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The LOOK...
1 July 2007, Photography
 Recently I have been teaching some photography/art classes at UVSC for their community education courses. I actually find it quite rewarding, as I feel it is a way to give back to the community. I teach six classes in addition to my full time job as a photographer, so needless to say I am pretty busy. I teach a wide range of people, in terms of age and experience, and lately I have had the same basic questions asked of me. 1. I have Photoshop and want to know what filter you use to get that look? 2. I have a really nice SLR, and would love to know how you get that much detail? 3. Tell me how you get that cartoon-like style? 4. Your stuff looks like illustration, how do you do it? I have responded personally to a number of these inquiries, but feel it necessary that I explain, why it is my photography looks the way it does. All my life I have ate, drank, and slept art. I have worked with water color, oil, pastel, colored pencil, chalk, graphite, sculpture, and airbrush. My entire teenage years were spent studying how light falls on a subject, and how shadows create depth etc. I believe -as my Grandma told me those many years ago- that I, like others have been blessed with an ability and an eye for art. Anyone, I feel, can be trained to "perform". It is -however- another thing to "create". Somethings cannot be taught, and "natural talent" is one of them. So in response to the previous questions... -I wish there was a button I could press, or camera I could use, or filter that I could lay down, that would replicate my illustrative/artistic look in my photography. It is however much more than that- As for the few "trade secrets" I do use in my work... if everyone knew how the trick was done... it wouldn't be magic, regardless if it could be replicated or not. Sorry I remember being put in with a class of seniors in an Advanced Placement (AP) art class, and trying to blend in with people four years older than me. It was weird at first, but it was a fantastic call by my teachers, and would prove to be the start of my career as an artist. This was my first drawing in that class, and if I remember correctly, it took almost two weeks, (of two hour classes), to complete. Actually, it like most of my work, is only partially complete.  Something I found as I searched for these drawings is that most of them are photocopies. Almost all my original completed pictures have been sold. This is one of the few original sketches from my teenage years I have left. I had just seen the old movie, "A Streetcar Named Desire".  One of my early female infatuations was with Elisabeth Shue, from the "Karate Kid". By this time also, I had become involved with photography, and had begun cutting my negatives to create early "primitive" composites. So this shot is a photo of me drawing Ms. Shue, and if you look close you will see "Me" spliced into the shot... with a big grin on my face. This image was later ruined when soda was spilled on it.  Later, when I was a senior myself, I began doodling this -almost finished- portrait of a beautiful little girl I found a snapshot of. The original of her, as well, was sold to the girls mother, and this was the best photocopy I could find of it.  This drawing was one of my first commissioned works. It was the first time I realized how hard it was to draw something that I had not been interested in on my own. I remember I ended up drawing the entire thing in one night, and being simply exhausted.  This final image I am sharing with you, is actually the my last graphite drawing completed till this day. It marks an end to my days as a strict, traditional artist, and yet it has been the very foundation of my work today. I actually drew this from a photo I took of my girlfriend at the time, before we headed off to senior prom. This was the largest drawing I completed measuring almost 20x30! It is also the only finished original still in my possession today.  When I first began working with digital, my wife would always say, "it looks like a painting", and ask if that is what I wanted. I remember answering "No", and then trying again. Time after time, photo after photo, each picture would turn out looking more illustrated than photographed. At first I was frustrated and thought no one would like the work I was creating. Now, only a few years later... I am happy to report that the response has actually been... something out of a dream. So in short, everyone is born with specific talents. Yours may be the piano, or perhaps engineering. Almost anyone can learn to play the piano, just like anyone can learn to ride a bike. Some people ride their bike to the store and back to buy grocery's. On the other hand, some bicyclists push the limits of the human body, flipping and spinning themselves over large cement jumps. Just like we would not expect the first bicyclist, with their bag of groceries, to launch themselves into the Grand Canyon.. we then should not expect to be able to learn another's "NATURAL" talent. Again...everyone is born with specific, natural talent... mine is art. REPLIES
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