Ralph Waldo Emerson was a writer and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement in the mid 19th century. I’m not by any means a big lover and follower of quality literature and poetry, and not a follower of Transcendentalism, but what I remember reading about him was that he was a big supporter of individualism…and so am I. Only recently did I find a quote he said somewhere in the late 1800’s. It immediately stuck to me as it fits perfectly into the way I present my way of thinking to both my online classes with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

He once said, ” Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”. This really hit home to me a few weeks ago when I was asked to give a talk and show my work to a local camera club at their yearly show and dinner.

First, let me say that being a member of a local camera club has a lot of advantages. If you’re into the social aspects as in: meetings where you get together with people that share your love of photography, drink diet cokes and unsweetened ice tea while exchanging current trends, or enter into club competitions where the best photo is not always picked, then a camera club is the way to go….and can be a lot of fun. You can also take workshops given by other members…if you’re so inclined.

Having said that I’ve spoken at many camera clubs over the years and have judged several of their yearly competitions. At some point during my visit several of the members have pulled me aside and said that although they love my presentation, if they were to submit photo composed the way I compose, they would be made to stand in the corner and subsequently ridiculed in front of the entire membership.

Ok, maybe they didn’t say it exactly that way, but as far as the way I seen things, the truth is that my photos would never be accepted into their show; certainly not win any ribbons.

🙁

Here’s my standing reply to these few souls that have evidently lost their way, “Start your own camera club”.

These are the photographers that were given coloring books when they were young and were told to color inside of the lines. As a result, now, as grown-ups, they strictly adhere to all the rules of photography and woe be to those that deviate in any way.

I’m talking about the staunch supporters of the Rule of Thirds, never clipping the highlights, and the Leading in Rule, to name a few. They will never give up their life long beliefs nor have any of them ever been interested in my online classes or workshops…which is absolutely OK with me!!

Live by the rule, die by the rule seems to be their hidden agenda and mantra.

The few of my fellow photographers that want to venture out into the creative world where coloring outside the lines is the best way I know to taking photos “up a level”, and that stand out among others…then as Nike would say, “just do it”.

To be sure, I’m not saying to never follow the rules, or not join your local camera club. I’m saying to not live and die by those rules If you don’t believe in always following the rules, and following the same path as your camera club members, then don’t. Go your own way and blaze your own trail then maybe you can help others that feel the same as you (or more importantly don’t) get together and follow the path you’ve blazed.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram.  check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

One of my favorite quotes is actually the title to a famous country and western song entitled, “I saw the light”, sung by one of the true country legends, Hank Williams.  Not that I’m a die hard lover of country music or a religious person, but years ago whenever I was shooting on location, chasing and finding the light, I would sing a couple of verses to sort of celebrate my good fortune and timing.:

I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light.

If you’re interested, here’s Hank singing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtolv9kM1qk

Btw, my crew thought it was REALLY getting old!!!

The analogy I’m drawing is what I teach in my online class with the BPSOP, or in one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.  I tell my fellow photographers that light is everything; you find the light and you’ll find the shot. The only exception is in photojournalism/street photography where capturing the moment/action can transcend great light and therefore be more important…every once in a while you can get both!

I’m always looking all around my environment and peripheral vision for that moment when I see the light hitting or falling on something. Light is so fleeting that once you see it, you have to act fast or you’ll lose it. Sometimes the light returns, as in a cloud moving across the sky, but I’ve found after forty-eight years of shooting that once it’s gone…baby it’s gone!!! Light will make the difference between going home empty handed or being less satisfied because of a gray day when you could have slept in.

When you do see it, while running towards it, you should also be thinking about how you’re going to use it. Sometimes there’s a subject or center of interest already in the light, and sometimes I look around for something to move into the light. The faster you can determine that the better your chances are of capturing it.

Are you going to side light, back light, front light? These questions need to be addressed and put in order of importance. In other words, try to light your subject from as many points of view as you can. I always try to start out backlighting or from the light in the ten or two position. Then I’ll look at my subject as it’s side lit. Finally and rarely will I front light anything…why?

Because when you front light, your subject will lose the third dimension, depth. The one exception is when the background behind your subject is dark, making it stand out.

Here’s what I saw when I see the light:

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Imagine me singing away when I’m seeing the light!!!

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and www.instagram.com/barabanjoe Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me and we’ll sing in two-part harmony.

