Tag: storying

2009-05-01

In House Critique of Graveyard Shift Photos

Most of the time, my wife lovingly tunes out when I talk about photography. Every once in a while, though, she shares her thoughts. I always value her comments highly because they do not come from a photographer or artist, but just a simple, everyday viewer. And, when it comes to my photography, she is more than willing to be a hard reviewer, so none of that, “oh, that’s great honey” jazz. Here were her thoughts, as best I can recall, for the photos in the recent Graveyard Shift gallery.

Feel free to leave your own comments below. And please, leave some negative comments. Positive comments are only good for buffering the hard stuff.

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2009-04-29

Purposeful PhotoBlog: a New Direction for ChinaCoop.net

Just a few days ago, I did something I have not done in years: I added a new category to the photoblog. It may not be a big deal to many of you, and you certainly may not care about something so trivial, but for me, it reveals a further clarification of my approach to photography.

I have been thinking a lot about why I shoot. It could be the frequent reminders from my wonderful wife to keep my priorities in check (Wouldn’t it be horrible to have a wife who adored photography and did not ever question my over zealous investment of time in it?). That helps, but I do not think that is it. It is a long progression of thought, beginning a decade or so ago, and now leading me down this interesting new path.

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2009-04-26

The Story of the Midnight Shift

Ladies Talk Before Going on Shift
Ladies Talk Before Going on Shift

I uploaded the gallery from the midnight factory shift photo story. As I mentioned a few days ago, I really wanted to treat it like a film shoot. I left the photos unseen for several days, trying to break my LCD habit and to start thinking more when actually taking the photos.

Also, when processing them, I honored my initial decision to make them black and white, as if I had chosen a roll of film. Meaning, I made one black and white conversion and applied it to all of them.

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2009-04-23

Documentary Photography with Cheap Equipment

As a continuation of yesterday’s post, I want to explain one particular detail of why documentary photography does not require expensive equipment. I might help, but certainly is not needed.

To me, focusing on a Cartier-Bresson style basically frees the photographer from the need of much gear. You need a camera, and the smaller the better. Therefore, the supersized SLRs are really fighting against you on this point. Though point and shoot cameras are smaller, I think they can almost be totally disqualified for another reason: you need instant response. When you press the button, the camera fires. Period.

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2009-04-18

Midnight Inspiration: Photo Story Waiting to be Photographed

Last night, I waited up till midnight (well, I guess that is a little misleading, sounding like I regularly go to bed before then) to go out and record a sound I wanted on the short experimental video I am working on. I was out at the front gate of the factory here, and saw another story sitting right in front of me, just waiting to be told.

As I said before, I am tired of shooting one-shots day in and day out, disconnected photographs, maybe speaking to an overall theme, but never delving into the story in progress. I want to tell stories. I want to learn how to dig deeper and put together an overall story. And instead of crying about not having enough time (too cliché, anyway), I decided to keep my eyes open to the stories around me and start telling some of them.

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2009-04-08

I Just Want to Tell a Story

I keep thinking about cool stories to tell in photos: the folks living in shacks behind my apartment and what their lives are like, the life and belief of a typical Thai Buddhist, or any number of other story ideas. I envy photojournalists, whether they are given assignments or have the accomplished privilege of choosing their own projects, because they get to tell stories for living: meeting people, grapling with the issues of a given situation, and trying to portray that story in photos. SOOO cool! So, I have to wonder if it is possible to tell my own stories if it is not my job to do so.

I am going out on a limb this time. One, I really have no idea where this post will end up…I have just started and am hoping for the best. And two, there may not be anybody out there who feels the same way. So, I might be talking to the wind, but if for nobody else, I think it will be good for me.

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