Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart

The title is an old European witticism, a Dutch one I believe, but no matter it is true, true enough at least, as it relates to my career as a photojournalist.From the beginning, I was captured by the lives of those often referred to, as the concerned photographers and by many of their early contemporaries. I had visions of becoming a social documentarian and scouring the world in search of meaningful images,that would speak to the masses and the leaders of that world.I did not see wealth and fame,at least not while I was alive,at any rate, but I did see purpose and dedication and a degree of self satisfaction. Alas,reality intervened, in the form of a wife and later a son,both now long gone and somehow I took a less fulfilling, but more profitable, road. I still worked as a photojournalist, but never a renowned chronicler of my times. Not even as an unknown one for that matter. I covered elections and sports and the occasional riot, or visiting Royalty. But I never did get around to social change. Not, mind you, that I regret my choices or my career path,both were rewarding,if not quite what I had envisioned. Nevertheless,as I am now,once again,faced with the task of rebuilding my career, something I have encountered before,courtesy of adversity,divorces and catastrophic economic town turns,I am drawn back to my beginnings.

I am older now,much older and I am seeing with the eyes of one I would never have recognized all those years ago. A man who has witnessed his chosen field morph into something akin to a fantasy world,where photography has become so dependent upon computer sciences that it bares little resemblance to what I embraced so passionately, so many decades ago. Personally,I think it tragic and wasteful,but it is what it is and I must find a way to come to grips with this new beast. And so it is, that I am once again drawn to social documentation. This time, however, I am not dreaming of changing the world,only my little corner of it. This time around,I can see clearly,what I could not see at all before, that change happens in tiny increments, that together form a greater good So, I will look no further than around the corner for my inspiration and my subjects. Oh they could, eventually, take me the world over, but they may also just take me next door and that is alright. There are so many things to see and expose in this world,that do not command the world stage,but that matter to that world and more importantly to the people involved. Will this new vision make me riches,no, but it will make me an instrument of change and change is good.

Driven to Shoot

Looking back over the 40 odd years of my career,I have come to the realization that I have always been driven to photograph. A friend once commented that photography was not what I did,but rather it was who I was. In a multitude of ways they were correct in that analysis. My grandfather was a photographer and from an early stage in our relationship,I can remember being fascinated by his darkroom. Later,as I accompanied him on various assignments and outings,I became fascinated with the whole idea of photography. Later still,I worked with him and began what would become my life's obsession.He trained me on the view camera and for many years he held a disdain for anything smaller than a 5x4 camera. These lesser contraptions were for the amateur,the hobbyist whose use for a camera was to record family events and vacations. Although his attitudes would eventually evolve to acceptance of the 21/4 X 21/4 format,Pop was never comfortable with the 35mm for professional work. His attitudes and meticulous attention to craftsmanship and quality stayed with me as I ventured out on my own and stood me in good stead, even when I embraced the 35mm format. I brought the same attention to detail and composition to that small format,that I had with the larger view cameras and it has always rewarded me.Pop always insisted that you had to use the film to capture exactly what you wanted and not just have it in there somewhere and get it out in the darkroom. He also made me very aware of the concept of capturing the image with a single shot,or two, at the most,the second for backup,because that was all you had time for with film holders. That discipline,that mantra of not wasting time or film came with me to the 35mm and has never left.I have never been an advocate of the shotgun school of photography,"shoot enough film and you are bound to get what you need",RUBBISH!!! That mentality is for amateurs and fools. Photography is a craft and it's true practitioners are craftsmen,not tradesmen. As such,the craftsman must know and understand not only his craft,but also how his craft is to be used by others. If it is to be reproduced,how will that be accomplished and what must he do to best facilitate the optimum results. One does not simply capture an image and move on.

One of the many things that disturb me when I hear people touting the benefits of digital capture is this concept of shotgun shooting approaches. Statements such as,I can shoot so much more now and sort it all out later,or I can get sooooo many more images on a flash card and if I don't like them I just delete them and shoot again,do not bring me any feelings of improvement over film,but rather ones of dismay at the implied lack of professionalism and craftsmanship.Likewise the idea that you can fix it in the computer later if it isn't quite right,reeks of amateurish disregard for quality,composition,exposure and craft. The idea behind being a "professional photographer" for me, has always been my ability to produce what the client requires,when they require it and with as little out of the camera work as possible. Yes, we always had to have film processed and such,but the point behind it all was that we saw, in the viewfinder and captured on the film,in as few frames or sheets as was prudent,what our client wanted to see. If all a professional did that an amateur did not,was to shoot a horrific amount of film in hopes of achieving a winning image,then why hire one in the first place? For God's sake even a blind squirrel will eventually find a nut! Surely as professionals we must expect more of ourselves than that.