JoeB

Ok, you’re asking yourself what Kenny Rodgers (a well-known CW singer from the past) might have said that has stuck with me and became a euphemism that applies to my Photography. In the song “The Gambler”, Kenny Rodgers sang these lyrics:

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run. I’ve always loved those words, and I’ve actually found myself singing them (discretely) when out shooting. Ok, let me finally explain:

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I’m constantly asked when do I walk away from taking a photo? How do I know when it’s not working the way I thought it would? Do I just take the photo anyway and try to fix it later? This last question really gets me!!!!

Here’s what I have to say on this subject:

For me, it doesn’t take very long for me to fold em. For one thing I “Pre-visualize”  Over the years I’ve managed to create an imaginary 2X3 rectangle right behind my eyes. When I’m either walking the streets or setting up an actual photo. I look through this rectangle and try to visualize the composition before I ever bring the camera up to my eye. It’s an easy exercise and one all my fellow photographers should at least try.

This exercise will eliminate a lot of time and energy I go through in composing a photo. To add to this exercise is a critical step in my thought process. Determining the direction of the light. If the light isn’t right, I’ll walk away sooner. If I can’t get the light to work for me, I’ll run away.

So now, the light is right and I’ve brought the camera up (horizontally) to my eyes. I look for the balance between the Negative and Positive space and if it isn’t feeling right within a few seconds I’ll try it as a vertical. I’ll look around for props or people I can add. I’m not the type of photographer that won’t change or move something to create a better photo. I’m out “making pictures”, not taking them. Finally, I’ll also ask someone if he or she would be in my photo.

If none of this works, I won’t spend any more time on it…why? Because as I’m always telling those students that stay with it too long, “The best photo you’ve ever taken may well be your next one, and that could be right around the corner”.

Don’t feel like you have to stay with it and take something as so many photographers do…just to be taking a picture. And don’t think about fixing it later in front of a computer. That’s not going to make you a stronger photographer. However, it will make you a better computer artist…if that’s your cup of tea.

In the above photo, I was just about ready to fold em. It just wasn’t doing anything for me. Then I saw the boy and his mom walking down the pier. I asked if I could put him in my photo. Then, I knew to hold em.

Btw, if you’ve never heard this song, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDwCMxPwJ_4

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog.

JoeB

I always think that I was fortunate to not have studied photography but to have studied art instead.  That’s not to say Photography isn’t art because I’ve been preaching to my fellow photographers that take my online class with the BPSOP, and my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, that a camera on a tripod is just the same as a blank canvas on an easel.

I still consider myself an artist, I just changed the medium from a paintbrush, pastels,  and colored pencils to a camera. When I did it was “instant gratification”, instead of the hours and sometimes days or weeks finishing a drawing or painting.

When I got my first camera and looked into the viewfinder, I saw a rectangle. Since we perceive and process information in a rectangle (3:2 aspect ratio), I simply applied everything I had learned from studying all the elements of visual design in my drawing and painting classes to Art History and Color Theory into my newfound passion….photography.

Throughout my education in Art, I studied its history from the Italian Renaissance painters of the 15th and 16th century to the Impressionists, Post Impressionists, to the 20th-century modern artists…my favorite being the very founder of abstract art, Wassily Kandinsky.

Although Dadaism and Surrealism were not my favorite movements, there was one painter I liked, Man Ray. I tolerated his paintings, but what I enjoyed was some of his photography. Over the years I’ve occasionally seen his work in museums and galleries and one day, not having anything to do, I googled him up and found one of his quotes that I immediately related to.

Man Ray once said, “Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information”.

I could relate to this because on a couple of occasions when I’ve been talking to one of my students, I was told that I could explain the ‘how’, but what they liked most was that I could also explain the ‘why’. In other words, I could show them how to ‘make’ stronger images, but then I could explain why they were.

One of my online classes is all about the psychology of Gestalt. In this class, I talk about the fact that humans rely on the perception of the environment that surrounds them. Visual input is a part of our everyday life, and as photographers, it’s our prime objective to present this visual information in a way that takes control of what the viewer sees when looking at our imagery.

This is where the elements of visual design and composition come into play. These elements have been a part of art since the beginning, and knowing how to use these elements when creating your photos will always answer the ‘why’. Once you’ve put these elements on what I call my ‘Artist Palette’, it enables you to see what others can’t and this has always been the inspiration that has kept me going…after fifty years of taking pictures; the same inspiration my students walk away with.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out the workshops I offer at the top of this blog. Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/Come shoot with me sometime, and we’ll talk about the how and the why.

JoeB

  I’ve been trying now for a while today, trying to locate the author of one of my favorite quotes, “Don’t let the low hanging fruit keep you from your goal”.

