How has your photography changed in the past few years?

[Asher Kelman]

I have been looking at photographs taken by pretty skilled photographers. some have the distinct feel and these seem to be the essential look they have developed. However, shouldn't we evolve.

Certainly fashion and glamor has moved in the past 3 years so that, as I'm told, the two have blended to demand more of the model and photographer. So have you moved with the times in your work or is a photograph taken 5 years ago shot the same today?

If you have changed, what influenced you?

• Fashion?
  
  
• Other photographers?
  
  
• The Web?
  
  
• Your own evolving point of view?
  
  
• Camera or software technology?
  
  
• Shooting new kinds of subjects or for different purposes?

I hope we are not static and aren't also just lemmings!

Asher

 

[Deleted member 55]

Asher the biggest influence on my photography has been digital.

It is the feedback time loop going to near zero from around 1 to 2 weeks with film.

The ability to totally understand the relationship between cause and effect has had a major effect on my work. This is why photography schools shoot then develop the same day. With digital there is very little you have to remember about a shoot and what there is to remember(lighting setup) you only need to for a very short time before seeing the results. With the larger screens on the newer cameras the learning and adapting has been in near real time.

 

[Charles L Webster]

I'll agree with Will here. Changing to digital made a huge difference in my photography for 2 reasons: one is the instant feedback that Will mentions, and the other is the effectively zero-cost of shooting.

I can shoot as much as I want without going bankrupt, and I can see my mistakes immediately and correct them.

I can't think of a better way to improve. It allowed me to do what my art school photography instructor recommended years ago. "To become a better photographer, you must shoot every day"

 

[Rachel Foster]

I don't know that I would have gotten into photography if I had to pay for developing every shot.

 

[fahim mohammed]

Asher, I have evolved by devolving into the realm of film.

What has moved me in this direction is the proliferation of digital cameras and film emulation software and the cockpit that is present on today's digital cameras.

It is the subject, the feel, look, handling and pleasure of the equipment I use, the process and of course the absence of immediate gratification that has brought the joy of photography back to me.

I cannot stand clean iso 6400 files!

 

[Ken Tanaka]

The medium of digital photography has unquestionably facilitated a much freer, consequence-free environment for photographic experimentation. Exif data has further provided an enormously powerful, rich technical reference resource for the (relatively few) photogs who take time to study why some of their shots suck or shine.

But the the medium itself has not influenced my use of photography. Whether there's a sensor or film at the butt end of my lens makes no real difference on the lens' trajectory. Nor have other photographers really influenced me. I do not attempt, for example, to mimic any photo style. I've no interest in lighting portraits like Greenberg or snapping abused workers like Salgado.

What has most influenced my photography over the years, and particularly during the past year, has been the art world. Specifically most recently I've become very interested in capturing natural imagery of a more conceptual, expressionist nature. You can see a few samples here. Yes, I still photograph conventional scenes and subjects. But using the camera to capture extraordinary visual swatches of the everyday world has become far more interesting to me and has been the principal catalyst in changing my photography.

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

The change for me was a hunger

I have been shooting since 1971 but in 2001 I went to Alaska with a new slr. I started taking classes and then doing as much travel as I could to keep up. In 2003 we got a 1 mp and in 2004 we got a Canon G2 but still shooting film. When the 10d came out I ran to buy one. I was going to be a film purist - no photoshop. All jpg shooting. I upgraded to the 20d and was not happy that my lenses did not work the same (my favorite lens being the 50 2.5 Canon Macro). When I got the 5d in 2006 I realized my thirst and started pouring myself into practice and learning. Class after class. Reading everything and anything - still shooting JPG until about 2 - 3years ago,

I feel like the drug addict who cannot get enough. I cannot shoot enough, I cannot read enough. I cannot chat enough about photography. And with each step and class and session, there is thirst for more. I see what I am doing and the progress my images have taken. There is always mroe to learn and I hope I am never satisfied. I still have more to learn. I know I have reached a special place when a major player in the photo world invited me to place images in their tradeshow booth. I had dinner tonight with an accounting client who is a Marketing Manager for a fairly large company. He was blown away by some work I showed him and indicated that he hopes that my passion will take me to the next level and then offered support. I have my fingers crossed. I have reached a place where when I shoot, I routinely achieve the results I wanted and there are few discards now.

Step by Step. This is how it's changed for me. I hope my thirst remains.