was a little daunting and not everyone that signed up stuck it out. But that’s all right. Better not to stay if you don’t want to put in the effort or you’re afraid of trying. Believe me I understand that it is far easier to keep doing things willy-nilly without much thought, or that is it is more fun to think about the next gear purchase rather than using what you have to make meaningful pictures.

I wanted the class to go beyond these stumbling blocks to plan a meaningful project and take the steps necessary to complete it. One thing I kept pounding them with is that there are stories and projects all around us! For gosh sakes if you can’t find something to do in a place like Buck’s County then there is a real problem! But it really doesn’t really matter where you live. The problem is that most of us feel we have to travel to some exotic location before we can get juiced up about making “important” photographs. Nonsense!

You have to open your eyes and become more aware of your surroundings and the range of possibilities they offer. That means new thinking concerning what’s really important in your life … and for that matter … life in general. And when you do have a project or theme you are working on, please don’t have a blind spot when it comes to unexpected opportunities. Bottom line … there’s so much to see and capture if only we are open to it!

I wanted the students to write about what they hoped to … and did accomplish … and what the work meant to them. This would help crystalize things and writing about each picture would further help to tie the portfolio together.

After seeing what the students accomplished, I was more than satisfied with my strategy and I am now especially convinced that writing can be a great tool in your photographic arsenal!

But what really excited the students and me was the result of their hard work! They really grew and created some very nice work! In some cases they surprised themselves … and me! Those that were most successful truly did open their eyes to see things in new ways … such as abstract designs found in man made objects or nature … or the true importance and deep meaning of family relationships. In short, they learned that there really are extraordinary stories and projects to do all around us worth discovering and photographing!!

Seeing the results of their hard work was my reward. That and a renewed purpose to keep my own eyes open to all the wonderful possibilities that lie before me.

I was thinking about what I wanted to write this week. I had just finished power washing the paint off our outdoor deck. Yeah, it took five hours. Now I get to let it dry for two weeks before sanding it down and eventually repainting it. I did it on the day it wasn’t supposed to rain … but of course it did. Well the deck didn’t care, as it was being saturated anyway, but I sure wasn’t too happy @#$%^&*(. Now it was time for me to write. My cutesy wife suggested I write about my power washing experience, but I didn’t think it would generate much interest … but I am writing about it after all … aren’t I?

OK, enough of that! So I continue to think about the last two entries I wrote concerning proof sheets. I guess there’s still some gas left in the tank, so I’ve decided I would like to discuss cropping, a subject I touched upon last time and one that continues to come up in my classes.

I know that many, including the late great Henri Cartier Bresson believe in an almost religious way that what was captured on the negative is a sacred, and if you didn’t capture the subject as it should be … well then too bad … you lose!

Here’s an excerpt from a 1958 interview with HCB:

“Interviewer: You’ve been known for never cropping your photos. Do you want to say anything about that?

HCB: About cropping? Uh, I said in that forward, we have to have a feeling for the geometry of the relation of shapes, like in any plastic medium. And I think that you place yourself in time, we’re dealing with time, and with space. Just like you pick a right moment in an expression, you pick your right spot, also. I will get closer, or further, there’s an emphasis on the subject, and if the relations, the interplay of lines is correct, well, it is there. If it’s not correct it’s not by cropping in the darkroom and making all sorts of tricks that you improve it. If a picture is mediocre, well it remains mediocre. The thing is done, once for all.”

Cropping … let me say it now… I believe it is ok and I do it.

There, I said it!

That’s right … I don’t believe it should be an article of religious faith that what is contained in the negative is sacrosanct and can only be printed full frame.   I guess that means I’m at odds with the great Master and others on this one, but I can live with that … and I think you can too without lying awake at night. Yes, there are things that keep me up at night, but this isn’t one of them!

It is absolutely essential to do your best to see and compose the image as carefully as possible when you make the picture. But let’s face it; sometimes things can be improved with cropping. Yes, I suppose it’s better if you don’t have to, if only because there is less to think about in the darkroom. But if you need to do the deed in order to create something of substance should anyone really care? I don’t.

I mean if this really bothers you, perhaps you should take a deep breath and relax.

Now, I am no HCB and most of us will never be, but we are working to create meaningful images … if not for others, at least for ourselves. Of course we shouldn’t have license to be sloppy with our vision and technique. Nevertheless, if we come up a little short during the moment of truth, but have captured something that still can be special with a little corrective surgery (based thoughtful analysis of the image on the proof sheet), then why go for it?

In short I don’t believe anyone has the perfect power of pre-visualization, not HCB or Adams or Frank or Evans or Steiglitz or Kertesz or Brandt… no one. That is why they … and we … have so few keepers relative to the total amount of exposures made. It’s also why so many of the Masters crop if necessary!

Here’s an excerpt from an essay published by Bill Brandt in 1948; it is still spot on:

“When young photographers come to show me their work, they often tell me proudly that they follow all the fashionable rules. They never use electric lamps or flashlight; they never crop a picture in the darkroom, but print from an untrimmed negative; they snap their model while walking about the room.

I am not interested in rules and conventions … photography is not a sport. If I think a picture will look better brilliantly lit, I use lights, or even flash. It is the result that counts, no matter how it was achieved. I find the darkroom work most important, as I can finish the composition of a picture only under the enlarger. I do not understand why this is supposed to interfere with the truth. Photographers should follow their own judgment, and not the fads and dictates of others.”  