Nowhere on the information highway does it mention it. However, I did find an article that in a matter of speaking, is a metaphor that fits perfectly.

“Pick the low-hanging fruit first”?

In business, going for the easiest win first can mean a quick payoff, even if the fruits of your labor are, well, a bit misshapen. But according to 30-year apple-picking veteran Henry Rueda, starting with “low-hanging fruit” is a load of horse apples. Rueda says it’s common practice to pick trees from top to bottom so that the sacks of apples that pickers carry around their necks grow heavier as they work downward.

To pick the low-hanging fruit first would mean climbing against gravity with an increasingly heavy load—and also preventing heavily-shaded fruit from ripening. “Fruit that is high up, exposed to the sun, ripens the fastest,” adds USDA plant breeder Gennaro Fazio. “You want to pick the low-hanging fruit last, so it has more time to develop.” Using this phrase can make you look less than intelligent even though it’s one of the most common sayings.

So, my fellow photographers, what the hell does this have to do with the price of beans, a.k.a. photography?

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I work on getting people to take a ‘Master’ shot first, then segue it to other ways to look at the same subject. In other words, you want to work your way down from the top.

The  Master shot will help you stir up those creative juices; think of it as the oil to get your motor running. Once you do, then you can look at all the lower hanging fruit. One reason that immediately comes to mind is the quality of the light.

It would make sense that the subject near or at the top is going to have the brightest light on it. If you spend time at the bottom, you’re going to miss the light at the top. Chances are that there will also be light at the bottom so when you come back to it, it might be the softer, warmer light that memories are made of. Above all, depending on where you put it in relation to your subject, will make the difference between a potential wall hanger or a photo destined to fall on the cutting room floor….as in deleted!

Shooting the low-hanging subjects will (maybe) give you the quick payoff…instant gratification, but it won’t fill your basket (compact flash card) with choices. It’s the choices that will give you the best chance to go home with a photo you can put over your fireplace.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out any upcoming workshops. Come shoot with me sometime. Follow me on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/

JoeB

Ok, so my guess is that you’ve never heard of this guy. Well, it would take two things that would help…being old and loving CW music…Country and Western, that is!

I qualify for one of them, maybe both. I’m old enough to know Leroy’s rendition (Dione Warwick made it famous). I’m not a fan of current CW music because to my ear it all sounds the same. However, I do love the music from the forties and fifties.

The other day I had on a classic Country and Western CD, and this song came up. When it did, I immediately thought of what I ‘preach’ to my students that take my online classes with the BPSOP and those that come with me on one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I have been conducting since 1983.

The title of the song is, Walk on By and the reason why I identify it to my teaching is that I’m invariably being told by one of my fellow photographers that even though they can’t seem to create a good composition, they go ahead and shoot it anyway.

Personally, I can’t think of a worse (photographically)  decision…if your goal is to become a stronger shooter. If you’re not happy with your photo, then skip it…Walk on by. The best photo you’ve ever taken could very well be your next one, and it could be waiting for you right around the corner.

In the old days when you were shooting film, and you had to pay not only for the film but the processing as well, you might have given it a second thought. Unfortunately, in the digital age, you can shoot as much as you like and not worry about the cost.

I say cost in a monetary sense. The cost to your ability to pick and choose based on the quality of the subject matter and the following composition is priceless. It’s hurting you far more than you can imagine.

Give this some Digital Thought the next time you’re out shooting. If it doesn’t feel right, then it’s probably not….Walk on By and think of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QlqQA8CyjE

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this post. Come shoot with me sometime.

https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/

JoeB

We recently went to the Van Gogh exhibit here in Houston, and there were several of his quotes written on the walls. One, in particular, struck me as the way I not only teach but the way I personally approach photography.

In my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct all over the place, and in my online classes with the BPSOP, I encourage my students to realize that we’re artists. We have chosen the camera as our medium. A camera on a tripod is just the same as a blank canvas on an easel.

My personal approach is that I rarely see things as they are, rather as I’d like them to be.  I see things in my mind, and if I can see them there, I can usually create them in the camera.

Van Gogh said, “I dream of painting, and then I paint my dreams”. I’ll walk up to some location/photo op and not necessarily see what’s there. In other words, based on my thought process, I have no problem moving things around in my composition to see what I want. Of course, this is predicated on whatever permissions I need to get ahead of time.  If I need another one of those chairs that will introduce another shape or color, then I’ll move it. Conversely, if I need to simplify my composition, then I’ll take one out.

