I know I've been rambling on quite a bit lately about how to find an audience and get some artistic criticism, but I think I've failed to pay proper homage to the importance of having a supportive group of family and friends. I think I would have given up on the idea that my work might be enjoyable to anyone but me many times over were it not for the encouragement I've received from my amazing family and friends. For instance, my Uncle Steve recommended that I start this blog. And now, thanks to my fabulous grandmother, I am pleased to report that I've been invited by her friend Jolene DeLisa to contribute a photo collage for a 2013 charity calendar revolving around the theme of peace.
Please indulge me as I depart, for a moment, from the theme of photography in order to give you a bit of background information on the Great Peace March, which is the inspiration for the calendar. In 1986, approximately 1,200 gathered in Los Angeles, California with the intention of marching to Washington, D.C. to demonstrate their commitment to and passion about nuclear disarmament. In the face of substantial adversity, a core of between 300 and 400 of the original marchers, in addition to several hundred more who joined along the way, arrived in D.C. in November of 1986. My grandmother, Connie Fledderjohann, was among the core of marchers who made the full trip; she has co-authored a book about the Great Peace March (yes, she is THAT awesome), and her friend Jolene from the march, as part of her continuing commitment to peace, has decided to make a calendar for charity centered on the the theme of peace. She is seeking artists from around the world, and hoping that the theme of peace will relate to the artist's specific cultural context. The calendar is called The World at Peace, and it will be available for purchase on Amazon.
I'm excited to be a part of the project, and I'm looking forward to learning some new editing techniques in the process. I've never made a photo collage in GIMP before, so you can bet I'll be posting what I learn soon!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Flickring
Well, it's finally happened. I gave in and joined Flickr. It's not as though I was opposed to Flickr before--I was just thoroughly disinterested. My understanding of Flickr was that it was simply a place to upload your favorite vacation pictures and share them with your friends. And, hey, I already have Facebook for that, right? Turns out, though, I underestimated Flickr. I'll try my best not to be too cheesy here, but now that I've entered the wonderful world of Flickr, it strikes as more of a community of people who are passionate about photography. Sure, there are people who just use it to upload pictures of their babies for their families. Don't get me wrong--that's great. But it's also full of people who take beautiful photos, who appreciate beautiful photos, and who are looking for opportunities for artistic growth.
Now, I'll admit, getting started on Flickr was a frustrating process. For one thing, the terminology is a little different from what I'm accustomed to. A gallery, for instance, is not a collection of your own work. An album of your own work is referred to as a set. After a little fiddling around and holding my head in confusion, I managed to figure these things out. I also discovered the joy of groups. There are groups for just about every photograph interest under the sun on Flickr, and they seem to be a good way to find an audience of people who are interested in your subject. Some of these groups allow you to display your work, no strings attached; others are centered on an award process, where you upload your photo, and then vote for other photos in the group that you feel deserve some recognition. Awarding other photos involves copying and pasting html code, however, and some groups are a little better at explaining this than others, so this was another point of confusion at first. Luckily, it seems that all groups follow the same format, with the award code pasted at the bottom of the group homepage, so it's just a matter of copying this code and pasting it into the comments section on the photograph.
Thankfully, I've made it through the frustration of learning a new site, and I think I've got the hang of it now. So far I've received a lot of positive feedback on my photos, been discovered by some new followers, and seen a lot of beautiful photography. I'm enjoying seeing everyone's work--it's a great exercise in thinking about what makes a photograph compelling, and what makes for an unremarkable photo. All in all, I'd call operation Flickr a success. If you're on Flickr, I'd love to have you as a contact. Please consider adding me!
And, for good measure, a few of the photos that I've happily received some feedback on:
Now, I'll admit, getting started on Flickr was a frustrating process. For one thing, the terminology is a little different from what I'm accustomed to. A gallery, for instance, is not a collection of your own work. An album of your own work is referred to as a set. After a little fiddling around and holding my head in confusion, I managed to figure these things out. I also discovered the joy of groups. There are groups for just about every photograph interest under the sun on Flickr, and they seem to be a good way to find an audience of people who are interested in your subject. Some of these groups allow you to display your work, no strings attached; others are centered on an award process, where you upload your photo, and then vote for other photos in the group that you feel deserve some recognition. Awarding other photos involves copying and pasting html code, however, and some groups are a little better at explaining this than others, so this was another point of confusion at first. Luckily, it seems that all groups follow the same format, with the award code pasted at the bottom of the group homepage, so it's just a matter of copying this code and pasting it into the comments section on the photograph.
Thankfully, I've made it through the frustration of learning a new site, and I think I've got the hang of it now. So far I've received a lot of positive feedback on my photos, been discovered by some new followers, and seen a lot of beautiful photography. I'm enjoying seeing everyone's work--it's a great exercise in thinking about what makes a photograph compelling, and what makes for an unremarkable photo. All in all, I'd call operation Flickr a success. If you're on Flickr, I'd love to have you as a contact. Please consider adding me!
And, for good measure, a few of the photos that I've happily received some feedback on:
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Facebook Friendzy
Lately I've been thinking a lot about what makes someone a great photographer. Is it enough to shoot well-composed photographs? To carefully and thoughtfully edit your photographs? What role does having an audience play in making/shaping the photographer? Personally, I think that anyone who has the drive to get out there with the camera and work to improve his/her craft is a photographer. But, a great photographer? How do you hone your skills, master your craft, to the point that you become "great"?
