Inspiration to Document & Capture Life
A Journalist’s Diary
January started with delays and hurdles. The month showed me again how valuable it is to turn to wells of inspiration to stay afloat during a dry spell.
In today’s post, I’ll share inspiring photography talks. They spark with passion for making emotional images that place the human side of events front and center.
I also found a conversation about the importance of personal photography projects, which reminded me to work on revitalizing one of my personal projects, which has been caught in a holding pattern since the pandemic.
Finally, I found a revealing interview with a legendary photographer, which adds perspective and reminds me of the value of visual journalism and photography.
Inspiring Talks
I enjoy photography talks and journalism discussions. It’s fascinating to see and listen to work out there and the people behind it. It’s an inspiring and motivating pastime I can enjoy with a cup of tea just as much as I could enjoy a good movie.
Nikon frequently organizes a series of talks during photography shows (and I’m sure many other players in the industry do the same). Such events have reduced over the years, but the recent photography show “Imaging USA” brought back a series of such talks.
I’m still working through the three days, which include thoughts on powerful portraiture, how to use specific lenses to your advantage, and, among many more, how to accentuate the human side of events.
I picked “Approach Powerful Portraiture” as my starting point.
Being a generalist is important. Generalist describes photographers who are open to cross genres, experiment, play and are ready for whatever comes their way. That’s a valuable reminder in all areas of life, I find.
If you spend 30 minutes with Joe McNally, Jim Graham, and Mike Corrado, you’ll also hear the story behind some of their outstanding photographs.
The trio reminds us of the value of photo books for inspiration and how the camera can be a ticket to witness life. At the same time, it can be a “buffer,” as Graham puts it, a shield that helps introverts through challenging situations (or anyone really because being nervous, even a little shy here and there, as the discussion nicely emphasizes, is part of the job and nothing to be ashamed of).
I won’t add my two cents about every discussion I’ve watched.
But I highly recommend the talk “85mm Magic: Crafting Versatile Visions Through a Single Lens!”
I’ve never used an 85mm lens, but I got close with Olympus’s 90mm equivalent Micro Four Thirds lens, which I owned alongside my first proper camera, and loved the lens to bits.
This talk with family photographer Audrey Woulard is a good reminder that one lens can often be all you need, whichever focal length. Her talk includes tips, tricks, and reminders that also apply to other lenses and focus more on thinking creatively with the equipment you have.
She favors thought processes over a trunk of equipment. I enjoy that perspective. There’s value in thinking about your surroundings and how you can make them work for you before thinking about different equipment.
I’ve been pleased with 105mm in recent years (a focal lens used for multiple pictures discussed in the first video) and haven’t used a zoom lens (outside of three one-week rentals) since 2017. I still plan on giving 85mm a chance one day because 105mm is often just a tad too long indoors (and that’s where the expansion of creative thinking comes to a natural end, I’m afraid).
Other talks I’d like to suggest are Jim Graham’s “Light, Shape, Moment and Spirit — Looking Beyond the Obvious,” “Sports Photography: Searching for the Human Side” with Rod Mar, and Gilmar Smith’s “Beyond the Frame: Adding Fun and Personality into Your Photography.”
But those are my preferences. The list includes something for everyone’s taste and photographic preferences — have a look here (you need to provide an email address to watch, but it doesn’t cost any money).
Even if it may feel like photography these days is all about gear and increasing automation, if you look in the right places, you can find “spellbinding” gems of photographic inspiration (to borrow a word from a comment below Dan Winters’s “The Road to Seeing.”
This talk is part of the 2023 B&H Bild Expo, a photography expo, which runs with the apt tagline “inspire, learn, create.”
Those three words are why listening to photography talks is fascinating. I always hear something that speaks to me. It makes me hungry to photograph and evolve my photography through practice. Photography talks offer snippets of knowledge that I can experiment with. If any of it adds to the way I approach photography isn’t the important part. Growth begins when I experiment and actively consider doing something new.
It’s a 50-minute presentation that I enjoyed much. Winters practices a wide spectrum of photography, from celebrity portraiture and scientific projects to aerospace photography and photojournalism.
He emphasizes the value of appreciating the history of photography and sends a great reminder that, while it’s phenomenal that everyone can produce sharp images these days, great photography still requires the person behind the device.
Winters speaks about his magazine portraits, which include the art of set building.
The portrait of Angelina Jolie stands out to me. The image is part of a campaign to protect bees and plays homage to Richard Avedon. I highly recommend you listen to the planning of this image and how it turned out, a fascinating little photography magic anecdote.
My favorite part was the photo essay segment, especially the final selection of images that represent “just seeing” with a 50mm lens and no other fancy equipment.
It’s sad, in a way, to think that a talk like this receives 8,000 views when gear-related photography videos get hundreds of thousands of views.
The Value of personal projects in photography
The final photography talk is part of the 2022 “Depth of Field” photography conference (also hosted by B&H Photo). The theme — personal projects — drew me to Jessica Hines’s: Personal Photography Projects That Matter.
The project discussed in this video is called “My Brother’s War” and tells the story of the photographer’s brother, who served in the Vietnam War and later committed suicide.
It’s an incredible war story about the costs of conflict on the souls of those living it. The project is a fascinating memorial. It consists of historical photos, visits to specific locations, and still-life scenes about (or of) the letters her brother sent her from the war.
I’m fascinated by Hines injecting herself as the storyteller into some pictures by including her hand or thumb.
I highly recommend you consider listening to this conversation about a personal photography project that matters.
If you remember, I worked on a personal project about my family, but the pandemic and life changes halted meaningful progress. I used the Christmas break to see if I could revitalize the project. Hearing about this wonderful project makes me eager to push.
An inspiring legend opens up
I close today’s lines on photographic inspiration with a Vanity Fair story about the legendary conflict photographer Don McCullin called As Wars Rage in the Middle East, Anti-war Photographer Don McCullin Discusses “How Futile Violence Is.”
If you follow the link (it is behind a paywall, but you get one article for free without the need to register), you’ll find a conversation between McCullen and photojournalist Mark Edward Harris, who’s covered, among other events, the 2011 Japanese tsunami for Vanity Fair.
It’s a phenomenal interview with a very honest photographer.
McCullen speaks about photographs he messed up by composing the tragedy before him too well. He also speaks about living with guilt because of his work.
I enjoyed the many lively anecdotes from his decades-long career, which spans many conflicts long forgotten by the news cycle.
What I enjoyed the most was McCullen’s emphasis on compassion in journalism.
I hope you’ll find many more photography gems yourself by spending time with this interview. Everyone will find something interesting, from film nostalgia to meeting photographers that — like himself — filled the pages of photojournalism history books and the visual library in his mind.
While I’m slightly sad about the resignation McCullen feels about society and the impact of visual journalism, I love the release the 88-year-old has found for the stresses that come with a lifetime spent embedded in conflicts. McCullen treats landscape photography as his “shrink.”
You’ll also find one of the most beautiful photography quotes I’ve come across in the same segment of the interview. I like to use it to end my thoughts on this must-read interview. “Photography isn’t just about pressing a button,” McCulen says, “it’s about having an experience.”
That closes today’s photography inspiration collection. I hope you’ve found something interesting. I’ve used the time working on this post to sharpen my mindset and will return with practical photography on Sunday when I have something boxy to show you.
