An apology and a promise

[OurManInTangier]

The apology is to all those that regularly view the gallery. For the past few months I have posted some absolute rubbish that no one should have to view. Aimless, unimaginative, predictable, boring and thoughtless.

I've been fairly rudderless as far as my personal photography goes, lacking in direction and walking around simply hoping/expecting things to unfold in front of me. Some of you may have experienced much the same when you have no planned project or ordered thoughts on what you want to show, some of you may enjoy this 'free' approach and find it works for you. Having viewed my gallery, one of the few places that I 'exhibit' ( for want of a more accurate phrase ) some of my personal photos, it became quite clear that I have not produced an interesting series of images for a long time and that this was down to trying to squeeze taking personal pics into too short a time frame and not making any plans or thinking through what I want to investigate and how I can go about this most successfully.

My promise is simply to myself, that I will endeavour to take a more considered approach to what I photograph, why I'm photographing it, what is the end purpose and to photograph the things that really interest me rather than lazily photographing the streets without any real purpose or desire....too many cheap shadow shape shots and such like.😱

So a second apology for anyone that has actually read this far, its not that I wish to wallow or to evangalise, simply that I want to make the statement public, to shame myself into getting off my backside and actually thinking about what I'm doing.

 

[vrgard]

First of all, Simon, stop being so hard on your self. My guess is much the same could be said about my posted photos and perhaps many others' as well.

Second of all, kudos to you for your reinvigorated interest in more seriously pursuing your art/craft.

Thirdly since I recall it specifically discussing the very topic you raise (i.e., having a purpose when going out to shoot rather than mindlessly taking photographs), you may find the following book of interest: "On Being A Photographer" by David Hurn and Bill Jay. Note that this book was the topic of the first rangefinderforum book club so you may also find of interest the discussion of it on this forum.

Best to you in your efforts and I look forward to seeing the great results you will no doubt acheive.

Best,
Randy

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Don't we all go through a productive phase and a dry phase?

Writers, sculptors, musicians, and even us photographers.

Personally I relax through the dry parts, and read a book (any book, not necessarily a photo book), or go to an exhibition, or dance theater, or something similar. If it's a specially bad time I read 'Art and Fear' again!

I have been looking forward to seeing some more OurManInTangier photos of the East Anglian coast in winter light. But if that's not working now I guess we'll see something different.

By the way: I liked very much the 'Close To Home' photo of the street lamp base and hoped more similar would follow.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Reverse psychology to get people to look at your gallery?

If "1000 Miles Away" is Rubbish, I'm just going to post lens tests of brick walls from now on.

 

[Ororaro]

Honestly, I find it refreshing to read your post. There's such a huge amount of crappy stuff floating around on the internet and people thinking their **** is the best and they take offense at any critic. It's good to stop and realize where one is standing.

I am in no way pointing at anyone in particular, and I include myself in this. I just think that stopping and realizing this is a good and humble thing.

 

[tom_f77]

I'm with the others; you don't do so bad...

But a resolution to try harder can't really do any harm.

Tom

 

[Pherdinand]

i know, ...you just want US to realize that we didn't shoot anything interesting lately. Right?
Well, thanks, but i know it very well. 😀

PS: nothing better than a project, a theme, to work on.

 

[thomasw_]

I hear your battle cry! I fight with you. Have you read the book entitled the War of Art?

 

[Bingley]

Wanting to do better is a noble goal. I don't know about this apology thing, though. I looked at your Gallery again. There's some good stuff there. "North Sea Surfing" is an amazing photo, prompting a "how did he DO that?" reaction in me. 🙂

Interesting that this recent malaise appears to coincide w/ your acquisition of a Planar lens... any connection there? 😉

 

[ibcrewin]

you stink... not because your pictures are bad, but because you are so much better than I me!

 

[OurManInTangier]

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not hankering after more views to my gallery or pleasant comments. I'm also not suggesting that I believe all my pictures to be rubbish. Simply that in the last six months, at least, I have produced very little that I believe to be of any value or worth due to a lack of intelligent review of what I'm doing and why.

I've known for a while that I'm just not producing the goods and it was actually reading 'On Being A Photographer' that helped me to realise why that may be and what I can do to try and overcome this.

I now realise for me that simply wandering around with my camera in any spare moment I have is not going to produce many decent pictures, I need to focus my thoughts and shoot projects or at least follow a tighter, self imposed brief which allows me to concentrate rather than be blinded by daily moments that leave me with nothing or cliched photographs.

