Monday Blog Blog: Jeff Bridges On Widelux Photography, James Rhodes Death By Piano, Brent Bryson: Big Rocks First And Chris Guillebeau On The Creative Life

Port Of Stockton, San Joaquin River Deep Water Tidal Channel, Great Central Valley, California, copyright 2012 by David Leland Hyde. Nikon D90.
(See the photograph large: “Port Of Stockton, San Joaquin River, Great Central Valley, California.”)
Diverse ideas occasionally combine into surprising new thoughts that lead to innovation. A number of leading photographers as well as well known writers have said that to excel in any creative endeavor it is important to gather new ideas from nay disciplines. I would like to pass along a series of ideas I found in fairly rapid succession on Twitter. I tend to watch for synchronicity anyway and notice bizarre juxtapositions, at least for humor, if not for new fixes to old challenges.
(What in the world is Monday Blog Blog?” See the blog post: “Monday Blog Blog Celebration.”)
It is refreshing to hear actor Jeff Bridges talk about his own photography because neither his presentation nor his photography were affectations. He has been photographing a long time and doing it with a genuine, down-to-earth approach respectful of the medium. This is more than a great number of photographers today can claim about photography or celebrity actors can claim about much of anything besides acting. Take a look at this interesting video of Jeff Bridges Special Presentation at the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Awards via “A Photo Editor Blog.”
With the Jeff Bridges video in mind, read The Guardian’s Music Blog about concert pianist James Rhodes and his remarkably different way of looking at life and success. He describes living a completely obsessed and out of balance creative life… and loving it… but more importantly how freeing this perspective is. Says Rhodes, “My life as a concert pianist can be frustrating, lonely, demoralizing and exhausting. But is it worth it? Yes, without a shadow of a doubt.” How does this work for him? What is his secret? To find out read James Rhodes: Find What You Love And Let It Kill You.
Holding in your awareness both Jeff Bridges’ approach to photography and James Rhodes creative philosophy, read Brent Bryson’s blog post called, “Life Lessons.” The ideas expressed by Brent Bryson and the story he presents, can also be found a number of other places, including in various writings and speeches by Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Apparently since Covey and Bryson have not sued each other, the story must have originated somewhere else. Regardless, it is an important life lesson, one none of us can be reminded of too often.
To top off your conglomeration of important and unusual creative ideas, watch the long format lecture by Chris Gullebeau via Chase Jarvis’ Blog. Chase Jarvis introduces Chris Gullebeau by saying that they agreed the night before, “To have a nitty-gritty, no holds barred show where they would talk about things you aren’t supposed to talk about, talk about your struggles as you work and try to figure [the business of photography] out.” Chris Gullebeau is the national bestselling author of The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World as well as other books including The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future
. His genius lies in living the life he enjoys while writing bestselling books about it. Chase Jarvis travels over 150,000-200,000 miles a year, while Chris Gullebeau logs 200,000-300,000 miles a year. While I do not agree with or relate to this level of travel even for business, as it is not good for the planet, both of these young entrepreneurs set a fine example in many other ways. Besides, there are advantages to travel. In this video Gullebeau says it forces change. It forces an identity shift.
The first audience question Jarvis asks Gullebeau to address is, “How do you balance your creative lifestyle with responsibilities and paying bills?” Balance is a subject both men often hear questions about. While balancing our human activities with what is good for the earth and what keeps us in touch with nature is a healthy pursuit, the seeking of balance as an end in itself can be, well, imbalanced, just as Gullebeau points out. Gullebeau’s answer lines up well with some of the earlier references in this blog post:
I’ve never been interested in living a balanced life. I think balanced people don’t change the world, or really follow a dream. This doesn’t mean you don’t have responsibilities… sure you can have a family, but balance is like a made-up word invented by corporations to make their employees think they are happy. If you love your job that’s great, but I hear from a lot of dissatisfied people that write in from big companies saying they’re reading my blog from a cubicle and say, ‘I have this good job, health insurance, Yoga on Thursdays, but I’m not really fulfilled.’ How can you live a fulfilled life? Lots of creative people do it. I don’t like the word balance, myself.
Chase Jarvis agrees:
The goal, then is to create a fulfilled life, rather than a balanced life. I feel like balance makes me sort of numb because it means I’m checking all the boxes that I’m supposed to be checking. When I feel like I’m balanced, I feel I am unable to do great things. I like to live in a more creative place.
