by Wesley Picotte
Do you remember your first moment?
That moment when your inspiration, creativity, and craft first merged to produce an image that was more than literal?
That moment when you first created an image representative of what you saw, felt, thought, and sought to communicate?
My recent return to Mount Rainier, a migration I make annually in early summer, reminded me of my “first moment”. It occurred at Rainier, actually. It was mid-afternoon, late summer, a season when weather kicks up quickly.
I was on Rainier’s northeast side, standing high above the White River valley, watching an southeast-bound storm mass and push over St. Elmo’s Pass, a feature that climbers ascend en route between Glacier Basin and the Curtis Ridge camp at 7,200 feet. [read the rest…]
by Wesley Picotte
A spate of posts by photographers about creativity has appeared recently – at least among the blogs I follow. I’m unsure whether this theme’s appearance is coincidental or simply confirmation that we pay attention to one another and, as photographers, flutter to the idea of creativity like moths to a candle. Regardless, it has happened and, well, here’s my pass through the candle’s flame.
My own turn down this path kicked off a couple of weeks ago with Greg Russell’s post Citizen of the West, which inspired an exploration of how we map our imaginations through our photography. And then, coincidentally, I returned to Smith Rock, a photography project I’ve had going for a couple of years now. [read the rest…]
by Wesley Picotte
Photography is a journey, for sure. If you’re meant for it, you endure; and learn, absorb, explore and hopefully create photographs that in some way express your distinct vision of the world.
I recently struck upon the idea that a photographic body of work represents our attempts as photographers to chart our imaginations. This can apply to any school of photography. Mine is wilderness landcape photography, so the notion of charting my vision of the world intuitively compares to the physical act of exploring and photographing wilderness.
I drifted to this current of thinking after reading Greg Russell’s fantastic post Citizen of the West. In it, he describes his pride at being a westerner, but also his fascination with maps, and of exploring, really, and also the strength and quality of the people of the west. [read the rest…]
by Wesley Picotte
There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer. ~ Ansel Adams
What do you, a photographer, think or feel or desire when making an image? How do you feel about the photograph or its subject? What are you telling me, the viewer, with the image? How are you, a photographer, in the image?
Without words to answer such questions you have but one avenue to follow: Create an interpretation of the thing you photograph that I can understand, or find evocative, or that teaches me, or that I can take with me in some fashion, by applying your creativity and mastery of craft.
Why then, why why why, do so many photographers – some very good – duplicate images in both color and black and white [read the rest…]
by Wesley Picotte
Bouldering is a form of rock climbing, performed without ropes, normally on very short climbs. And believe it or not, it shares many similarities with photography.
For one, you can participate in both on a scale of your choosing, from hobby to profession, have fun at any level, and achieve personal to professional goals while doing it. But in thinking about this seriously, I’ve recognized four important elements shared by both activities that we all can learn from: creativity, craft, endurance, and personal experience. [read the rest…]
by Wesley Picotte
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
Henry Miller
Don’t tell me that photography is a destination. It isn’t. This I’ve learned.
Depending upon your internal makeup, the pressure to develop a body of photographic work representative of how you see…it’s not insignificant. And with this goal in mind, I set out in the spring of 2010 to photograph several iconic locations – Mono Lake, Death Valley, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Great Basin National Park.
I traveled for seven weeks. I have ten photographs to show for it. I brought home nothing from Mono, Zion, or Grand Staircase-Escalante. [read the rest…]
