Earth Day

What a week!
Didn't have too much time to take a lot of personal photos except for this past weekend. Boy, you know it's spring when we get weather like this - sunny one day, rain the next. Welcome to Mother Earth and her version of Earth Day.
I love taking photos in all kinds of weather. But I have to be honest that rain is my favorite. The quality of light and the subtle colors really make the photograph.
Here are two examples - one taken of Saturday, the other on Sunday.

Vision and Creativity

After posting an image per day for the last week I thought I would be more energized in taking photos. What I’ve discovered is that photography can’t be forced. It has to be something that just happens – at least for me. I like seeing things in a different light; in a fresh way, but it has to come naturally. Many of the photos from the past week have been from my archive. That’s not a bad thing, just something I didn’t expect. I wanted to take some new images, but the opportunity never seemed to present itself. Yes I did take my camera with me, but there was no real goal, no vision. I was looking at everything without really seeing anything. I felt forced to “produce” something.

Now I could have said, “I suck! I’ve lost all feeling for photography”. But this experience has helped me realize how I take photos and how my vision impacts my creativity. Vision should not get in the way of creativity. The two can, and should, go hand in hand. This is not something new for me, but it took a week’s worth of looking but not seeing to have it penetrate my conscience.



So, this past Saturday, I incorporated this new found realism into a photo shoot of two black labs owned my Karen Smith, a photo editor with The Discovery Channel. I had a vision of what I wanted, but didn’t let it get in the way of my creativity. If something didn’t look exactly the way I wanted, I adjusted my vision to compliment my creativity. I just let it happen.

Included here are some images from the shoot.

Morning Coffee

“It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity. I bet this kind of thing does not happen to heroin addicts. I bet that when serious heroin addicts go to purchase their heroin, they do not tolerate waiting in line while some dilettante in front of them orders a hazelnut smack-a-cino with cinnamon sprinkles” -- Dave Barry

Falmouth, England

"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside" -- Mark Twain

Soho, New York City

"It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story" -- Agatha Christie

Manasas Battlefield Park

"You come to nature with all her theories, and she knocks them all flat" -- Renoir

Bryant Park, New York City

"There's no retirement for an artist,
it's your way of living so there's no end to it" -- Bono

Creating and Collecting Art

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary” Pablo Picasso

Substitute 'Photography' for 'Painting' and, for me, that is what blogging is all about. It is my visual way of writing – a snap shot of the written word.



Photographers take images so that others can see what we see. We don’t keep them to ourselves, hiding them away so that all they do is gather dust. We want others to see and collect them. That’s why we create.

In honor of this photographic diary, starting on Monday I am going to post an image per day. This will either be an image from my catalogue or one that I shot the day before. It will not be one that I have on my web site, have shown in galleries or to the public in general. All images will be available for purchase (printed images) or for FREE as an email attachment. Email me at keith(at)keithbarraclough.com and I would be happy to give you information regarding print prices or send you an email with an attachment.

If you like, sign up for the RSS feed to this blog (bottom right corner) and you will receive an email every time a new images has been added.

Enjoy!!

The Journey

I recently received an email from a friend I knew in high school, Phaedra Ledbetter, who is now an interior designer in California. Phaedra and I email each other a few times each year to catch up on what each of us are doing. She is VERY talented, and honestly, I would love to work with her one day. During our last email she commented on my web site and how it was "very intense, with beautifully crafted photos and amazing color". Now it is always nice to get compliments on something you have worked so hard to get right. But it did make me think - does this mean I have "Made It". Wow, someone so talented has complimented my work. Yes, she could have just have been being nice, but maybe she wasn't. Does that mean I can rest?
I emailed back and said that "since October I'm really starting to feel like I'm getting everything together. Still have a ways to go, which is a good thing.
I don't ever want to "be there". The journey's way to fun".

What a revelation!

I've taken, what I think, are some very nice photos - but have also taken crap. Which brings me to this - when can we say we have "made it". Is it when we start getting compliments, our first big assignment, taken the best photo "ever"? I hope not. It's the Journey that we all want - the adventure in finding something new. We don't use Photoshop so that we can keep doing the same thing. We use it to challenge ourselves. We use it for the journey to creativity.

Here are three photos that have gotten some recognition. The hound photo will be in the 2008 PDN Photo Annual, the girl in the white dress wearing pink chucks has received many emails from art directors and the Wellington boots has a story all onto itself.
Have I "made it" - No. When I've taken the best picture ever, then it's time to quit.

For me, it's all about the Journey!

Inspiration

This past week I spent some time in New York City visiting a close friend, seeing clients (and potential clients) and presenting at Photo Salon in Soho. The Photo Salon is comprised of a group of New York based photographers who get together once a month to show new work. It was an honor, and somewhat nerve-racking, to show some of my new work (a slide show of 45 images). In attendance were some of the industries top photographers, art directors and consultants. Although I do enjoy showing work, and the feedback that usually accompanies it, having to show either just before or just after some of these photographers was a little daunting. Some of the other photograhers presenting were Jay Maisel and Howard Schatz. Both very talented and inspirational photographers. Howard Schatz is quite an amazing photographer. The new work that he showed really can't be explained in a few short words. Lets just say that I was very happy that I showed my stuff before him!
Luckily I did have a chance to ask him a question that I have always wanted to ask - Where does he get his inspiration? He answered very simplily, "movies, tv, through other photographers' work, just about everywhere". He showed a little note book where he writes down ideas, thoughts and inpirations. Many of us do this, but the difference with him is that he acts upon what he writes down. He sets aside one day per week to experimenting with new ideas. This is something that many photographers do not do. We don't act, yet just sit back and collect a lot of great ideas and then let it go to waste by not acting on it. His new work was inspirational because he acts upon his ideas.

At dinner with friends I was asked where I get my ideas and what I look for when shooting. I think I gave them more of an answer than they bargined for. I can be quite passionate about photography and went into a detailed description of what I had seen during the day of walking throught the city. From their responce, I realized that many living there know that all this exists, but rarily recognize nor appreciate the beaufy in the angles, shapes and curves that the city has in it's buildings and parks. It made me realize that I do have passion in what I do and that I do find inspiration in the things surrounding me.