Ed Schlotzhauer

An artists journey

Blog

  • Telling a Story

    Telling a Story

    Conventional wisdom nowadays is that a good image should tell a story. Really? What does that mean? Can a single, static image actually tell a story? I’m not completely convinced. Let’s explore this.

    Story

    It is well understood that people learn and remember better from a story than by memorizing lists of facts or rules. That is one reason the Bible is mainly a collection of stories.

    In civilizations where writing was late to develop, or where the literacy rate was very low, their records of their history were passed down by oral tradition – storytelling. The keepers of the stories were usually very respected members of the tribe.

    Even in “more developed” Europe, storytellers were important through the dark ages until sometime into the Renaissance. Most of the population was completely illiterate. Even what we call “fairy tales” were very important stories and traditions.

    Books

    Books are an obvious story telling vehicle. They have lots of time and space to develop characters, set up complex plots, give the protagonist room to make lots of mistakes and bad decisions and go through many trials before getting it together and finally resolving the conflict.

    Books have been written for thousands of years. The art of creating stories for print has been studied and practiced for all that time and it is well developed now. They have become excellent at grabbing and holding our interest.

    You can go to school (or read a book!) to learn the process of character and plot development or to improve your vocabulary. You can’t go to school to learn to be a good author. That is still art. And rightly so.

    Film

    Films – I continue to use the archaic term – are a completely different story telling medium than books. That is why, even starting with a great book, a screenwriter must be employed to create the film version. The story telling process is very different.

    Films are visual and the story must be told by the live actors “living out” the plot. Obviously there are exceptions, but this is the typical approach. A film is also a time-based medium. The story must unfold within about 1.5 – 2 hours of clock time.

    But filmmakers have become very adept at engaging us with drama, magic, pathos, wonder, sadness, significance, aspiration. There is a great range of possibility and new creations are coming out every day to amaze us..

    Static 2D image

    Time, motion, character development, plot development, conflict resolution – these things are much harder to do in a single, static image. These older media get to engage their audience for an hour or more to days (depending on your reading rate). With an image I have 2 conflicting goals: capture my audience’s interest to make them spend some time on my image, and have enough lasting interest to make them want a copy on their wall to see every day. Perhaps I have to think of “story” differently in a 2D image.

    In a 2D image, nothing is actually moving. No action over time is possible. Little or no character development can happen. It is very hard to show a before-during-after sequence.

    The type of “story” that seems possible to bring to you in a picture is a “moment in time”. I can show you something in a particular state at this instant. I have to leave it to you to imagine the setting or previous events or how the future may unfold. If I do a good job as a story teller, that may be possible.

    One of the advantages of that is that it brings you into the process. You have to participate in the interpretation. You get to, in effect, write the story for yourself. What happened to get the scene to this state? What would happen if you could push “play” and continue it? Can you imagine yourself there? Would you want to?

    Contrived

    Let me side track for a bit to tell you a pet peeve of mine.

    Many of the influencers in the photography media preach the mantra that you have to tell a story with your pictures. Whether it is travel photography or environmental activism or landscape or portraits, what we hear is that we have to tell a story.

    Hardly any of these pundits help us by explaining how to do it. Usually they will just show one of their images and congratulate themselves for illustrating a great story. Weak, unhelpful, and intimidating. I can think of one writer/photographer right now who mostly makes images of the American desert. He writes passionately about the meaning and story he tries to bring to his images. But then when he illustrates it with a specific image, I often look at it and kind of say “huh?”. There wasn’t a story there for me or deep meaning. It was just a scene. It may be nice to look at, but it is not a story to me.

    Can we tell a story with a 2D image?

    Can it be done? Yes. But it is seldom what I think of as a story. As I said, maybe I need to change me definition of what a story is in this case.

    Photojournalism or street photography is attuned to story telling. It is generally understood that presenting a “decisive moment” is more important that creating a technically perfect image. I agree, for those genre.

    In all cases, I believe any photographer should know why they made an image. What was it that called them? What were they trying to present to their audience? We can often call this the “story” of the image.

    The problem is that this story is often only known to the artist. It may not be apparent to the viewer at all. At best, the viewer may be able to create their own story around a good image. This works.

