Personal photography
A lot of the time, the first question people ask when they see a photo they like is “what camera did you use?”, “what settings did you use?”, “what presets did you use in Lr?”. These questions are about receipes, not photography.
A while back, Josh suggested that I read a book by Austin Kleon, “Show your work“. I wasn’t convinced at first I’d be interested, but as he thought I would be, I gave it a chance and bought it. It turns out that the title and the blurbs are misleading and the book is in fact very interesting and overlaps significantly with what I write here.
One of the things Austin says is “become a documentarian of what you do”. When I read that chapter, I had the realisation that this is potentially the one thing I miss the most in the world of photography. It seems photography has lost its documentarians somewhere along the way.
We’ve all heard many photographers talk about storytelling in their photography. How many YT videos can you find on the subject? It’s become such accepted wisdom in the creative world that questioning it feels almost heretical. But when we look at it closely, it doesn’t make sense, and it’s all about how we actually experience photographs.
It seems that the majority of amateur photographers go through the same predictable journey that you can track through their gear. They begin their journey convinced that better gear will make them better photographers. Some end it knowing the opposite is true.
In September, we organised a Substack event where people shared photos from a day in their life. Participants from all over the world took part and produced a book showing that day to everyone.
Most great photographers are said to have a style. Something that instantly identifies their photographs as theirs to the initiated (think Ansel Adams, Cartier-Bresson, Moriyama). But is it something you need to pursue?
If you’re serious about photography, at some point the question will need to be addressed: should you become a professional?
Switching to monochrome has changed how I see photography from the conceptual viewpoint, but also from the process viewpoint.
Lately I’ve been curious about medium format. I like the look and I like the 6×6 format. Unfortunately for me, I’ve never shot film. But that shouldn’t stop me, should it?
To me, photography, isn’t just a medium for artistic expression or documentation. It creates an implicit social contract between the photographer, the subject, and the eventual viewer. That contract involves layers of trust, interpretation, and cultural negotiation that exist whenever an image is captured and shared. The social contract of photography shapes not just the image itself but the way it is interpreted across different social and cultural contexts.
