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Continued Artist-Education- What are YOU doing?
I have not had a formal education in the arts or photography, I am self-taught. Photography since I was a child, read books, worked in a photolab in my youth (starting at age 15 to almost 18), shot for a German photo/press agency in my late teens and early twenties. Later on in life, including in the past few years, I studied painting, drawing, lighting for photography and watch youtube lectures on photography, as well as art history, impressionism and biographies of painters and photographers. I watch documentaries, e.g. Nat Geo (or Discovery Channel) on the science of beauty, human behavior etc. I constantly am trying to understand art better and the psychology behind art making and human perception. Most recently, I think it was two days ago, I downloaded from the documentary channel "Cracking The Colour Code": "An unprecedented global journey to explore the frontiers of how we view colour, make colour and use the power of colour to communicate meaning. Colour is a fundamental part of our world. Landscapes, animals, fashion, painting, movies, food – everything around us resonates with the language of colour. All our waking lives – and even in our dreams – we navigate our way through a world of colour. Yet, whoever we are, colour has the power to stop us in our tracks – and to make us wonder." What do YOU do to further your skill and knowledge as an artist? Please share! Oct 06 12 10:42 am Link I used to study and keep up with trends but I realized a few things: 1. The exercise is ultimately futile due to the flux of society's tastes. In other words, receiving recognition is more a matter of luck than hard work. 2. Little value is placed on fundamental knowledge. 3. The process started to influence my own work. I do try to stay current with technique. I suppose that counts. Oct 06 12 10:50 am Link I don't do any of that stuff I honestly just experience and hope for the best LMAO Oct 06 12 11:05 am Link William Kious wrote: Exactly! Oct 06 12 11:06 am Link I assist and intern whenever possible. I learn a lot by working with those further along than myself. Oct 06 12 11:19 am Link Photography is a technical art. Once you have a reasonable understanding of the technical fundamentals you may experiment with the artistic side. Sure, you can learn the technical fundamentals in a formal (classroom) setting but then you can also learn the technical fundamentals of riding a bicycle in a classroom. The real ‘classroom’ for photography, and bicycle riding, is in practical application. It is common knowledge that you don't know how to ride a bicycle until you have fallen off - same with photography Just as with almost all other technical arts photography is perpetually evolving. The trick is to make enough time to keep up with the advancements in the technical fundamentals. The best way to do this is to communicate with your peers; talk/read, watch, experiment, learn. Oct 06 12 11:34 am Link JoJo wrote: I am not sure if I am clear about my quest for knowledge... it goes way beyond the merely technical aspect. Oct 06 12 11:41 am Link udor wrote: I'm in the process of filling out an application for another Masters program (studio art this time). As a NYC art teacher, I need to keep my subject area knowledge and skills sharp. All my graduate study so far has been in Education so it'll be nice to go back to the studio, which I haven't done since my BFA program - 20 years ago. Oct 06 12 11:47 am Link Blaneyphoto wrote: NICE! Oct 06 12 01:44 pm Link JoJo wrote: udor wrote: Many people learn the basics, go out and shoot and wonder why they never improve/grow/prosper. Oct 06 12 01:54 pm Link I'm in art school, for photography. Oct 06 12 01:56 pm Link JoJo wrote: Apples and oranges. Oct 06 12 01:58 pm Link udor wrote: Blaneyphoto wrote: And this continued quest for 'more' is what I think udor is referring to. Oct 06 12 02:06 pm Link In addition to running a full time studio and problem solving all day, I teach. I have been teaching for the past 20 years and find that student questions reveal the gaps in my knowledge about both the technical aspects of photography and the aesthetic side. A simple question about where ideas come from or why certain compositions work better than others can lead to great insight. “He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.” ― St. Francis of Assisi Oct 06 12 02:08 pm Link JoJo wrote: Yes! Oct 06 12 02:13 pm Link Pat Berrett wrote: "Better the illusions tat exhalt us than ten-thousand truths." Oct 06 12 02:14 pm Link Alabaster Crowley wrote: Excellent! Keep on with the quest. JoJo wrote: Alabaster Crowley wrote: I think you are taking an oversimplified view of my statement. Oct 06 12 02:56 pm Link JoJo wrote: It's such a challenge at times, but I feel SO good when I finish a project and do well on it. My school is amazing too, because it's so well rounded. I'm learning so many different forms of art. JoJo wrote: Do you mean "called upon" like an assignment for a job, or like you "hear the calling" from art, in a more intangible way? Oct 06 12 03:00 pm Link Alabaster Crowley wrote: Let's get all biblical for a moment... Oct 06 12 03:10 pm Link I repeatedly try and work on ideas and concepts that are beyond my capabilities. Sure they usually fail or don't exactly turn out like I planned, but I'm always learning that way. I also do this with the tech side all the time. I experimented with fluorescent