    And is it OK that the “story” may just be that I considered this scene beautiful or uplifting or interesting? YES! Much of the established modern art world rejects beauty as a valid subject. They are wrong and I feel sorry for them. What a bleak world to live in.

    Tell your story your way

    So I recommend that you to go out and make images that call to you. They may not have deep meaning to a wide audience or be praised as “meaningful”. That’s OK. Always be able to express for yourself why you took an image. Practice that. After all, you are the only one who absolutely has to love your images.

    Meaning and story may come for you more with time and experience. Or may not. It depends on how you see the world and what kind of “story” you want to tell. If beauty or whimsy or abstraction call you, go with what you feel. If it passes the test for you and you love it, what more can you ask?

    If the story is a secret to just you, that is fine as long as the image also stands on its own as interesting. Then your audience can also participate by creating a story of their own.

    Every time I make an image, in a sense I am telling a story to my viewer. It is good for me to be more aware of the way they perceive the story.

  • There is no I in TEAM

    There is no I in TEAM

    This famous coaching advice is so well known that it is almost a cliche. There is no I in TEAM. It has been used for a long time to convince athletes of the necessity of teamwork. And this is right. A sports team must work together. Winning is a team effort, not an individual thing.

    I am turning this saying upside down for this article. The point here is that my art is not a team effort. There is no team in I.

    Not a group effort

    My creativity and the products of my creativity, my art works, come solely from my head. I do not have collaborators or mentors or advisors. It is a lonely and scary place in here, but it is where I work. There is not room for anyone else in here. Plus, I’m not very sociable when it gets that personal. If someone tries to get in my head I resist strongly.

    I enjoy listening to artists I respect talking about how they create and what their process is. I browse images from other photographers and painters. But those things are just inputs. Some of the forces that “pump the laser“, as I have written before.

    But after a time, the books are closed, the videos are shut off, and I come home from the galleries. It is time to work. A writer or a painter is faced with the terror of a blank page waiting to be filled. A photographer must confront the terror of “nothing of interest“. A world of clutter and stuff that does not call to us.

    How to respond to that is not the subject of this post. See the one I reference above. The point here is that it is up to me to do whatever is going to be done. No one else is responsible. No one else can do my work.

    Helpful suggestions aren’t, usually

    Ah, the helpful friends or family members who come forward with suggestions for what I should shoot. “I saw a great scene yesterday you should check out.” Or “I would do a project about …”.

    They are sincerely trying to help. I appreciate the thought and the care behind what they mean. But even my wife does not really know what might motivate me at any time. No, I take the suggestions thankfully. Sometimes I politely shoot what they suggest. They almost never makes my short list of good images, though.

    Ultimately, it is up to me to get off dead center and do something. I have to find or generate motivation about something. Creativity means I created it.

    No collaborative environment for me

    The corporate world and the education establishment believe with religious fervor that collaboration is absolutely the only way to do things. In one of my previous lives as a software architect and a user experience designer I was deep in such an atmosphere.

    Surfacing ideas was a group process, design was collaborative, even deciding on requirements was required to involve a group discussion. Everything involved a consensus process. I felt then and I still firmly believe that such a process leads to a median quality in everything. It might improve the efforts of a poor designer but it greatly limits the capability of a great one.

    Now, as an artist, I am not limited by a group. Of course it means I do not have the support of the group to carry me when ideas do not come. But walking the high wire alone is part of what you buy in to when becoming an artist.

    I cannot share responsibility (or blame) with anybody for my failures.

    Solitude

    I realized a long time ago that I am an introvert. This is fairly common to creatives. If there is too much “noise” or chatter or helpful suggestions I cannot think creatively.

    I need to be alone in my head. I need to protect that small, dark creative space while ideas are flickering into life. Many may die there, but some will grow and develop. Like a young tender plant those ideas need to be protected while they develop.

    My ideas do not spring into being fully formed. Sometimes I get a glimmer of something that needs to be worked on. Sometimes something draws me to a subject and it is only later that I begin to realize what was calling me.

    I long ago discovered that if I am having to argue for or justify new ideas as they are forming, many great things will be lost. It is hard for me to argue for something I don’t yet understand well. I will save the arguments for within my own head. Even then I lose a lot of them.

