When a "young, naive, just starting out" photographer asks the editor of Lenswork, a journal of the creative process and photography, "What are the most important things I should do to improve my photographs?", he is stunned that he does not have a canned answer.
He comes up with a list of 21 truisms for the creative process of photography in the June 2005 issue. Of course, almost all of these apply far and wide beyond photography. (Yes, you can download the complete PDF "Twenty One Ways to Improve Your Artwork" by editor Brooks Jensen - note only "Save Target As" works.)
Here's some of my favorite snippets:
Never forget that all the great photographs in history were made with more primitive camera equipment than you currently own.
Ultimately, your real work is to connect your Self to the world.
Think clearly about your objectives. Which is more important to you: earning an income or getting your work distributed? Which do you care about more: making images the public loves or making images that you must? If you are lucky, these are the same, but if they are not, clearly knowing which is more important to you makes everything else easier. There are no right answers here. There is only confusion when you work at cross-purposes to your objectives.
Learn to work alone. Learn to work without distractions. Turn off the music. Surround yourself with silence. Each one of us has a muse within us who tries to communicate and advise us on the creative path. There are no exceptions to this. But there is also a universality that all muses tend to whisper. To hear them clearly one must reside in a very still place.
Finish it... There is a universal Law of Audience that says if you finish work, the universe cannot stand that it remains unseen.
Shoot more than you do; print more than you do; and be a ruthless editor. I'm serious. There is a great deal to be gained in sheer volume - not that volume itself is any virtue, but practice is. Besides, relentless practice does have a twin sister known as luck.
Art is supposed to have meaning, emotion, power, or magic. Don't merely show what the subject is; show what it isn't, show what it means, show why it is, how it is, for whom it is, where it is, and/or when it is.
Remember art is not about artwork. Art is about life. To become a better artist, first and foremost become a better person - not in the moral sense, but rather in the complete sense. Remember that the greatest artist is not the one with the best technique, but the one with the most human heart.
maybe, it's me, but your link does not take me to a pdf...it takes me to the on line magazine, but there is not a link to the 21 ways section....are you a subscriber to this? if you have the pdf...put on your site, maybe?
Posted by: jbr | May 04, 2005 at 10:19 AM
Wow. That's really cool. And so true!
jbr, you follow the link to the magazine's home page; then, you have to follow the "Download a
PDF preview of this issue" link. The direct link to the PDF is:
http://www.lenswork.com/lwq58s.pdf
Posted by: The Carp | May 04, 2005 at 10:32 AM
thank you, Carp - world according to Carp would be a good name for your blog...=]
Posted by: jbr | May 04, 2005 at 02:16 PM