This morning I drove down to Spangle to visit my friend Randy who was having trouble with his new computer system. I’ve been helping Randy set up an image catalog for all of his photographs. Each image is assigned a set of key words that describes the subject matter, the location, the time of day, and any other unique characteristics that might be a useful search term.
The process of helping Randy learn how to use the digital photography software system has really given me a lot of insight into ways I can do better as a teacher and more importantly, it has given me ideas for how I could better organize my own library of images. It is interesting how much clarity I can get from helping someone else and how blind and lost I am in my own work.
This morning I was helping set up smart collections that would automatically gather images based upon a set of criteria that included keywords and ratings. Like magic the computer would automatically pull all the very best images Randy has made of Barns, Trees, and Ponds and some additional sub category portfolios based upon specific locations that are labeled with the name of the road they’re on.
Randy just took up photography as a hobby 7 years ago and is already making gallery worthy images. I am a real fan of his work.
Randy is a humble person and didn’t believe me when I told him his images of the Palouse were unique until I showed him a google image search and we compared his work to the majority of the images on the internet. The google image results were sterile snapshots taken by tourists who were just passing through. In contrast, Randy’s work looks like oile paintings that are comparable to Hudson River Valley School Paintings that illicit a response of awe and wonder in museums.
As I drove down Highway 195 to Randy’s house I noticed each of the country road crossings that I passed were the same names we were using as keywords to organize his photographs. The reason his photographs are so good is that he is photographing the area around his home which gives him access to make images at all different times of day and seasons of the year. He is making photographs of a landscape he loves and is connected to. He grew up in Montana and worked on a farm before coming to the Palouse where he has lived for more than twenty years.
As Randy and I worked on his collection I thought about how I could never make images as good as these because I don’t have the same connection to the landscape that he does. These images are an illustration of his life’s story. As I pondered this I was reminded of a slogan that we had printed on a photography club tee-shirt that read “FIND YOUR NARRATIVE”.
I think finding your narrative is about making images that illustrate the life you live. It is about making photographs from within the subject rather than from outside of it.
I know people might argue that photojournalist make powerful images of other people’s lives, but I would counter that they also embed themselves into the lives of others and then make the image. Some people have the gift of empathy that enables them to embrace the narrative of the person they are photographing. I think this is a quality found in all great humanist photographers.
The idea of making stronger images through finding a personal narrative and identifying the appropriate subject to express that narrative is a profound step in the creative process.
As Randy and I pondered this creative concept I was reminded of the Walt Whitman poem Oh Me! Oh Life.
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Randy is making great artwork because he is contributing a verse from his life.
He asked me what was next for me in my creative practice. I thought my own life narrative and responded that much of the work I will be doing in the future will be based upon the experiences of this past summer. The mountains and streams I have explored with my motorcycle and fishing rod will become the narrative of my work over the next few years. These are the places of my childhood that I am rediscovering and feel compelled to photograph.
In the meantime I will continue to mind the depths of my past visual diary of life experiences and develop a better organization base upon what I am learning from the process of helping Randy.
Cheers,
Ira