    There is enough noise inside my head already without having to deal with the clash of outside opinions.

    Individuality

    My value as an artist comes from the uniqueness of what I bring. This develops from my individuality.

    If a group process produces average results, the only way to produce excellent things is to let individuals flourish. My art is my own. All I have to present to the world, such as it is, I can at least know is a product of my own mind. It is me.

    I am not skilled at telling you about me, but when you look at my art you see what I think and value and perceive.

    Teams are not for me.

    Teamwork can be good. I have been part of great teams in my previous career and as a musician once upon a time. Being part of a well functioning team is a joy. But I believe that the artist is excluded from the team. He is the one sitting on the edge that no one chooses for his team. You know, the one with the far off look, wandering off, not paying much attention to the game.

    So if there is no I in team, and if “I” is all I have to sell or to differentiate myself from the rest of the world, then there is no place for team in my process. There is no team in I.

    And that works OK for me.

  • Did It Really Look Like That?

    Did It Really Look Like That?

    “Did it really look like that?” is not an uncommon question. But it is tricky to answer. Sometimes I try to probe to find out what question they are actually asking. But really it comes down to their point of view.

    Why

    There are many possible reasons for the question. Most are probably innocent. Some, maybe not.

    Looking at it generously, many people simply are expressing that they have never seen anything quite like that and wonder if it is really real. It may look too good to be true. Has it been there all this time and they’ve just missed it? Maybe they have been to this place or one like it and they did not bring back any pictures that looked like that. They are impressed, but maybe skeptical.

    I will take this as a compliment.

    On the other hand, some ask suspiciously. Underlying the question is the implication that it is a fake. If it looks too good to be true then it is probably not true. Therefore I must have manipulated or over-processed the image to the point that it no longer represents reality.

    This is an interesting concept to me. Sometimes I like to engage them in a dialog, but most of the time I just ignore them rather than trying to educate them or get into a heated exchange.

    Look like to who?

    One of the simplest responses to the question is to ask “look like to who?” If the questioner was there at the same time they may have seen something different from me. Another photographer also probably would have gotten something different out of it. If a painter was there, they may well have interpreted it very differently.

    That is one of the things that makes art. Each artist brings their own unique interpretation of a scene or event.

    Underlying the “did it look like that?” question is the assumption that I am supposed to represent exactly what the scene was. That is your assumption, not mine. Get over it. I spent decades believing a photography should faithfully record a scene. I have grown well past that.

    I have never promised you I am trying to bring you images that are absolutely, exactly what a scene looked like. As a matter of fact, I promise that is not my goal. Unless it is what I decide to do. 🙂

    The negative is the score

    This is a great and classic observation from Ansel Adams. I refer to it often. As I have observed in another post, I consider that technology has brought us to a re-interpretation of the statement.

    The digital capture is raw material. It is no longer processed like a dance in a real time performance. It is edited and processes at leisure on the computer. We have the tools and the technology to go far beyond what could be considered in the film days. Alain Briot uses the French term esquisse. I believe it refers to an artist’s rough, preliminary sketch of a piece. This sketch would only hint at the composition and details of the final work. He relates the raw material of the image capture to this artist sketch.

    What a wonderful time to be an artist! Our imaginations are less constrained. We have more freedom to let our creativity reinterpret the raw material. Why constrain yourself? Don’t stop with the basic capture. Continue on to make it conform to the vision you had that compelled you to take the picture in the first place.

    What does it matter what it looked like?

    At the risk of offending some people, I will say that a reproduction of what a scene looked like can get pretty boring. Once you have seen it you know everything about it. There is no challenge. No mystery. Nothing to draw you back to look at it again and again.

    Unless I, as an artist, am able to bring something unique to it, what is the image worth? When I bring you my point of view, though, you have something more to consider. You may not agree with my point of view. It may not speak to you. But I want you to know that this is mine.

    I hope, of course, that my viewpoint will challenge you, make you think, make you see at least a small part of the world differently, maybe even open up your perception to other things. That is my role as an artist.

    Art is

    So I would challenge you that “did it really look like that?” is not the right question. It would be better to ask “what is the artist saying?”, “what does it mean to me?”, and “how can this help me see the world differently?”

