(always) Learning to See ...

REFLECTION on “(always) learning to see” – one year on

This blog began with the objective of understanding better why I make photographic images. I suspect this question tickles the mind of most us after a while. Fantastically, one year on, I think I have found a good starting point for my own creative and photographic endeavors: I am interested in making work that responds to places that have touched me or moved me.

I have noticed that many of my more personally satisfying images arise from places that I have either camped in for a while or been slowed down by. Some places seem to speak to you or maybe I listen more when they quieten me. They have a sense of timelessness and intimacy.

Antarctica is the recent example. Wild, timeless nature whose openness contains and stills. A place that reached in and grabbed my heart so that I suddenly saw my heart in its hand and prayed it would not crush it, not too much anyway. And then, relief in the realization that this place is not all that concerned with me. In fact, not at all concerned since it is engaged with far weightier things. It feels so good not mattering in that way.

My starting point is therefore, to make works that attempt to honour the places that move my spirit and, perhaps, in some talismanic way, invite my imagination (and the imagination of a few others) to be in communion with Place. Not a unique goal but bound to keep me usefully occupied for a while. If I look at my work from recent years it is very clear that this has been my project all along, but it has taken a year of reflection using the blog for this to become clear.

Not all such Places are ‘raw’ nature. Bhutan, old Kashgar and, yes, Paris all fit within this project as well. There is also a parallel project that acknowledges images of People of Presence. If I winnow out the images that I don’t really care about, I seem to be left with these two: Place & Person.

What will all this mean for the next year of creativity?

I am cautiously using the phrases Spirit of Place and People of Presence. You will understand my caution: ‘Spirit’ invites entanglement with religion and worse and ‘Presence’ invites entanglement with the disease of celebrity. Think of it as a working title for now.

As some sort of enactment of this new understanding I have combined two of my websites into one robertvankoesveld.com. The blog remains separate. I am also experimenting with making transparent the word ‘(always)’ on the blog title; it’s been there in my mind from the beginning. One is obviously ‘always learning to see’; as Ursula LeGuin says - ‘one is always coming home’.

I have also made myself some mental signposts at the trail head. Picture the usual messages:

‘Leave only footprints, take (make) only pictures’ & ‘Remember to carry plenty of water’. Now I have added for myself:

‘The work can take many forms’

Print, book, multimedia, website, collage are possible. My collaboration with Libby on ‘the book’ (more about that closer to publication) has certainly confirmed how images that range from detail, portrait, grab shots and landscapes through to impressionistic can combine with words to produce a very worthwhile overall narrative given time and good design assistance and support. I have begun to realize that the print on the wall is just one of many possible ways images can tell a story and will keep experimenting with a range of forms.

‘You are a maker, not a business’

Perhaps because I have already had one profession, I now realize that I don’t aspire to being a ‘professional’ (commercial) photographer. This should help me be less tempted by attempting all options as a photographer or of being too concerned about advice and trends flowing from articulate commercial photographers. Perhaps I can enjoy the freedom to make creative works without a commercial imperative and the associated fashions. I remain clear (in a friend’s words) that I do want to make good work. This lack of commercial goals also frees me from the copyright and editorial misuse issues that are concerns right now in the photographic blogosphere.

A brief comment about process.

This blog has kept me looking at my own images and many, many images made by others. I typically follow about 30 other blogs as well as another 30 or so on tumblr. They in turn direct me to more. I also have been reading books and journals, a lot. So the emerging broad clarity comes from a process of reflection and winnowing. It has been good to reflect on what touches me or moves me in my own and in others’ images. There are lots of things that interest me, I am always curious about technique and other subjects, but interest is not enough I think.

As you can probably tell I am quite chuffed with how I am going with ‘learning (how, why, what) to see’ and hope the next year will be as productive.

TEKNOTE  Making Panorama Images

I have figured out a reasonably straightforward method for making panoramas after a certain amount of experimentation so I thought I would share the details.

I use a Really Right Stuff panorama gizmo (nodal slide) as shown in the attached image set (pic1) which allows me to adjust for the nodal point of the lens I am using. There is debate about the correct term but the goal is to ensure the rotation of the lens and camera is centred on the optimal point to produce joining with no parallax error. This is well explained here (http://reallyrightstuff.com/pano/05.html) in the RRS site. I have marked the correct position for each of my lenses on the nodal slide using a silver coloured pen and then put clear tape over that to preserve the information.

When used with the same company’s L bracket (pic 2)  it means I can make a panorama with the camera in portrait mode. That way there is plenty of room on the final image for cropping and I get an image with lots of detail. If you join images in landscape mode the resulting panorama can end up looking too long and thin after cropping out irregularities at the top and bottom. The nodal slide is light and small so you can just slip it in a pocket so it is there when you need it and is the simplest version I have found.

Here is the sequence I use.

1.     Set up and level my tripod. I have a bubble level on the base of my tripods centre unit, which makes this step straightforward.

2.     Set the ball head so it too is also level. It helps if there is a bubble level on the quick release plate itself. If the tripod or plate is not level the horizon will curve in the panorama.

3.     Attach the panorama nodal slide to the ball head.

4.     Attach the camera in portrait mode, locating the camera in the previously marked ‘nodal point’ that’s correct for the lens you are using. (pic 3)

5.     Find a good exposure level using your usual mode and then switch to manual exposure. Input the previously found setting. You want a good average exposure setting as there may be a variation of light across the scene. If you don’t use a manual exposure each shot in the series will be exposed differently and they will need lots of work to join properly.

6.     Find a good focus point, and set it. Then switch the lens to manual focus.

7.     Identify your start image using an image of a hand sign (e.g. one finger)

8.     Take a series of images with a lot of overlap (25-50%). I use raw.

9.     Identify the end of the series with a different hand sign (e.g. a few fingers)

10. If you have finished making panoramas reset the focus and exposure settings to those you usually use.

Now when you get home you simply build a panorama in CS4 (which you can do from within Lightroom after selecting all the images in your series using the panorama version of edit in…) I find the auto setting is fine. Now have a cuppa while Photoshop builds the panorama.

If you are happy with the result, then flatten and save the image. Don’t forget to adjust it using your usual approach to rebalance the image the way you feel works best. Images can be very large so it helps to have a fast computer with sufficient memory.

Really Right Stuff now have a panning clamp which means you can pan from the top of your ball head which eliminates levelling the tripod itself (pic 3) but is heavy which does take away from the simplicity and ‘pocket-ability’ of the slide on its own . Their new nodal slide is a bit longer which will mean it works with more lenses.

I have ordered from the Really Right Stuff website a few times from here in Australia with no problems.( http://reallyrightstuff.com) If you have not seen their L bracket have a look for that alone. They really do make switching from landscape to portrait mode so straightforward without throwing your tripod out of balance plus the L plate means you can use a monopod without any head at all, just a quick release clamp.