If you are curious by nature, photography might be the perfect thing. Photography doesn’t exclude unless you are a “I only shoot film” hack or someone who shoots one subject then condemns the rest of the photographic world. I’ve met folks like this, even worked for some of them, but I’m not counting them here. I’m talking about normal people, like you and me. Yes, I just called myself “normal.” It’s my site. Curious people live, on average, seven years longer than non-curious types, and that fits well with my plan for watching the Tech Bros take over the world so they can sit around wondering why that even in Utopia, they don’t have any friends.
Do I surf? No, not really.
I have surfed, and I’ve even had a few magical moments on a surfboard, but I’ve also had a few moments where I thought I might drown. Never surf with people way better than you. My one bit of advice. Dan Milnor, life coach. I don’t surf, but I like surfing. I find the sport beautiful and extremely challenging. My curiosity leads me to surfing, but not to the peak action moments. I’ve spent a lot of time around full-time professional surf photographers, many of whom are real watermen. They capture what I can’t, especially those who shoot from the water. I could swim out at Pipeline. The problem would be getting back in.
Hurricane Erin is tickling the Maine coast. The swell is arriving now and will continue to build through tomorrow morning. Three to five-foot swells are hitting the beach where I’m at. I have dinner plans and early morning plans tomorrow, so I’ll miss most of the action, but I did get out for ten minutes last evening, not to surf but to photograph. Why? Curiosity. For the love of God, this trait has pained me as much or more than anything else in my life. It’s not FOMO, or fear of missing out. I’ve never had FOMO, thank God, but I can see how people would confuse the two things.
I joke with my wife that she lives in a world that’s a perfect blend of regret and FOMO. If you know her, you might second this idea. She’s an extrovert, ALL CAPS, and is eager, gregarious, and wants to go no matter what the mission. Her FOMO is wicked. I do a lot of wondering, not fearing. “I wonder what the light is like if I shoot from beach-x to beach-y?” “I wonder if the wind is offshore and will push that spray backwards?” “I wonder if I can get some backlit images before the sun goes behind the structures on the coastline?” Guess I’ll go and see. I decided to do this at 7:06 PM, and sunset was at 7:36 PM. By the time I got there, I had about ten minutes. (My wife tried to invite half the neighborhood, which slowed me down.)
Are these great pics? No. Are the waves good? No, not really. Mushy but still fun. Curiosity doesn’t limit itself to surfing. Heck, I’ve done projects on religion, the adult entertainment industry, the border, and dozens and dozens of other things. Did I become a porn star after or convert to Islam? Do I stand on the border with one foot on the American side and the other on the Canadian side, saying “nah, nah, nah, nah,” to the Border Patrol? No. (Huge number of Americans just remembering we have a second border.)My curiosity leads me somewhere. I shoot, learn, and move on. (Sometimes I go back.)
My photography has never been about me. My photography has always been about the people in my photographs. This makes me different from some modern photographers, and especially different from YouTube types. This is mostly a byproduct of my age. We didn’t have channels of self-absorption. If we did, you bet your ass I’d be oiled up and talking about my crypto street cred. (If you see the words “crypto” and “influencer” in the same general area, someone is getting scammed.) “Don’t tase me bro!” It’s not that my photography doesn’t have a selfish aspect; it does, but my primary goal is to shoot and show you the images in print, not to say, “Made some photographs, but let’s just talk about me.” Filming myself still makes me puke in my mouth, just a little.
We need to talk about the photography. As you can see, not the best or cleanest day in the lineup. A swell, yes, but wind chop as well, something you can see in the background. Here is a key takeaway. There were other photographers on the beach this morning. I can always tell someone’s skill level by their shooting position. There was a strong directional light coming from north to south, which means you could get backlit conditions if you wanted to the south end of the beach and shot back into the light, exactly what I did here. Doing so highlighted the spray off the lip. All the other photographers were shooting from the seawall into front or semi-side lit situations. Not the worst case scenario, but lacking in the drama you get when shooting backlit.
Notice the color shift from warm to cold. Orange to blue. Those tones come with feeling and mood, the same feeling and mood that will shift in the viewer or reader. Your goal with print is to take them on a ride. Lift them, bring them down, and manipulate them into feeling the way you want them to feel. Color, tone, light. The reason the last two images are in black and white is that is how I saw the morning. I felt it. Knew I wanted to see those photographs without color. I don’t ever shoot thinking I’m going to change something in post. When I want color, I shoot color. Same for black and white. This is also related to my age and starting my career in film. Difficult to swap to color with a roll of TRI-X firmly planted inside my magic machine. (Overly dramatic.)
PRINT YOUR WORK. As of now, I have seventy-one pages of new work to print from my current trip. Also, I don’t expect or want anything further from these images. The juice is being in the field, capturing the images. What comes after is irrelevant. I quit wanting or needing to do things with my work over fifteen years ago, and it made photography so much better and more fun. I don’t ever have to ask myself, “Yes, but how am I going to get my work out there?” No need. Happy right here in my own little world.