    Art is art. It is a unique work of human creativity. It does not have to mean something. It does not have to faithfully reproduce a real scene in nature. It cannot be fake unless it is a mindless copy that brings nothing of the artist.

    Art is art. It is not truth. Any truth you find in it is what you derive for yourself from what the artist has shown you. It is a communication between the artist and the viewer. Both have to do their work.

    Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like.
    David Alan Harvey

  • Indoor Time

    Indoor Time

    Most of us are having to adjust to rather extreme temporary measures in our daily lives. Our focus has become on indoor time.I won’t say it is a “new normal” because I hate that phrase and it is tossed around too easily.

    This has caused most of us to spend way more time indoors than we are used to and are comfortable with. As photographers, we are accustomed to being out shooting a lot. So what are you doing with your new indoor time? I’ll give you a brief rundown of some of what I am doing.

    Filing

    I hate to admit it, but I was thousands of images behind in sorting and tagging and grading. I have spent MANY hours in Lightroom recently trying to get caught up. I’m not there yet, but I have dealt with thousands of images. That is tiring.

    But it also can be rewarding. I have run across a lot of images I had mostly forgotten about. It makes me feel good to find these pockets of images I really like. It encourages me that maybe I have a history of making decent images. Plus, they remind me of good times and great experiences I have had.

    Do I really need to do all this detailed filing? Probably not. But it is critically important (to me) to go through the sorting and filtering process to narrow them down to the set of images I am proud to show to anyone. For me, this takes several rounds of serious evaluation and making hard choices. It is very difficult for me to “let go” of images I really like that don’t make the cut.

    Post-processing

    Along with filing comes post-processing. This seems like a never-ending struggle. Trying to catch up on thousands of images that have not been processed yet brings with it the opportunity to edit many of them.

    I am constantly learning new techniques for processing in Lightroom and Photoshop. So this is a great opportunity for me not only to catch up, but to practice some new methods and get more efficient. And my values and vision seems to evolve all the time.

    I make it harder on myself because I am often not content to process an image and have done with it for all time. No, every time I take a new look at many of my images I have a different inspiration about what to do with a few of them.

    So between trying to catch up on a backlog of lots of images and re-processing many that I see differently now, I have a lot of work. Luckily I enjoy the post-processing in the computer. I view it as one of the creative parts of photography. But it is very time consuming.

    Backup

    Yes, I am a computer nerd. Well, I used to be. Now the computer is just a tool. I no longer have an intimate relationship with them. But as I have written in the past, I am fanatical about backup. This has been an opportunity to review my system and make some changes.

    I have levels and levels of backup. One of the last levels is rotating storage offsite (where they’re then backed up again. ☺ ). My offsite disks have been too small for a while to hold all of my main catalog. I had to restrict them to the “most important” images. That has been uncomfortable. It was a chink in the armor. So I took this opportunity to replace the offsite storage with larger disks. Now I can backup everything in my main catalog to each of them.

    WD makes some great little portable disk drives. This MyPassport drive seems very reliable and pretty fast. And the physical size is amazing for 5 Terabytes of storage. I do not receive any benefit from referring this. I included an Amazon link, but, honestly, I would recommend finding another vendor.

    Warning, when you attach a 5 T disk to your system don’t think you are going to just copy your files to it and be done in a few minutes. If your computer can transfer data to the backup at a rate of 100MBytes/sec, it will take a few days to do the initial copy. Subsequent updates only take minutes, because they typically only affect a few GBytes. There is 3 orders of magnitude between a GByte and a TByte.

    Study and read

    For an introvert like me, free time means reading or study time.

    One of the benefits of the popularity of photography is that there is limitless information available, online and in books. You remember those things printed on paper, don’t you?

    Ah, but that glut of information brings other problems. Who do you trust? How to separate the useful from the useless? There is a lot of bad or useless information out there. You can learn good information from a bad example, but I don’t recommend it unless that is the only alternative.

    I admit to being rather jaded. I am technical and creative and very experienced. It is hard for me to find someone I trust to give me good information. I don’t want to come across as arrogant. This is something that happens with lots of experience in a field.