lights for a bit and wondered why my slides had a green tinge to them. When it dawned on me I dumped those lights. Also, trashing an entire roll of 16mm film due to threading it badly taught me a lesson I will never forget. I also had an entire shoot ruined by weird flash sync problems on an old camera. Took me, oh, 3 months to work out what the hell had happened with that one The pits for me is actually a photo/film shoot that turns out exactly like I expected. I learn nothing. Oct 06 12 03:35 pm Link The main thing that I do to continue my education is to shoot - to not be "afraid to take bad pictures" to experiment I had the good fortune to grow up with manual cameras with no meters - to learn the "sunny16" and how to use the zone system - there was no "P for professional" mode - you learned about DOF control, the effects of aperture and shuttter speed choices you learned solid composition back then - not just the use of leading or trailing lines, but how to isolate your subject, how to apply the golden ratios to differing compositions You exposed your film based on the zone system and "edited" your images in the darkroom - I shot photojournalism and documentary photography plus landscape and portraiture with manual cameras up to the 8x10 since the 60s. So this was a good foundation but it did not prepare me for the different ways that CCD and CMOS chips "see" the world, as I could with all of my favorite emulsions. And it did not prepare me for something that I had never ventured into - studio based work. Taking on studio based work in April of 2011 was a part of my "continuing education" and I found out quickly both how fortunate I was to have a solid technical foundation *and* how much I had to learn in this milieu. Some of my early "work" in studio was pretty bad. Not sure how good it is now but it's not putrid lol. So yes, for me continuing education is hands on - shooting new things with new equipment, new techniques. Avoiding becoming a one or two or three trick pony. Almost fifty years of shooting and I still love it - because I've never let myself stagnate.... My only wish for the newer generations of photographers would be to spend a year with a manual camera, a 50mm f1.4 lens and a single emulsion, and learn the technical side of photography. It would be amazing to see what some of the very artistic but not terribly technically competent could achieve if they new the rules and new when and how to break them to advantage.... Oct 06 12 03:47 pm Link udor wrote: edit upfront because my reply is all over the place...I 'get' passion for creativity and expression from within to out. Oct 06 12 08:30 pm Link JoJo wrote: +1 Oct 06 12 08:40 pm Link I believe that there are two aspects to making photographic images: The technical aspect, and The aesthetic aspect. The technical aspect is easy to learn, from books, tutorials, practice, classes, etc. In fact, it's so easy that I won't spend any more time on the subject. The aesthetic aspect is far more important. After all, I'd rather look at an interesting photograph (of modest technical quality) than a technically perfect but boring photograph. It is, however, more difficult to further your aesthetic abilities. Some ideas: ... Find a mentor; review your work on a regular basis. Some classes and workshops can be great, too, provided that the teacher is a good one. ... Devote 10% to 25% (or more) of your exposures to working outside your comfort zone. Never be satisfied by past successes. ... Once a month, I visit all the art galleries in walking distance (and there are dozens). ... I find it occasionally useful to get together a small number of photographers and models, go to an interesting location, and work together. A lot can be learned by observing how other photographers work. Not only will you see some ideas that you might want to try, you'll also see techniques that you might want to avoid. ... Force yourself to photograph that which you are afraid to photograph. ... Get a cheap camera that is easy to hold & use. Set it on full "automatic", and photograph your life as you live it. Create snapshots & don't worry about the technical aspects of your pictures. Do what you can when photoediting, sure, but don't punish yourself if the images are blurry. Embrace the blur. ... Change perspectives: lie on the ground; climb a ladder, photograph your subject from behind, etc. Step really close. Step really far away. ... Play with different compositions -- move your subject matter away from the center of the image. ... I tend to analyze every image I see, including my own: o How was the image lit? o Does the image work? o How would I improve the image? o What was communicated to the model? o How did the photographer get that reaction from the model? o etc. ... I give myself "assignments". For example, here's an assignment that I've tried often but have yet to do to my satisfaction: create a three image sequence that tells a story. ... If you find yourself repeating yourself, try a different photographic genre for a time. ... If you aren't failing often, you aren't trying hard enough. Remember your failures are more educational than your successes. Bottom line: keep busy, enjoy your successes, but don't be satisfied with success. Oct 07 12 08:16 am Link I started at the other end of the spectrum I started around when I was 16 in high school. I had a very good high school teacher who was friends with John Sexton. So I was exposed to the world of photography, when I hit college