Just Saying (11/7/2011)
You don’t need ten tips to become a great photographer. I will give you one, though: nobody ever becomes “great” at anything by reading tip lists. Nurture your passion, embrace your creativity, be true to yourself, dare to take risks, work yourself ragged, and maybe, in time, greatness will follow.
Category: Just Saying
Thanks for the perspective. I will try to remember this always.
Not true. Many great artists have heavily borrowed from others, sometimes without direct interactions, both often as a result of discussions in the great hubs of creativity during those periods in history when they existed. Your work is also probably heavily influenced by your contemporaries, and I am sure that during discussions you guys exchange creative information that could be considered “tips” in the broad sense of the word. The same thing is true about the sciences. This is what the whole “standing on the shoulders of giants” argument is all about. So whether you call them “tips” or “sharing of ideas” the fact is undeniable, that there is a lot of borrowing going on in all creative areas. I know what you are saying, you are probably referring to specifically about the tip lists published in rags like Outdoor Photographer or Popular Photography that many take as gospel and then start following rigorously because “X said so, and X is a great photog”. You can’t even become a decent photographer that way, never mind great. But as a scientist/engineer I am all about precision in phrasing, and that is kind of lacking here. Just sayin’, yo know
Boyan, tips are short tidbits of information. Certainly learning from others is essential and unavoidable but by themselves tips are just a hair above useless without a significant amount of training and experience.
I’m willing to bet you wouldn’t stay in your dentist’s chair if you overheard him tell the nurse “sure I can do this, I just read 10 tips for great root canals on the Internet last night”.
I agree with you. Mr. Boyan misses the point. Your original statement provides the foundation for any approach to greatness. Thanks for sharing it.
Let’s start with where we agree – you cannot expect to be considered great at anything without offering a different perspective. Not necessarily passionate, creative, or even competent. But definitely different. Case in point – most of what I have seen from Andy Warhol, some of the collections in celebrated museums (http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1045), or the “famous” Obama hope image.
I am also willing to concede the point that (insert favorite photo mag name here) “10 tips for better landscape photography” are usually worse than useless. The reason is that they are not really tips, as much as prescriptions.
Now to where we disagree. The definition of “tip” is surprisingly difficult to nail down (try googling it, even m-w.com), but let’s assume that Guy’s version is correct. Just because a tidbit is short does not mean it cannot shift your way of thinking of seeing. For example, at the one photo workshop I have ever attended (not Guy’s) I was struggling with a particular composition. The instructor gave me an extremely valuable tip — follow the curve back. That was it, he did not tell me where to stand or how to frame, just three words that caused me to re-examine how I was looking at the subject. I have received similarly useful tips in professional capacity — have you considered X?
Finally, the dentist example is irrelevant, because there you are dealing with a situation where a prescribed outcome is expected. This is not the case with creative endeavors, whether or not they have anything to do with art. In such situations I would be perfectly happy to hear someone say “hey, I was taking a workshop with X and he gave me a great tip — follow the curve back”.
Tips don’t have to be prescriptive, and when done right can be invaluable. To make a long story short — IMO Guy’s original point is valid when applied to “10 tips for great landscape photography” published in rag Z, but as stated on this blog the statement is too broad and lumps too many things together to be valid. I will now shut up but not concede that particular point
Thanks for the explanation, Boyan. I agree with what you say but I think you’re reading too much into it. Sure, tips can be helpful but not by themselves. Without hard work and experience no list of tips will make you or your work “great”. It may make your images somewhat more visually appealing or technically better but those are still negligible in consideration. Unlike “tip,” “great” does have some meaningful dictionary definitions:
3: remarkable in magnitude, degree, or effectiveness
4: full of emotion
5 a: eminent, distinguished b: chief or preeminent over others —often used in titles
(Merriam-Webster)
I think you’ll agree that tips alone(!!!) will not quite get you there. That was the point.
Is it important for greatness to follow?
Important? not necessarily. Unavoidable, probably.