This post has been sponsored by Greg Kiser Photography
Welcome back to my monthly Behind the Camera series. It is here that I will pick a topic to discuss related to my photography, or photography in general. Last month, I shared some of my methods for keeping my photography fresh which seems to have resonated with many of you. I do try to pick topics that will benefit folks in some way or another and inspire those photographers out there to create new work. From time to time, I also want to discuss some of the less popular topics, or those that might not leave you quite as inspired. For me, photography is a double-edged sword in just about every aspect. On one hand, it is my expression of the world and my creative outlet. At other times, it is a source of great negativity in my life due to things like imposter syndrome, trying to make it a successful business, and even the emotional cost of social media. I am constantly striving for a balance between these two poles, but it is not always easy.
A topic that I have been really struggling with here lately and have wanted to talk about is one that when I am really in the mood to discuss it, I’m in a not-so-great place with my photography. Delving into this topic in depth will likely cause me to dwell on all the negatives and forget the positives. When I’m feeling better about my photography, I generally don’t want to discuss this topic because I will dismiss most of the points that I want to make. As I start to write this entry (May 3rd), I’m in a pretty neutral place. I’ve had a series of pretty decent landscape treks after an extended period of shooting many decay and rural locations which I have enjoyed. I see these treks for what they are, not some inflated view of how the past few months have gone. I’ve also seen the cancelling of three workshops because nobody has signed up. My portrait sessions have dwindled significantly from last year leaving me relying on print sales for most of my income during the first half of 2023. My enjoyment of photography is up, but the business aspect of it has really suffered with the current economic downturn. It is an odd situation to be in, and it reminds me of when I was first getting started in photography. I did it because I loved it, and that was all I really needed. These days I do rely on the income generated from photography which has changed my relationship with the art in a lot of ways. I’ve accepted that this year is going to be a bust in a business sense, but having come to that realization has allowed me to just enjoy the process once again for its purity.
If you are wondering what the exact topic of this entry is going to be, it is one that I came up with last year and is kind of twofold. The first part is whether or not photography as an artform matters anymore, and the second part is whether or not I really matter in the world of photography? These are pretty profound questions to ask and depending on the day, you will get any number of answers from me. I’ve been putting this off for many months now, because I’m actually quite apprehensive about fleshing out my thoughts on this topic. If it goes badly, I will essentially be convincing myself that none of it really matters, and why should I be putting forth the effort that I do. If I end on a positive note, then looking at the income that I’ve been managing so far this year will undoubtedly put into question that finding. There really isn’t a way to measure the response to this question as the meaning of photography is something that is deeply personal and just can’t be quantified.
Let’s dive in, shall we? Does photography matter anymore? With the widespread use of the cameras in our phones, which nearly everyone has access to, everyone is a photographer up to a point. The purpose of photography these days is to document every aspect of our lives and create bathroom portraits with a toilet in the background and a phone blocking the face (I still don’t fully understand that concept). All of these photos end up on Twitbook, Face Tick, and Snapgram. Those platforms have created a new way of appreciating the visuals of our world. No longer do people go to a gallery and spend 10 minutes or more looking at a mounted photograph and become immersed in it. No longer do magazines pay a premium for the use of images. We are conditioned to scroll through thousands of photos every day pausing just long enough to hit a like button, and if we are feeling froggy, we might leave a comment. The ones creating the images quickly post to their favorite social media sites, or submit to a calendar contest, or possibly as a reader submission to an online magazine. They don’t get paid for the work, but they get to have their image distributed so all their friends can see it. The takeaway from this is that it would seem that photography has seen a dwindling value over the last decade or so. Why pay for something when you can get something similar for free? Why purchase a beautiful photograph to put on the wall, when you can pull out your cell phone and snap a quick memory photograph that you will have printed on a cheap canvas from a local box store where resolution doesn’t really matter?
Back in the times of Ansel Adams, photography was expensive to get into and required a lot of technical knowledge. Only a very few had the ability to create quality images and those images were sought after by consumers and corporations alike. The price of admission steadily declined, yet the quality of the equipment, even at the entry level was far better than anything that the greats ever used. Camera companies marketed their products to the average consumer, and then the cell phone manufacturers added cameras to the phones which in lower resolution applications are stellar performers. The emphasis shifted from the creative vision of the artist to how many megapixels your camera had and how big your zoom lens was. The point of photography went from the actual photograph, to more of the equipment that was used. In short, photography has shifted from being about the art, to being about the tools. I wonder who drove that trend?
