How much trouble will you go to realise an image you've visualised in your head?

[Keith]

I do this a lot ... I'll imagine a pic that works for me and then I'll go about the process of constructing it. It gives me a lot of pleasure to do still lifes this way in particular and I often use the same approach for self portraits.

There's an old very small falling down shack on my neighbour's property that's buried in the vegetation and a while ago I cut a path from my own place through to it and often go there to muse and think about the possibilities it offers. They know I use it and just think I'm crazy ... they may be right but some of the photos I've taken in it are my favourites and more than justify the exercise.

The pic below is an example and after I'd decided where to position the old chair and what angle to shoot it from I decided I wanted a little more atmosphere to highlight the light streaming from the louvered windows to the left of the chair. I found an old jam tin laying outside and punched some holes in the bottom of it and stuffed it with leaves ... sat it on some small stones just above floor level and lit it and let it smoulder ... poor man's smoke machine no less! When my neighbours see smoke streaming from this old shed at the back of their property they must seriously wonder what the **** I'm up to and worry a little ... but they leave me alone to go about my business. 🙂

 

[Gerry M]

Keith, I'm impressed with the effort and originality that you put into making this photo from your minds eye. Also, the image itself, in my opinion is outstanding. Maybe a bit haunting. What photo gear did you use?
Gerry

 

[Keith]

Keith, I'm impressed with the effort and originality that you put into making this photo from your minds eye. Also, the image itself, in my opinion is outstanding. Maybe a bit haunting. What photo gear did you use?
Gerry

Thanks Gerry ... this is from my recently aquired DP2M. I think at some stage I've used all my cameras in this shed ... from my OMs to my Crown Graphic. I also dragged a friend down there a long time ago for some portraits. It will be quite sad when the termites eventually get the better of it!

 

[charjohncarter]

I do it all the time. But many times, I feel I don't achieve my visual dream. It is frustrating to sometimes not know what went wrong.

Still, I like doing it.

 

[FrankS]

After I retire, soon.

Life's just too full at the moment.

 

[oftheherd]

Keith,

When I first saw the title, I thought you were talking about use of cameras, lenses, or darkroom technique. I have never been big on setting up photos in that manner. Not because there is anything wrong with doing it. I just don't think I usually have the necessary creativity. Some people do. My oldest daughter does. She once expressed a desire to learn something about composition. I gave her a handful of old leaves and told her to take photos. She did very well. But what you are doing is a step beyond.

I know people do it, and some like you, do it well. I am just not one of them. I like the photo. Of course, I like all your photos. Thanks for sharing the photo and your dedication to taking something most others would probably overlook, and turning it into something good and artful.

 

[peter_n]

Well my image isn't realized yet but last week I was in Northern Ireland reconnoitering a location that I have in mind for a shot the next time I go there. I've been thinking about it for about a year. I needed to remind myself of the lay of the land (and the sea) to make sure I could do what I envision. I need subjects. Maybe I'll actually realize the image sometime in the future, maybe not.

 

[FrankS]

It's not all too much different than setting up a studio portrait.

 

[Keith]

Keith,

When I first saw the title, I thought you were talking about use of cameras, lenses, or darkroom technique. I have never been big on setting up photos in that manner. Not because there is anything wrong with doing it. I just don't think I usually have the necessary creativity. Some people do. My oldest daughter does. She once expressed a desire to learn something about composition. I gave her a handful of old leaves and told her to take photos. She did very well. But what you are doing is a step beyond.

I know people do it, and some like you, do it well. I am just not one of them. I like the photo. Of course, I like all your photos. Thanks for sharing the photo and your dedication to taking something most others would probably overlook, and turning it into something good and artful.

Aside from being a creative exercise it's taught me a hell of a lot about using light and dark ... which is what photography is all about IMO.

 

[photony texas]

Almost all my work is thought out, pre-visualised in my head, dreamt up, hallucinated some would say. Sometimes if its a technical hurdle or a conception I am trying to convey to the subject I sketch it out. A recent shot of a beautiful young lady with vines in her hair was sketched out with every detail, even technically how I would approach it.
With Film and Double Exposures I have the advantage of time in between shot one and two so I would make a pencil sketch of shot one and carry it around for hours or days until the second shot revealed itself. With Digital Double Exposures they have to be pre-planned because I don't have the luxury of time in between shots. So I guess in answering Keith's question I go through a lot to achieve my visualizations. I don't see it as trouble just part of my creative process that I enjoy as much as taking the shot.