These two talk more about the subject, both of them saying that they often go to sleep so excited about work that they can’t get it off their mind. This is a good problem to have. I have this same pattern, but sometimes during the launch phase of my writing, Philip Hyde Photography and D. L. Hyde Photography, which has gone on far longer than expected because it’s more like a launch phase combined with a cleaning up of old business phase, I get discouraged at the sheer volume of work to be done. My friends see this and suggest ways I could stop doing what I’m doing. They perhaps don’t understand phases. I will sooner or later move more into the work I’m meant to do. This will result in a much more fulfilling life, but I probably won’t ever live a completely balanced life. My sometimes girlfriend often has given me a hard time for not being more balanced. After seeing James Balog sacrifice his life and body for Chasing Ice and the Extreme Ice Survey, she began to understand me a little and why balance is not as relevant for everyone as she may have once believed.
The video discussion between Gullebeau and Jarvis also covers aspects of Chris Gullebeau’s writing career and how he paid the mortgage as he learned. Jarvis mentioned that one of the challenges in our culture is the process of going from one vocation to another and the juggling involved. Gullebeau’s answer addresses time and starting a business on a shoestring at a small scale at first while you are working at what pays the bills currently. In the long video show format, many other topics arise in relation to goals, success and the accompanying hurdles, struggle, self-deception and honesty, intellectual neediness, focus, relaxation, breaking through barriers, the post-accomplishment letdown, plans, communication, endings and much more.
Let me know what you think of any or all of these recommendations…
Monday Blog Blog: Mark Graf Up Close, On Ice Or Underwater
March 16th, 2015Mark Graf: Notes From The Woods PhotoBlog
Lessons On How To Make Captivating Nature Photographs Almost Anywhere
Coral Reef, Little Cayman, Caribbean Sea, Nikon D700, Nauticam underwater housing, dual Inon Z240 strobes. “This photograph represents a lot of what I enjoy about the underwater world. Everything you see is animal life. Animals familiar, and some very foreign to land dwellers. All of which make the ocean a fascinating place to explore, and deserving of our attention to preserve the highly complex chain of life that exists within it.” (Click on image to enlarge.)
(What in the world is Monday Blog Blog? See the blog post, “Monday Blog Blog Celebration.”)
Learning about photography online is richest and most rewarding not in attending tutorials, photo schools, forums or other large blog or magazine sites, but in finding talented single photographers who have a distinct voice or a specific niche, something in common with you, or the type of advice or specialty you seek, or something different you admire, then developing a blog relationship with them.
One photoblog I discovered five years ago in my first month of blogging was Mark Graf’s Notes From The Woods. Not only do I admire the way Mark Graf approaches photography and blogging, he is one of the best at encouraging discussion and creating community, yet he appears to do it nearly effortlessly, with nonchalance and a lack of blowing his own horn that is pleasant and surprising in today’s often ego-driven photo social media world.
Graf makes his home in Detroit and has photographed and specialized in the natural places and wildlife of Michigan, Alaska, the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, as well as other states and bodies of water since the year 2000. His photography has been widely published in magazines and books and used by a long list of commercial clients in the financial, travel and education spheres. He specializes in placing large fine art prints in hospitals and other medical facilities to provide a calming, tranquil atmosphere for patients. Part of his core philosophy as an artist is the idea that everything is connected in the web of nature. Mark’s short biography and artist’s statement are well worth reading.
One day a few years ago I visited the New York Times Opinion Pages Dot Earth online and suddenly there was a photograph by Graf called “Fracked,” as well as a commentary on the image and his other photographs he makes by photographing mineral laden rocks up close. Abstract photography is one of his specialties. To learn more about the photograph from the artist’s perspective see Mark’s blog, Notes From The Woods and the original blog post about “Fracked.” Also, take a Google at some of the many other blogs and websites that published articles about the innovative image “Fracked,” including StateImpact a reporting project of NPR, National Public Radio.
Fracked, Nikon D800, Nikon 105 f/2.8 Macro lens, cross-polarized lighting. “This abstract of Cherry Creek Jasper was photographed during a time when natural gas fracking was fresh on my mind from a number of news stories. The red cracks symbolized the wounds we are creating in the Earth. The appearance of them above and below a horizon symbolized what we do below the Earth can have an impact on the atmosphere above. This image was referenced in the New York Times Opinion Pages Dot Earth Blog.” (Click on image to enlarge.)
