Vision?

[kipkeston]

cue the winogrand quotes. i'm with him on that one

 

[John Lawrence]

I don't have a vision or any preconceived ideas of what I am going to photograph when I head out. I prefer to keep things loose and see what happens. However, in the studio the opposite applies.

 

[dave lackey]

Hmmm....

I have tried to visualize before and, sometimes, with landscapes, still life, etc. it works. Now, with changing scenes like people, sports, fleeting opportunities when the sunlight is "just so"...etc...well, my best images have come to me.

Just being receptive works the best for me. Even in studio with my grandkids, I have gotten the best images from their spontaneity.

I think it is still good to visualize in a general way, but, being receptive to the moment works best for me.

 

[benlees]

My favorites of the past year were taken with no real cohesive intent. Just get out there and see what I find. Getting out the door is by far the most important thing. I might have a location in mind with regard to lighting/time of day but that is about it. I'll take a picture of just about anything! Things can look very different as a photograph which is what makes it interesting for me.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

My favorites of the past year were taken with no real cohesive intent. Just get out there and see what I find. Getting out the door is by far the most important thing. I might have a location in mind with regard to lighting/time of day but that is about it. I'll take a picture of just about anything! Things can look very different as a photograph which is what makes it interesting for me.

My sentiments to, sometimes I just enjoy the walk, here's three from this morning.....not much - as pictures, but just a record of my home town.
Cheers, Dave

 

[shadowfox]

Hmmm....

I have tried to visualize before and, sometimes, with landscapes, still life, etc. it works. Now, with changing scenes like people, sports, fleeting opportunities when the sunlight is "just so"...etc...well, my best images have come to me.

Just being receptive works the best for me. Even in studio with my grandkids, I have gotten the best images from their spontaneity.

I think it is still good to visualize in a general way, but, being receptive to the moment works best for me.

To me, visualization is *different* than vision. And they are easily confused with each other.

I tend to not visualize any of my shots, I am not good at that, others may be.

But I have a lot of visions, example: On a foggy morning, I have a vision on what kind of pictures I want to make, otherwise, I won't even be motivated to get out of bed.

But when I get to a place that I can take such pictures, I put that vision in the back of my mind and let the surrounding presents the opportunity that may come close to that vision (or not).

It's different than trying to visualize a particular shot moments before it's recorded on film.

 

[Bob Michaels]

I worked on personal project photographing Tibetan protests during summer Olympics. After a while not only i got bored of the whole thing, i became cynical and conflicted about the project and ended up canning the whole thing.

The lesson that I learned was quite simple: Let the project come to you, and don't go around searching for a project.

I learned the same lesson in early 2008 when I convinced a short line RR to give me unlimited access so I could do a photo project there. I had never ridden in a locomotive but it seemed so enticing.

After 8 days of riding around in the cab, photographing people running the train, throwing switches, hooking up / unhooking cars, doing maintenance, working in the office, I just came to a dead end. I tried every avenue I could think of to make it an interesting series but struck out. It was not that the RR did not try. They even let me run the train and do anything I wanted. But it just went no where. And finally I admitted that and moved on.

 

[phc]

For me projects are not planned, in the sense that I'll think one day: "I know - I'll do a project on hippopotami in domestic settings" or something. I find that, when I'm looking over contact sheets, certain themes become obvious, and a project develops from there.

These two:

Fiestas Patronales, Segorbe, Spain. September 2007

Puerto de Javea, Spain. August 2007.

are part of a project that is nearing completion. The next step is to edit down from over a thousand negs to about 40 to go into a book.

Cheers, Paul.

 

[aniMal]

I spent many years mostly working without projects. I had some going, and learnt a lot from that. But what worked best for me was either traveling and taking in new places, or spending lots of time getting into the right ´space´at home. It always took some time before I got into that space when traveling as well, but in general I feel that new sights tend to make it easier. I guess my style for those years was what is today called street...

The lesson that I learned was quite simple: Let the project come to you, and don't go around searching for a project.

This is what has happened to me for the past year or so, I have gotten this project that I just have to do. It is totally different from what I have been pursuing for years, and if I had not had a few years break as a photographer I would most probably never have gotten into it! Why? Because I would have considered it kitsch and for amateurs...

Last winter we travelled to Aragon in Spain, and I had the opportunity to photograph lots of ruins - whole villages with tons of atmosphere... While being there, I realized that I had to come back - probably for several times. Last october I was finally able to do it, and found that the nerve of the project had gotten much stronger inside of me in the meantime...

So here am I, researching flickr and other sources on the web for ruins... What I look for is ruins with a history, a story why they were abandoned. My latest realization is that i simply HAS to do Chernobyl...

I think that both approaches are right - having a project and also just being intuitive. My street-style project that was a real obsession for years is still active, although it is not my main priority now.

I have an intention to eventually sort all of my best work into a handful of projects, and then define them more stringently. It would probably help me focus - It would be relatively easy to call them to mind when shooting...

 

[jbh]

If I'm shooting an ad, for example, I go out with a vision plus shoot those unexpected moments; more often than not the unexpected moments are the shots to use.

If I'm shooting for myself I shoot whatever strikes me at the moment, but I've observed over time that those few themes coagulate into bodies of work. Incoherent maybe, but still work that has inherent relationships.

This is of course distinct from a documentary project, which by nature (imho) should be at least loosely planned.