Regaining Innocence

[chuasam]

I was browsing through my earlier work from 7 years ago and I found that there was a certain spontaneity and exploratory innocence to my work.

I did not have a budget so I had cheaper gear and made do with what I had. I didn't try to get everything sharp, I tried to capture the energy of the shoot.

As I progressed and went professional, I had no choice but to nail the technical shots, I had a budget to make things happen. But I lost that freshness of just shooting for the joy of finding out how it looks.

Glorious grain and motion blur. Goofy faces and pure joy.

Has anyone else experienced this too? For those starting out...I only have this to say: don't lose that wondrous joy and curiosity.

 

[jaomul]

I think this happens with everything in life. It's just progression. I remember putting my kid in about 6 places in a photograph in layers a few years back and thinking it was the best thing ever. Now that stuff wouldn't interest me. Maybe that's a good reason to try that technique again

 

[Derrel]

I dunno...my first shots were made decades ago and have been sort of neglegted for years and years, boxes of prints and negatives. I have not seen them in years, so I can't comment too much, but there was not much spontanaeity when shooting photos my first few years' worth pf photographs, long ago. I used a light meter, and scale focus (no rangefinder),and film was expensive, developing and printing expensive. I actually feel that digitial has made my work more-spontaneous, freer, than film-era work. Cameras too....aim and fire, camera does well focusing on its own, very fast. Metering is faster too.

 

[smoke665]

Some say they are fortunate that their life's work is doing what they enjoy. For me work was a means to an end, a way to earn enough that I could do what I enjoy in life. You're right there is a difference in shooting without the pressure of obligations.

 

[dennybeall]

From the time I was using a Speed Graphic 4X5 to shoot yearbook photos until I left for the service I had free Tri-X and developing courtesy of the Washington Daily News. Shooting almost exclusively photojournalism and insurance photos then and after returning from the military, so I was a "get the shot!!" guy and still am.

 

[weepete]

I was browsing through my earlier work from 7 years ago and I found that there was a certain spontaneity and exploratory innocence to my work.

I did not have a budget so I had cheaper gear and made do with what I had. I didn't try to get everything sharp, I tried to capture the energy of the shoot.

As I progressed and went professional, I had no choice but to nail the technical shots, I had a budget to make things happen. But I lost that freshness of just shooting for the joy of finding out how it looks.

Glorious grain and motion blur. Goofy faces and pure joy.

Has anyone else experienced this too? For those starting out...I only have this to say: don't lose that wondrous joy and curiosity.

I believe Picasso also had this issue.

On a more serious note though, I've never really looked back with that kind of nostalgia. I have a lot on my hard drive of should've beans and wasn't weres, nowadays I enjoy being able to actually express what is in my head better than I've ever done before. What I show is close to what I see, so expressing that in a visual medium I find great.

A wee story is that I was on a day trip with the family. Showed them some of my shots of Scotland and they were taken back that this was the country we lived in. Now I'm not anywhere near as good as one of my photographic heros (Colin Prior: and BTW I can not speak highly enough of this man) But one of the things he does is show the landscape in situations that people don't know about or take notice of. I've been in similar situations and not been able to capture it BUT Colin (for example) underpinns his being out in fantastic conditions with a solid knowledge of the foundations of photography. So not only are his images good, but pin sharp, front to back showing our country in a way that very few see and is simply stunning. That technical understanding of how to create a tack sharp gloriously rendered shot that really comes to life, shows people who live there the beauty of the place is a combination between technicality and showing stuff how you see it.

So to sum up, it's the vision to me that matters. Use your technical knowledge to produce the the shot you've envisioned.