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The key to growth as a photographer? Prints on the table!
Over nearly four decades as photographer, I have come to believe that one of the best ways to grow as a photographer is to have other photographers evaluate your work in a process I call “prints on the table.” In this brief podcast, I explain that process and the thinking behind it.
14
Sep 11
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Like most people, I enjoy motion pictures (or movies.) Although I took a few classes in college on film history and film theory, I do not really know much about the media, other than what I like. Having said that, I have long had one eye on the movie business for a few reasons. First, there is a lot more money and acclaim for filmmakers as compared to still photographers. Secondly, I knew the explosion in digital imaging was going to inevitably change the movie industry, just like it changed the still image business. Recent events set me to thinking about all of this change and prompted me to try to hammer out a blog entry about movies vs. stills, from my purely personal perspective.
03
Jun 11
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As photographers we all make images, (duh.) By making and sharing those images, we also shape how others perceive the subjects that we photograph. I was thinking about this over the last few months as I was traveling in the U.S.A and around Asia, (where I am writing from.) While I was in New York City, particularly Times Square, I crystallized my ideas into this blog entry. I am starting to understand (and worry about) the ongoing cycle of how images become part of our perception, which further shapes the next imagery, which shapes the subsequent perception.
25
Mar 11
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I generally write (blog) as way to organize the jumble of activity in my head. I am writing this particular entry after six weeks in India (and what seems like an equally long flight to get home.) The flight was not really six weeks of course, but the intensity of how experienced the two flights left me thinking about how we initially encounter and later remember experiences. Photographs often facilitate this process. Some discussions with family in India prompted me to think further about the intertwined relationship between images, family stories and memory.
09
Aug 10
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Who are the next victims of creative destruction?
Do you think there has been a lot of yelling and screaming as digital technology has transformed the world of photography (and more recently video?) You are right! But, in the eyes of some, the worst is yet to come. The next victim(s) of creative destruction are going to put up a huge stink as they go sadly into technological oblivion. Their yelling and screaming will make the ruckus that photographers raised pale by comparison.
09
Jul 10
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Regular readers know that I often write about how rapidly changing technology is killing off various markets for professional photographers. I am concerned about this for selfish reasons, since I am a commercial photographer. I am also concerned for the next generation of photographers, wondering which photographic disciplines will be left for them to actually make money working in. If my recent experience is any indication, the future, with fewer and fewer financially viable market for pros is already here. I should know since I personally just hastened the demise of one viable market for commercial photography.
05
Jul 10
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The podcast walks you through the process as I have an idea for a photograph, think it through, take some pictures, look at what I have done and keep working on it till the photograph has just the feeling I want it to have.
07
Apr 10
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The class that I was teaching in India ended on the same note that many of my classes do. The students had made good progress and wanted to keep their creative growth going, after the class ended. I teased them, saying that about a week after the class they would all be “master” photographers. I say that to almost all my classes, because the things learned in a workshop take about a week to become an innate part of any student’s photography. The follow-up point is that about another week later, the skills they had learned in the class would start to diminish. The end of the joke is that about a month later, they would still be better photographers than when they entered the class, but no longer the “masters” they had briefly been. So what did I tell them to do to try to hold on to the “mastery” they had briefly achieved?
21
Dec 09
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The “Stock Photography” of David H. Wells
This podcast explores the stock photography of David H. Wells. The audio was recorded at the Hallmark Institute of Photography.
12
Aug 09
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The keys to good street photography
I will soon be heading north to teach a class in “Street Photography” at the Maine Media Workshops. I was organizing my lessons, assignments and the images I will show the class, when a photographer who wanted to attend but could not, wrote me with some questions. I realized that answering his questions would help him grow AND help me improve the class I am about to teach.
10
Aug 09
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I am writing today about a variety of resources for photographers. Of course, the major one that I am thinking about is The Wells Point web site. Yes, this could easily be interpreted as a shameless self-promotion. I prefer to think of it as an information-advisory about all the valuable things on the site. Read the whole post and then you decide.
24
Apr 09
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What kind of tools do I use and why? (Part one)
I am finishing up a great workshop in Guatemala, which has been both fun and also challenging. As photographers, we had some in depth discussions about problems that we had to resolve so we could make our photographs, discussions which I thought would interest other photographers. (This is the first of two entries on what kind of tools I use.)
03
Apr 09
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Using light, angle and the time of day in making silhouettes
This podcast explores using light, angle and the time of day in making silhouettes.
11
Feb 09
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The life and death and life of Polaroid pictures
Polaroids, those instant-developing images that we all came to love, seem like they would have become quaint in the digital age. Still the saga of Polaroid’s “images in an instant,” having gone through many incarnations over the years, continues. In fact, I just started using the first Polaroid product I have owned in a long time.
23
Jan 09
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Exactly what is “stock photography?”
I make most of my income from what is called “stock photography.” It is, according to http://www.stockphoto.net, “existing photography that is available for commercial use — as opposed to assignment photography, which is custom made to someone’s specifications.” Getting paid for existing images sounds like easy money, but it is anything but easy.
24
Nov 08
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Marketing is the key to being a professional photographer
The longer I work as a professional photographer, the more I am reminded that taking pictures is the easiest part of this job. The hardest part is marketing your work and yourself. I have tried various marketing strategies over the years, some more successful than others. All of them are built on the idea of regularly getting your work in front of the folks who will pay to use your images. So how do you find those folks?
21
Nov 08
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Making inexpensive, high quality, archival photographic prints
An exhibition of what I call my “light study” work just closed in Providence. One of the many fun things about this show was that it featured my newest color “light study” work. In the past, this work was only in black and white, so this is a new and exciting direction for me. You can read more about the new work here: http://meredithcutler.com/image/david-h-wells-light-studies-for-artscope-magazine-septoct-2008.
17
Nov 08
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Color calibration made easy and accurate
One other piece of technology I discovered at the recent Photo Expo in NYC that really struck a chord with me was the Color Munki. It enables you to calibrate your entire color printing system, both printer AND your monitor screen, so they are all speaking the same language when it comes to color.
07
Nov 08
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Alone on the water: the last Rhode Island Quahoggers
This enhanced podcast takes you on a journey into the lives of Quahoggers (Rhode Island’s shellfishermen,) exploring their traditional (but threatened) way of life.
05
Nov 08
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Zen and the Art of Motordrive (thoughts on teaching/part 2)
Continued from previous post: In those workshops, I work to get the students to do many things such as assemble a set of images with a point of view or to use light and shadow to improve their images. First, they must master the machine in their hands, the camera. Much of the time is spent on buttons and settings. F-stops and shutter speeds dominate the conversations.
03
Nov 08
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Zen and the Art of Motordrive (thoughts on teaching/part 1)
I come from a family of teachers. My mother was a teacher and later a principal. “First female principal in her district” she would proudly tell anyone who would listen. She briefly tried to get me hooked on teaching right after college, as a substitute teacher in the district where she worked.
31
Oct 08
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B + W fiber prints from digital files
Though I work primarily in color, I have a long time love of black and white photography. For me the Holy Grail of black and white would be to merge digital capture with conventional, fiber-based output.
20
Oct 08
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Interesting and important color test
I was introduced to an interesting and important color test that any photographer working with color imagery should take.
17
Oct 08
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Keeping up on the stock photography business
If you are interested as I am in keeping up with developments in the rapidly changing world of stock photography, you should be reading a new blog called “about the image.”
06
Oct 08
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Right now, if you want to search for an image, you are limited to searching using keywords. TinEye is a new and possibly revolutionary visual search engine currently in beta testing.
03
Oct 08
