“Revolution? How can photography be a revolutionary act? I thought you said photography sucks!”
Ok, yes, in my last post I led with ‘we don’t need more photographers’ and ‘most photography sucks’.
Which of course was meant to provoke but it’s unfortunately true. As I said, we have way more photography than ever and most (not all) of it is more or less interchangeable. Everyone seem to be lining up to take the same photos as everyone else.
Traffic jam near cheetahs, Amboseli National Park, southern Kenya.
I want to expand more on the idea of photo-authors, whose work is centered on their unique vision and ideas. I believe this is an approach anyone can take, regardless of their experience and skill level, if they want their work to be rewarding and to stand out.
It’s about making your work better by making it more you.
To me, this is the only reason to do serious photography. Otherwise you might consider doing something else.
Maybe revolution can start with resurrection. Resurrecting both photography and ourselves. Hear me out, let’s dig deeper on a few levels. How do we actually become a photo-author?
First, we need to remind ourselves what photography requires of us.
Photography begins not with cameras but with observation. An elevated state of keen, conscious noticing, driven by curiosity.
In general, most people don’t really see, or even bother to look except at the obvious. But while paying quality attention is a fading art, it’s something anyone can train themselves to do. First you notice things (like an interesting tree or person), then less tangible things like the quality and direction of light. Then you start seeing visual relationships between things, and between things and what’s around them, and that’s when it gets good.
Once you start doing this it’s hard to stop. What do you notice that others don’t?
Underpass, Minsk, Belarus.
Authorship notes — When you see ‘your’ photo in the visual relationships and the moment, it can require courage to pull it off. Be prepared to ask forgiveness not permission.
These days, one of the main problems with noticing in the Age of Screens is our increasing detachment from what is actually around us. I think this is a major aspect that is not talked about enough in the context of creativity. In my last few years of teaching photography I saw a significant decline in my young students’ interest in their surroundings, their basic visual curiosity. Especially after COVID.
To a degree they’ve swapped it for what’s in the little box in their hand. Don’t scoff, we have too.
The way devices put the world in our hand is miraculous — and an existential problem for photography, which has always thrived on celebration of the everyday. How can the everyday compete with the bling of anything-anytime? Who cares about the slice of life in front of me when the whole pie is in my hand?
We are getting re-wired. Fight it.
After observation comes engagement.
What do you do with what you see? This is where your visual vocabulary comes into play. Playing with light, composition, angle, moment, etc.
But don’t stop there. Photography is not just pictures. It’s about who we are. It’s directly tied to our compassion, humility, openness, courage, curiosity, experience, and worldview.
Photography asks for rigorous engagement with real life. Photographers have to get out there, and are supposed to be both sensitive and tough observers/interpreters of the world and the human condition. Beauty-seekers, truth-tellers, story-tellers, like any artist.
Collective farm worker, Belarus.
Authorship notes — This was born of failure mixed with mindfulness and courage. We asked to photograph at a Soviet-style farm, while we were waiting to be refused by the director, this guy was standing behind me. I didn’t ask, I just took it quickly from very close range. He wasn’t bothered and I went home with a photo after all. At my exhibition in Minsk, a young Belarusian guy said it captured “not just this man but my country in this man”. Right before another woman told me I didn’t have a clue about Belarus. Win some lose some.
Pretty only goes so far. To really elevate your work, you will need to challenge yourself on deeper levels.
If we can agree photography is a tool for reconnection with the world and life, I’d say that’s the first thing that needs resurrecting. What’s next?
Photography is a tool for reconnecting with ourselves.
Just as we’ve become detached from our surroundings, we’ve become detached from our inner selves. To become an effective visual author, it’s critical to re-establish those threads to our imaginings, tastes, ideas, dreams, instincts, memories, wishes, even our pain. Then try to channel that into your work.
Notice what you are drawn to, and not drawn to. Experiment. Trust your instincts. But also challenge your instincts.
Yep, sorry, you might need better instincts. I did.
If we snap to a screen any time we have a spare moment, we are denying ourselves those moments of personal headspace — including boredom and its creative benefits — that allow our own thoughts to percolate instead of always fielding the barrage of incoming information.
Just as anyone can learn better noticing of their surroundings, anyone can train themselves in the habit of tuning inward — noticing and nurturing their inner landscape instead of relentless external distraction and a growing aversion to our authentic selves.
In other words, photography requires mindfulness. Photography IS mindfulness.
I made a transition to personal authorship after I had been a professional photojournalist for about six years. I had some un-learning to do and some reconnecting with my original inspirations and impulses. I sought out feedback from a very select few, even if that feedback was painful at times. I shed my ego in order to rebuild from scratch. It took time, it’s a long game.
Parade rehearsal, Minsk, Belarus.
Authorship notes — I was surrounded by at least ten other photographers who didn’t react to this. Maybe they did see it but it wasn’t ‘their’ photo. It was definitely mine, I ran toward it.
But something interesting happened. I had been working regularly and doing fine, but I felt like I was hitting the wall and not advancing. Soon after I consciously planted my flag on my own way of doing things, I began to become more successful.
I started getting more exhibitions, awards, and opportunities like artist talks. I got a photo teaching job with no teaching experience. I made a photo book on Belarus that won an award and opened more doors. People do look at you differently when you have a good book.
Who makes books? Authors, visual or otherwise.
If there is to be a photo revolution — one that can contribute to photography’s relevance as an art form in the age of AI — it will come from photo authors. Those who dig deeper to inspire and surprise us with work that is more personal, authentic, unique, and powerfully human.
Anyone can do it.
Your current experience level is not important. If you are just starting, you are more open to ideas and the tech learning curve is not steep anymore anyway. You might be better off, often professional photographers are more set in their ways.
Your choice of camera is not important, any camera is fine if you’re comfortable with it.
There are basic building blocks to consider in pursuit of authorship:
Developing your ideas
Making your work personal
Reconnecting with the world, your inner self, and other people
Being relentless, willing to push yourself
Not letting ego get in the way
Recognizing ‘your’ photos
Not making photos that you think others want to see. That’s the kiss of mediocrity. Bend people to your vision.
Your attitude toward your subject (as Miles Davis said, “It’s not the note, it’s the attitude of the motherf**ker playing the note”)
We’ve seen it all. What do YOU want to show us and how? How is it different from what we expect to see? How does it resonate with your passions and point of view?
Only you can figure that out.
Can photography change the world? I don’t know. Probably not.
What do you think?
People talk about how it creates awareness. I don’t think the problem is that we’re not aware. I think we need inspiration.
Mystery, magic, stories, and surprises in photography or any art form. To be swept up in a well-honed vision of life and the world, to help us believe in ourselves and the future.
Photography can change you, start there.
You don’t have to be or aspire to be a ‘real’ photographer. Certainly not a ‘professional’, I don’t really know what that means anymore.
What the world calls for is energized, creative, empathetic observers reclaiming our agency and connection.
I know photography has definitely changed me — years of looking at it, doing it, trying to do it better, teaching it. I am a different (I would say better) person because of photography, and a better photographer as a result. It has become my way of understanding the world and trying to put that understanding into visual form. I’ve seen it change my students.
The deeper you go, the more it changes you.
If you’re doing it well, it might just change others as well.
Pretty revolutionary.
More info on my upcoming photo workshop here.