As I mentioned, thanks to social media, we are inundated with thousands of photographs every day. You can see photographs of things that you like based on the pages that you follow, and thanks to the algorithms, you will see pages that you might like based on who you interact with, but you might not see the pages that you want to follow. The meaning behind these photos, it seems, is no longer important to the viewer. It is all about the flash and getting the attention. Pay attention next time that you scroll through images. Bright and saturated colors, along with a blown out sun are all the rage these days. Careless crops which show off a crazy perspective is another technique that is used to garner attention. This is largely due to the confines of social media aspect ratios I believe, and so many photographers are forced to change the crops based on the platform they are using. If you happen to follow any portrait centered pages, you will see nothing but female models in little to no clothing. It is all about getting that attention and the likes. Those “portraits” will usually have many thousands of likes and upwards of 800 comments. The oversaturated landscapes might not bring in that kind of response, but they still live in the four digit likes category. I would venture a guess that most of these likes are from folks who 30 seconds after they press like, never think about the photo again. That is the nature of the beast when it comes to social media. We are all programmed to scroll and forget. We just get that quick dopamine hit and go to the next one much like Pac Man would chomp through the maze. I guess I just dated myself didn’t I?
What does this mean for photography? Well, on the face, it means that unless the photo is flashy and eye-catching that it won’t garner a second look. That is not to say that an attention grabbing photo isn’t a good thing, but when the flash comes at the expense of depth and meaning, there is a problem. This type of photo is a gimmick in every sense of the word. I’ve noticed with landscape photography, as long as the sun is in the frame as a bright orb with beams sharply visible along with greatly oversaturated colors on the brightly exposed landscape, the photo is well received. In more complex photos with layers of interest, the interaction is usually much less. With this being the case, the consumers of the photography are obviously out for the simple elements that grabs the attention and are no longer interested in looking deep into the photo. In a way, the appreciation of photography is just another example of our need for immediate gratification. If it takes a moment for the photo to sink in and cause us to think, then there is very little place for it in most of society. Have you ever seen an Ansel Adams print with wild and vivid colors using the sun as the visual anchor while things that should be in shadow, are lit as if under a noon sun?
To look at it another way, let’s think about music for a moment. When I was in school, I played the Clarinet and the Alto Saxophone. I grew up listening to music from the 30’s and 40’s which I played on those instruments. That gave me the appreciation for the actual music behind the songs. I understood the subtleties of what I was hearing. I could pick out what specific instruments were playing, and I could differentiate the melody from the harmony. I appreciated the music on several different levels. These days, music is all about the hook which is the only part of the song that you need to know the words to. There are no great scores any more like from the Bach and Beethoven era. The lyrics no longer have to tell a story, like Rap from the 80’s once did. It is all about that hook, that instant dopamine hit. I thought about this a lot listening to music in the garage a few weeks ago as I detailed two vehicles (20 hours of work). There was very little substance to much of what I was listing to beyond the hook, but occasionally something would come on that would get my attention. These are the ones that I really thought about. I had the opportunity to hear a newly released song by Avenged Sevenfold which is a group that I generally don’t pay much attention to. The song was “Nobody” and from the very beginning, my ears were hooked because of the key the song was in. I love minor keys and this one just nailed the sound all the way through. The music behind the lyrics was just beautiful, but I was having a hard time following what was being said through the song once it got rolling, so I looked up the lyrics. Reading through them, there really wasn’t much substance to them and I’ll be honest, I couldn’t follow a logic through the progression of lines. The song was still a standout for me though, because of the actual music, but it is an indication of the change in priorities with current music. Back in the ’30’s and ’40’s we saw the era of the big bands. The music was all important and if they brought a singer into the mix, the words had to make sense and be meaningful because they would ultimately take the emphasis off of the band. You also had to be able to understand the words and follow along. Eventually, it was the singers that fronted the different bands, and the music took a backseat to the lyrics. That was when albums were being sold and to sell a record, you needed to have a solid collection of songs, at least on the A side. Now that it is just streaming singles, you don’t have to have a strong body of work to be popular, just get a few memorable hooks in and you have your time in the limelight. The fact that the actual music is so good with Nobody, is the exception that proves the rule for me.
Back to photography, with the evolution of photography as a visual art, we are seeing a huge devaluation of the work that seems in line with most other art that can be shared digitally. There are just too many people out there fighting for attention with what they are creating, and the sad thing is, those that are trying to create art are fighting against people that aren’t trying to create anything special, just going for the likes and instant responses to boost their online profiles through the various social media platforms. The formula for each camp is different, but the audience is greatly muddied and seems to go after the shiny thing first. When you throw in the AI created art in a photographic realism sense, things get even more complicated since the AI work is getting very close to an actual photograph but can be much closer to perfect. The audience is left with an endless stream of images that suit their tastes and are each competing for the attention. There is just very little staying power for the individual pieces though since there is always a new image set to come along with the swipe of a finger.
If you are wondering whether or not photography matters any more, just look to YouTube. The photographers of our time are in many senses more YouTubers than they are photographers. They have a channel where they share videos of how they are creating photographs, or possibly a how-to. Yes, these are enjoyable, and I do watch many of them. However, the emphasis is not on the actual photograph in most cases. Several of the photographers that I watch will go through the process and show the final image, only to say that this isn’t a portfolio worthy image, but it will be fine for purposes of the video. In essence, they are admitting that they are creating the main video content around their photographs. I’m not here to downplay this rationale because I’m not necessarily any different since to stay valid in this world, I have to produce interesting content as well (You are reading part of that content now). My content is old-school like this typed out blog, and basic posting on social media. Again, it puts into question whether photography could even survive without having some form of content creation going on in support of it, as if the actual photograph isn’t content enough. This greatly reduces the perceived importance of the artform that I love so dearly. It has been a constant struggle for me as Toni keeps telling me I should do videos and get on Tik Tok as suggested by our youngest daughter. I would get more views without question, but I really worry about the quality of my still photography if I start to put a great deal of effort into video outlets.