Comments 10
Hey Dan, thank you for the cool post. I really like the second picture, it’s a treat for the eyes.
I was wondering how you cope with the number of pages in a book/booklet/zine print. usually it’s a fixed number and I hate feeling like Im adding dump in the last few pages just to fill them…
I would have so much fun with a waterproof camera, being swung by the waves and taking some shitty underwater pics ! The waterproof cases are costly tho.
Author
I typically make the book however many pages I need. A book might need to be an even number of pages, but otherwise I make it whatever length is required. Hope that helps.
Hey Dan! Rick here from India. As usual, your words strike right into my flabby guts. Even though you say the photos are not that great, they are, from my perspective, different, unique. I liked the play of lights. I have surfed before. I like surfing too. It is most certainly a difficult sport. I started surfing to get out of my fear of drowning. Ironic? Maybe.
I related strongly to two things in your write-up:
First, the main concept of curiosity. I feel that most average adults lose curiosity as they grow up. Children are more curious and more prone to asking questions. Somewhere, I feel that as a photographer, we should retain that childlike wonder. Second, shooting colour while wanting colour photos and the same in B&W. Many people shoot colour and then convert to B&W later in post. However, I physically cannot. I feel that when I want photos to be in B&W, my approach remains different than colour. I look for shapes, texture, and geometry more. I am more drawn to the moments and subject matter. In colour photos, the colours themselves, hues, tones, temperature all these attract my attention.
Lastly, waiting to see your new works in print. Even though you print your work for yourself and not to sell or want something further from it, I love to see your work, because I learn a lot from it. Thank you for whatever you are doing for the photographic community, for the people who want something ‘real’ and not ‘reel’.
Author
You are correct about curiosity. It’s taught out of us, beaten out of us at times, and generally frowned upon as adults. We have to sometimes relearn how to be curious. The phone has done so much damage to so many people. A blizzard of unimportant details to every minute of every day. It deadens people. I think I’ll make a MagCloud Digest from my time in Maine.
If I’m asked to pop into a shop for a bottle of milk or a pack of whatever—I need at least half a day to get myself ready. But tell me there’s an old, half-forgotten boat sitting on the bottom of a channel two hours’ drive away—man, I don’t even need to eat. I can survive without food for three days, no problem.
A man from Chicago who lives in a god-forgotten place on the Irish west coast rang me. “I have Galloway cattle,” he said. “Do you want to sketch them?”
“No,” I said, “but I’d love to photograph them!”
“When?” he asked.
“Give me three hours.”
I live in a farming county, but man—those beasts are like nothing I’d seen before! Now I’m in the process of finishing a photobook for that man. Editing, sequencing, more editing, more coffee, more whiskey… You know the fun. It’s a whole different vibe when you shoot with prints and books in the back of your head. Totally different. You shoot and think this will be a double spread—if I don’t cock it up.
My prints are everywhere—drawers, boxes, the camera bag, sketchbook, car… you name it. And you should see people’s faces when they ask if they can see my work, and instead of showing them a phone screen, you hand them a real, battered piece of paper.
Well, you might throw me overboard for this—but I do shoot film, though I don’t tell anyone. I shoot medium format, but for the ‘quick’ projects or when speed is a must I use 35mm. I’m partially colour-blind, so colour, unless simple and prime, has never been my driving force. I bought a ten-year-old Fuji X-Pro2 last month as a backup camera for my upcoming trips. I need time to learn this tool, but I struggle with it. My head always thinks in film and black and white when it comes to printed images. I see in black and white. I don’t enjoy digital. I read paper books, and I draw with pencil and charcoal on real paper too. But I guess if I want to introduce colour into my colour-blind world and have a backup camera too, I need the digital Fuji. 😉
PS
Actually, I used Blurb for my first printed project on Malta.
Author
Congrats on the first book! That’s a good step. And shoot whatever you want. Whatever works. I was a heavy film guy for years and years. I love film and think it’s a great learning tool. It took me twenty years to like digital, but photography plays a different role for me now. It’s not my main conversation. The X-Pro is beloved.
Danielsan, You’re too humble. The two surfer-images contain all the complex nuances one hopes for (I think). The high winds were like crushed cashews sprinkled over a hot fudge sundae.
Author
The wind and waves were pretty nice. Cleaner sets and a pro would have made some epic snaps.
Some great images in the post, strong if you ask me and great callouts about angle of light, pov, colors, etc…Curious on your thoughts about the word(s) photo vs. image? Do you believe image is simply what is captured and photo is what you make of the scene/vignette/moment -OR- vice versa?
I have the XPro2 and an XT3, but have really just narrowed it down and love the rangefinder style. XPro2 feels solid and gets the job done. Thanks for sharing!!
Author
Yikes, no idea. That seems like a bizarre conversation to have, image vs photo. I’m a public school kid. I’ll leave that to the smaaaaaart kids.