 

[farlymac]

Usually, all my pre-envisioned stuff has to do with the light at certain times of the day, though I have thought about setting a scene. I just don't do that much that is not spur of the moment. And I've done very little product or studio work. I will work a scene though until I get a shot that pleases me, while still being minimally invasive. I do like what you do, Keith, and the thought you put into each image shows .

PF

 

[airfrogusmc]

For my personal work I usually don't see it until I see it happening in real time in front of me. When all the elements seem to come together I push the shutter. I usually put myself in places where things can happen and at the right time of the day for the right light but it's usually the spontaneity of the moment when those things come together that excite me and push my visual and technical skill to the edges. We all have different ways of working. What's valid for one my not hold any validity at all for someone else.

My professional work is usually much different. Art directors, graphic designers. pre conceived ideas etc so when i work for me I like to take it in an entirely different direction.

 

[skibeerr]

I hope it wasn't a total fire ban day. 🙄

Sure hope I get back to that stage again, I used to do it but lost the drive due to life happening to me.


(1 of 1) by wim_b, on Flickr

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4x5043 by wim_b, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[Contarama]

Aside from being a creative exercise it's taught me a hell of a lot about using light and dark ... which is what photography is all about IMO.

I have come to the conclusion that is about 98% of what it is about.

I tend to spend most of time trying to find the the best light and the best angle to capture the contrast of light and shadow. Then I think about how any given focal length is going to "see" the particular scene that I am considering. Then maybe the composition after all of that. Then bam! All this happens in a very short time for me...perhaps I should slow down a bit.

I'm not real good at it (photography) however because it is a lot more difficult than it looks. I keep on keeping on though.

Excellent thread sir.

 

[daveleo]

Keith, that is a very good (and humorous !) story - glad that you posted it.

This is how I make 90% of the pictures that I want people to look at, and I always feel like I'm being too weird
because most everyone else (here on RFF) seems to go out and find great pictures "on the street" so to speak.

I have spent literally days pre-imagining a picture and setting up shooting, deleting, re-shooting and deleting again.

In my mind, if I just go out and "take a picture" of what's out there, I am not (what should I say?) . . . I am not being very creative.
I don't mean to criticize how others work, but to me imagining and then synthesizing the picture is what I bring to the party.

The final picture is then all mine (like it or not 😀 ).

Sadly, most friends and family want to look at my scenic and vacation photos,
and I have to forgive them for not quite getting "my photographic work" 🙁.

 

[Paul Jenkin]

I depends on how realistic my aspirations are and whether there's a great cost or risk involved.

I've been known to lug a bag full of cameras up a Scottish mountain to be there for when the sun pops its head over the horizon. Sometimes it ends up cloudy and you have a wasted journey and other times it exceeds all expectations.

Simpler stuff can be planning a meet up with a photo-buddy / buddies and deciding which pub we're going to hit at lunchtime / after the shooting's finished.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Keith, that is a very good (and humorous !) story - glad that you posted it.

This is how I make 90% of the pictures that I want people to look at, and I always feel like I'm being too weird
because most everyone else (here on RFF) seems to go out and find great pictures "on the street" so to speak.

I have spent literally days pre-imagining a picture and setting up shooting, deleting, re-shooting and deleting again.

In my mind, if I just go out and "take a picture" of what's out there, I am not (what should I say?) . . . I am not being very creative.
I don't mean to criticize how others work, but to me imagining and then synthesizing the picture is what I bring to the party.

The final picture is then all mine (like it or not 😀 ).

Sadly, most friends and family want to look at my scenic and vacation photos,
and I have to forgive them for not quite getting "my photographic work" 🙁.

I think in learning to see the image in real time, in the moment, when all the elements come together in that fraction of a second and having the skill to not only see it but to be able to capture it is no more or less creative than setting something up in the studio or on location. I do both, more the set up work with my commercial work and the seeing in the moment with my personal work and they are both very difficult to do well, both approaches take a lot of creativity and both approaches are equally valid.


A couple of examples of when I think I caught the moment.

A few words from Bresson that also is valid for me when it comes to my personal work. He says it much better than i ever could.
" 'Manufactured' or staged photography does not concern me. And if I make a judgment, it can only be on a psychological or sociological level. There are those who take photographs arranged beforehand and those who go out to discover the image and seize it. For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which - in visual terms - questions and decides simultaneously. In order to "give a meaning" to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what he frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry."-Henri Cartier-Bresson

"To take photographs means to recognize -- simultaneously and within a fraction of a second -- both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis." - Henri Cartier-Bresson