I’m currently working on a piece that will be called Diogenes 2: The Search for Love. I photographed the male model today, and am now reviewing the photos from the shoot.

As a result, I spent my afternoon saying things like, “Look over there! Is that love? Yeah, look at it closely. It could be Love, but it looks kind of grimy. Sorta wilted. Forlorn. Look, it may be Love, but I wouldn’t want to stick it in my pocket, you know what I’m saying?”

Now I’m spending the evening talking to myself. “Whoa. What’s he looking at now? That doesn’t look like any Love I’ve seen. I think he’s found an Infatuation. Yeah, infatuations look like that sometimes. Hey, now! What’s that? Oh, that’s not Love. That’s….that’s….I dunno what that is….but it ain’t Love, that’s for sure!”

I’ve noticed recently that the internet sometimes seems so big to me that it becomes almost self-defeating. When seeking pro-photo communities, for example, the number of options are overwhelming and strangely deceptive.

To start with, there are so many communities where people share images and talk photography that I could easily spend all my time reading them. Ideally, I’d like to limit myself to communities that are strictly professional for my shop talk, but contain potential art buyers for the display of my work. Or perhaps I should find a community that is multimedia, but shares my interest in subject matter. Then, too, I need somewhere that keeps me abreast of the technology and equipment news, without getting sucked into the mindset that my equipment determines what sort of photographer I am.

Even among my social and hobby-based online communities, there is a tendency to get stuck in the trivial details. One hobby-based site I am generates at least 200 messages a week arguing over terminology.

I recently attend WPPI, a pro-photography convention focusing on Wedding and Portrait photography (two areas that I spend a lot more time thinking about than involving myself in). I picked up a number of memberships in the heat of the moment, and now must evaluate exactly how much time I have to spend reading all these conversations. Several of the books that I picked up also have online communities built around them. Should I even check them out? What value could they provide to me?

I have been traditionally hesitant to join art-based communities like Deviant Art and Etsy, or participate heavily in networking sites like Model Mayhem. My dubious reasoning for this is that I would prefer people to come to MY site. Yet, all of these places provide a built-in audience much larger than I could ever hope to generate on my own.

My purpose for joining these websites, taking part in these communities, is to build what I refer to as My Army Of Dreamers. I’m seeking friendships that will encourage my own creativity, push my efforts, and support me in those moments of self-doubt which plague all creative professionals. Yet, I am often reminded of a parable from Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland:

A pottery class is divided into two groups. The first group is told that their grades will be determined entirely by the quality of the single best pot they make. The second group is told that their grades will be based entirely on the quantity of pots produced, regardless of quality. The first group spent the entire semester debating the nature of The Perfect Pot, and while they had many nice theories, the work they produced failed to live up to their own beliefs about such perfection. Meanwhile, in addition to producing a large number of pots, the second group made better pots, faster and more consistently. The moral to the story is obvious: talk is cheap; doing it is what makes you good at it.

(Tangent: Whenever I quote that book, I have to include my other favorite anecdote. A frustrated young piano student complains to his mentor, “It just never sounds as good as it does in my head!” The mentor sagely replies, “What makes you think that is ever going to change?”)

This, then, is the dilemma: I want a community to support my endeavors, but I worry that I’d be better off spending all that time just taking some darn photos.

New times for the events that I’ll be running or involved in during Dragon Con (when not running my art booth):

Photographic Truth, Myth Of – Not “How To Photoshop,” but Why to do so. This workshop begins with a method to critique images, then uses this to explore common photographic cliches. Using principles of color theory and composition, we will seek alternatives to these overused methods. Amul Kumar – Friday 7:00 PM – Hanover G

ART005: Photography in Fantasy Art – Join the Art Institute of Atlanta and several fantasy photographers in a discussion about fantastical photography and it’s place in fandom and art shows. Help us create guidelines for entering photography into the Dragon*Con Art Show.. Art Institute of Atlanta, Amul Kumar, Dave King, Tracy Cornett, John Parise, Fox Gradin – Saturday 10:00 AM – Hanover F

Spent a little time today working on the workshop I’ll be giving at DragonCon, entitled “Photographic Truth, Myth of.”

There are many thoughts that I’m trying to see if I can work into the conversation. While I was talking to Liz Galindorf about this, we got into a heated discussion about the validity of digital manipulation. Liz suggested that while digital manipulation is a useful skill to know, it is not generally needed. I, on the other hand, argue that the very act of photography is already a manipulation, and so you have a duty to finish manipulating it until it achieves your intention.

I hadn’t thought initially to include an argument for performing manipulations in the first place, but it seems like a good thing to include.

