Artistic Process

The artistic process differs from medium to medium and is of course a never-ending learning process. As an artist working in the medium of photography, I cannot help but compare my medium and process to others. I find it both helpful in understanding my own medium but also in growing with it. And although I have been working in digital format for almost 10 years, the medium still feels new to me.

There is one aspect of working in digital format  that may be more important than any other. Unlike working with film, having immediate feedback on the camera’s LCD means being able to respond both to the scene in front of me and to the image I just created. And so as in painting, sculpture, or even composing music, I can analyse the result and adjust the process to do things differently.

Mostly, people think of that feedback as a way of checking that the camera is working correctly and that the image reflects what was desired. That is helpful, but maybe even more important is that the image itself becomes a new thing to which I can respond. Just as a painter lays down a brush stroke and then responds to how that brush stroke changes their feeling about where to lay down the next brush stroke, the photographer can respond to an LCD display of an image to determine what next direction to take.

In the image below that I made in Acadia National Park this past August, I was able to respond to the image I made as separate from the scene in which I was working. The image I made then could send me in a different direction than the scene itself would have.  As a result I could respond by changing focal length, perspective, polarization, exposure, composition, and if I chose to, also white-balance and application of a variety of other camera-based controls. The immediate feedback offered by the camera’s LCD allows me to be more creative in the field and ultimately with the final print.

This image was made with a Panasonic GH2 with an Olympus 9-18mm m4/3 lens at 18mm hand-held.

Cloud and Grasses, (c) 2012 Paul Grecian

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Nice Things

A couple recent emails I received made me feel especially good. One was from a co-worker of mine 10 years ago when I worked as a manager for an information service. In a short note I was told that when stress at the job got high, he would go to my website and enjoy the imagery there. He wrote to me “….your gallery pictures are great and they truly depict some of the most peaceful and tranquil scenes I have ever seen“. 

Mary E. wrote to me about two prints she purchased. Mary’s kind words were “These photos are so amazing and so alive, they feel more like members of my family than artwork.  I’m now in the process of doing some redecorating and am eager to include more of your work.”

How could lines that those not make one feel good and motivated! The wonderful thing too about notes like the above is that neither person had to write them. But they did!

One of the images mentioned by Mary is also one of my personal favorites, an image of a tree swallow:

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Who Gets to Judge?

Well at least last night, I did. Asked to be a third juror for a local photography competition, I had to place a numerical value (up to 33) on over 400 images. It is always an interesting exercise and makes me very aware of how judging an image is often quite subjective. I tried to create an internal process that allowed me to not spend 10 minutes on each image (that would have taken 3 days!).

I couldn’t help thinking while driving home what numerical value I would place on my own images. Maybe I should go through that process when evaluating my work. I suspect though that some of my work wouldn’t do too well even though I really like the images. So what that tells me is that I am much more interested in my work having an emotional component than being a technical 33. I think I’ve known this for a while though, I’m more interested in the art of photography than the process.

My work is judged though, and actually all the time. Beyond myself of course, it’s judged by the tens of thousands of people I put it in front of each year, by the viewers of my website and blog, by the members of the gallery I belong to, by the editors of publications I submit to, the jurors of competitions I enter, by my wife and even my 12 year old daughter!

That’s a lot of judging! The result? Well my own judging is the most important and in some ways defines who I am as an artist, but I do listen very attentively to all the others as they can affect my own vision and views. Editors have brought my attention to images I overlooked, art show patrons have informed me of attributes of my work that I missed, my very supportive wife sometimes dislikes work I’m very fond of, my daughter doesn’t particularly like my most popular print but really enjoys a newer piece I suspected she would not.

In a year’s time I may judge my work and other’s differently than I do now. But what you see now and how I value other’s work is always based on my own best judgement.

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If a Painting Falls in the Woods…

You know the riddle, “If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it does it make a sound?” I subscribe to the reasoning that it does not make a sound as there is no person to perceive the sound.  A falling tree only creates a vibration in the air. It is the human ear that translates that vibration into a sound.

I feel the same way about art. If there is no human to perceive it and translate the experience into an emotion, then there is no art. Art is a strictly human concept and requires a human presence to be perceived as such. Maybe it is enough for the creator of a painting, sculpture, photograph, poem, to perceive the work for it to be art, but how much more is it art when there is a second, third, or ten million observers, readers, listeners.

So just as a falling tree needs to be heard in order for it to make a sound, art needs to be heard, seen, felt, in order for it to be art. It seems clear to me then that there is no art without a patron, they make art “heard”. They are the human ear that registers the “ sound”.

I was so pleased to receive an email recently from a collector of my work after receiving a framed print from me. She wrote:

The Arrival “arrived” today and looks beautiful on my wall as I knew it would.  One of the things I enjoy so much about your work, is that since I spend so much time outdoors, I identify immediately with the beauty that you capture in your images.  If that is one of your goals as an artist, you have succeeded.  Thanks again.  – Sue

I love that sound….

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