Chhossing a direction in photography

Choosing a direction in photography

John Gough

Folkestone Camera Club

Choosing a direction in photography

❖ I very recently went to an exhibition in Whitstable

❖ Called Abstract Rhythm and Blue Notes Exhibition, it was showcase for abstract images by around 15 people who had been on 12 month course led by Valda Bailey and Doug Chinnery

❖ Their work was superb, (but I do admit it can be a bit Marmite)

❖ What was also interesting were 2 out of the three talks I attended, in which the photographers described their photographic journey from beginnings to the current day

Anne-Marie Hoogwoud

These are 2 images form a series called Forever

The amazing thing is that Forever takes its inspiration from a pet by Emily Dickinson, called Dover is composed of nows

I cannot pretend to understand the link between that poem and these images but she did give some great advice on finding your photographic direction and

I like the images

Malcolm Cross -www.malcolmcrossarts.com

These are 2 images form a series called Kyoto Windows

These images formed part of his journey where he used multiple exposures and colour replacements

In describing his photographic journey, Malcolm provided a model that you could use to find your photographic direction

What’s my problem?

• When people see me with a camera, they ask what do you like to take pictures of?

• You can see my screenshot from FCC, that I’m a Jack of all trades, and master of none, apart from admitting a liking for mono

• I wanted to say, for instance, I specialise in architectural photography and am particularly interested in church and cathedrals from the 15th-16th century!

• But, when asked, I would say I’ll try my hand at most

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What’s my problem?

• Actually, I think I was starting to find a pathway back in 2019

• I am one of those who do NOT update their gallery frequently, and so the 4 images there do represent what I likes far back as 2019

• The Cherry Blossom is an attempt to copy the style of Pep Ventosa

• The Robert Friel effect is all done on a phone using a slow exposure app that gives an impressionistic feel

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What’s this presentation about?

❖ Based on my experience at the recent exhibition and other speakers over the past 3 years, I am attempting to distill out how you find your photographic direction

1. Follow your heroes - remember Brookes Jensen saying this? This starts to define the genre of photography you aspire to ❖ Valda Bailey, PepVentosa, Celia Henderson, (yes, she is one of my heroes), Guy Edwardes, Paul Sanders, Polina Plotnikova, Robert Friel, Tony Sweet, Steven Le Prevost, Glenys Garnett ❖ I have a folder on my computer with images by these people and in Lightroom I even have keywords for images inspired by PepVentosa, Robert Friel, Salvador Dali, Valda Bailey, Alison Edwardes and Guy Edwardes ❖ Latterly I have found a new hero in pursuit of mono, fine art images; Joel Tjintjelaar

2. Analyse your own work

Next❖ One big advantage of Lightroom is the keyword and filing structure, (besides its amazing editing facilities)

❖ I looked at all my images from 2020-2022

❖ 6491 images

❖ I separated out only those I thought were good in my eyes ❖ 159 images

❖ I then counted the number that fell into the keyword of ❖ Mono, ICM, Multiple Exposure, Creative, Long Exposure, Straight, Focus stacked

Analysis of my own images

About 1/3rd of my images are what I term creative. Lockdown and Celia Henderson’s Photoshop workshops have been very influential here

I have embraced multiple exposure and ICM, particularly lately, which reflects other heroes such as PepVentosa, Robert Friel, Valda Bailey and Alison Edwardes

In the words of a judge, “this is a nice record picture”, a significant proportion of the 80 non stacked images are from a cruise around the Med

The focus stacked images reflect my “hero” Guy Edwardes

Almost a quarter are mono

All long exposures are mono and also images where I was trying to focus on the subject without distractions

What else is there that helps to find your path?

We have looked at:

1. Follow your heroes 2. Analyse your library What else did Jensen Brookes say, and was repeated by Anne-Marie? 3. Publicise your images/print a portfolio/ • This is my big downfall and really there are no excuses. I only show them in camera club competitions, RPS distinctions and Avril’s shop!

• Flickr, Facebook, own blog, virtual camera clubs - Eric is so good at this, PAGB, salons etc • So my next venture for 2023 Q1 is a blog and entering salons Q3

We have looked at: 1. Follow your heroes 2. Analyse your library 3. Publicise your images/print a portfolio but for me 4. Malcolm Cross and Anne-Marie Hoogwoud both talked about: Moving from an Outward looking perspective to an Inward or looking perspective. Anne-Marie used Outside to Inside.

It is what they used to produce abstract images of everyday objects, and even words

I don’t think I have got there yet.

What else is there that helps to find your path?

Where am I now?

I have a particular liking for mono, long exposure with high contrast ne art end of the spectrum

Diametrically opposite to (1), I like impressionistic images that convey a