While I completely agree that your images speak for themselves, they are simply gorgeous, have you considered shooting film? It seems your style would be a great fit with The slower more deliberate work involved with medium and large format.
Wow, that’s a tough one!
Let’s see… Chuck Kimmerle? Rad Drew? Tony Sweet?
Oh yeah, I’ve never done a workshop with any of them.
Hmmmmm, This is a really hard question!
I guess I’d have to say that my favorite workshop companion is the only person I’ve done a workshop with: John Barclay!
He’s a bit of a “dandy“ and doesn’t know ANYTHING about Black and White, but he’s really tall.
P. S. By now you’ve probably guessed that John and I are friends, well maybe not friends but certainly acquaintances. Hmmm, perhaps acquaintances is stretching it a bit but we do know each other!
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Hi Bruce, I’m going to make an assumption (dangerous) that you might be a film guy? Let me proceed on the assumption that my assumption is true!
I don’t want to say anything that would offend film people. But…
I used film for decades and so I feel like I’m qualified to speak to the film versus digital issue. I’m not saying that I’m an expert or that I have an answer that applies to all, but I think I know enough to answer the question adequately for myself.
I loved my film days, my roots are in film, I spent years of my life in the dark room… But I would never go back!
Why? Because my work is better with Digital.
I used to be an equipment and process guy, but now I’m an image guy. The only thing that matters to me is the image and I use whatever equipment and processes gives me the best results.
And for me, that’s digital.
But I am not preaching that Digital is THE best way to go, only that it’s the best way for me.
How’d I do Bruce? Was that pretty diplomatic?
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A still shoot film occasionally and am not one of those guys you need to be diplomatic to 
. I totally get that, i shoot digital as well and there is a freedom that comes with digital. I asked the question as your style appears, from my perspective, comes from someone who understands film well.
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Don’t!
I never tried or wanted to.
Not because of the long hours, fickle customers or poor pay…but because it would have taken all the fun out of photography for me.
I want to create images that I love, not ones that others love. I never want to create an image that sells well, but I don’t love.
So I chose to be an amateur: someone who is not trained, does not earn a living from their work and who creates for the love of creating.
I chose to pursue another line of work for my career and kept photography as my Passion.
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I do think I understand film, and appreciate its limitations. Digital is so freeing from those limitations!
When I was a “photographer“ and trying to reproduce what my eyes saw, film was adequate.
But now I consider myself an artist and my goal is to show you what I’m seeing through the eyes of my Vision.
For that, Digital is wonderful!
A funny story: I was exhibiting one of my portfolios when a person walked up to me, appreciatingly looked at the images and said: you just can’t do work like this with Digital!
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No question. Just enjoying your work and your approach to equipment and not being a professional. Very refreshing. Also enjoyed your story: ''I was exhibiting one of my portfolios when a person walked up to me, appreciatingly looked at the images and said: you just can’t do work like this with Digital! ‘’
Love it.
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Obviously this is impossible on digital
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I thought we were best friends? Gheezz… And I learned all I know about B&W from you… so what does that say? Humm? Okay in all seriousness. You know I adore your work and enjoy your friendship. Love that you are doing this and love reading your replies. Great job Cole’. JB
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Thank you for your quick reply. I couldn’t agree with you more which, for the sake of the art of Photography, is a crying shame. Half a century ago when I was in my late early twenties, people went to school to learn the art and they could make a living at it. Nowadays, anyone with a smartphone is a photographer and sometimes even a good one. Like you, I made my money elsewhere and I can now enjoy the hobby without wearing a financial collar.
Take care and stay healthy.
-Hans
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Hi Cole - do you do your own printing or outsource it? If you print, talk about that process…if you outsource, who do you use?
You set me up!
I wonder when we will know if we can do workshops next year?