Life Beyond the Camera :Part Two

My horses have become a large part of my life now. Although I have been around horses most of my life, I have not, until recently, been able to own and breed them as a part of my everyday life. Since leaving the city for life beyond the "big smoke" I can now do that. For the moment,my herd consists of a Belgian mare,two geldings,one a Canadian,the other a Clydesdale and Mats,a registered Quarter Horse stallion. It is with Mats that I am finding my greatest pleasures,as he is a true cow pony and a willing accomplice in my rodeo ambitions. Not that we are likely to win any overall championships or gold buckles,but we are competing in team penning with an eye on doing some hazing or perhaps even roping.I grew up emulating cowboys of the old west and now I guess I have my chance to live a tiny piece of that heritage. Mats on the other hand,just loves pushing cows.

The cowboy and his history and the live style holds a lot of value for anyone willing to step back from todays over paced and frenetic world and settle on a more pragmatic way of seeing things. Theirs was and to some extent is a simpler world based on simple truths and hard work. It is a simpler set of values and they are based more on what a man does,than on who he is or was,his skin colour or his native tongue. Not that cowboys were saints,they were not,there were good and bad,bigots,racists and villans,but in general they were accepting of anyone who pulled their weight and did their appointed tasks with skill and diligence. Over all, that isn't a bad way to look at or live your life. I guess I've spent more than my fair share of time,in "cowboy country". Taos NM is like a second home to me and I have traveled the highways,byways and back roads of New Mexico,Arizona,Texas,Montana,Wyoming,Alberta and BC,in search of parts unknown and western adventures. Tales of the wild west and the frontier have fascinated my imagination, from the fur traders and the mountain men to the cattle barons and the gunfighters. Whether it was Clay Allison,William Bonney or Wyatt Earp,I knew their stories and followed their steps through history as best one can in today's hustling world. Much of what they saw and lived is gone now,the buffalo herds,the beaver,the tribes of free roaming Indians and the vast herds of cattle headed for the railheads and the eastern cities. The frontiers are settled and the wild rivers tamed,but the cowboy is still here,still pushing cattle across not so open ranges and still living by many of the same codes and rules as they did in their heyday.Todays working cowboy is likely to be university educated and gets to work in a pick up truck,but he still works cattle from the back of a horse and he still takes better care of his gear than he does of himself. Cowboys heal up,broken gear stays broke!There are more than a few today who could do worse than work harder than they play,speak only when they have something to say and expect to be treated as they treat others.

Life Beyond the Camera

So,after almost two years of forgetting about my Blog,I return to it. A lot has happened in those two years and still much has remained the same. Anna is still a huge part of my life and the most inspiring reason to carry on. I have become more involved with my horses and somewhat less with my photography and yet the driving force in my life is still the creation of imagery. Now however,I find it is imagery that is relevant to me,rather than clients, that motivates me. In the two years since I started this blog,I have undergone eye surgeries to both save and enhance my vision,while finding myself falling further and further away from my old client base and the photography that drove me for so many years. Today,as I look at the world of image creation,I see,not the traditional life of a photojournalist before me,but perhaps more that of a social documentarian. With the onslaught of digital capture and the need to be more of a computer tech than a craftsman,the markets for old style photography and photojournalism are rapidly changing and diminishing. Most clients no longer want to deal with film and want everything yesterday,despite the reality that most of them do not need it anywhere near that quickly. A magazine,with a six month lead time,has no need of images yesterday. Nevertheless,they want them,because they can have them and that is the reality of the world today.Unfortunately,they do not wish to pay either as quickly,or as well as such speed of delivery deserves. Still, we as photographers have only ourselves to blame for that situation and we may as well rail at the wind as hope to change it now. All of which,has lead me to search for other outlets for my work.

To document the human condition has been a calling for photography since it's earliest days,however,that calling has,in the past,relied on the photo essay and the pages of books for it's expression but, both those mediums may soon be gone replaced perhaps by the web,or some new communicator. Noble as it may be, recording the human condition has never attracted large sums of money for it's recorders and today is no exception. Still, it resonates within a few in society, who still see the relevance and feel the hope,or the hope for change that it can bring. Perhaps,I am just old enough to remember the great documentaries of the 30's and the intervening years and still young enough to feel the inspiration they could invoke. Regardless, I still believe there is a place for such work and not only in the dark places of this world but in the bright ones as well. The human condition is not merely turmoil and strife,agony and angst. There are a host of bright moments in every life and they are equally as inspiring and revealing.

