How to know if you are taking photography too seriously...

I've been a working, professional photographer for over 40 years now. That's a long time. But the funny/happy thing is that I still love it. Maybe as much now as I did when I was running around photographing my super cute college girlfriend with my first real camera, a Canonet G3 QL back in the 1970s. Tri-X film made everyone look smarter, cuter, more endowed with gravitas...

Sure, there were times when the business of photography, and mostly the active fun interdiction of clients, took some of the pleasure out of it in the moment but for the most part I looked forward to getting up every morning and doing it again. And I still do. 

When I look around though I find some of the folks I knew who were really into taking photographs have abandoned their practice and moved on to other pursuits. Seeing this more and more often I've tried to understand their progression from: "Oh my God I love taking pictures!!" to: "Yeah. I got bored and I couldn't think of anything to photography so I just stopped.:"

What I think I've figured out is that the biggest impediment to having fun doing photography is... taking it far too seriously. Thinking that there must be logic, order and rules about a creative process.  But how can this be avoided?

First it's important to know when you are stepping over the line between having fun with photography and not.

The first warning sign is when you take everything about photography too seriously. If you are keeping field notes of everything you shoot. Every aperture, every shutter speed, every focal length along with the GPS coordinates of your location well.... That's a sign that maybe you've got your eye too rigorously glued to the ball, so to speak. If you have an exacting routine for photographing that never varies you may inadvertently be sucking the fun completely out of the process. You might need better creative peripheral vision. 

One of the biggest warning signs for professionals is when you find yourself only picking up a camera if there is a paycheck involved... DANGER.

Other signs are: 

Needing a philosophical underpinning for your photos. Or a manifesto. 

When you come to believe that you can't shoot good stuff without having an overarching idea to reference when you work. 

When meticulous archiving of not just your good work but all your work takes precedence over going out and shooting for fun.

When you spend more time working on color profiles than you spend with your significant other. Or actually out shooting.

When the specifications on the camera or lens spec sheets are more important to you than how the camera or lens feels in your hands. ( I don't care if a camera is "the best" if it's more fun to use.).

When you find yourself getting into prolonged and sometimes heated arguments with other photographers about whether or not cropping is an evil maneuver. Or whether removing a distracting element from a (non-journalistic or non-documentary) photograph is cheating or unethical. 

When you become dismissive if someone doesn't follow the rule of thirds or when someone centers the main subject right in the middle of their frame. 

When you deem it necessary to know every detail of the history of all photographic processes before you can proceed to photograph. When you make spreadsheets about what subjects to shoot and when to schedule them for greatest efficiency. Basically when you deem yourself an expert the fun is just about flushed out...

When you become inflexibly rigid about formalist parameters in your work. (as in: All my images must conform to the square format to be valid!). Or (All important photographic work should be presented in black and white). 

When you come to believe that an image can't: exist, be important, be counted as a real photograph, have value, etc. unless it is printed on paper. And then there's the slippery slope of: "Is it on the right kind of paper? And did you use the right inks?"

When you compulsively search for comments by "old masters" of photography to bolster your arguments for or against the inclusion of a current style, process, presentation or genre. As in: "Well, Alfred Steiglitz and Edward Weston never shot in color and they were the greatest photographers who ever lived." 

When you use the credentials you earned thirty or forty years ago at school to justify now why people should consider you the final authority for the rightness or wrongness of a position on anything photographic.  As in: "I once met Bill Brandt at the Queen's College school of Masterful and Appropriate Photography and he told me that no one should ever......use Dektol, long lenses, lower contrast papers, a full dynamic range, etc.."

When Kirk's blog so triggers your ire because: he is so "wrong, misguided, mis-informed, about the Scheimpflug Principle" (or whatever)  which causes you to spend the better part of the day composing and sending a scathing comment that PROVES he is wrong." And tragically, he moderates your hard and dutifully prepared arguments right out of existence with a glancing touch of the "delete" key.

When you head to your blog and write a long post, referencing barely tangential debate points, literary references, personal asides, etc. for an idea that could be well covered in a short paragraph. Because you want to make sure your audience gets it....over and over again. And then again. Because you want everyone to know that you know much more than they ever will about....photography.

