Work of Art
Bravo TV has just started the 2nd season of "Work of Art - The Next Great Artist". I highly recommend this program to all my artist/photographer friends.
This past week I started watching some old shows from last season that were on my DVR and have been inspired by every single episode. The show is a reality show where artists are given an art challenge and often have one or two days to complete the challenge in whatever medium they choose. The art is then shown to the public and guest judges then crtique it and pick a winner (who gets immunity at the next challenge) and a loser who is sent home.
There is a mix of artist types on the show, there are photographers, sculpters, painters, street graffiti artists, performance artists. What has been interesting to me is that while watching the show I will often get ideas about photography subjects I want to shoot, and these ideas don't come from the photographers in the show. Sometimes it from a painting one of the artists creates, sometimes it a scuplture, it varies every show. It's a great show for sparking my creativity and as I mentioned above I have been inspired by every episode.
It airs on Wednesday Nights on the Bravo Channel (http://www.bravotv.com/work-of-art). Check it out.
Little Red Riding Hood
I enjoy doing themed shoots and a Little Red Riding Hood theme has been on my list for a long time. My photographer friend Rebekah was doing this shoot and invitied me along because she needed someone to wear the wolf costume. We had a great time and got some pretty good shots. I would much rather have a real wolf in the shots, but the costume adds a bit of fun to the shots.
This was my favorite shot of the day. This is similar to something I've been planning and thinking on for many months so it was nice to see it come together. I'll have another post soon talking about my planning process.
Rebekah is into levitation photos, so I decided to give it a try. I don't think I did too bad for a first effort, but think I can do much better.
Is Being Creative a Constant Uphill Battle?
Ira Glass outlines what it takes to break through as a creative person. I've seen various versions of this over the past month, but liked this presentation and thought it fit well with today's topic.
I am constantly trying to realize my vision in my photography. I have the idea and visualize it in my mind, but the resulting photograph is rarely as good as in my mind. Occasionally though I produce some work that I'm really proud of, because it exactly represents my vision, perhaps it's a fluke, or by chance. Perhaps it's because I had planned and thought about the concept for months or years prior to actually taking the photo. Perhaps that planning helped me to pay attention to the little details while I took the photo.
Often when I do get one of these "good photos", I will come back a year later and look at it and think our naive I was, that I'm much better now than I was then and I could make that photo so much better now. It seems that I am never happy with the level that I'm at. I'm always striving to get better, which I guess is a good thing, but I often wonder if I'm ever going to get to the point where I consider my work good. Or is it going to be a constant striving to be better, never satisfied with the current?
Photography Marketing Magic with Sandy Puc'
Sandy Puc' - How to Make Pigs Fly, and Other Marketing Magic! from Frederick Van Johnson on Vimeo.
I attended this presentation by Sandy Puc' a few weeks back in Palo Alto and was blown away by her presentation. During the presentation I remember thinking to myself, "I suck" and was depressed that I had not accomplished even 25% of what Sandy has with her photography business, but by the end of the presentation I was inspired and have been working on improving my business and marketing.
This is a 2 hour long video and there are a few technical glitches at the beginning, but it's worth taking the time to watch.
Carpe Occasione
Seize the Opportunity! I often find myself coming across great photo opportunities that I pass up because I'm in a rush, or I think to myself I will come back and get that photo some other time. But I rarely do, and if I do return, conditions have often changed, the lighting has changed, there are a crowd of people present, etc.
So now, I seize the opportunity and take the photo right then and there. Last week I was driving to work and saw a piano on the side of the road. I was just barely going to be on time for work, but I also realized that the piano might not be there when I returned back home. So I flipped a u-turn, pulled out the camera and took photos for 10 mins. When I finally did get to work, I WAS late and there were a couple of people waiting for me. But occasionally it's worthwhile being late. On my way home that night, the piano was still there but had been moved off the road into the bushes, the next day it was gone completely. So if I had not stopped, I would have never gotten the photos.
This principle can also be used for photographic subjects that will always be there like the Golden Gate Bridge. I was driving north through San Francisco a couple of weeks ago with my daughter and explained to her than after we crossed the bridge we were going to have to stop for me to take photos because, "it's a rule that as a photographer you have to take a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge whenever you cross it". She called me a nut, but there is some truth to the rule. I have taken photos of the Golden Gate Bridge dozens of times and everytime it looks different. Some are from different perspectives, some have different lighting, some have fog, some don't, but everyone is different.
So sieze the opportunity and take that photo now!
21 Things You Can Do To Today to Change Your Photography Forever
ImprovePhotography.com had a recent blog post listing things you can do to change your photography. There are some very good suggestions there and most don't take that long to do. Give them a try and see if they don't improve your photography.
http://improvephotography.com/1415/21-things-you-can-do-today-to-change-your-photography-forever/
Anything You Want
I'm reading a great book right now by Derek Sivers called Anything You Want. Derek created CD Baby back at the beginning of the internet boom and this book is about that journey. It is a short read (about an hour) and is filled with great content, and observations. It's a must for any entrepreneur or anybody in business.
The opening paragraph is something everyone should contemplate.
Most people don't know why they're doing what they're doing. They imitate others, go with the flow, and follow paths without making their own.
His focus in his business was to make the customer happy and he points out time and time again how many businesses today lose sight of the customer.
A great read. I highly recommend it.
Learning to Say NO!
I recently came across this quote that summed up one of my issues very well.
"People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully." -- Steve Jobs
I suffer from this in spades. I am constantly getting distracted by the next idea, project, shoot, you name it. Any good project is going to generate ideas for other projects and I don't tend to have the discipline to say no to these new projects ideas and go off and pursue them as well until I have way too many projects to do.
So starting now I'm picking just one primary project to focus on and I'm going to get it across the finish line before starting any new project.
18 Imaginative Thinkers Break Your Creative Block
Creative blocks happen to everybody. How you deal with it determines how long it lasts. In his blog Luke Copping interviews 18 different creative people on how they avoid or get of creative blocks. Some very interesting perspectives are given.
How To Steal Like An Artist
Austin Kleon had a great post on HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST (AND 9 OTHER THINGS NOBODY TOLD ME). Some very good tips on how to be an artist.