So when it comes time to print, why include a distracting element, or forgo the opportunity to intensify a critical compositional feature? In my opinion the only thing that matters is the final result. If cropping can strengthen an image, then by all means crop!

It’s not a sin, but pray for me if you must.

About a year ago I decided to take a little trip down memory lane. That’s right, I decided to take a look through my many proof sheets going all the way back to the beginning! Now I’m pretty picky about I what I print, but what surprised me after spending a couple of days at it was the discovery that there might be some gems here that I missed for some reason.

All in all, I found around a hundred or so images that looked like they deserved a chance to be printed and prove themselves. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Go through a lot of paper (at $1.00 or so a sheet for 8×10), chemicals, not to mention a lot of time. On the other hand, now that I’ve found them I won’t know if there are any keepers here unless I give it a shot.

So I will be slowly going through the many flagged proof sheets and printing in between current work. No doubt it will take a long time, but I am excited by prospects!

The question is why do so many images I recently peered at through the magnifying loupe somehow now look more appealing than they did at first glance? To be honest, I’m not completely sure. Perhaps a different perspective, a new point of view, or the fact that I am older and hopefully somewhat wiser. Or maybe I was too hasty the first time around.

I’m sure this could be psychoanalyzed, but the bottom line is that I’m not sure it really matters. What does matter is the fact that taking some time off and then going back to the sources can be illuminating. Just as it makes sense to study your finished prints for a while to confirm they are what you envisioned, or determine they need some more work … or belong in the trash.

There’s no shame if you find out that the circular file is the end result when looking at your finished work. In fact the trashcan, fireplace or whatever mechanism you use to dispose of the also-rans is one of the most important tools you have at your creative disposal! So please do go back through your old proof sheets. Maybe there won’t be anything there, or what you end up printing may be so-so … or maybe you might be surprised to find some overlooked keepers you somehow missed the first time around!

Several weeks ago, Philadelphia’s Mount Carmel Jewish Cemetery was struck at night during a wave of hate crimes and hate threats taking place across our country. While the main focus in recent months appears aimed at Jewish institutions, the breadth of activity really is much more widespread than that, with attacks against transgender women, African Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, Hindu Americans, Sikh Americans and others also taking place.

It seems intolerance is on the rise of late. However, such reprehensible behavior is not new in America; it really never goes away, just simmering below the surface only to rear its ugly head when triggered by a particular event or sentiment.

So far there is no evidence that the more than 100 toppled or broken headstones in the cemetery was a deliberate act of “anti-Semitism” or just a random act of vandalism by local teenagers. To me there really isn’t much of a distinction, as it involved a cowardly act of violence based on intolerance of those who are some way different.

As someone that deeply loves this country, I find the current wave disturbing on many levels. What can effectively be done to combat the current wave of hatred? Pronouncements by our elected leaders and action by law enforcement … perhaps.

What really encourages me are the generous acts of lovingkindness on the part of individual Americans, for whom such behavior has no place in their daily lives. I witnessed this firsthand when I visited Mount Carmel Cemetery to participate in cleanup activities. While most of the volunteers were Jewish, many were not! And funds to restore the cemetery, as well as the suburban St. Louis Jewish cemetery similarly attacked were quickly established by the American Muslim community.

Yes, it is the acts of individuals that will certainly move us away from the current darkness and these acts will manifest themselves in many large and small ways. This struck me during the cleanup and when I came back the following day to try to capture for myself the magnitude of what had happened that night. As I walked through the 5-acre cemetery I made some photographs of the sadness before me. Headstones toppled on one and other; some split in half. One thing stuck out of the chaos … a single headstone broken and toppled over. Onto the cold winter grass it cast a shadow of gloom and despair, but sitting on top of it was a shining piece of stone deliberately placed.

In the Jewish faith it is customary to leave a small stone on the grave as a sign to others that the grave has been visited. But perhaps more importantly, it enables the visitor the opportunity to honor the deceased’s life and memory.   Someone … who may or may not be Jewish took a moment and placed that small stone atop the fallen and broken headstone.

That small stone and the act of placing it there created a shadow of its own, but in this case, I choose to believe a shadow representing hope, that will only grow into something much bigger, if we stand up as individuals and Americans to perform the small but meaningful acts that will put hatred in this country back under the rock it came out from.

I’ve been telling my students to forget about what everyone else thinks they should be photographing or what they perceive is expected of them, believing this might yield a result their peers or others might think is good … or worse currently in vogue. It’s really not worth the effort or the heartache. Unfortunately most people you talk to about your photographs don’t really know what you care about … and they certainly don’t care about you personally.

The more I think about it, the gallery game is just that … a game. Even more so are the myriads of competitions, etc. Many who judge you could never make a truly compelling photographic statement. Just check out your local photo/art scene and see if you agree. That isn’t to say that galleries and other venues for photographic work are not important. They are and I have had my photographs shown in them (Truth in advertising: I currently have a show up at a local venue). But it’s not necessarily, nor should it be your photographic end game.

As I said in a previous entry, as time goes by I am becoming more and more convinced that the most important thing in our photographic lives is to satisfy ourselves … that we find subject matter that truly inspires us and then effectively translate what we envisioned in our minds eye to a fully realized finished product. That means something that is well seen and produced using good craft. If we don’t do that then what’s the point?

Of course others may not see or appreciate your vision, but so what? Assuming you are satisfied that you have done the best you can don’t get discouraged. If your work is finely produced, you truly believe in it, and perhaps most of all, it provides you with pride of accomplishment and a sense of fulfillment … then be your own dog! No one or nothing else matters.