Tag: creative gap

2009-06-05

Duane Michals Thinks Most Photographs are Extremely Boring

I heard a snippet of this quote yesterday from photographer Duane Michals, and liked it so much, I found it online and will share it here.

“The best part of us is not what we see, it’s what we feel. We are what we see, we are not what we look at. We are not our eyeballs, we’re our mind. People believe their eyeballs, and they’re totally wrong. … That’s why I consider most photographs extremely boring–just like Muzak: inoffensive, charming, another waterfall, another sunset. This time, colors have been added to protect the innocent. It’s just boring. But that whole arena of one’s experience–grief, loneliness–how do you photograph lust? I mean, how do you deal with these things? This is what you are, not what you see. It’s all sitting up here. I could do all my work sitting in my room. I don’t have to go anywhere.”

keep readingDuane Michals Thinks Most Photographs are Extremely Boring
2009-03-18

Closing the Creative Gap

Chase Jarvis mentioned the “creative gap” in an interview the other day, “creative gap” being the “difference between what you want your pictures to look like, and what they actually look like.” It is the gap we need to jump to take that next step in the development of our creative muscle. Basically, we have to be out there shooting a lot, trying new things, chasing down that story, creating that photo in our heads, or doing whatever needs to be done to actually create the photos we are trying to create.

I guess there is a lot more to it than just “shoot a lot”, though that is a huge component. In that interview, Chase even said that (taking a lot of pictures) is the most under discussed aspect of our development. We have to know what works, and for the most part, that is learned through looking at hundreds of your own photos that just did not accomplish what you wanted and then going back out and figuring out how to make it work.

One of the first questions I had after thinking that through for a few minutes was this: “if we need to be shooting a lot, are we prepared with the tools necessary to actually go through those photos?”

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