The evolving creative process

The one thing about being a creative person is that your art is constantly changing. I think of how much I have grown as a photographer, from my early black and white images when I worked in my bathroom darkroom to working with my Canon 40D with different lens and different lighting conditions.

I think of how I use to long to want to improve my craft of photography, but working with film was hard. I had to record each image I created, all of the variables and then see the results versus my vision. Then I had to bring it into the darkroom, hope I developed it right and then hope when I developed my prints I did it right as well. It was long, tedious, filled with chemical smell, but I loved the process. I did find it very hard to improve, since the process was so long I couldn't or didn't work on it very often.

Then I got my first digital camera in 2003 and I had instant gratification to improve my craft, but I grew bored quickly because all I would do it go in the backyard snap a few pictures here and there. Eventually I got more serious and took head shots at work, pictures of building for work and some family portraits. My aunt even asked me to photograph her wedding which was a great honor, but I still wasn't happy with what I saw and knew I needed help. At this time I was trying to figure out jpg, raw and there was no Lightroom, just the Photoshop plug ins so raw was a lot of work back then.

Then I started taking classes in late 2004 and thats when I really started to get it. I am a classroom learner, I try to learn by books, but I am visual and oral so when someone shows me and then I get to practice it makes a different difference. I started off by taking a black and white class which honestly taught me very little. It was out of date, I already knew about how to manually control my camera, I did learn about the Zone system, but it was almost a waste of class. Then at SMU I moved into a more advanced class that involved slides. This guy made me feel like I couldn't shot at all. He hated my stuff, my assignments were never to his liking, but I learned about flash and how to control my on-camera flash which is something I had been meaning to work on for ages. Since that class wasn't digital the images aren't easily available, but here are some pictures I took of that summer using my flash techniques I learned. Also I was starting to photograph more people and get an interest in portraiture.

Then I switched from Santa Monica College to the more expensive UCLA extension, but I could take very focused classes and use my digital camera and models. I took a class on studio lighting and on controlling the natural light. These classes were amazing and it changed everything for me. I could control the light and knew exactly how I wanted to control it and it gave me some creative freedom and power. I could final create and have the vision to create with my new power. It also taught me the importance of models, style and backgrounds. I hadn't given it too much thought in the past, but it really does mean everything in your portraiture. Here a few of my favorite images from those classes, I have hundreds of them.

It was in my last UCLA extension class that I learned about strobes and the power of strobes and what I wanted to do. So I bought some mono lights, but they were so annoying I never used them anywhere but in my home studio with paper, nothing creative nothing exciting. Just basic portraiture for my own and my friends use. I didn't even offer this service to clients because it was very unexciting to me.

This last image is from my UCLA extension class and although we used huge strobes to achieve this result I learned the power of using strobes outside. I got my tact sharp background and I could control how bright or dark I wanted it and then I had my subject lighted in an interesting way. I could never advertise this because how the heck could I get consistent results like this day in and day out, but I knew I loved this style and yearned to create it again, but I forgot and moved onto practicing something else.

As you can see my blog is mostly about natural light, shallow depth of field photography. Sometimes I control the light with reflectors, a bit of fill flash and just watch my time of day or look for the shade. I feel like I have really gotten into this style lately. In the last year with my boys as great subjects I have taken more pictures than I did in the last 2-3 years. I was just inspired and kept shooting and the more I shot, the more I evolved, but I am evolving to what most photographers are doing right now. I know it, and am not excited about it, but I am good at what I do and people like it.

Last night I went to a photography meet up and an amazing photographer Scott Robert taught us how to take the flash off the camera and how to manually meter my flash, huh?! Believe it, I understood it all although I am a little rusty since I haven't practiced it in a while, but it inspired me again. So I ordered some remote control triggers and when they arrive my two strobes and light stands are ready, and my favorite subjects are always available, but this time I have more control and I am getting what I want. It took me 11 years to get here, when I should have been here long ago, but watch from some new and exciting photograph as I try and master the strobe and become a "strobist."