I recently watched the cinematography documentary "Visions of Light" (again) and I'm still fascinated by how much I discover more unique elements about photography each time. I always try to go back to shooting from a pure photographic view to not just remind myself why I fell in love with the craft but to open my eyes (better still EYE) to see and interpret light into the platform of the story or subject. No flash, just my camera and light meter.
Ask any photographer or film maker today who their heros and influences are and there's a very high probability they are going to mention people from the past. In my case Irving Penn and Cecil DeMille (The Ten Commandments) are the most profound inspirations for my approach to my work. We are in a very technological period of our time and we practically have every tool to accomplish any task and I'm not referring to just photography or film or any art related medium. This is great, but how helpful is all the advanced technology to our creativity? I don't need to remind you about the constant comparison of digital vs analog which by the way still rages on today.
The masters we look at and get inspired by had limited tools but did some of the most jaw dropping creations which makes us still go wow today. Take The "Ten Commandments (1956) for example. The parting of the Red sea effect was accomplished by the simplest camera tricks. Irving Penn (RIP) used very simple lights, one light and window lights very often. Some of his early nude projects created in the forties were exhibited for the first time in the eighties. Movies today are saturated by CGI. The average photographer today spends more than a third of their time completing an image on the computer. So is technology dictating our creativity? Yes, I think so, to an extent. That is why I think it is very important for artists to once in a while go back to the basics and try to remind ourselves where the passion for craft stemmed from and in turn utilize the tools we have today to push the boundaries of our work.
too true. technology shouldn't just be used to make things easier, it should be the catalyst to inspire exciting frontiers no one has ventured to before.
ReplyDeleteand i agree about the need to strip down and go back to the bare essentials; creativity at its purest and most innovative.