    Two instructors I can recommend who consistently do great training are Dave Cross and Ben Willmore. They are fantastically deep in their knowledge of the tools and are good communicators. Plus, they mostly teach how to use and understand the tools, not “cookbook” methods for copying the results of someone else.

    So, in the spirit of good disclosure, I have been spending a lot of time on CreativeLive, KelbyIOne, The Nature Photography Network, John Paul Camponigro’s web site, and B&H’s archive of videos.

    I have also been reading books for inspiration, such as Creative Black & White, by Harold Davis, and More Than A Rock, by Guy Tal.

    Study your equipment

    I believe intimate knowledge of your equipment pays off. If you can’t use your tools rapidly and with little thought they will get in your way rather than help you be creative. This is an opportunity to spend time practicing with your camera.

    I moved to a mirrorless body about a year ago. I confess that I have struggled with it some. It is not as convenient and user friendly as a larger and more mature DSLR. I am comfortable using it for normal day to day shooting situations, but I could not pass the blindfold test like I could with previous bodies. That is, I could not reliably set the camera up for a particular shooting situation blindfolded (or in the dark).

    I love the quality of the images from the mirrorless camera, but I am having to spend extra time making it natural and intuitive to use. I am working on that as part of my down time.

    Get out and shoot

    I may make some people mad for saying this, but I am out shooting almost every day. Our officials here kindly allow us to be out walking, biking, etc. I take advantage of it to wander with my camera. I try to get out walking 2-4 miles a day. It is very good for me health-wise and for my sanity. Plus I like to practice shooting every day. Sometimes I even get a decent image.

    I also occasionally jump in the car and drive out of town for some photos. For instance, we had an unusually large snow last week (as I am writing this). I was out all afternoon shooting. It was great and very refreshing! For the sticklers, I was never within 20 feet of another person. But then, I do not worry about Covid and I am not concerned about catching it when I am out and about. I refuse to be paralyzed by fear.

    Time well spent

    These are some of the things I am doing in my “confinement”. I hope I will look back on it as time well spent. A chance to regroup, catch up on some things, refresh and recharge. I hope you are able to make productive use of your time indoors, too.

    Let me know how you are doing. I would love to hear from you. Sign up to receive notifications. Please visit my gallery site and let me know what you think.

    I hope you are well and I’m glad you’re reading! Even if it is because you are bored. 🙂

  • Behind a Mask

    Behind a Mask

    It seems like we are all looking at the world from behind masks now as the Covid-19 virus keeps most people locked in. There are other masks, too. It can be a metaphor for several things.

    I’m going to talk about fear and isolation. But I want to be clear, if you or someone you are around is in a vulnerable health situation, then you absolutely should take precautions. I’m going to address the wider population.

    Photoshop masks

    I have used layers and masks in Photoshop for longer than I can remember. Masks are a great invention here. They allow very selective and detailed editing or modification of anything in an image.

    Photoshop masks are one of significant features that allows Photoshop to be the most powerful and respected image editing software available. I will go out on a limb and say that virtually all serious Photoshop users use masks.

    But there is something special about Photoshop masks in regard to the metaphor of masks as I am talking about them today. Photoshop masks are completely a private, hidden thing. I use the masks as much as I choose to, but it is not visible or obvious to anyone looking at my image. It is a private thing between me and my image. No one knows if I used a mask and no one tells me I need to use one. No one cares, unless I’m “talking shop” with a colleague. Photoshop masks are not something we wear in public.

    Face mask

    Now days, though, most of us have to confront wearing physical face masks when we are in public. Fear of this horrible virus has made the world go crazy. Fights have broken out, even shootings over whether people are or are not wearing them. In some places you could be fined or even arrested for not wearing one. Even if not, you may be shunned or abused for not wearing one.

    What is this doing to us as a society? What is it doing to the kids? What precedents are being set for the next supposed crisis?

    How did a simple piece of cloth wrapped over our face come to mean so much to so many people?

    Fear

    Fear drives this panic. The media pumps it and thrives on it. Anything that causes widespread fear uncertainty and doubt generates ratings and revenue for the media. For weeks, every single story on my local media was about the virus. Follow the money. Only recently will something like a gory killing get a spot in the news.

