When I'm not being horribly productive, sometimes I look to the past. For a lot of people, including myself, this is a destructive practice. Leading to one pondering on mistakes, failures and shortcomings. I wouldn't be the first or last person to catch themselves feeling ugly and terrible because of some past stupidity, and dwelling on things I cannot change. However, for some things that can be changed, reflection on the past can be the one thing that helps us find the best in ourselves.
Given who I am and what I do, I'm of course going to correlate this to photography.
Just recently, I was talking to a person very dear to my heart (<3) and fellow photographer, Michelle Olsen about thumbing through some old files. She mentioned that it wasn't always a good idea to dwell on the past as it may distract focus from future work. I actually agree with that heavily paraphrased sentiment and I would even warn against it myself. There is a nice thing that goes with the occasional stroll through past photos.
The reasons I look through old photos in lightroom are:
I've learned new things since I've last taken those old photos. Sometimes new techniques can really bring magic out of previously processed photos.
Sometimes you find a gem that you just didn't notice previously. I've gone through photoshoots that I was certain I had picked the best photos out of and I've easily come out with two or three good photos that I didn't even flag to edit later.
Sometimes it's a nice way to reflect on the mistakes you made and plan to do better in the future.
I like the second point because sometimes it's nice to find that missed gem and sometimes it might even be one of the best ones out of the bunch. The only issue is that if one does not practice moderation, a photographer may find themselves digging through old, irrelevant files in the hopes of scrounging for content to throw up... and may in fact be showcasing nothing more than fools gold.
The third point is great because being an artist often means pondering what you could do better. "How could I frame a situation like this properly?" "How can I compose this shot so that I don't have to crop much or at all?" "How did I under/over-expose that shot and how could I avoid doing that again?" Learning from our own past is easily one of the best tools we've got out of all of the tutorials we could find on the internet. The problem that could arise from this though, is that one may be prone to being too focused on the past. Often times looking too deeply into their faults and failures and rendering their eyes unable to perceive the present and future properly.
So what do we do? I would suggest being like Janus, considering he is usually depicted as a being with two faces. One focused on the past and the other on the future... however I think as artists we need to adopt a third face. Looking at the past is great in small doses, looking toward the future can lead to excitement and is also good for us in the sense that we have it in our minds to plan ahead. However, looking at the present with both the past and the future in mind may do us, me in particular, a huge favor. So every time I open up lightroom, my mind is set on the past, to see what I could do better in the future and the present to use what I've learned in the past. Does that make any sense?
When you're broke, starting out, or without access to high quality gear due to some unforeseen circumstances. You've gotta go with a cheap alternative. Sometimes you have to go with the version that's easily accessible. Sometimes instead of scraping through Model Mayhem and gambling on who-knows-what for collaborators, you just need to get by with a little help from your friends. I had about 30 bucks on me and a basement to work with. So I got a gigantic white, flat, bed sheet and some clamps. Those clamps held the sheet up and weighted the two bottom corners down and worked as a makeshift backdrop for my photoshoots. After ironing everything, I tested the lights and tried to do what I could without a model... but eventually I got one.
The first official photoshoot I did in the studio was with Johan Von Krasonberg, a mutual friend of another friend of mine whom I met at a party dressed like a member of the metal band Ghoul. We knew of one another via facebook interaction through mutual friends and recognised one another fairly easily. So it was nothing for us to schedule a date and get together for a period of awkwardness and learning. In fact, I remember the moment Johan came down to the studio I said "This is gonna be a bit awkward and we're gonna spend a bit of time failing." To which he responded fairly well. The shoot, while imperfect due to limited lighting, turned out well, and I definitely want to shoot with him again.
The thing I definitely wanted to do was keep it down to earth. I wasn't working with a budget and I had two out of three lights, which ultimately came down to one light, due to a light blowing out, and a car windshield reflector to get the job done. In a sense, the failure and the limitations forced me to try and get quality out of whatever I could. So I kept it to friends in Lansing, IL. I kept it to people that I thought were interesting and local because I wasn't willing to trudge through Model Mayhem to find someone. I didn't want to deal with the whole "TFP" and contractual agreement thing. I didn't want any arguments and I certainly didn't want to make things more awkward by working with people I was completely unfamiliar with. Sure, they weren't professionals or even super-experienced amateurs... but I didn't have to worry about learning how to direct someone who more than likely wouldn't be gracious to my inexperience. These people were helping me learn how to direct, light and actually shoot people. I'm still learning, but thanks to Johan, Jessi (Woman with Red Duck), Will (Dreadlocks/Beanie) and Chi (Duck/Fan) so far, I'm a bit better than I was.
I used a makeshift backdrop, makeshift models, a somewhat limited lighting system (which I've gotten fixed recently) and I'm working with a makeshift studio. Years ago, this probably would have driven me up the wall. In fact, when I had my old point and shoot, I thought that my camera was causing the most problems. It sucked, but I was still able to take good photos with it. I kept thinking that everything would be better with more expensive/newer gear. Perhaps it's a good thing that I've been poor for such a long time, because I probably would have just been another gear fondler looking for new toys to attempt to cover up my other glaring deficiencies. I did get new gear, and there WERE improvements, but the new camera and even the new lens felt more like making it to a decent ledge only to look up and find MORE of a mountain to climb.
The requirements for that mountain seem to be:
Learn how to effectively use the lighting available.
Learn how to effectively use the lenses available.
Learn how to effectively/efficiently use my DSLR
Understand what focal depth/length does to a subject.
Understand how high and low-key photography work.
Learn how to give direction to a model to accomplish goals.
Learn how to do all of this with as little post-processing as possible
It all makes me think of those two videos Zack Arias put out about the value of learning how to operate your gear as opposed to getting "better" gear to work with. I hope that one day I can show him my work and maybe have something that would inspire him to think "This guy gets it! I hope you keep at it!"
I'm still sort of figuring out how it all works and I enjoy doing so. I sometimes look back at old RAW files and try to think of what I could do better and how I can avoid some of the pitfalls I was in before. (Like some of Johan's shots being overly shadowy or using an unnecessarily fast aperture when shooting a portrait.) I hope to have some photoshoots lined up in the near future where I basically learn how to do better and hopefully have some appealing photos to post later. Until then, I suppose I'll see you duckies later.
-Oslo
P.S.: I just wanted an excuse to make a Sage Francis reference.
