David duChemin presents: CONFESSIONS OF A SO-CALLED PRO

[graciousness]

I should have posted a thread advising people about this webinar, but I just listened to a one-hour webinar with David duChemin and it was great! I took some notes down so I can share it with everyone here.

Sorry if my notes are very short - it's hard to listen and write at the same time whilst playing games with my toddler. If anything I wrote is not clear, let me know and I'll try my best to extrapolate on what he discussed.

Please note that what I have jotted down are very short, abridged versions of what David discussed. There's a lot more to the ideas that he discussed. I think you can actually go to the website (Manfrotto School Of Xcellence) and get a copy of the webinar archive if you like. This one should show up in a couple of weeks in the archive section.

David is not comfortable with the "professional" terminology as it conjures up different kinds of ideas for people, as if the standard of your work is only measurable if you are a deemed pro. There are lots of amateur photographers with astounding work and at the same time, there are a lot of professionals who do mediocre work. Hence, the title is as such - confessions of a so-called pro. He gets paid so he is a pro. He's just not comfortable with the label.

David duChemin presents: CONFESSIONS OF A SO-CALLED PRO
Manfrotto School of Excellence Webinar

Below are the key points he discussed.

A paycheck does not validate art. Don't disclaim yourself as a photographer because you're not getting paid. Don't give up just because you're not getting a paycheck.


Photoshop is not photography. The skill of photography will happen with the camera, not the darkroom. The photograph is made IN the camera. Time in front of the camera is not the same as going out in the world and using your camera. Yes learn photoshop, but work on your craft with your camera.


Go out and make photographs.

Lose more lens caps. Stop being so neurotic about the gear. Don't keep your camera hidden, don't protect them and not take photos. Use them. Gear breaks. Don't let babying your gear get in the way of taking photographs.


Slow down. Better experiences make better photographs. Don't be afraid to come home with fewer photographs because you took your time to observe, relax and enjoy the scenes instead of being frantic trying to take as much photographs as you can. Remember that photography is there to serve you, it's there there for you to serve it.

What you know now is enough. You can still take photos regardless of how much or how less you know. There's no race. You don't have to know about everything and it shouldn't stop you from taking photos. You can't learn everything sitting in front of the computer. You do by shooting.


My Camera is Amazing! (My Camera sucks!) If you can't make a great photograph with your old camera, then you can't make a great photograph with a new one. If you can't see the moment, if you can't frame a photograph, it doesn't matter what gear you use. Don't spend the money thinking you're going to make better photographs with new gears.

Keep your overhead as low as possible. Photography is a business. Gears get outdated everyday. Spend your money to go out building your portfolio and shooting and travel if you have to instead of aiming to upgrade your camera because you feel you could benefit from an upgrade.

Photography is about photographs, not cameras. You need to look at photographs, study photographs to understand photography. Look at other people's work to understand why and how people make photographs. Be inspired and react to photographs. See how the artists use lines and colours and why they chose that moment to take the photos. Spend more time looking at photographs instead of looking at the recent camera catalogues.


Don't learn the rules and don't play by them. There are no rules. This is art. There are reasons other photographs work better than others. There is no rule of thirds. There is a principle, but it doesn't mean you have to adhere to it. Art is meant to break rules, not conform to them. Don't hesitate to play and push. This is how great art is created.

[WinkBlu]

Great tips!! Thanks so much for sharing

[ElCapitanoAwesomo]

Originally Posted by graciousness

Photoshop is not photography.
The skill of photography will happen with the camera, not the darkroom.

I agree with everything stated, except I definitely don't agree with the italicized statement. I initially did, but I have learned otherwise through working in a darkroom for film work. The darkroom is as much or more important than the actual picture-taking itself.

Here's the reasoning that I've learned: While the actual process of taking the photo is very important, it doesn't necessarily translate perfectly the way you may have envisioned the photograph turning out unless you spent the time to perfect the print making processes. Much in the same way a film photographer was dependent on either being a talented printmaker or having a talented printmaker to make the photo come to life. There are very often conditions out of the photographer's control that can be mended in post, be it digitally of traditionally.

