Between 2019 and mid 2022, i was constantly shooting. Never enough to shoot. I had 3 major projects that were timely/topical. Then I woke one day and realized i had more photos in my drives than i could get possibly look at and enjoy. So i stopped, began curating what i had, turned to film photography as a way to show myself down, and started printing cyanotypes as another way to slow down even further. This morning i am hitting the streets to shoot for the first time in weeks. Slowing down is so essential and respectful to the craft. Constantly chasing the digital likes turns the craft into its fast food equivalent. Long term projects are a fine way to slow down and respect the work we are doing.
It is a good thing to discover the gems in your archive. Wrote about that recently. It makes you find some common threads in your work. Cyanotypes are indeed a nice way to slow down. Do you show them somewhere? I'd like to see them
It is quite interesting to me that my morning reading here on Substack has consisted of no less than six posts about or featuring AI-generated images, and this post celebrating the benefits of photographic practice. I am not even remotely impressed with AI, regardless of how "effective" or "successful" it is in rendering believable images. My interest in photography has never been predicated on the accuracy or believability of subject rendering. It has always been about the process and practice of the photographer, the steps they took into the world to find and observe a subject; the choices they made to interact with the subject/scene and the commitment they have made to channel the interaction through the optical mechanism of their camera. All this to say, thanks for this post. It was a welcome redemption at the end of my morning's reading.
Thanks Leland. For me it's also about the process. That's what started this Substack, my curiosity to learn how other photographers work. If you want to talk about your process, let me know. I'm looking for participants for the interview series 'The Dark Rooms Of...'
I definitely agree that there are many benefits to long-term photography projects. You don't always need a long-term project to have depth and meaning, but we'll crafted projects are special, and hold sway over temporary/instant gratification. Being a fan of the book form for communicating photography most of my books deal with projects that have evolved over years or even decades, but there are some books that have been photographed in one day that still feel considered and poignant. I would argue that just sitting on images, and revisiting them from time to time over the years while pulling new meaning from them is as equal to making work on specific subject over many years as well. Sharing on social media is fun at face value, but it retains nothing more than the satisfaction of releasing material into the ether to relieve oneself of the need to share, but if one is expecting anything in return from it than that is where the hallow emptiness lies. Very excited to continue reading this series and I appreciate your voice over here on the Substack platform. Take care!
Between 2019 and mid 2022, i was constantly shooting. Never enough to shoot. I had 3 major projects that were timely/topical. Then I woke one day and realized i had more photos in my drives than i could get possibly look at and enjoy. So i stopped, began curating what i had, turned to film photography as a way to show myself down, and started printing cyanotypes as another way to slow down even further. This morning i am hitting the streets to shoot for the first time in weeks. Slowing down is so essential and respectful to the craft. Constantly chasing the digital likes turns the craft into its fast food equivalent. Long term projects are a fine way to slow down and respect the work we are doing.
It is a good thing to discover the gems in your archive. Wrote about that recently. It makes you find some common threads in your work. Cyanotypes are indeed a nice way to slow down. Do you show them somewhere? I'd like to see them
I have shown (physical) cyanotypes in various places in the past. There are a few in my Instagram feed @leland.buck. I’ll get some on Substack soon.
I'll be posting a cyano project in progress over the next few weeks here.
It is quite interesting to me that my morning reading here on Substack has consisted of no less than six posts about or featuring AI-generated images, and this post celebrating the benefits of photographic practice. I am not even remotely impressed with AI, regardless of how "effective" or "successful" it is in rendering believable images. My interest in photography has never been predicated on the accuracy or believability of subject rendering. It has always been about the process and practice of the photographer, the steps they took into the world to find and observe a subject; the choices they made to interact with the subject/scene and the commitment they have made to channel the interaction through the optical mechanism of their camera. All this to say, thanks for this post. It was a welcome redemption at the end of my morning's reading.
Thanks Leland. For me it's also about the process. That's what started this Substack, my curiosity to learn how other photographers work. If you want to talk about your process, let me know. I'm looking for participants for the interview series 'The Dark Rooms Of...'
I definitely agree that there are many benefits to long-term photography projects. You don't always need a long-term project to have depth and meaning, but we'll crafted projects are special, and hold sway over temporary/instant gratification. Being a fan of the book form for communicating photography most of my books deal with projects that have evolved over years or even decades, but there are some books that have been photographed in one day that still feel considered and poignant. I would argue that just sitting on images, and revisiting them from time to time over the years while pulling new meaning from them is as equal to making work on specific subject over many years as well. Sharing on social media is fun at face value, but it retains nothing more than the satisfaction of releasing material into the ether to relieve oneself of the need to share, but if one is expecting anything in return from it than that is where the hallow emptiness lies. Very excited to continue reading this series and I appreciate your voice over here on the Substack platform. Take care!