“Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work.”
- Peter Marshall, TV host
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Native American Dancer Anthony Parker, San Marcos, New Mexico 2007 © Craig Varjabedian |
Waiting. It’s what photographers frequently do. Waiting for those storm clouds to part sufficiently to let that resplendent light you have been waiting for dance across those distant mountain peaks. Perhaps it’s at the computer waiting for that Gaussian blur filter to be applied to that large image file you are creating. Or, if you have been making photographs for a while, you wait with anticipation for the clock to count down those last few minutes during film development; hoping eagerly that all has happened as it should inside the developing tank. Photographers wait a lot.
Waiting allows time to think. To ponder. While I am out in the field making photographs big questions often come to mind while I am waiting. What is this a picture of? What am I trying to say with this image that has found its way through the lens of my camera? Or, what is the subject trying to tell me about itself?
It is with great pleasure and with a feeling of pride and responsibility that I begin this new column in Double Exposure titled WAITING FOR THE LIGHT. My hope is that it will be an enriching commentary and discussion on the subtler questions about making photographs. I hope it will provoke questions. I hope it will help you with your image making. I hope it will help you become a better photographer.
Technique (using the tools of photography) is important in the making of good photographs and much is written about the myriad ways to do anything with a digital camera and Photoshop or Elements or Picasa or ???? What I am interesting in exploring in this column, in a sense, is what happens once you have become proficient with the technology. I want to know where do you point the camera? How do you become a better photographer? Where does inspiration come from? How do you keep the flame alive? To borrow liberally from the photographer Ted Orland, how do we expose for those secrets we believe are out there and develop for those surprises we want in our photographs? The questions are endless . . .
Ansel Adams once said that you need to make at least 10,000 exposures before you begin to understand what photography is all about. I think he was right. I have been making photographs for about 35 years now and I am just now getting a real sense of the true power of the lens. While I am a practicing and exhibiting fine-art photographer foremost, I am also a teacher. I am the director of the New Mexico Photography Field School in Santa Fe and for over 22 years I have had the privilege of being a part of many a student’s photographic journey. I have watched them grow into photographers that I admire. Many of these folks work hard trying to reveal something in their photographs that is real, personal and sometimes elusive. Through the teaching of photography I have learned and taught some things about making images that work. My plan in future columns is to share some of these ideas and thoughts; perhaps share a story or two and even introduce you to a few folks I have met along my own journey who have taught me a lot by way of their own beautiful photographs and their personal commitment to image making. Stay tuned.
Fine-art photographer Craig Varjabedian is widely acclaimed for his images that embrace the people and places of the American West. He received his MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1989. While Varjabedian's photographic career has spanned over thirty-five years and encompasses a deep grasp of the technical aspects of the photographic process, his gift is his intuitive ability to make photographs full of not only light, but life. An author of six books, Craig is also the director of the prestigious New Mexico Photography Field School in Santa Fe. His most recent book is Four & Twenty Photographs: Stories from Behind the Lens, a collection of his best-known photographs and the stories behind them.
See Craig’s photographs at www.craigvarjabedian.com
Explore exceptional workshops at www.photofieldschool.com
View selections from his new book at www.fourandtwentybook.com