Granted, I see where he is coming from; instead of focusing on getting the exposure right in camera, many simply go into PS to mend it. (Another issue that I personally mess around on is white balance.) With film, you may have an underexposed image, and make it work by just extend the exposure on the print, and like wise, in PS, you can toggle the exposure with significantly more ease.

Overall, I'm of the opinion of getting it right in camera and and finishing and polishing it up in post, but if I need to, I wouldn't hesitate to try to mend an awfully exposed or what not photo digitally if I thought it had the potential. Fantastic lecture, though! Thanks for taking notes and sharing!

[graciousness]

I thought that would provoke some sort of disagreement regarding photoshop.

He didn't say not to use photoshop or not edit. He simply stated that photoshop doesn't make the pictures, but it's made in the camera. Meaning, GO OUT THERE AND USE YOUR CAMERA. SHOOT. Pictures are made when we use our camera, not sitting front of the computer spending hours and hours editing.

Again, he reiterated it's not about editing vs not editing, but only simply the idea of making photographs witn your camera. Framing, composition, vision/subject cannot be created or done in photoshop. Create the image in your camera, but don't have the mentality that it's photoshop that creates it.

[metallion58]

Originally Posted by ElCapitanoAwesomo

I agree with everything stated, except I definitely don't agree with the italicized statement. I initially did, but I have learned otherwise through working in a darkroom for film work. The darkroom is as much or more important than the actual picture-taking itself.

I have to disagree with you on this one.
Yes, PPing is very important but that's a tool, not an end. Your raw material (pun fully intended ) is THE most important. And that is your picture from the camera.
If you start with a crappy picture, you won't get great results. Just a crappy picture with make-up on. The fact is, the better the picture Sooc, the less PP you have to do.
And PP steals time from taking pictures...

[mosgood]

Originally Posted by metallion58

I have to disagree with you on this one.
Yes, PPing is very important but that's a tool, not an end. Your raw material (pun fully intended ) is THE most important. And that is your picture from the camera.
If you start with a crappy picture, you won't get great results. Just a crappy picture with make-up on. The fact is, the better the picture Sooc, the less PP you have to do.
And PP steals time from taking pictures...

My thoughts were exactly in line with your words before I even read them. If you take a really crappy pic, & try to fix it in PP, you'll just end up with a really crappy PPd pic.

There's another techie way of saying the same thing: "Garbage in, garbage out." No amount of editing will fix (yet) an out of focus, badly composed photo, etc. Nor can PP fix poorly exposed pictures.

[ElCapitanoAwesomo]

Originally Posted by metallion58

I have to disagree with you on this one.
Yes, PPing is very important but that's a tool, not an end. Your raw material (pun fully intended ) is THE most important. And that is your picture from the camera.
If you start with a crappy picture, you won't get great results. Just a crappy picture with make-up on. The fact is, the better the picture Sooc, the less PP you have to do.
And PP steals time from taking pictures...

I guess I state my thoughts very clearly. I meant, in shooting film, the process of printing in the darkroom is as important as the actual photograph itself. You can have a fantastic photo, but if you don't have the skill to make it translate the image to the print, what's the point? I guess from a fine arts perspective versus simply shooting, it was important to have a vast knowledge of both skills, much as it is today.

[metallion58]

Stated that way, yes, you're absolutely right. And even today, we see people ruin an otherwise good picture by over/under doing it in PP.
All stages of the workflow are important. That's a given. However, the core remain in the original picture. In the camera.
If the photographer cannot translate it's vision in the camera, from the start, there's not much to be saved, IMHO.

[homank76]

Thank you for taking the time and writing all that down.

[mikoyan]

Photoshop is a tool just like anything else. ABusing it is not photography. One of these days, I'll complete my Ansel Adams collection and get "The Print" but I think there is a reason he wrote the books the way he did. Photography is a process. First there is the taking of the picture, then there is the negative and then some of the stuff you could do in the darkroom. With the advent of digital photography, the darkroom is out of the picture and I think that Photoshop can take the place of that.

As for losing gear...The Huron River has claimed two lens caps (both in the same place) and the Detroit River has claimed two Michigan hats. I woulrd prefer not lose items...but I guess it's better that it's a lens cap and not the camera or lens.