photography

Stuck In the Middle

Donkey Donkey

What’s easy for me? It’s easy to brainstorm an idea – to come up with a creative project that I want to see out in the world.

It’s also easy to ship that idea once everything finished, to cross the finish line with the idea and have it live in the world

What am I not good at? The middle. The gut check, the finer details, or thinking through the unthought-of things. The implementation of that original idea. 

For example, in a photo project, coming up with my subject theme comes naturally. I want to photograph creative people in my community.

But what then? Where do I start? How do I find subjects? What do I do when things get difficult?

Once I have that figured out, it’s easy for me to take the outputs and put them together in a finished product. I get a deep thrill out of that final crunch to ship something on a self-imposed deadline.

In the middle, I know I need help and guidance on getting something started. Imagine pushing a car that’s standing still. It’s easy to figure out I need to move it, and once it’s in motion I know where I want to go. But getting past inertia? It’s tough for me.

What works in that middle is to find a person – a colleague, or a family member, or friend – who provides good, honest feedback and advice. I’m humble enough to know when I need help, and humble enough to ask for it when I’m having trouble getting going. 

Otherwise, I’d be stuck in the middle. 

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Disney Crazy

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My wife’s family is Disney Crazy – movies, merchandise, housewares, everything. And that includes a bi-annual trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

I skipped the last trip, in 2018, but went along this year. That seems sensible to me – once every four years. Two years is a bit much.

This time, though, my wife brought the whole family: cousins, in-laws, brothers and sisters. In all, 14 of our people spent a week in the most Magical Place on Earth™.

And while I’m cynical about the whole thing, when you’re there, the magic really does affect you. Well, that and the 80-degree weather and sunshine. You do get swept up in the excitement. Having small children sure helps.

We found new things to do, and filled our schedules. There was the new Star Wars park to explore, and new rides, and a few days off just to relax, swim, and shop a bit. Us grown-ups even got a chance to leave the kids with the grandparents and go out for a night of adult fun.

I first came to Disney World when I was five years old, and visited again in high school and my young professional life. Last time I took the trip, in 2016, I explored the parks photographically, with my family, seeing these wonderlands with new eyes.

This year, I mainly focused on the kids and creating memories for them, but I did find a few opportunities to see the park as a photographer, looking for those little quiet moments in all the hub-bub.

There’s a lot to see.

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Show Time?

Casler Hardware

Our local art and history museum has an annual summer event, the Art, Beer, & Wine Festival, which features those three things on a (usually) beautiful June day. I often wonder about participating in the festival – maybe as a way to get some of my photography out there, promote my books and projects, and meet more people around town.

But then I think about the whole art fair crowd, and what you need to do to appeal to a mass audience like that, and I wonder if my work is the kind of stuff that would be interesting. My portrait projects might be good conversation starters because they feature local creatives doing interesting things – many of whom are usually at the fair. 

The cost is fairly minimal, but you do have to devote an entire day to standing out in the sun. It’s a fun event, one of the big draws on Jackson’s summertime event calendar. And there’s always the try-it-out-and-see-how-it-goes philosophy, where if it goes well, great, and if it doesn’t, I wouldn’t do it again.

The benefit would be spreading the word about my latest musicians project, as well as reminding people about my artists project. I might sell a few books, and get some subscribers to my email list. Would I make some photo prints to sell as well? If so, how many, and how much do I sell them for? Do I want a bunch of inventory sitting around after this festival is over? 

When I approach a project like this, it’s best to keep a clear goal in mind.

This year, it would be to promote Musicians In Jackson, and remind people about Artists In Jackson. In conversation, I could ask for suggestions on my next project, too. Have some photos of the musicians and artists on hand to see the final products, and offer the book for purchase.

Keep it narrow. Keep it focused. 

Many artists are fine with making their work and leaving it at that. For my projects, since they are about the community I live in, part of my job has to be to let people know about the work. A bit of that is personal outreach, a bit is letting the musicians and artists promote the project to people they know, a bit is local media efforts.

The festival could be a new way to get the word out: taking my photography directly to the community, in person, where I can talk about my goals and spark discussions. 

The art fair-type approach to selling my photography is not appealing; I don’t think I’m that type of photographer. But if I look at the festival as a public relations tactic, I can keep the whole experience in focus with clear goals.

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Photography Doodles

Time Is Getting Short

I’ve always been more of a doodler. I tried drawing comic book characters and realistic sketches of my favorite heroes growing up, but I didn’t have a natural talent. Maybe I could have practiced enough to get good, but I didn’t have the patience.

Instead, I came up with a doodle style that’s all my own. My drawing style and abilities haven’t changed all that much since the fourth grade. I can draw a decent newspaper cartoon character, ala Peanuts or The Far Side, but Erik Larsen-style Spider-Man is a step too far.

And that’s fine. I worked hard to get where I am, and I’m comfortable with where I landed.

We can’t be good at everything. Some of it is down to practice, and some of it involves our natural talent. The combo of practice and talent can lead to expertly-developed skills. Think Eddie Van Halen on guitar, or Ann Patchett with writing – skills take both an innate ability and an obsessive habit.

For hobbies, I think that the doodle mentality is just fine. It’s okay to work up to a certain level of skill, and then learn anything extra if needed, but only if needed.

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Organizing Information

Organizing Information

Writing non-fiction, a writer is basically organizing information (facts, data, analysis, observations) for your audience. It’s creative filtering, using words, sentences, and paragraphs to make sense of the world.

With photography, a photographer does much of the same, but uses portraits, pictures, and projects to organize visual information and tell a story to an audience. 

Words are the basic units of measurement when writing. In photography, it’s the individual photograph. But for both, it takes talent and experience to make those basic units do work in an audience’s mind. What do they say when put together?

Taking photos is fun, but organizing information is where photography’s true power shines through.

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