Those words are not something you want to hear from your heart surgeon or auto mechanic. Actually I guess its not something you want to hear from any one you're paying to do a job.
But its something artists and photographers say or think all the time as a matter of personal exploration, just to see what sort of image we can make that is different from the 100s of thousands of others we have already made.
We have somewhat of an idea what we'll get based on what we've learned about our craft, but will it go that extra mile to be something?
Last night i was given an opportunity to explore because this high school kid and his mom wanted to have edgier than usual pictures for his senior portrait. "He's more urban than country!" I was told prior to setting up the shoot.
So we wanted to do more graffiti wall type images, alleys, something more city like than the usual Crawford County surrounds. No trees.
In the studio I took the opportunity to try to push lighting into a mood and see what we could get. A couple times I uttered 'I have no idea if this will be good, but we'll try it.'
Don't get me wrong, not all eggs were tossed into one basket. I tried other images and even made him smile and not wear his hat…in other words I covered my butt just in case these didn't work out. Not all of them did. Sometimes the over use of the smoke mating and too dramatic the shadow, the senior's features were just too lost to be anything portrait like.
But I was given a chance to make something different and I tried it an to a photographer and artist, this is a joy.
It was just fun to make images without the real worry of wondering if the client will want these, because thats exactly what they wanted me to do. Experiment with the edges of what may or may not be a senior portrait.
And I think thats what I'm hoping to do, challenge the culture of the same ole same ole and give the kids some unique experience, something they might think of in a magazine, or in a gallery.
But its something artists and photographers say or think all the time as a matter of personal exploration, just to see what sort of image we can make that is different from the 100s of thousands of others we have already made.
We have somewhat of an idea what we'll get based on what we've learned about our craft, but will it go that extra mile to be something?
Last night i was given an opportunity to explore because this high school kid and his mom wanted to have edgier than usual pictures for his senior portrait. "He's more urban than country!" I was told prior to setting up the shoot.
So we wanted to do more graffiti wall type images, alleys, something more city like than the usual Crawford County surrounds. No trees.
In the studio I took the opportunity to try to push lighting into a mood and see what we could get. A couple times I uttered 'I have no idea if this will be good, but we'll try it.'
Don't get me wrong, not all eggs were tossed into one basket. I tried other images and even made him smile and not wear his hat…in other words I covered my butt just in case these didn't work out. Not all of them did. Sometimes the over use of the smoke mating and too dramatic the shadow, the senior's features were just too lost to be anything portrait like.
But I was given a chance to make something different and I tried it an to a photographer and artist, this is a joy.
It was just fun to make images without the real worry of wondering if the client will want these, because thats exactly what they wanted me to do. Experiment with the edges of what may or may not be a senior portrait.
And I think thats what I'm hoping to do, challenge the culture of the same ole same ole and give the kids some unique experience, something they might think of in a magazine, or in a gallery.