PHOTOGRAPHER’S JOURNEY.com

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I’m a reporter and a TV guy, so understanding my audience is one of the cardinal rules. It’s also a biggie for public speaking. Delivering one’s thoughts on quantum mechanics as they apply to the expanding universe might make for a fascinating soliloquy. But not if your audience is a pod of sea lions. Or me, for that matter.

As a writer, I have come to wonder if the same rule to “know your audience” applies in photography. And if not, why not? Clearly both writing and photography can be forms of art. And they are both intended to connect with, well, human beings.

Why then do I suspect that knowing your audience is not so important for photographers?

The answer is both simple and strangely complex, I think. But it boils down to this: photography is very rarely committed with an audience in mind at all.

It’s true, the professional photographer who has been hired to visually “sell” something through an advertisement probably has her/his “audience” in mind. That is a case where the photograph is being catered to the audience. And it’s certainly a legitimate form of photography.

But in my world, photography falls into two camps: professional and news/sports photography and enthusiast/artistic photography. Yeah, I know, I’m oversimplifying. But I’m a journalist, that’s what I do.

So bear with me here. My thinking is that most photography in the world (with the possible exception of commercial advertising and portrait photography) probably never involves someone behind the camera who has given the slightest thought as to who his/her audience is.

Why? Because as photographers, most of us are consumed by what we see in front of the camera - not who might later see it. The photojournalist, for instance, focuses a lens and a mind on one thing: capturing that special moment or scene that speaks beyond words. Something Henri Cartier-Bresson called “the decisive moment.” But since the best images will naturally sell with the photo editor, there is an underlying assumption that the best pictures win. Not at all the same thing as wondering “maybe my editor will like it if I shoot this picture of a cute puppy dog.” Follow me?

Obviously, the photojournalist has the opportunity while working in the field to choose the images they capture. A photographer might ignore an especially gory scene, for example, knowing that the editor back home will never run it. Another photographer might not.

So then there’s the question of the enthusiast. Now here, I would argue that those of us who are enthusiasts have an almost total abandonment of the concept of audience. I don’t know about you, but when I walk around with my camera, the thought that someone might later see my images is never on my mind. Maybe when I get home later and start working them up in Lightroom and Photoshop, but not in the field.

In fact, if you looked through my Lightroom library you’d see countless images that have never seen the light of day. Good ones, too. Why did I shoot them? Why haven’t I printed them? I don’t know. I guess because the meer process of shooting them and prepping them was all I really needed to satisfy my artistic soul. Here is one of those images I made.

It’s not technically perfect. But it’s not bad. And still… it’s been sitting alone where no one can see it. Why?

I think it has a lot to do with why we enthusiasts pursue photography in the first place. Not to steer too far away here, but I’m a huge fan of a guy named Merlin Mann who runs the terrific productivity blog, “43 Folders.” Merlin recently posted an article about his experience with the photography that really got me thinking. He titled it “Photography and the Tolerance for Creative Sucking.” That may well be one of the best blog post titles I’ve ever read!

Now Merlin makes no claim to be a brilliant photographer. What he does do is tap into something I think is terribly important for photographers of all skill levels: letting ourselves go without fear that we are newbies, or just plain bad! It’s how we grow. It’s how we learn. It’s how we breathe. It’s how we commit art.

In public speaking, it’s hard to avoid the fear that we are not really good (believe me, I’ve tried). Writing, too. Somewhere down the line we know someone will be judging us. But as photographers, most of us have the freedom to… just do it.

Think about how powerful that is. How many things in your life do you have where the consequences of each individual act don’t really matter to anyone but ourselves? Even professionals can get by making a few images that don’t much matter, as long as they capture a few that do.

It’s one of the reasons why I love photography the way I do. It’s what makes it a true art. We can set our souls free to pursue a slice in time that means… everything.

That’s my feeling. I’d enjoy hearing yours.

And to all of you, a very happy new year.

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Some time ago, I wrote a brief post that mentioned some of the things I like to look for when buying a new lens. Among them, I mentioned that I usually take a look at the number of aperture blades a lens has since, generally speaking, more blades translates to better bokeh (blurring behind or in front of the subject).

Well, Klaus Shuler recently wrote me to point out that while aperture blades do affect the quality of bokeh, they can’t possibly do so when the lens is wide open. And he is absolutely right. More important than aperture blades, Klaus writes, are other lens qualities such as spherical aberration correction. I have no doubt he’s write on this, too, although looking for these measurements on a potential new lens purchase certainly get down to the nitty gritty in a way I’m not sure many of us would do.

Nevertheless, Klaus is trying to do something pretty exciting by standardizing a test for bokeh in various lenses. Essentially, he wants to do for bokeh what others have done for sharpness, etc. And that sounds like a great idea to me.

Check out Klaus’ website and you will see, as he acknowledges, he has “a long way to go.” But I’m excited to see him try and I’ll be watching what he develops very closely.

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CONTACT: Casey Sanders (212) 843-9341 / csanders@rubenstein.com
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE INTRODUCES ‘MY SHOT’
INDIVIDUALIZED PHOTO WEB PAGES FOR USER-GENERATED CONTENT

NEW YORK (Feb. 28, 2008) — National Geographic Magazine has announced their latest innovation, “My Shot.” “My Shot” allows photographers of all skills to create their own web page at www.ngm.com to display their best photographs.

“My Shot” members are able to upload and save up to 100 photographs on their own “My Shot” page. Members will also be able to use a drag-and-drop version of NGM.com’s cutting-edge jigsaw puzzle generator on their pages. Any photo saved to “My Shot” can be turned instantly into a jigsaw puzzle. There is also a custom version of a popular memory-sorting game that users can create from their own photos.

“My Shot” members can also submit their photos to National Geographic’s popular “Your Shot” feature, where a dozen photos are selected each day by editors to appear on-line, with those photos being rated by readers. At the end of the month, the winning photo will be published in National Geographic Magazine itself, which reaches 40 million readers worldwide.

For more information, log onto http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/myshot.

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