Cole
970-218-9649
“Dictation by Cole, Mistakes by Siri!”
| John Barclay
23 June |
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Cole_Thompson:
…s I’d have to say that my favorite workshop companion is the only person I’ve done a workshop with: John Barclay!He’s a bit of a “dandy“ and doesn’t know ANYTHING about Black and White, but he’s really tall.P. S. By now you’ve probably guessed that John and I are friends, well maybe not friends but certainly acquaintances. Hmmm, perhaps acquaintances is stretching it a bit but we do know each other!
I thought we were best friends? Gheezz… And I learned all I know about B&W from you… so what does that say? Humm? Okay in all seriousness. You know I adore your work and enjoy your friendship. Love that you are doing this and love reading your replies. Great job Cole’. JB
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Gosh I hope our Death Valley gigs will fly! They NEED TO!!!
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Hi Cole - Thanks for offering your inspiration and tips to us! I have a quick question: What is your preferred way of dealing with noise reduction? Thanks! Jacki
I do still practice Photographic Celibacy!
I’ve been practicing it for about 10-12 years now.
I never thought I’d be doing it this long, but it still serves me well.
I am still prone to copying others ideas or styles, sometimes consciously and often subconsciously. My goal is to create “honest” work. I want the idea to be mine, the Vision to be mine, the images to be mine. And so I forgo looking at other’s work.
A Story: a couple of years ago one of my images appeared in a book entitled “Why Photographs Work” by George Barr.
Upon receiving a copy of the book, I flipped through the pages looking for mine but got sidetracked when I saw an image named “Three Crosses” by Brian Kosoff.
I just fell in love with this image and bought a print of it from Brian.
And then, for the next several weeks, I found myself driving around looking for telephone poles that I could photograph similar to Brian‘s. I’d catch myself, chastise myself and then go on determined not to do it again.
But it wasn’t long until I found myself doing it again.
I guess I’m just naturally an imitator. If it isn’t imitating the image, it might be imitating the look or a style. Sometimes it’s consciously and sometimes it’s subconsciously.
So Photographic Celibacy is still useful in helping me fight this tendency.
When people hear about this practice, most think I’m crazy. Some understand what I’m trying to do, but still think I’m crazy. Only a few have told me that they’ve tried it, and all have said they found the practice useful.
Some ask: how can you give up the pleasure of looking at great photography?
My answer is simple: I want to find and follow my Vision more than I want to look at someone else’s work.
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Hi Jacki, noise is sometimes a problem for me because I’m often shooting very long exposures (up to eight minutes) and under exposing. This can create a very noisy image!
So what do I do?
Sometimes I use Photoshops noise reduction, and sometimes I’ll overlay grain noise over the image to mask and make it uniform.
But I don’t worry about it a whole lot unless it’s distracting. Many of my images are imperfect in some way: out of focus, noisy, some subject movement…but that doesn’t necessarily ruin the image.
For example, take the Angel Gabriel:
Technically, not such a great image. But I don’t think that if the image had been sharper or the subject hadn’t moved, it would’ve made the image any better.
So my goal is not technical perfection, but rather an effective image.
Many of my images have a lot of noise:
I think technical perfection is often overrated. I think we should put more of our emphasis on Vision and creativity.
I know this statement will be viewed by some technophiles as heresy! I get it, because for many years I was one of them.
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Hey Michael! How’s it going?
I do my own printing. I feel that is essential for the image to be exactly how I want it.
My printing is as simple as my post processing: I use a Canon printer, I print straight from PhotoShop, I typically use Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 and I use a generic paper profile.
I keep everything as simple as I can.
Like with my post processing, I have plenty of critics telling me I should do this or not do that. But until someone can point out a specific problem with one of my images or prints, that would be solved by a change in procedure, I’m sticking with what works work me.
KISS
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I love that phrase: wearing a financial collar…
Thank you Alain!
I am proud to be an amateur.
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Leon, I can’t answer that question for you, I can only answer it for myself.
I’ve decided, for me and where I’m at, that I want to create “honest work.”
Here’s a blog article I wrote about “Creating Honest Work.”
https://colethompsonphotography.com/2018/02/15/creating-honest-work/