    But the media is giving most people what they want. People have decided that this panic is important enough to control their lives. It is too dangerous to go outside or be with people. Something bad may happen. Better to huddle inside. Don’t go to work. Don’t go to school. Don’t go shopping. Don’t support you local businesses.

    It might not be safe.

    Death isn’t the enemy, fear is.
    Ellen Gilchrist

    Success tends to go not to the person who is error-free, because he also in risk-averse. Rather it goes to the person who recognizes that life is pretty much a percentage business.
    Donald Rumsfeld

    Speaking of the percentages, let me put some of this fear in context. As an Engineer in a past life, I look at data. Based on numbers published in the Washington Post on May 18 2020, the probability of you dying of the Covid virus in the US is roughly 0.0003 right now (90,991 death out of roughly 300,000,000 people).

    You are much more likely to die of heart disease or cancer. You are at greater risk when you get in your car and drive somewhere. And over 60,000 people die in the US each year from the flu – that is every year. All depressing to think about, but there is always a non-zero probability of you dying at any time. You could be struck by lightning or hit by a meteorite.

    But we shut down the whole world because we are afraid of this particular problem.

    Hiding

    So we hide. Being alone or just with your immediate family, who you can’t get away from, must be safe. Safety is everything.

    Going to school is not safe. Going to work is not safe. Visiting with your neighbor is not safe. Eating in restaurants is not safe. Going out walking is not safe. If you get a package you ordered from Amazon, let it set a couple of days before opening it, just in case. To be safe.

    Put up the shields, our face masks, when in doubt.

    Where did our faith in these little patches of cloth come from? A mask won’t do much to protect you from the virus unless it is made from appropriate materials and is thick enough. Very few of our homemade masks are effective. A mask won’t do much good unless it fits properly. Few do. And if you have facial hair, like I do, they are generally useless.

    For the most part, these have been sold to us by the authorities as a talisman to help us believe we are doing something to stay safe. Like most juju, they are mostly for making us feel good.

    Our masks are something to hide behind. To hold up to the world as an amulet to ward off evil spirits. Not necessarily a placebo, but close.

    But at what cost?

    Isolation

    Huddling at home, not going out except for emergencies, shunning all people – these things have a cost that may be greater than the cost of getting the virus.

    Despite all our wonderful technology, society and human beings work on personal interaction. It is critically important to interact with people. A smile or a touch means much more than a long email. Seeing a friend and shaking hands is vastly better than any text message. No matter how many emojis you use.

    A mask is a barrier. It is a wall. It says I am afraid of you so I am distancing myself. It says I assume you are dangerous so I am keeping away. It says that my perceived safety is more important than whatever interaction we might have had. It says I am retreating within my shell where I don’t have to be with you. Because I am afraid.

    And on a more personal level, it says I am willing to live my life under cover, huddled indoors, in fear because the world around me may not be safe.

    If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today?
    Steve Jobs

    I’m not willing to hide from life and people. I want to use all I can of today.

    Normal

    Where we are is not a “new normal”. It is a temporary panic. A world ruled by irrational fear. I hope that a long term effect of this is to make people re-evaluate their priorities. Decide what is really important.

    Jobs are important, but it should not be the center of your life. Entertainment is fun, but only as an occasional distraction.

    What are the things you have really missed during this lockdown? Is it family, friends, socializing with people? Even visiting with the people at work? Hugging or shaking hands with friends? Going to church with your people and singing and praying together? Sitting around people at a restaurant, being awash in the social interaction? Getting together with a group of friends and just talking?

    We have been denied this things. We have been told that perceived safety is more important than people. I believe our leaders have been wrong. Their fear for the safety of a few has caused massive distress for the many. We need to help our world get back to a better place.

    We need to stop hiding behind a mask and get back together with people. We need to evaluate what our priorities are and work to make sure they happen. Living in fear is unhealthy.

    Post-Script

    Many of you may not agree with me. That is OK. I hope to generate thought, not necessarily praise. Since I set out to be more self-disclosing in this blog I thought it important to say something about the largest event going on in the world around us right now. I promise, though, that writing about current events will not be a regular thing.

    I value your comments and inputs. Let me know how it is going for you and what you think!