Skip to main content

Interesting websites

I've asked fellow ephotoziners to send me some of their favourite websites and have ended up with quite a few that I'm going to review.

The sites that I review will tend to feature other photographers creative efforts rather than being about equipment. However, if you're interested in all things to do with Canon then you may find Christian Rollinger's website of interest. (Thanks Barry)

Prompted by a forum thread I've had a thought about the way photographers are often forced by the apparent inability of different audiences (public, curators, art directors) to accept that a creative image maker can be expert in more than one type of photograhy.

I hate the idea of being forced into a particular box as a portrait, landscape, reportage or some other classification photographer. The key questions are how can you express yourself best, how do you see the world, what do you want to show others?

I've also found that when you do have a favourite area and you go away and photograph something completely different you learn something new that can be applied to your original area.

If you dig deeper you'll find that the great photographers created an enormous variety of images. Ansel Adams known for his wonderful landscapes also photographed graffiti for example.

It's always commercial pressure ie marketing that drives creatives down the route of having to 'sell' themselves as experts in one or other field. To deal with this I use different portfolios for different areas.

Of course there are those photographers who really are just interested in expressing themselves in one particular area.

Feel free to email your views to me.

Paul Indigo

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Overcoming creative block and self doubt

Every photographer, for that matter every creative, I've ever met comes to a point when they're not happy with the work they're producing. The pendulum between creative highs and dry spells swings continuously. For some the cycle is long and the bouts are quite mild for others the feeling of doubt about their work can be a crushing experience which returns all to frequently. It's actually quite healthy to have these periods of doubt because it can often be the beginning of something new and interesting which takes you further than you thought possible. Creatives in the commercial world have to always perform and although they may agree looking back that they've had a few patches where their work was less good, they always seem to bounce back. A very few creative geniuses deliver such high quality work that their poorest attempts still surpass the rest of us. But I have never heard of anyone, from tortured soul of Van Gogh to the supreme showman and genius, Salvador ...

What You Photograph Reveals How You Think

  Photography is often described as a way of seeing. Less often do we talk about it as a way of thinking. What you choose to photograph, and just as importantly what you ignore, quietly mirrors how your mind works. Some photographers are drawn to faces, micro-expressions, emotional spikes. Others chase atmosphere, light, mood. Then there are those who gravitate towards structure, systems, order, the invisible logic holding a scene together. None of this is accidental. The camera becomes a sorting tool. It reveals what your brain prioritises. Where others see chaos, you might see alignment. Where some look for drama, you look for balance. Geometry, repetition, flow, layers, these aren’t just visual preferences, they’re cognitive ones. Strong graphic images tend to come from people who think spatially. Who notice how things relate before they notice what they mean. Lines before labels. Structure before story. And yet, the best images rarely stop there. They gain depth when human pres...

Is professional photography still a viable career?

I am not against amateurs and semi-professionals selling their photography. It's a great way to earn some extra cash. However I am concerned about the level of high quality published work and the standards that clients and the public accept these days. It seems that just about everyone is a photographer. The line between amateur enthusiast and professional is fuzzy to say the least. Photography enthusiasts are selling their images through stock libraries and microstock websites, directly to magazines or through their own and third party sites. They're accepting commissions to shoot weddings, being hired to shoot for magazines and selling fine art prints from their websites. They're teaching photography on the weekend and guiding photographic holidays and safaris. Photography became accessible to the masses with the first non-expert cameras and the famous Kodak slogan"You press the button, we do the rest." The digital camera age has taken the whole thing to a ne...