When you stop picking up a camera to take out for the day when you leave the house in the morning. 

When you get depressed if the light isn't just right. And you refuse to "waste time" going out to photograph.

When you realize that you really no longer have a favorite focal length lens choice. And, even worse, you decide you don't care.

When you come to believe that all new techniques and features are nothing short of cheating.

When you think that the only valid approach to photograph is the way you do it. Exactly.

There is no simple solution when happiness fades in any pursuit but the usual therapy is to do the complete opposite of what got you into this mess in the first place. Feel the need for total control? Try getting a camera with no non-automatic controls and use that instead. Feel everything has to be shot at ISO 50 for maximum quality? Set a camera at ISO 12,500 and spend some time shooting with the camera set only there. Always use a tripod? Try always handholding instead. Always shoot handheld? Try turning off the image stabilization and see if that helps. Do you have years accumulation of those cute little Moleskine notebooks with endless facts about how you set your cameras on shoots? The likes of which you never revisit? Use them as kindling in the fireplace. 

Rather than revising and revising work in post to try to make it perfect just go ahead and post your first  blush attempt. Endless perfect-ization is unachievable and only makes sense for true immortals who have infinite time on their hands. Not human photographers. Besides, too perfect is less fun. Honest.

Always shoot landscapes? Try shooting very attractive human models instead. Do you always shoot very gorgeous  models? Then I find it hard to believe you are not happy with photography already...

Need to find a philosophy for what you are doing? Consult a psycho-therapist and see where your lack of confidence in your chosen pursuit comes from. Usually from unsupportive parents. Want to have more fun without a philosophy of purpose? Keep going to therapy. Stop trying to find meaning about photography in books by Kant or Heidegger or Carl Jung. Look at more fluffy photo magazines from the UK. A philosophy is just a permission slip from your brain. But a very confining permission slip.

Do you always shoot with boring photographer friends who totally agree with you? Go out shooting with a painter or a plumber instead. Or get new photographer friends. 

Want to concentrate on the pure fun of making photographs? Leave your mobile phone at home. Maybe on the charger. Maybe not even that. 

Finally, search your inner thoughts and see if the joy started to dissipate when your camera menus became overwhelmingly complex. If so, stop right now and sue the camera company for obstruction. And then get cameras with nicer, simpler menus. And stop caring about customizing your camera so much. Complexity is the mother of mental breakdowns. 

Stop looking for approval of your work by strangers. Just shoot stuff you like to look at. Put yourself in positions/locations/events that are fun, photo-rich environments and try to forget everything you learned back when technique was important. It might just be the one perfect remedy. 

In fact, my favorite technique for staving off the dreaded seriousness is to work while pretending I know nothing at all, technically, about making photographs. Honestly, the photos are always more interesting.

Always flirt with regret by bringing only one camera and one lens on fun outings. If you have no other choices you'll learn to "love the one you're with." And not carrying all the other stuff around will make every outing a lot more fun. 

If you are rich put a map of the world up on a cork wall, blindfold yourself and throw a dart at the map. Go where the dart hits but first imagine the one camera and lens that will work best for that location. If you don't like the God Awful location your dart hit first, go ahead and cheat and keep throwing the dart till you get somewhere you like. Then tell your pilot to gas up the Gulfstream and get you there. (much as I love photography I've always thought it would be even more fun if I had a jet at beck and call). Running joke among my wealthier friends after someone in the group complains about flight cancellations or delays.... "Oh. You still fly commercial?" 

Just a few thoughts while waiting for my tea to cool.

Or,  you could have delightful fun spending more time researching??? Not very likely.

Be sure to sign up for my "Who Gives a Fuck" workshop. For some reason it's not filling up quickly. Maybe it's because you've come to realize that you know just as much as I do about the mysteries of photography....as it exists today.

 

More aimless rambling around with a 35mm lens and a rangefinder camera. Composing loosely...

It was gray and cold this morning but of course swim practice was still packed with people. There was a father and daughter in attendance together. He swam in lane one while she swam fast in lane six. There was the solitary engineer who, today, had a lane all to himself. Just luck of the draw. The mountain climbing, marathon running, sixty year old lawyer was leading his lane with a retired investor in tow. And lots more of the usual subjects. Ice on windshields isn't a deterrent. Locker rooms with broken heaters don't slow anyone down. The coach roamed the deck swaddled in extra layers of clothing and covered with a swim parka. Steam poured off the surface of the water like heavy fog on a movie set. The two women in my lane were already diligently pounding out the warm-up laps when I got in. It was glorious. 

Tomorrow the same basic crew will show up and do this all over again. And it will be fun, satisfying and life affirming, all over again. Then, at noon we'll converge on the house of one of our lane mates for a baby shower being held for a couple that's been swimming with us, in the earlier practice, for years. It will be a fun, warm, happy event and will serve to bond all of us just a little closer together. Which is a good thing. The most important thing I've found in life is to just show up... And share. 

Below is a continuing series of images I've been making showcasing the amazing transformation of South Congress. Once a port of call for druggies and the customers of prostitutes it's now one of the hip shopping Meccas of Austin. Shops selling $600 cowboy hats, $2,000 cowboy boots, and various other lux products at Hermés and other trendy boutiques. No camera shops on S. Congress. Such a pity.

The "passagio" is the thing. Up one side of the street past art galleries and fashion eyewear shops, down the other side past trendy hotels, restaurants and slow fashion clothing stores. Locals and big names. 

Why do I photograph there? Because it all started with strictly local shops and services. The lovely and very bohemian Hotel San Jose. Jo's Coffee Shop. Paperworks. Lucy in Disguise (now gone but once the premier costume shop in town. Every film maker used their services at some point). Hopdoddy Burgers, Taco Deli, Hudson's Meat Packers and, of course, the pool and lounge at the ancient Austin Motel. It was historic. But it's slowly succumbing to the homogenization inflicted by national brands eager to get (more than) their share of the revenue pie. Over time my photos are a stop action reference of the inevitable transformation from "highly local" to just another upscale outside shopping mall. Which will then decay in its own way as customers tire of the sameness and move on to the next thing. But it would be nice to remember the earlier days. The whole reason for the existence of the space. 

On a different note, it's also fun to see friends with and without cameras, having coffee arguing about how radical the changes are to the ten block area. Arguing about the best ways to capture it. And arguing about the differences of opinions as they relate to street photography. Me? I just like seeing people enjoying life and being out in the mix. It's in its own way....life affirming. Life goes on. It changes but it continues. We get a small slice so it's a good thing to really immerse yourself in it and savor the good stuff. I think that's the whole point....

Austin Photographer bundled to the max to withstand the onslaught of 32° weather.....

Not minus 32°. Just 32°

proof that we really did have snow.

An outdoor corridor at my favorite hotel that I've never actually stayed at:

The Hotel San José. It basically anchored the re-birth of the Avenue. 

And I consider their central courtyard the best outdoor bar in town. 

a detail of the pool at the Hotel San José. Very small but very civilized.

I have no idea what this ball structure hanging off the front of Home Slice Pizza is

all about. A 1950's throwback to the rise of the space age? Or just meaningless exterior lighting?

Torchy's Tacos. Started in Austin and now spreading like a virus. 

Good breakfast tacos. Mediocre coffee. Fun architecture.

the rear of Torchy's.

Maufrais. My favorite hat shop at which I've never purchased anything...yet.

But so much fun to browse at and so very nicely merchandized.

And, as usual, the mannequin army is at the center of the shopping nexus.

It's important to remember that taking photographs should first be fun. 

Only secondarily should it have an alternate purpose. 

And only occasionally should it be taken seriously.

 

When the weather is fine it's so refreshing to take a small camera and a 35mm lens and get one's 10K+ steps in. Something about this 10+ year old camera that makes files sing...

I have been progressively warming up to the Leica M240 cameras and a nice, little collection of M mount lenses. While I used M6 cameras extensively back in the 1990s I spent the intervening years working mostly with SLR cameras across formats. It takes a bit of time and a lot of shoe leather to get back into shape and comfortable with both rangefinder focusing and also looking through an optical viewfinder that doesn't give you feedback (other than the small, coincident rangefinder patch) about what is in and out of focus. Or by what degree. The finder always shows everything sharp from front to back regardless of whether you are using a fast, short telephoto lens with the aperture wide open or a 28mm lens stopped down to f16. You have to imagine the effect focal length and aperture will have on the final image as it pertains to depth of field. 

I think many of us expect that cameras have changed, in terms of technical performance capabilities, quite a lot over the past ten to fifteen years and that a camera introduced in 2012 would be at a constant disadvantage when compared to the latest BSI sensor equipped cameras; and I know this is a prejudice that I carry around as well. But progress is rarely linear. And most of the places where the last decade's performance metrics have changed are to be found in the extremes of the performance envelopes. Not in the center where the lot of us day time shooters operate, mostly.

We always expect that the latest cameras will overwhelm older units in clearly observable ways and we'll find the older cameras wanting which will motivate us to....upgrade. 

I can see clearly that the sensor in the Leica SL2-S, and similar recent cameras, is a much better performer at ISOs above 800 than the plain Jane CMOS sensor in the M240 cameras. But so much of my photography seems to happen these days during the daylight hours and not in low light levels where the performance differences become obvious. 

For quite a while my inherent laziness led me to use the older M240 mostly in a Jpeg mode. Partly it was because I was experimenting with black and white right out of the camera. But mostly because I felt like I could get close enough to getting consistently well exposed and correctly white balanced images without the hassle of raw processing and the burden of bigger files. As in many things I found I was wrong to consider the overall image quality of the camera by working solely with its Jpeg files. During the last few weeks I decided to bite the bullet, buy a couple more 12 Terabyte hard drives, and start shooting all of the M cameras in DNG. The universal raw format. I wanted to take advantage of the upgrade from 8 bit, compressed Jpeg files to the 14 bit, uncompressed DNG files to see how much of a difference I could detect in the final results. I also wanted to be able to shoot with cameras with the lens profiles turned off in camera so I could apply the much more precise, non-Leica system profiles for lenses from Zeiss and Voigtlander when post processing in Lightroom Classic. 

I'm glad I've been photographing this way because I can see an obvious difference in the final quality between the two file types. It becomes especially evident with images that need shadows lifted in post or highlights preserved. It's also obvious in files that require color grading and hue corrections. The DNG files are clearly superior. Finally, shooting in raw allows me to use the very powerful A.I. Noise Reduction in Lightroom's latest rev which helps the 2012 sensor in those cameras to better compete with the sensors in newer cameras. I worked carefully on photos taken on three different afternoons on S. Congress Ave. in the past week and there's not much about the resulting images left for me to want to improve. Due diligence makes the camera a much better and closer competitor to newer models. And makes me appreciate them more.

I used the cameras exclusively with a weird 35mm lens this week. Instead of the Zeiss 35mm Biogon (f2.0) I've been using a Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 Nokton MC type 2 lens. With the 35mm focal length I've been more interested in using the wider angle of view to give context to my shots. With that in mind I've been making good use of f5.6 and f8. I am extremely happy with the level of detail that lens provides at those apertures. The sharpness and fine detail is pretty amazing but at the same time the contrast doesn't become overwhelming. The overall look is one of high sharpness but with mellow contrast. A nice combination for most outside images. 

I hope to have a chance in the near future to use the cameras and some of the faster lenses I have for them in more traditional dark settings. Theater, convention events, evenings out. I'm anxious to see how more attentive processing, more bit depth, and better incorporation of A.I. noise reduction change my appreciation for the M240 cameras. Here are samples: 

A motorcycle with a "Rue du Faubourg" plate on it. 

Parked in front of the Austin Hermés store. 

A referent to the store's original location in Paris.

I wonder what an Hermés camera strap for a Leica costs....

Things I'm actually thinking about when I'm taking a photograph. Based on me paying attention to my thoughts at the time of exposure, this morning.

 

Before I regale you with what I actually think while out clicking the shutter I have to say just how thrilled I was/am that the swimming pool was back open today after being closed the previous three days because of the nasty weather. Actually, the weather wasn't that nasty. It was just cold. And we did have ice and snow for a couple to days so there is that. Anyway, I made it to the pool a bit early. We have a scheduled masters workout at noon most days but I rolled into the parking lot at 11:30. No big deal. I pulled on my Speedo Endurance Jammers, grabbed a pair of Speedo Vanquisher II googles and headed to the pool deck. It was about 50° and we did have a bit of wind but none of that really matters because the water temperature today, as in most other days, was 81°. Too hot for competition racing but just right for a regular practice. I got in a mile before coach Annie and the rest of the swimmers showed up. The sun was shining, we soaked up ample amounts of vitamin D and everything was right with the world just then.

It is amazing how cranky we swimmers get when we have a forced break in our routines. As a disciplined group who will gladly show up and swim even when there are icicles hanging off the starting blocks we deeply resent anything that breaks training. For no other reason than that we value routine and always following through on intentions. No New Year's resolution posers here. There is also the social component. It's nice to get a daily dose of friendship and camaraderie from a dozen or so swim friends, many whom I have known for, well, decades. Pretty much an unmatched social safety net...

There have been a lot of blogs written lately that make the argument that photographers are mostly out shooting to flesh out or add to similar images which all spring from a single, dominating "idea". An idea that each artist must possess if they are to be taken seriously. I, of course, emphatically disagree. While it might be comforting to pretend that everything falls into order with acres of rational thought and planning behind it,  my experience after knowing an outrageous number of writers, artists and photographers over the last five decades screams otherwise. I have to give credit to Dogman (blog enthusiast) who found this tidbit about Elliott Erwitt. It goes like this: "When Elliott Erwitt was asked what he was thinking when he took a certain photograph, his answer was, "Thinking? Photography's not about thinking. Photography is about seeing." And that's exactly the way I understand photography as well. 

But as a thought experiment I thought I would take a shiny, black Leica M240, a 35mm lens, and a couple of hours and just walk around on the main street across from the University of Texas campus, take photographs of "whatever caught my eye" and try, in the moment to take note of what I was thinking right then. Seriously. As I was taking a photo (but not before!) I would try to catch the fleeting thoughts going through my noggin. I even brought along a small paper notebook and a pen to jot things down for accuracy. Here we go: 

"Jeez. I hope my car doesn't get towed. I never have gotten a ticket when I've parked on West Ave. but there's always a first time. Maybe I should have paid the meter. On the other hand I don't really care if I do get a ticket. They are only $20 and I can pay it online...." 

"This building has been here forever. I remember when I lived right round the corner back in 1976. It was falling apart back then. We all thought it would get demolished. I guess the Austin boom made a lot of these older buildings more valuable. Can't believe it's now a hotel with a starred restaurant. Maybe B and I should go to dinner there sometime soon." 

"Really? That's a P. Terry's? (hamburger restaurant chain) I love those shade structures. They look so 1950's atomic age. A throwback. And the neon on them rocks. Glad to see some style in a fast food restaurant. Should I cross the street to get them bigger in the frame? Naw. Too much trouble. I'll just crop them. No one will know the difference..."

"I want to get the whole building in so I can correct the verticals in post. Otherwise that guy who hates keystoned images will bitch about it in the comments and I'll have to pretend that I don't even notice stuff like converging lines. But shit! I'm right on the curb. If I back up anymore I'll be right in the traffic lane. Love the "Gimme Danger" logo on the front of the building. Works for me.

"Well, that's a really shitty composition but I only brought a 35mm and if I cross over the four lanes behind me the wall will be too small in the frame. But I really want to get a tight shot of the "Gimme Danger" logo so I'll remember that I liked it when I saw it and then I see it again. Maybe I can do something with it in post... Weird, I've noticed that this Zeiss 35mm Bright line finder isn't very accurate. I always get more on the edges in the final files. I guess that's better than the other way around. I guess that's why we also chimp."

"Okay. So this is a really weird composition but I want to show the old church building in front of that new dorm tower. They really should tax churches. I can't save the shot entirely with the transform controls in Lightroom but I guess it's worth a shot. Happy I set up the review on this camera to engage when I keep the shutter pressed after I take the shot. It's helping me take fewer frames since I know what I just got."

"This place has been empty since the pandemic. And it's right across from UT. I'm pretty amazed some developer hasn't done something with the space yet. I remember the shop that was in here from a long time ago. They sold "lingerie" and my goofy engineering roommate bought his girlfriend some. She hated it and I think that was why she dumped him. It would have never worked out anyway. An east Texas republican engineering student and a hippie, Peace Corps, non-leg shaving feminist. Who could have guessed a break up was in the cards? The real mystery was always how they got together in the first place. I hope I comped this correctly. The sun is glinting off my glasses and making the finder tough to see. Oh well, it's not a great shot to begin with.... where are all the students today? I thought classes changed at 9 a.m. Not very crowded out here and it's such a nice day..."

"Love this sign. I love donuts. Okay, so here's my dilemma. Do I go ahead and shoot this while college students are walking past underneath? Will that make me look like a creepy, old photographer? How long do I have to wait until the scene is clear? Would it work any better if some really attractive girl was in the frame? I know it would but it's not worth it to find someone. It's the sign that I really like. 

Donuts. Now I'm thinking about coffee but I don't really, really want another cup of coffee. Maybe I can find a place to get a cup of hot tea. That might be better. Love the saying though. I can send this to my friend who always, always overthinks shit."

"Yeah. I actually like this closer shot better. It's all about the saying and not all about the rest of the street. Donuts are sounding better and better. Love the feel of this camera. And I love the fact that it has enough nicks and brassing that I don't need to baby it. I wonder where there's a good donut shop around here...

Does walking around with a camera make any sense at all? Is anything about photography still really relevant? Am I just out here spinning my wheels because I'm bored? 

What time is it? I don't want to miss swim practice."

"I always love this Dylan mural. Reminds me of the people at UT who chained themselves to 

trees to try to keep them from getting cut down, way back when. Everything felt so strong and so real back in the 1970s. When did we get so jaded and cynical? I like the converging walls. Did this club used to be Raul's? Oh rats! I need to change my f-stop. Maybe f8?  At least I'm in focus...

All these college kids and not a single one of them has a camera. Really? That's so strange."

"I can't believe Dirty's is still open. I should call Greg and see if he wants to have lunch here next week. It sure would be a change from Maudie's or the Salt Trader. I haven't been in here since the 1980s. Doesn't look like much has changed. I wish the blue barrel wasn't there on the right lower corner of the frame. I guess, if I like the photo enough, I could make it disappear in PhotoShop. Which reminds me of the big brew haha about Steve McCurry PhotoShopping trash out of a photo. People should just fucking get over it. Digital manipulation is here to stay. Old schoolers bitch too much about stupid stuff. 

No blue barrel? Not a problem if it's not a documentation of a crime scene..."

"I love the sign about the hippies. Should I go tighter? Naw... I like seeing the wall at an angle. It would look pretty dead if I shot it head on and flat. Plus there are so many clues. I really have to be a bit wider if I'm going to get the line of type at the top that says, "Celebrating 99 Years." Can't believe it. That would make Dirty's the oldest surviving restaurant in Austin. Kept alive by frat rats and hippies."

"Sue me but I think there is something romantic about Coca-Cola signs. Tragic, but romantic." And I guess my cameras are addicted to clean, blue Texas skies. Just need to make sure the white siding doesn't burn out...."

"What the heck? I've never seen this mural before. What's it doing at the back of an Urban Outfitters store? Makes no sense at all. I love the colors but I really love the deep black of the stairs and the foreground. And always the Virgin Mary. Better by far than a brick wall. I need to move right to keep the sunlit background out of the scene. Too much difference between the light on the mural and the light in the far background. Oh shit! Is it already 11? I'd better wrap this up and get over to swim practice. 

Thank God I don't have a real job I have to go to. That would be most inconvenient. 

One thought. Happy to have only one lens and one camera. I have so little patience for carrying too much stuff around with me. Now it's crowded with students. I forget that they flow like rivers at 

intersections and crosswalks. Photography is based on big ideas? Not likely.

Experiment ended for swim practice. 

Want to read what I thought about during swim practice? Me neither.