Photography, unlike painting, is the Art of Subtraction. When you use a brush on a blank canvas, you add subject matter until you get a finished work of art. In photography, you take away subject matter until you arrive at a finished work of art.

In my fifty-two-year-plus career, there have been many times when I was about to start on a project or leave for a destination I had pre-scouted before the start of my workshop,  and the night before I dreamed of how I wanted to arrange my composition.

So, my fellow photographers, think about the artist inside you. Don’t just go around photographing what you only see, but also what you’d like to see. Don’t follow the path well-traveled, start a new one and be the first one to go down it. When you do, think about coloring outside the lines.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out any workshops I may have coming up. Come shoot with me sometime.

https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/

JoeB

Ever since I started teaching workshops, back in 1983, I’ve collected quotes written by various artists. Whether they were photographers, painters, writers, musicians are of no relevance. The important thing to me is that they are artists, and at the top of their game in their respective fields.; of course, the quote has to deal with some area that I’m interested in.

Years ago while studying a body of work by Ansel Adams, I came across a quote he said that has stuck with me all these years, and one I mention in my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet. Ansel Adams said, “There are no rules for good pictures, there are just good pictures”.

What makes this quote so important to me is that I’m always defending it to my fellow photographers. If I had a dollar for every time a student told me that he was taught that shooting into the sun is a bad thing, or practice the Rule of Thirds, or the Leading in Rule (always have your subject walking into the frame), or how about this one….stay away from the color red, it’s too hard to photograph (who in the world said that?), I’d be on my Island right now. I’d be sitting on a chaise lounge on my beach, waiting for another blue and frothy drink to be brought to me; a drink with an umbrella hanging perilously down from one side.

Now I’m not suggesting that you don’t know what these rules are, as it’s important to know them. I’m suggesting that as soon as you know them…forget them. That is unless you want to be taken down the one-way road to mediocrity.

So my fellow photographers, what constitutes a good photo? Well, if you’ve been following my posts, you would remember a category I called “did it do it”. On my list is concepts that I think make a good photo. At least they do for me, and I’ve thought about this list for most of the fifty-three years I’ve been a photographer.

I can tell you from years of experience, the students of mine that stop listening to people who lived and died by these silly rules and started shooting what felt and looked good never looked back. As I’ve always told my kids, “Color Outside the Lines”.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule.

https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/

JoeB

Edward Steichen was one of the early photographers that did so much to transform photography into an art form. His images were always in his newly created magazine called Camera Works. Which incidentally
I have several original issues.

A prolific photographer who was so influential in changing the way the people in that era thought of photography as more abstract than realistic.

One of his quotes has always been one that I have passed on to my online classes with the BPSOP, and also in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops. He once said, “Always be ready for the unexpected to happen.”

Just how do you do that?

Well, there are many ways, but here are five that I’m always thinking about when I’m out ‘street shooting’.

1) In my workshops we invariably are shooting in the middle of the day, a lot of time in narrow streets in some small village. Half of the street might be in shadow, and the other in full sun. Regardless of what side I’m on, I will shoot several exposures to get the one I want and set that reading in my camera…that’s set on manual. That way, I’ll be spot on when something unexpected happens. I wouldn’t want to have a reading based on the full sun when whatever happens, happens on the shady side and I’m too far away to help later in post-processing.

2) One of the things I’m constantly seeing when I’m walking down the street with a fellow photographer is that he/she almost always just looks straight ahead. What that means is that person only sees twenty-five percent of the possible photo ops that are taking place all around. If something does happen and he only sees it in his peripheral vision, by the time he can look at it and react, whatever it was is long gone.

3) Whatever you do, don’t keep your camera in a pouch on your waist, backpack, or camera bag. When you get to your desired location, decide what lens you want to use FIRST and put it on.  Whatever you do, don’t decide when whatever it is that you’re excited about is happening. That might open an entirely different can of worms…like feeling rushed and drop something you didn’t want to drop.

Having said that, if the location is one that might offer a landscape, or something that isn’t constantly changing, you have the opportunity to look at it (and shoot) with a different focal length lens. Of course, that depends on how much of that really good light you have left.

4) Now that you settled in with the lens you want, keep your ears and nose open to noises that might offer a photo op. For instance laughter, the smell of hotdogs, or pizza, sounds of the city, as in construction noises, commotion, etc. I have often followed those noises leading to a ‘keeper’.

5) Pay attention to any action and try to anticipate the same action that would happen again. For example, the photo I’ve shown above. I saw the wonderful late light hitting an intersection and people walking through it. Because of where I was standing the light was completely unexpected, and I just knew that it was going to be the place to stand.

