My hope is that constantly reading and thinking about photography equates to doing photography. The latest books I’ve re-read are from Brooks Jensen the editor of Lenswork. Similar but different enough to own both books, they are a collection of blog posts strung together, clearly inspired by Art and Fear. The advice in them is more tailored for photographers.
I took a couple of messages from both books that will improve my work. The first is the importance of having bodies of work on personal subjects, not singular random images. The second is more koan-like, don’t box yourself in asa “photographer”. At first, I assumed it meant maybe give up and try watercolours, but now I understand it better. Don’t think of yourself as a “photographer”think of yourself as a person who wants to explore something or some concept. Many points seem to be offshoots from the overriding message of “Art and Fear”, to get on with your artwork, exploring and pushing your artwork as a journey.
Brooks Jensen, a man who gets a lot of stuff done also has lots of tips on the productive life of an artist. It’s inspired me to set out a structure for a body of work, imagine it as a finished product and then reverse engineer the project into the steps needed to complete it. Despairingly, the book also points to the fact taking more photographs is the best way to improve. One day soon I will take the bloody camera out of its bag.
