Learning to Work Smarter; Not Harder

In my most recent postings, I have been chronicling my experience at Imaging USA; so I’ll pick up where I left off – with day two of the conference. I spent the majority of this second day attending sessions focused on improving workflow and productivity.

This day was very important to me, as I recently made the jump from Apple‘s Aperture to Adobe‘s Photoshop Lightroom – after Apple’s recent decision to no longer continue upgrading its professional-grade photo management and editing program that I had come to love and rely on so much after using it for many years. The transition from Aperture to Lightroom has been a little challenging, and I really need to learn all I can about getting the most out of my new photo management and editing tool if I am going to success in this business.

The day’s first session for me was “Streamline Your Wedding and Portrait Post Production in Lightroom and Photoshop,” with Jared Platt, a professional wedding and lifestyle photographer from Phoenix, Arizona. Platt is a well-known lecturer on photography subjects, with a particular emphasis on workflow. Given my relatively short time using Lightroom, I found his presentation very enlightening. He is a dedicated professional, who is committed to sharing his vast knowledge with others. I had a rare opportunity to learn first-hand how dedicated and genuine he is through a personal interaction while attending the closing party – I cannot thank him enough for taking the time, and his profound generosity. I am already making use of the tools I gained.

I had hoped to continue on my theme with “From Camera to Client – Winning Workflow for Success,” with Julieanne Kost. However due to overwhelming popularity her session was filled to capacity and I was unable to attend. I did get an opportunity to attend her session on day three, which I will take about in my next post.

Later that day, my wife and I took time to tour the International Photographic Exhibit, which featured images from the 2014 International Photographic Competition, quite arguably some of the best photography you will ever see. It was truly enlightening to see the work of great photographers, which has helped inspire me to push my craft farther. During that tour I discovered the mentor’s corner, and scheduled a session to sit down with a mentor. I’ll talk more about my session with Dennis Hammon in my next post.

“Sunsphere Before Sunrise” – I captured this image in Knoxville, Tennessee, just before sunrise on my journey home from Imaging USA. I can see influences of what I learned from my experience there already taking shape in this image.
© Wayne V. Hall. All rights reserved.

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” – Ansel Adams

My life as a ‘Camera Snob!’

For nearly 30 years I’ve carried on a love affair with photography that continues to fill my life with a broad range of emotions, ranging from overwhelming joy to even, on a rare occasion, utter frustration and disappointment. Despite the ups and downs the one thing that has remained constant, or so I thought, was a belief that I have clung to – the quality of the camera has a direct correlation to the quality of the images one can produce.

However, I made a discovery this weekend that made me realize just much of a camera snob I truly am.

What photographer hasn’t heard someone say “wow that’s a really great photo, you must have a great camera!” in the course of their professional life. Every time some has sad it to me, I just cringe and do all I can to keep from loosing my cool. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that one’s equipment has nothing to do with making an awesome image, but it is not the sole factor that goes into the work.

Personally, I believe that great photography starts with the eye of the photographer – their ability to see something and instantly see its potential as an image, what angle to shoot it from, how to compose the shot, how to light it, and where the focus of the image should be. From that point the camera plays its part, but for only as long as the photographer has set the shutter speed.

I also believe that a significant portion of a photographer’s true artistic skills come into play after the image is captured, either on film or a digital camera’s image sensor. Creating beautiful works of photographic art take time and skill to develop. While over time the process has evolved from the dark room to digital editing software such as Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop, the effort required by a photographer is largely the same.

I can recall spending a lot of time in the dark room, and now with Adobe Photoshop, working a single image to perfection. Now I even find myself periodically going back to an image, that at one time I thought was perfect, and work on it more to improve it. That is what has lead me to my recent discovery that I am shameless camera snob.

Recent changes in my digital life have caused me to go back and take another look at old images – explained in my previous post “Nearly overwhelmed in search of true digital organization” – which ultimately led me to this discovery. After retooling my image “Frosty Rose” I posted it online.

Later when I saw a social media share from a friend I almost fell out of my chair – there staring me in the face I read “Photo take with COOLPIX S220,” the little Nikon digital point-and-shoot I bought to take with me to Iraq that I now use for family functions.

I guess in the end it does really hammer home the point that’s great photography is not in the camera, but the artist!

“Frosty Rose” — Everything in nature  is beautiful, and this frosted rose is clearly exception.

“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard,
the people you have loved.” ― Ansel Adams