None! The idea is to work with purpose. If awesome Robberyfly images is what you want to create, you pick a lens that works for that type of subject and you learn everything about that lens. You spend days, weeks and months photographing Robberflies with that lens. You photograph other subjects, get creative, embrace the limitations. And if you happen upon a grizzly, you use that same lens and try and creatively compose an image of it (a landscape image, to be a safe distance ) and if doesn’t work out, you sit back and simply enjoy the grizzly bear.
Same thing if you want to photograph Grizzlies and wildlife as your focus. Top images of any subject happen because of dedication and lots of time in the field. My approach is about simplicity and photographing with intent.
The other aspect of my approach is that we need to be okay with not taking images. We should be just as happy watching the grizzly bear as photographing it. Honestly, the process, the search, the exploration outside, that is the most meaningful part of photography for me, making images is just a bonus.
Now if I was getting paid to photograph Grizzlies, I would rent a lens and put all my focus and intent on creating Grizzly images and full filling my client’s needs
Hey Carl, thank you for taking the time to do this. I ask a lot of photographers the same question as I continue to grapple with it myself. Do you attempt to impress modes or emotions upon the viewer of your photographs? If so, what moods/emotions do you find yourself returning to time and time again? Do you achieve this in the field with composition and framing or in the editing process, and how do you do so? Hopefully lots of questions around one theme in one comment don’t break the rules!
David,
I make no conscience effort to create any mood or try to invoke an emotion in my viewers. I try to be as honest and literal in my processing as possible. Obviously, when working in black and white, that isn’t really possible because I have already manipulated the scene by removing the color.
I really just want the subject to do all the work, to create the emotions and responses, whether positive or negative. I am just a translator. Of course, part of me will be revealed in the translation, through exposure and composition, that is what makes my photograph different from yours. I want my involvement in the image to be as minimal as possible. I know that sounds weird.
We will never know how an image will affect someone. The reasons a subject creates a strong response is as varied and unique as people are, no reason for me to be involved .
One example:
I had a collector who loved my worked and purchased numerous portfolios. As a young photographer, I relied heavily on his patronage. After two expeditions to Nepal I sent him a portfolio of my best work. He quickly sent the portfolio back and was uninterested in the work. I asked why. It had nothing to do with the actual photographs. He had been a doctor in Nepal and had treated many sick people, had watch many people die. No matter what the image was, anything image from Nepal would bring back terrible memories.
We all have life experiences that effect the way we look at images. No use in trying to manipulate someone’s feelings because their relationship with the image is unpredictable and influenced by so many factors. That is why I try and just let the subject speak for itself.
Thanks everyone for participating, really enjoyed it. Feel free to contact me with more questions. carl@photographalaska.com. And if any of you are coming up to Alaska, give me a holler!
) and if doesn’t work out, you sit back and simply enjoy the grizzly bear.