August 1, 2014 – Breaking the rules, Concerned Photography, Creativity, Discovery, Expression, Imagination, Inspiration, Perception, Photo Education, Photo Fundamentals, Photographic Issues – Tagged: Alternative, art, artist, artistic, book, camera, camera club, creativity, John Neel, lens, light, member, photo, photo club, photo group/w, photography, Rethinking Digital Photography, seeing, sunsets, truth, vision
Camera Man – John Neel
Vault – © John Neel
Tent – © John Neel
Big Snake – © John Neel“photo club rules”
I’ve never really cared much for photo clubs. Every time I’ve been to one, I get an uncomfortable feeling about what they do. Or perhaps it is what they don’t do that bothers me.
The problem I sense is that they have too many rules. More specifically, they have a ton of very stringent and archaic rules about what constitutes a good image. They have strict beliefs in stuff like the rule of thirds, perfect places, straight horizons and the Kodak moment. They gather in their meeting places and regurgitate pretty much the same kinds of images over and over again.
There are endless images of smiling faces, worn out buildings, pretty flowers, birds and insects of every kind, sunset skies, and those milky long exposure waterfalls. They also like to use colored mats and funny frames or to print on canvas. Their images don’t change that much.
It’s not that we don’t need to see the beautiful. Rather, there is so much more that needs to be seen.
Now and then, someone shows something a little different. It might be an old slideshow from God knows when, or maybe a few racy nudes took on one of their group expeditions.
To me, most camera clubs seem cemented in the past and narrow-minded in their ways. Images are rewarded on how well they follow compositional rules and in many cases, who knows who.
Mostly, it has to do with their concepts of what a photograph might be.
Art is one of the disciplines free to do what it needs to do. True art is a challenge to reason and common senselessness. Its task is to question the status quo.
An artist can stand an image on its head or turn it inside out. Art is a puzzle that stirs the imagination. What may appear to be problematic is, in fact, a way to the realization of something new, something hidden, and something profound.
To look at art is in many ways a look at oneself. It is a kind of mirror.
Imagination doesn’t come with a set of rules. If there is anything art should do, it might look for the truth. Great art is meant to disturb, question, stimulate, and inspire. Art is supposed to open our eyes to something we did not know or to something we had forgotten about. We are supposed to create something new that makes us think.
Art is meant to skew, revolt, repulse, incite, inflame, and question. It is meant to surprise. Art is supposed to turn us inside out. It is a roadway to finding who and what we are. While artists know what the rules are for, an artist doesn’t follow the rules. A real artist doesn’t need them.
The rules are simply guides for holding attention. Once the rules are understood, the artist is free to create without them.
Self-expression implies self-created, which implies that the work is the unique realization of the individual maker. It also acknowledges the variations in human cognition that allow us to see things differently. We are all living within our own completely individual universe. No two people think alike. Our minds are what we use to express what we think and what we see. To attempt to be like anyone else diminishes our ability to self-express. Speak with your vision. Express in the way you see the world. Turn the world upside down. See the world with your own eyes. See with your own heart. Your imagination is what you have that is different than anyone else.
I should also say that a real artist doesn’t ordinarily follow the crowd or belong to an artist club. An artist is pretty independent. An artist speaks his or her mind and is unencumbered by what an image should look like.
Art is work!
The artist’s job is to entertain the soul.
What could be better than that?
Please have a look at some of my other posts here.
I cover many photographic topics and techniques in my book. – Great Photography book for any creative Photographer.
I am currently working on a new book about photography, which I will announce when it comes closer to the publishing date.
Rethinking Digital Photography – John Neel
NOTICE of Copyright: THIS POSTING AS WELL AS ALL PHOTOGRAPHS, GALLERY IMAGES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS ARE COPYRIGHT © JOHN NEEL AND ARE NOT TO BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT FROM THE WRITER, THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND/OR lensgarden.com. THE IDEAS EXPRESSED ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND THE AUTHOR.