I would argue that audience has a lot to do with it. Getting constructive feedback, thinking about the implications for your work, and refining your approach are all, I believe, important steps in the process of artistic growth. So, I return to a question that has been plaguing me for awhile: how do you find an audience for your work? It seems easy enough, right? There's plenty of advice to be found online, of course. In a previous post, for example, I talked about an article which suggested selling photographs on stock photography websites. After about two months of that, I decided that it just isn't for me--I didn't sell any work, I wasn't getting any feedback, and I have my doubts that anyone bothers to read the credits on a stock photo. In another post, I discussed the possibility of entering photography contests as a means of self-promotion. While this strikes me as a more promising avenue than stock photography (I'm at least getting some ratings on my photographs, even though I haven't received any comments yet), getting your work out and getting feedback obviously involves a lot more than just entering a few photography contests and selling some stock photos (if you're lucky).
So, with that in mind, I've decided to give Facebook a try. My grandmother, who does macro floral photography, suggested that we start up a joint venture, and Fledderbug Photography was born. So far we have 18 followers, and I'm hoping for more every day. We've both been uploading photos to the site. Please stop by and have a look! Of course, if you're inclined to like the page, your support and feedback are greatly appreciated!
And, lest I be accused of writing a photography blog devoid of photographs, here's a small sampling of the photographs I've uploaded so far. More to come!
I would argue that audience has a lot to do with it. Getting constructive feedback, thinking about the implications for your work, and refining your approach are all, I believe, important steps in the process of artistic growth. So, I return to a question that has been plaguing me for awhile: how do you find an audience for your work? It seems easy enough, right? There's plenty of advice to be found online, of course. In a previous post, for example, I talked about an article which suggested selling photographs on stock photography websites. After about two months of that, I decided that it just isn't for me--I didn't sell any work, I wasn't getting any feedback, and I have my doubts that anyone bothers to read the credits on a stock photo. In another post, I discussed the possibility of entering photography contests as a means of self-promotion. While this strikes me as a more promising avenue than stock photography (I'm at least getting some ratings on my photographs, even though I haven't received any comments yet), getting your work out and getting feedback obviously involves a lot more than just entering a few photography contests and selling some stock photos (if you're lucky).
So, with that in mind, I've decided to give Facebook a try. My grandmother, who does macro floral photography, suggested that we start up a joint venture, and Fledderbug Photography was born. So far we have 18 followers, and I'm hoping for more every day. We've both been uploading photos to the site. Please stop by and have a look! Of course, if you're inclined to like the page, your support and feedback are greatly appreciated!
And, lest I be accused of writing a photography blog devoid of photographs, here's a small sampling of the photographs I've uploaded so far. More to come!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Delightfully Desaturated
In an effort to get the most out of my remaining days of my free trial with Adobe's Lightroom, I've started randomly experimenting with settings just to see what kinds of whacky things I can create. Of course, most of what I accomplish involves making some previously fine photos really, really ugly. Every once in awhile, though, I stumble across something that really works. I present Exhibit A:
Original:
Experiment:
And now to share my secret: desaturation. Ok, I may have given that one away a little with the title of this post. There are other, much more complicated ways to accomplish this look once you've mastered the art of using selection tools, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover this handy little short cut. So, the key is to pick a photo where the colors in the subject share no common elements with the items in the background--otherwise, you end up with a fully saturated subject, and a few random streaks of color in the background. In the "Develop Room", scroll down the toolbar on the right until you hit the "HSL/Color/ B&W" section. You can click on individual colors (displayed in boxes below the heading, above the sliding bars), then desaturate individual colors one-by-one by sliding the saturation bar all the way to the left. Just don't desaturate the colors featured in your subject. Voila! Quick and painless, huh?
I liked this particular technique so much that I went a little crazy with it. As I said, it doesn't really work if the colors in your subject appear in the background, too--but it was fun playing with the saturation on a variety of photos and seeing some of the surprising successes. I've shared two of my favorites below.
Original:
Experiment:
Original:
Experiment:
Original:
Experiment:
And now to share my secret: desaturation. Ok, I may have given that one away a little with the title of this post. There are other, much more complicated ways to accomplish this look once you've mastered the art of using selection tools, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover this handy little short cut. So, the key is to pick a photo where the colors in the subject share no common elements with the items in the background--otherwise, you end up with a fully saturated subject, and a few random streaks of color in the background. In the "Develop Room", scroll down the toolbar on the right until you hit the "HSL/Color/ B&W" section. You can click on individual colors (displayed in boxes below the heading, above the sliding bars), then desaturate individual colors one-by-one by sliding the saturation bar all the way to the left. Just don't desaturate the colors featured in your subject. Voila! Quick and painless, huh?
I liked this particular technique so much that I went a little crazy with it. As I said, it doesn't really work if the colors in your subject appear in the background, too--but it was fun playing with the saturation on a variety of photos and seeing some of the surprising successes. I've shared two of my favorites below.
Original:
Experiment:
Original:
Experiment:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)