Category Archives: Ideas

Commentary, Ideas

What is ‘Real?’

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This is another one of those posts “borrowed” from something I wrote in a discussion somewhere else on the web, in which some folks were debating the relative value of two versions of a photograph, one of which was more or less “straight from the camera,” and the other had been modified in post in a number of the usual ways. Here, with a bit of editing, is my stream of consciousness reply to that thread:

The boundaries are difficult and subjective. The “no alterations” people are denying how photography actually works with the possible (and arguable) exception of certain types of documentary and journalism photography. I know it isn’t news to most reading this, but photography is not an objectively truthful medium. In the end, I’m less interested in some hopeless attempt to literally recreate the subject than I am in what the photograph tells me about the artist behind the camera.

Specifically in landscape photography, an attempt to “reproduce” the objective reality of the original scene by eschewing “manipulation” is going to produce something in almost all cases that is not an honest or accurate recreation of the subject we saw as we made the photograph – even if that is what we were interested in. The nature of the subject and our perception of it is never wholly visual – it is bound up in a web of senses evoked by sound, the movement of air, warmth or cold, and much more. In order to somehow evoke something closer to what we felt when we saw the original subject – and that is what we are interested in, right? – we must strive for something other than a limited pseudo-true visual reproduction.

There are boundaries, but even they are not absolute. For example, many would call the classic landscape photographs more “truthful” than some of today’s color-manipulated images. But what could be less realistic than a black and white photograph? I’ve never been out on a day when it was black and white outside! On the other hand, a photographer who makes a claim to believable portrayal of the subject and then pumps up the contrast and saturates the color into Thomas Kincaid territory is going to encounter some issues about the honesty of his/her work.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission fromG Dan Mitchell.


Commentary, Equipment, Ideas

Gear Lust and Shopping

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I saw a post in a forum thread recently that summed up a situation that seems like it should be a red flag to those suffering from Gear Lust*. Here is the exchange, somewhat edited, beginning with the original post and followed by my reply:

OP: I know you are familiar with the situation. Your lens is in the shopping basket on Amazon, all but the last one checkout step is completed and you hover the mouse over “Order” button. And you go again and again pixel peeping, comparing MTF charts. etc etc.

ME: If you find yourself second-guessing to this extent while you are ordering, with all due respect, it is not time to be ordering a new lens.

You should be certain (or as certain as one can be) that you are ordering the right thing before you order it. By ordering while you are in that anxious and ambivalent state you are making it much more likely that your decision will not be an intelligent one, but rather one driven by irrational forces.

I urge you to make a solid and final decision about what lens you want – a decision you can make without then feeling compelled to go back and look obsessively at MTF charts and 20 reviews again – in other words, a final decision based on everything you know about the gear and your needs.

Once you think you have decided, wait. Wait about a month. One of two things will likely happen:

– If your decision does not change and you don’t find yourself second-guessing the choice, you probably made a very good choice and at the end of the waiting period you should buy the lens.

– If you find yourself worrying about the choice or second-guessing the choice or going back and poring over the test charts and reports once more, reset the one-month timer when you have really made a decision.

It is easy to become way too passionate and emotionally involved in gear purchases. Equipment is just equipment. It may (or may not) help you make better photographs, but it is not going to change your life.

* I’m not suggesting the equipment is unimportant, nor that getting good and appropriate equipment isn’t something to strive for. To the contrary, I think that making smart and appropriate decisions about equipment is very important. Gear Lust, however, is a general condition in which the search for and purchase of photography equipment becomes an obsession and ends up being more important than actually making photographs with said equipment. It is unfortunately an all-too-common malady.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.


Commentary, Ideas

A Difficult Question, and Thinking About Feedback

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There is a lot to say about the subject of feedback – what constitutes useful feedback, when it is and is not appropriate to offer it, when to be “direct” and when to be diplomatic, how to offer it, and so forth. I’m thinking about this today – though I think about it often – after a thought-provoking experience I had yesterday.

Yesterday I visited Charles Cramer’s beautiful solo show at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel – for the third time! I made a point of dropping in one more time because a) this was the final day of the show, b) I’m a huge fan of Charlie’s work, c) I knew that he would be there in the afternoon, and d) it gave me a perfect excuse to photograph on the Monterey Peninsula yesterday before and after visiting the show!

Charlie asked several of us two questions – one merely difficult and the other very difficult. The former, merely difficult question was, more or less, “Which are your favorites?” This wasn’t too difficult, since there are some very specific photographs in this show that “speak” to me very powerfully. In fact, I basically responded to this question by pointing those out and trying (with varying levels of success) to say something about what makes those photographs “work” for me. But there are so many that work in so many different ways that I could really do the question justice. Some work “as photographs” alone, there are others that I probably see differently because of my affinity for the subjects, some require some time to understand, and so forth.

But the second question was the really tough one: “Which photograph(s) would you leave out of the exhibit?” Really? You are asking me, Charlie? :-)

But then I thought about this a bit more and decided to attempt an answer. I’m not going to write about which photographs I would leave out – frankly I would add more of his photographs rather than removing any – since my selections are not the point. But I do want to think out loud a bit more about the question and the value of asking it and trying to answer. Continue reading A Difficult Question, and Thinking About Feedback →

Community, Ideas, Photographers

Help Michael Frye Decide – His “Best of 2010” Photographs

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Michael Frye has borrowed – with my blessings! – my idea of asking readers, photographers, and photography fans to help with the process of determining which photographs should end up in his “Best of 2010” list.

I did something similar when coming up with my 2010 Favorites list – I asked readers to give me their feedback on which of my photographs spoke to them, and I used that feedback to edit the list down a bit and then to determine the order in which the photos would be posted. Michael has set a more difficult task for his readers. Out of his large selection of very wonderful photographs – at least a couple of which have “iconic” potential – he wants to end up with a list of his best 10.

Wander on over there and take a look at his wonderful collection of photographs – and good luck trying to limit yourself to only 10! I took a look earlier today, realized it was going to be too difficult to eliminate that many in order to come up with a small list, and decided to come back later. While you are visiting his site, be sure to poke around a bit. There is a lot of other great stuff there. In addition to his photography, I recommend looking at his reviews of readers’ photographs and at his “how to” videos.

While I have your attention, I want to echo one thing that Michael wrote in his post: “… the judge—me—gets a say too, so if one of my favorites gets panned by everyone else I may still include it. But as one of my photographer friends, Clinton Smith, once said, we don’t get to pick our best images—the world does. So your votes will carry a lot of weight.”

Like Michael, I did “get the final say,” but I strongly agree that we are often the least able to judge the potential success of our photographs. Sometimes I know that a photograph will communicate with others, but very often (more often, perhaps?) I am surprised by the positive feedback I get on a photograph that wasn’t necessarily one of my very favorites and by the fact that my favorites are often not the ones that speak to others. I had to swallow hard and remove a couple from my initial “favorites” list when they didn’t get much response – but I am always very interested to see what the reactions are, and I learned a lot by considering your votes and reading your comments. (My own personal favorite among my photographs was not selected as the “readers’ favorite,” but I was relieved to see that it at least did pretty well! :-)