I got my exposure set as far as what shutter speed/aperture combination  I wanted and took a few exposures to get it to where I wanted it…doing all of this in the camera instead of in front of a computer.

I waited and waited and after fifteen minutes this woman came walking down the street. It was a great photo op and because I was ready for something, I was excited but not to the point of rushing my one or two exposures before she was out of the light.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot the unexpected with me sometime.

https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/

JoeB

Here’s a quote that I absolutely relate to, and in one form or another I’ve been preaching it to my online class with the BPSOP and my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops that I conduct around our planet for as long as I can remember. It was said by one of my all-time favorite photographers Ansel Adams. He once said, “A good photograph is knowing where to stand”.

One of the most common mistakes I see is when one of my fellow photographers is at a location, walks up to an object or a subject, takes the camera that’s dangling around his/her neck, and starts shooting. Oblivious to where the light is coming from, and the environment surrounding said object or subject.

Now I’m not saying that you can’t walk away with a good photo, I’m saying that the chances of walking away with a REALLY good photo greatly diminishes. If a good photo is enough to satisfy you, then I say to each his own and more power to you. If you’re looking to improve your chances of going home proud to have taken one of the best photos ever, then I suggest you adhere to a few steps that have been my line of thought for nearly fifty years of shooting.

First of all, and the most important step is knowing in what direction the light is coming from. Is your subject one that will look better if it’s side lit? Perhaps to show off the texture? Is part of your subject translucent where backlight will make it glow? Do you want it to be a silhouette? Do you want to emphasize the shadows? These are all possibilities that are front and center in my thought process.

Let me digress for a moment and interject this thought: If I’m walking around some city street looking to capture a moment in time, then that moment can transcend directional light; but to me, that’s the only time.

“In a perfect world” is a personal pearl of wisdom I mention from time to time. In this scenario, I’m talking about being able to scout a location before you actually go and shoot to determine where the light is coming from. If you’re like me, you like to shoot at sunrise and sunset when the sun is low on the horizon…the golden hour.

The last thing I would ever want to happen is to be at a location at sunrise when I should have been there at sunset, and vice-versa; or at a location that doesn’t get early morning light until mid-morning. Conversely, a location that loses the late afternoon light well before it’s time for me to start shooting.

For as long as this old mind can remember, I’ve been feeding in the latitude and longitude of any place in the world to find out where on the horizon the sun will rise or set.  Based on those readings, I use a hand-bearing compass called a Morin2000. This enables me to know exactly where the sun will come up and go down. If I’m able to scout the location ahead of time, I’ll know where to stand, when to stand there, and how long I have to stand there.

If scouting is not possible, I at least walk around and look for places to stand...in relation to the source of the light. Do I want to sidelight, backlight, or occasionally front light? After I make that decision, I can begin arranging the elements that will be in my final composition.

As far as the environment that surrounds my subject is concerned, I want to make sure it’s in sync. In other words, the relationship between the subject and what’s around it is of equal importance; especially the negative space that’s between them…defining them. I call it taking care of “the whole enchilada”.

The photo above was part of an advertising campaign for Pacific Bell where we went to four small towns (actual places) and set up a phone booth and photographed it. We arrived in Nameless, Tennessee the day before to scout the location, decide when to shoot it and where to put the phone booth. Without prior knowledge, this photo could not have been set up before the sun came up and taken moments after sunrise. It felt right!

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

As some of you might know and hopefully read, I have a category I call “my favorite quotes”. These are quotes I’ve picked up over my forty-four year career as an advertising, corporate, and editorial photographer. Some I’ve stumbled on by accident or by reading, and some I’ve been sent by friends who are always looking out for me.

These are not necessarily quotes by famous photographers, but quotes by well-known artists in their own right. Painters, musicians, poets, and writers all share a common thread, the ability to think, see and feel with both the left and right side of their brains. From Marcel Proust to Bo Diddley, and from Bob Marley to Claude Monet, these artists share a common bond…basically, the ability to make people feel good through each of their individual artistic mediums.

One of these quotes was written by Elliott Erwitt, an adverting, corporate, and editorial photographer who at the age of eighty-six is still making his art. He once said,” Photography is an art of observation. It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them”.

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the world, I tell my fellow photographers that once you start seeing past your first impressions, you’re pictures will take on a different, more pronounced look. A look that will keep the viewer an active participant, and as a result will stick around longer.

