Some happy news to share. Recently, I sat down with the good folks over at Canvas Rebel for a new interview. Canvas Rebel is one of my favorite publications. I love reading about all kinds of artists making waves and I am especially honored when they select me for an interview. They make the process so easy as well not to mention the publication really highlights the artist’s work. It’s a win all around.
You can checkout my interview here. If you’re in the reading mood, you can also checkout my first interview with Canvas Rebel here.
A lot of what they focus on is learning the craft of photography. They really dive into the, “how did you learn to do what you do,” aspect of things. This is an interesting topic in part because photography is so different from so many other fields. There really isn’t a book on photography. Well, there is, but it won’t help you much. I like to say that photography is a full contact sport. What I mean by that is that, well, you have to do it to learn how to do it. You have to trust the process. That can be hard. Especially nowadays, everybody wants everything so instantly. Nobody wants to toil anymore. Learning photography might as well be the art of the toil as far as I am concerned. You have to dive in, get your hands dirty, and then repeat and recycle until you start to feel comfortable with what you are doing. At least this has been my experience.
Over the years, I’ve been very fortunate to get to work with some of the greatest practitioners of the craft. Working hands on, one on one, either in the field or in the studio is one of the best ways to hone your skills as a photographer. Sometimes, you just pick up a small thing here or there. It could be just one thing sometimes. You spend an entire day on location or the like and you only learn one little thing. Over time? The little things add up and you grow to be more comfortable. Often, the thing you learn isn’t even related to what you are doing, it’s just something you pick up. I’ve gone to portrait workshops and learned something about printing, for example. Not what I had in mind but, heck, I’ll take it.
You never know where knowledge comes from but I’ve learned to accept it as a special gift. Working with some of the greats in the field, taking good notes, asking a lot of questions, experimenting hands on, and playing around with stuff is most how I learn.
You can check out the interviews where I discuss the learning process in more depth and feel free to share any nuggets of how you learn in the comments if you are so inclined.
Until next time…