I majored in photography then later switched to photojournalism. I am poor at nature shots and landscapes. People have always been my strength. While still in college I started working full time for a daily newspaper. After working for newspapers for 20 years, I went into commercial and editorial work. I will attend an occasional workshop, I read, and keep up with trends but find myself being less inspire by western art and more by Japanese art. I am debating taking some video courses and maybe a couple of more Photo courses. Mainly just to expand the horizons a little. I seem to go through some melancholy were I need to push my limits. Oct 07 12 09:48 pm Link I am constantly looking at light and its effects on objects it touches. That's all I need dude. Oct 07 12 09:52 pm Link JoJo wrote: You seem to be implying that the only thing that the student gets in his/her education is some button-pushing mechanics that any primate could master… Oct 07 12 10:08 pm Link Looknsee Photography wrote: There is a third aspect to most photographic images (and, by extension, most art): the theory/meaning. Oct 07 12 10:20 pm Link Try to keep current of any new trends while not being overly influenced by them. I always enjoy art museums, galleries, coffee shops with artist's work and the like. Also, I try to check with the programming on Ovation often to see if they have any new shows on artists and masters in their fields. They seem to have more than Discovery or the Learning Channel, but I don't exclude them. I don't regret that I have years ago relocated to the "sticks", I'd never live in another city, but I do sorely miss the artistic offerings of large cities and always try to schedule time off to run around and find what's there when I'm working in such areas. Read a ship load of books and attempt to divert my own work away from what everyone else is doing. Experimentation, variance of technique, whatever I can to come up with something different. To me, art has always been "creative art". I learned long ago that studies are to inspire and motivate, not so much to imitate a style of the artist you are studying. Oct 07 12 10:45 pm Link Kincaid Blackwood wrote: Could not agree with this more. Oct 07 12 11:04 pm Link JoJo wrote: Kincaid Blackwood wrote: If you wish to go this route; then yes. Pat Berrett wrote: You can teach the basics to most people (and most primates) - they can replicate your teaching - this elevates them to "labourer" status. Oct 07 12 11:37 pm Link JoJo wrote: Bruce Lee for me said it best; "Learn the principle, abide by the principle, and dissolve the principle. In short, enter a mold without being caged in it. Obey the principle without being bound by it. LEARN, MASTER AND ACHIEVE!" Oct 08 12 03:10 am Link I teach, assist and also study at ICP (which is very close to you) and sometimes also take a class at SVA (also close to you). If you have iTunes theres a great series from SVA that you can watch on photography as well as other art history classes from good universities. Oct 08 12 08:20 am Link My journey to photography was backasswards. I went to college for marketing and gravitated more toward the creative end. Got my Marketing degree then went back to school for graphic design. It wasn't until I began to work with ad agencies that I really took an interest in photography. I'm self taught as well and read and read...everything. Magazine articles, books, online. And I live on NatGeo, Discovery and Smithsonian Channel. Over the past few years I probably spend more time learning than doing. Something I'm not proud of but a trap it's tough to get out of. To combat that, when I'm not working on a paid project, I try to create assignments for myself - design and photography. It at least fools my mind into thinking I'm being productive. Oct 08 12 08:31 am Link I value lateral thinking. How can you take the lessons you learn in life and apply them in your art? It gets to the stage where the question becomes, how can you not! That's not to say that I don't devour related information like it's going out of fashion, and there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not directly involved in my art in one way or another. But I'm an obsessive perfectionist insomniac, and have been my entire life Oct 10 12 06:07 am Link udor wrote: I agree that something formal, either a class or a good book, are necessary to learn the technical fundamentals. I have found that an occasional class or quality workshop are useful to exchange thoughts on my work along with that of the others in the session. The most important thing is to photograph regularly and have people give the images honest critique. Oct 10 12 07:24 am Link I'm an Art School drop-out. I graduated from the University of San Francisco and had a Fine Art minor. The Academy of Art College was too expensive on top of it. This guy explains it all well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgj5HMpxh3g I respect education in itself but education doesn't make a smart person smarter or an artful person more artful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2_dGkqYu6M As for what I do, I sing, I write, I *do*. Those Who Can’t Do, Teach I respect teachers too... Good ones. Oct 10 12 08:01 am Link I try to move out of my comfort zone on occasions. I try to emulate others to discover how I can make it my own. I try to remember that there is learning in everything - even when it's an epic fail. 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