So many photographers just don’t spend the time looking. They all seem to be in a hurry and as a result, they miss out on the ‘good stuff’. I teach people in my online class with the PPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops how to incorporate the elements of visual design and composition into their imagery, and they walk away with what I call my Artist Palette that holds these elements.

I tell my fellow photographers that there are two ways to see things: with the left side of your brain and the right side. The left side is the analytical side and that’s what Erwitt’s message means when he says photography has little to do with the things you see.

The right side of your brain is the creative side. This is where the second part of Erwitt’s quote comes into play. He finishes the quote by saying it’s everything to do with the way you see them.

I had just checked into my hotel room and as usual, the first thing I do is look out the window. What I saw is the image shown above. It was a bridge, according to the left side of my brain. However, upon closer observation, the bridge transformed into several elements of Visual Design. Here are the elements that I saw: A Vanishing Point made up of two converging lines that moved the viewer across the frame and met at a point on the horizon. I saw shapes consisting of a beautiful triangle that the converging lines created, squares made by the trestles, rectangles made by the reflections of the trestles, and lots of diamonds. There was Negative Space that defined the trestles, and patterns created by the trestles themselves. Not to be missed is the Visual Tension created by showing the bridge and its reflection…and of course an arrowhead.

This is the way I saw the bridge.

JoeB

When I first started out in photography some forty-four years ago, I shot primarily Black and White. I worked for AP, UPI, and I was a Black Star photographer, a national photo syndicate. It was several years before I started working in color, and in that beginning period of time, all my favorite photographers shot black and white.

Among them were:Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorthea Lange, Walker Evans, Ernst Haas, most of the photographers in my favorite photo book called The Family of Man” to name a few. Having said that, my all-time favorite photographer is W. Eugene Smith. His images speak to me like no others living or dead. As it happens, one of my all-time favorite quotes was said by him. He said, “Available light is any damn light that’s available.”

As I tell my online students with the BPSOP, and also in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, light is everything. You find the light and you’ll find the shot. I’ll often have a discussion with one of my fellow photographers (who insist that an on-camera flash is the way to go), that in my long career I’ve never, and I mean not once ever felt that I needed this kind of contrasty harsh, bluish, hot ancillary light to make good photos.

To digress a moment, don’t you just love it when someone a couple of rows down from you uses a flash to record what’s way down on the stage…and all he’s lighting up is the back of a few heads a couple of rows in front of him. I get a better shot with just the available light.

I’m mostly an available light photographer. I’ve always found a way to use whatever available light is around me when I thought it was needed. The problem is that photographers these days just don’t take the time to look around them for help that may very well be hitting them right in the face. Remember that if you can see it, you can take a picture of it…especially now in the digital age where cameras can record images in very low light.

Even in situations where there just isn’t any actual sunlight, look for man-made light like a flashlight over on a table, or a desk lamp, or as in the photo above, a welding torch laying over against the bags of cement. I had him pick it up and make it the brightest flame he could. As I say, you just have to open your eyes and look around…somewhere lurking in the shadows is the answer to your problem.

You just gotta…Stretch Your Frame of Mind!!!

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Gordon Parks was a well-known African-American photographer who broke the race barrier shooting for magazines such as Life and Vogue; he then went on to directing and screenwriting.

What struck me when I first read some of his thoughts was a quote he had once said, “If you don’t have anything to say, your photographs aren’t going to say much”.

When I’m critiquing images submitted to me in my online classes with the BPSOP, and during our daily critiques in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around our (round) planet, I can usually tell right off that the photo they took had no meaning. No real meaning because the photographer didn’t have anything to say.

This will usually occur when someone has taken instead of making a picture. I have seen it when a photo has been submitted for a critique in my online class, but more importantly when I’m walking around when one of my workshop participants.

I understand that these photographers want to take as many photos as they can since they’re in places where most people don’t ever get to see. However, I would rather take fewer images that say or mean something, just enjoying the experience, than bringing the cameras up to my eye because that’s what it’s there for.

It boils down to editing my photos before bringing up the camera or deleting them when sitting in front of a computer. For me, taking precious time to stop and ‘take a picture’, is just burning a lot of daylight.  After all, I figure that the best picture I will have ever taken up to then is the one just around the corner enveloped with beautiful late afternoon light.

Having said all this, there is something to making your family slide show last awhile. Describing your feeling at the time of conception in other words when you click the shutter, to the people that you bribed with dinner and wine, can take the place of the photo standing on its own conveying what you were thinking at the time you clicked the shutter.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, follow me on Instagram, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB