In a few days from now you will probably be seeing a lot in the news regarding the 30th anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars movie. That one movie marked a major shift in the entertainment/movie industry and blasted all of us out of the doldrums that came with the depressing, bland movies of the ’70’s.
Although the first movie caught everyone’s attention and more than captured the imaginations of just about every pre-teen at that time, it was the second - The Empire Strikes Back - that took that captured imagination and mixed it with some basic lessons in Zen Buddhism, all in the form of a three foot puppet named Yoda.
“What’s in there ?,” Luke Skywalker asks as he peers into a dark cave emitting a frightening blackness of the dark side. “Only what you take with you,” comes Yoda’s enlightened reply.
Even at the young age of 14 I understood immediately the ageless lesson being taught.
Only what you take with you.
It’s amazing how we eventually come back to those basic lessons, but not just in how we face our fears, but also in how we face our dreams, hopes and vision.
That’s why I think this lesson is so important for success in the field of visual arts - drawing, painting and of course, photography. And not just nature and landscape photography, but all types including abstract, portraiture, commercial, photojournalism, editorial, etc.
So many amateurs - and even a few pros - forget that the most important tool to develop, hone, enhance and protect can not be found in a camera bag or purchased from eBay. It’s not the camera with the highest megapixel sensor (besides, there’s more to a good sensor than the number of megapixels being captured) or the biggest piece of glass or the very latest in desktop hardware and software that makes the photographer.
It’s the artist within, namely the artistic vision that is unique to the individual photographer. How he or she approaches his or her subject will have far more to do with the final outcome of the image captured. And not just people subjects but also those subjects we find in the natural landscape. Just as people will respond according to either the negative or positive vibes they pick-up from the portrait photographer, so does the natural landscape respond according to how well the photographer approaches, sees and makes him or herself aware of the delicate nuances of the natural light of a particular area or location.
Back in August of 2000 I had the great opportunity of learning the finer points of photography under the tutelage of David Middleton - not only of the best nature and landscape photographers in the field but also an outstanding teacher. One of the many lessons stressed by David is that a photographer must resist the urge to lug-out all of his or her equipment as soon as they get to the shoot location and start firing away, leaving with many exposed frames but not one, decent image that goes beyond just average. Instead David suggested that the photographer first take a hike or walk - depending on the location - without camera gear, and just become aware of uniqueness of the spot, sensing the light, seeing the subject and all-in-all becoming one with the scene. Sometimes a great image will result. Sometimes the photographer will never even bother getting his or her gear set-up because there was something about the location that just didn’t work, be it the light, no opportunity for simple and effective composition or elements in the scene that just simply didn’t work well together. No harm done. At least it was a good walk and another lesson learned.
Photography - as well as all types of visual art - is not a numbers game, and that’s something that today is even harder to resist due to the convenience of digital technology.
Eventually I will get myself involved with teaching nature and landscape photography workshops, and one of the first things I will do is insist that my students leave behind their cameras, at least for the first few hours or day depending on how much time we have together, and just simply go “for a walk,” noting all the possibilities, the light, what will work and what to avoid.
Learning to see as a good photographer is learning to see all over again. To that we have to be willing to “let go” with all the technological junk and forced anxiety that results from the pressures of modern day society. We also have to be willing to let go of this strange, insecure need for constant competition with the other, i.e. “my gear is better, I have more megapixels, I know more about Photoshop, I have a bigger lens, blah, blah, blah.”
Let it all go. It doesn’t mean a thing if you are not true to the artistic vision that lies within.
“Your weapons, you will not need them.” Just as what’s inside of us will guide us through our darkest fears, so to will it bring us to create, to build, to learn and to share those visual treasurers that our truly unique to how we see, not simply what we see.
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