There are other avenues,from stock imagery to prepackaged essays,ready to deliver at a moments notice,but exempt from the dark shadow of WFH and copyright demands and there is,that bastion of the left,Fine Art. The latter comprising large amounts of the nude and the avant garde amidst the landscapes and the nature and the work of many of the Old Masters of photography. All have a single common denominator,they do not demand digital capture. Digital printing or delivery,perhaps but film is still more than accepted as the medium of choice. I have no idea where my search will lead me,but I do know that I can no more forsake my photography than I can forgo breathing. Photography is not what I do,it is who I am and where it will take me is who I will become.

A lifetime of photography with no images?

With the onslaught of digital capture and its inherent storage problems, a thought recently crossed my mind that may be a look into the future of our industry. More and more today I hear of the horrors of trying to file digital images and of the growing trend towards photography and especially digital photography becoming a disposable commodity. Lately, in discussions with a member of the art department of a major retailer, the subject of image storage came up and the response from the client staggered me. Their position was that as long as the edited image was available to them until after the ad had run, they could care less about it after that! Since they would have hard copies of the completed ad for reference and since the shot was never likely to be reused, they had no interest in it being archived. This attitude was not only directed towards their advertisements, but also towards all of their POP and catalogue images. Now if one looks to other outlets, this idea holds true almost across the board. Almost any type of reproduced image is disposable as far as the client is concerned. Once it is printed/published, they have a permanent record and generally speaking, no further use for the image itself.

If you consider various market trends outside of photography, the move is towards a disposable product. For example, milk has not been delivered in glass containers for decades; even the one gallon/4litre plastic jugs are a thing of the past. More and more, packaging is intended to be disposed of after use and that packaging is becoming more and more utilitarian in many cases. Throughout our society, products are more often than not intended to have a very limited lifespan. From the automobiles we drive to the homes we live in things are not intended to last forever any longer. When I started in photography in the 1960’s, a photographer’s life’s work was always treated as if it would supercede their tenure on this earth. Hence, from wedding photographers to leading photojournalists and social documentarians, their collective work was stored and managed for posterity. Is this still the case today? If as appears to be the attitude of at least some buyers, the images have no use after printing and if the current trend towards WFH continues to grow, why is storage even a concern? Stock photographers may be an exception, but beyond them, is there really any need to store images beyond say 12 months and if you do, is there any need to store anything beyond a few “finished “ images from any particular shoot? Are we becoming a profession without any tangible record of our efforts beyond what has been reproduced?

Personally, I still shoot only film and actually enjoy working in conventional darkrooms. However, I am definitely an exception and a very small market for producers, hence the exodus from the manufacture of traditional photographic products, by almost all of the major manufacturers. Am I and those like me, going to be the last photographers to leave behind a legacy, in the form of actual images and prints, documenting their time in this life and profession? Is this great debate over hard drives vs. DVD storage, merely a stage in the transition to the disposable image? Is it possible that as future generations of photographers emerge, the concept of documenting a life in photography with their images will be a foreign one? We know that film, properly stored and prints properly processed will last at least 100 years. To date, digital images appear to last only as long as your storage medium. If the hard drive crashes, so does your image collection and perhaps you will be able to recover it. Does this therefore, become a selling point for not bothering to store images beyond their immediate use? As buyers continue to stress that the image is inconsequential beyond the end use and continue to push towards ownership of all commissioned works, it becomes more and more sensible to them that the image need not be available forever. Also, as this attitude becomes more prevalent, buyers will see the advantages of not using high cost professional image makers for any of their every day needs. The retailer I mentioned earlier in this piece, no longer uses professionals for their web or catalogue images. They hired a local retailer to set up a simple studio and purchased a mid range digital SLR and the lighting needed to shoot their own material. Now an art department employee does all that shooting and if it doesn’t turn out, they simply erase and shoot again. The learning curve is not that steep and even a blind squirrel will find a nut.

I for one do not want to see a world where few if any photographers preserve their work, even the most mundane work, but I wonder if that is where we are headed nevertheless? Is there a place for archiving ones life’s work in this increasingly disposable world? I wonder.