Pherdinand - Please! I'd never be so rude....or smart 😀

Steve - Typical huh?! I get myself a big flashy lens and can't shoot for toffee with it!!!

 

[BillBingham2]

As the saying goes....... SNAP OUTA IT!!!!

Now go take some pictures. Walk around tomorrow and shot nothing but shadows, next week windows......find your view, your thoughts, something that makes you happy and be happy.

It's a good sign that you are not happy, now stop apologizing and burn some film! Find yourself and I know we will be very happy with it.

B2 (;->

 

[mfogiel]

Simon,
Everybody sooner or later is getting diminishing returns from a certain type of photographic approach. Personally, since I am a bit of a gearhead, I have found a nice way to cope with this - I pull out a different FL periodically, and I try to see what I can get with it . This forces me to change the subjects, distance, perspective... Then, I might come back to the usual 35mm or 50mm lens and "discover" how easy it is to get some interesting photos with one of these !
Then, when it comes to the worst, I simply look for something visually interesting, even if it does not make a lot of sense in terms of style, and frankly I've had some positive surprises from this...
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2171318917&size=l
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2055138355&context=set-72157600129466148&size=l
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2040605537&context=set-72157601490684129&size=l
BTW, the last two were taken with the Planar 50/2 - how do you find this lens?

If you haven't read it yet, a must book is "The Tao of Photography", very insightful in psychological terms, yet very entertaining. I am sure that more of your great rf shots will be on the way soon !

 

[jbf]

Honestly, I find it refreshing to read your post. There's such a huge amount of crappy stuff floating around on the internet and people thinking their **** is the best and they take offense at any critic. It's good to stop and realize where one is standing.

I am in no way pointing at anyone in particular, and I include myself in this. I just think that stopping and realizing this is a good and humble thing.

I agree, it is good to stop and take a look around you and see where you are...

Though I have to say that with you being a professional photographer skilled as you are, should have come across these types of people and be used to them now. 🙂

If you work in the art world or have attended any kind of class, seminar, etc on any style/form/whatever of art there are always tons of these people.

In my visual effects degree program at my school, 99% of the people's work is complete and utter crap, and they haven't got a clue that their stuff is honestly bad...


I just ignore them. I know they are there and i know their work isnt very good, so why does it matter? Anyone else with with the slightest bit of ability can tell that their work isnt that good either. 🙂 So why fuss about it? Dont let them ruffle your feathers.

 

[jan normandale]

Simon... since you wrote that 'piece' I concur, you owe all of RFF and apology. Now get to it you slacker!

J/J

Jan

 

[OurManInTangier]

Simon... since you wrote that 'piece' I concur, you owe all of RFF and apology. Now get to it you slacker!

J/J

Jan

Jan, is there any chance you can visit my home every morning and be the one to kick my slack arse out of bed? I feel you may have the straight talking, no nonsense approach that will keep me from my lazy slumbers and get me motivated😛 So here it is, not just for you but all of RFF...I am most humbly sorry😀 No more shoddiness on my part, well hopefully😉

BTW, the last two were taken with the Planar 50/2 - how do you find this lens?

I really liked my old Canon 1.8 and it was a brilliant starting point but the Planar is just something else. Either b/w or colour ( a rarity for me ) this lens just leaves me with a huge smile on my face. Sharpness, bokeh (yep, sorry) and a less contrasty feel compared to the Canon really bring things to life for me.

So whilst I've moaned and grumbled about the substance of my photographs recently I have still enjoyed looking at what the lens can do.

 

[steamer]

Strange Simon,
I've been going through the same thing, but I'm not British so I didn't feel like apologizing to anyone, I was just waiting in quiet desperation for my mojo to return. Anyway I'm hoping this artistic malaise or lack of motivation is somehow related to the time of year when it is too damn cold.

 

[jan normandale]

Simon, we're both smiling at your thread I'm sure. I've not put much up at RFF lately due to the fact I'm thinking about trimming my gallery down and rebuilding.

I now shoot more for my blog, since it's not material that is understood at RFF but it's something I want to do. Perhaps you should consider shooting for yourself.

 

[Athena]

So what is this - some kind of "mea culpa" because you uploaded drek?

Gimme a break. You want attention - and you've got it.

The alternative would have been to just delete the stuff w/o telling all of us about it!

 

[Tuolumne]

Athena, this must be your first post in months. Haven't seen you around here in ages. Where ya been?

/T