Graf has written about how Michigan, for the most part, has less dramatic landscapes than many Western or other states and countries. As a result he has developed his macro and underwater photography and diving. He also finds nature in small areas and preserves, often owned by the Michigan Nature Association, which he supports and works with. The Michigan Nature Association, Mark said, “Buys sensitive plots of land and prevents any development or recreational use other than hiking and education.” They are a non-profit working to protect Michigan’s threatened and endangered species through habitat preservation. Since 1952, they have established more than 170 nature sanctuaries, the largest network of such natural areas in Michigan.
When Graf writes for Notes From The Woods, he sometimes states his opinion, but he writes his posts in such a way as to leave plenty of room for other viewpoints. He shares the various sides of any given discussion or method and asks his readers for their thoughts. I will discuss certain aspects of blogging here because I feel Notes From The Woods is one of the most accessible and easy to relate to examples of how to run a photography weblog around.
There are subtle issues that come up in commenting on blogs and receiving comments. The two biggest complaints I hear from bloggers about comments are: 1. “Most of the people who comment only do so hoping I will return comment on their blog” or conversely, 2. “Some blogs I comment on never reciprocate by commenting on my blog.” As a photoblogger, if you comment right back each time anyone comments on your blog, you tend to get into a lot of “tit for tat” relationships. If one day you do not maintain the chain of exchanging comments, comments tend to dry up on your blog. If you never reciprocate by commenting on other blogs, you will not receive many comments on your blog either. There are a few blogs that are extraordinary exceptions to this pattern. Also, at least some comments come from those who truly appreciate the writing or photography.
Graf has found the happy middle between the two opposites of never reciprocating and constantly reciprocating. He comments back selectively and intermittently. Mark visits and comments on Landscape Photography Blogger when I write something that catches his interest, but there is no noticeable correlation to when I comment on his blog. Thus, with his lead, we have avoided the rut of an endless half-sincere comment trade. This alone sets Notes In The Woods apart in my mind and causes me to think of Graf Nature Photo in a favorable light. When I get very busy, his blog is one of those I visit first, while I may not get to many of the others I usually read. More fundamentally, I have been following and commenting on Notes In The Woods now for five years because I found Mark’s writing and photography intriguing and ideas provoking. His blog was also rated highly by blog ranking websites, which meant to me that he knew what he was doing and would be interesting to learn from. I was not disappointed.
Ice Sheets at Twilight, Nikon D800, Nikkor 14-24mm lens. “Photographed on Lake St. Clair, Michigan – which is about a 25 minute drive from where I live. I only photograph here in winter because of the dynamically changing conditions of the frozen lake. I am always surprised at what the lake offers up to me in terms of compositional elements.” (Click on image to enlarge.)
Graf has a way of sharing often small, yet vital photography pointers sometimes through his own mistakes and with a humility, friendliness and real-world insight that can be lacking in other photographers who have as much experience. I always look forward to reading what he has to say, or what I can learn, or be reminded of, in his blog posts. Many aspects of digital photography that were different from film, I discovered there.
Not only does Graf’s blog provide an excellent learning experience, but his photographs have much to teach those who care about nature and wish to capture it with integrity. At the same time, with many innovations that go beyond the literal image, we see in his work the cutting edge of artistic expression in digital photography today. Mark began this journey by using double exposures and other effects with film photography. See his article about it on NatureScapes called, “Departing from the Literal Image.” Today we see in Graf’s photographic art various blurs, pans, movement of objects and other effects, all executed with taste, often in camera rather than in Photoshop, giving natural places dignity. He still makes multiple exposures in camera, which is one reason he uses Nikon digital cameras: they make it possible. His use of special effects adds to and helps bring out the beauty around us, rather than supplanting it in a gimmicky way like much of the awkward pictorialesque imagery seen online today. To a number of his images he adds a circular blur either in post-processing or in camera. The images in which he chooses to use this whirl effect, or any other technique for that matter, help us see the details and patterns in nature, rather than covering them up. For an education in digital photography, be sure to study his online photography gallery of portfolios. You will be glad you did.
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Tags: Alaska archival fine art digital prints blog comments Caribbean Sea Detroit fine art photography Fracked landscape photography macro photography Mark Graf Michigan Michigan Nature Association Midwest nature photography Naturescapes.net New York Times Nikon Notes In The Woods NPR Pacific Ocean Photoshop pictorialism special effects underwater photography wildlife wildlife photography