It seems to me that the first question we should ask is, “Why are you taking a photograph?” Why not draw it in pencil? Or paint it? Or record it as video? When the daguerreotype was first invented, it’s appeal was the degree of realism which it rendered. As additional technologies were developed which rendered a photographic image, the one which allowed for the greatest ease of reproducibility has consistently been the technology which became primary over other techniques. From the daguerrotype to the platinum print to the palladium print to the salt print, and all the way to the digital image. Another choice which has driven photographic methods has been portability. The civil war was photographed with cameras as large as a man which took ten minutes to set up. The most popular modern camera is so small it fits inside a device that has absolutely no relationship to visual imaging.

Are you taking photographs because you want to create images which are the easiest to share with others? Because it’s more portable than an easel, canvas and paintbrush? Because it is easier? Faster?

While there are many possible answers to that question, I think I could safely suggest that regardless of your “default” answer, that reason changes with each image you create. If that’s the case, then it stands to reason that there are times when “precisely recreating the scene as it was laid out” is not high on your agenda.

In those images whose purpose is other than attempting to reveal a “photographic truth” (a term I still think presumes far too much), why would we limit ourselves by what was laid out before us? It is a restraint we lay upon ourselves because we have a false belief in the inherent inviolability of the tool we have chosen to use.

This dovetails nicely into my original starting point, which is that when you make the effort of taking a photograph, you have limited your audience’s perception of the scene to only what is in the picture. The viewer assumes that you intended to make this image, and therefore supposes that every element of the image was intentional.

This, I think, is a strong argument for performing digital image manipulation.

A blog article by Kevin Kelly discusses an alternative model to the naive “Rock Star or Bust” business model which most professional artists work towards. Kelly’s model is referred to as “1000 True Fans” or the micro-patronage system.

The basic argument goes like this: if you can find 1000 fans who are willing to spend $100 per year on your work, then you’ll earn $100,000 gross income that year. Seeking that goal will actually generate more income, because for every True Fan (eg, who spends $100), you’ll have found other fans willing to pay less per year.

In seeking this goal, as opposed to the mass-media goals of pre-modern technological paradigms, a different set of marketing, development, and production technologies can be used quite efficiently.

This leads me back to my constant question of whether to pursue fine art or commercial photography. It seems like it is far easier for me to find fine art business models which I think I could effectively employ.

In addition to having a booth in the art show at Dragon Con this year, I will also be teaching two classes:

Saturday, 7:00pm
“Photographic Truth, Myth of”

Not “How To Photoshop,” but Why to do so. This workshop begins with a method to critique images, then uses this to explore common photographic cliches. Using principles of color theory and composition, we will seek alternatives to these overused methods.

Monday, 11:30am
(Unnamed) Photography Panel

Details forthcoming, this will be a round table discussion on the nature and definition of photography in the modern age.

I’ll be exhibiting my photography at DragonCon this year, in the Art Gallery and with unlimited 8x10s for sale in the print shop. I’m still on the waiting list for a table in the bazaar.

Additionally, I’m talking to their Art Track Programming Directors about offering a class on Art Theory, Art History, and their application to Fantasy/Sci-Fi art. I’ve also been put on the list for potential presenters to join a series of roundtables they are coordinating!

If you are thinking of entering a Competition but concerned that your rights might be infringed by doing so, these peole will take a look for you FREE if you use the form that you’ll find at Pro Imaging – International support for professional image creators – Competitions.

As many of you are hopefully aware, intellectual property rights have been under fierce assault for a while now. In many cases, these rights are being stripped unwittingly, by organizations who are only seeking to protect themselves as best they can. In doing so, they rob creative professionals of a means to make a livelihood.

How important is intellectual property rights? Well, let me put it to you this way: They’re part of the US Constitution. Not the Bill of Rights, but the original document itself. In other words, the Founding Fathers thought that owning what you made was more important than Freedom of Speech.

That is why it pleases me that organizations like Pro Imaging are already leading the charge on the issues I wish I had more time to contribute to. They’ll review photo contest submission rules, and contact the organizers if they feel their terms and conditions are unfair to the photographers the organizations are trying to promote. Many contests are, apparently, now coming to Pro Imaging for guidance on their own.

Frieke Janssens is another photographer who produces amazing, slightly surreal, work that is well worth looking at. Add this to the list of my inspirations.

Check out her personal work, as well as the pre-production materials she shows. She has managed to create a career, not just using the tools she loves, but creating the sort of images she loves to make.

PhotoWalkthrough.com – Free video tutorial podcast covering digital photography post processing using adobe photoshop cs2.

John Arnold shares a fascinating perspective on digital imaging, and has a lovely British accent to boot. Sadly, I don’t have a video-enabled iPod, so I can’t watch these unless I’m on my home tower, which I try to avoid as much as possible.
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