This brings us to one of the biggest problems that I see in the current world of photography, and many other avenues of life. This is the “Influencer” role that has become ever so popular in the past few years. It is this role that I think could actually kill the creativity and the art behind photography. Going back to YouTube for a moment, when I first started to watch videos on photography, I was wanting to learn different things and it worked very well as a learning resource. I would watch the entire process of creating certain images from somebody that was just talking through things as they did them. They would tell what they were looking for and how they intended to translate that into a photograph. It was very much an educational experience for me and helped me learn a lot of what I still use to this day. Slowly, over time, these channels became platforms for pushing certain brands of gear. They were sponsored, and in many cases, they would receive newly released gear from the manufacturers to use for their photography to help get the products in front of the customers. If you question this, just check out any landscape photographer channel over the last three years. You will see that they have transitioned whole camera kits from Canon, to Fuji, to Nikon. These changes will often follow along with other photographers which happen to get the same kits at the same time. I don’t believe in coincidence, and I also know the expense of getting a whole new architecture in your camera bag.
The production value of these videos constantly increased, and there was much more of a thematic element to the videos. Of course, this comes with additional gear that has to be purchased just for the video aspects. This could be a couple of different camera bodies, different lenses, audio gear, and a drone. Years ago, when I was asked to do videos, I realized that if I were to get into creating videos at this level, my actual photography would suffer greatly because I would no longer be able to focus on the moment, but rather would be concerned with B-roll and scripting out what I was going to say and cover through the video. The photography would no longer become my product, it would be the video. If I had wanted to be a videographer, I would have worked towards that goal years ago.
In the current state of photography, there is a growing trend of being a personality rather than a photographer. If you are not out there doing a weekly video, nobody really cares about what you create with a camera. Only those that have a YouTube following of thousands can make headway with products like calendars and self-published books. Does their status as a “trusted influencer” have an affect on their ability to sell their own work? I think that it does. Does this mean that being an influencer and being able to create videos is more important than the photography that is created? Or, are they the influencers that they are because of the photography that they create? Whichever way you choose to look at it, the success of a photographer is becoming more and more linked to whether or not they are an influencer on a video platform. At least that is the perception in the current climate. This is also a form of gatekeeping, because the implication is that if you want to be a photographer, you are going to have to use most of your time shooting and editing video and putting together a YouTube channel rather than learning the craft of still photography. The emphasis will be on your video production rather than a print of a scene being held in your hands. I’m just not ready to accept that reality for my own art.
I remember watching a Thomas Heaton video a couple of years back and he talked about how much effort went into his videos. He would carry two complete camera kits along with a drone and at least two tripods. He would hike to something that he wanted to shoot and have to hike back down the trail far enough to set up the camera to film the B roll to capture him as he hiked to the location. Then he would have to hike back to the video camera to collect it and hike back to the shooting location. Then there was the part where he talked through what he was doing. Many times, he would miss the light that he was after because he was filming the back of his camera to show how the composition was coming together. With all of this effort, he only spent about 10% of the time working on capturing the actual photograph. Then there was the video editing process that would take days. You can’t tell me that the main point of going out was to create a landscape photograph. Nope, the main point was to go out and create a video, which I understand since that is a main form of income for him as well as others. It is a commonly known fact that those photographers on YouTube see a large portion of their income coming from their video channels, and because of the viewership there, they end up other income through product sales and “merch” which they promote on the video channel.
Where does this leave the photography though? Are people buying photographic prints because they love how they look and, on some level, the print speaks to the buyer? Is the photography just a medium to get viewers and the ad revenue on your video channel which becomes a primary source of income? Not that long ago, a photographer was somebody who created a two-dimensional piece of art designed to be hung on the wall. They carried cameras with them to create these images. That was what they did, and they were respected for that. These days, that same photographer carries around the same type of camera, but also a full kit for video with high quality audio capabilities. They spend hours editing these videos and sourcing sponsorships and allowing ads to be played during the videos. The photographs that they produce stay in a digital world to be added to a calendar at the end of the year, or maybe a book to be shipped out to those that enjoy watching the channel. We are slowly getting to a place where photography only matters if you have been along for the ride and have seen the image created so you know the story behind it. I think that this trend is also detrimental to those who might want to become photographers. If you think about it, being a photographer looks flashy and full of adventure since you see a cinematic version of the process. The reality of it is, photography is not glamorous, and it takes a lot of practice to learn and to stay on top of your skills. There are also plenty of times when the entire outing is a bust which we rarely see on video. I greatly respect those that will share those downfalls. What we see on videos is not the reality most of the time, and that will turn those off who really want to learn photography and will only entice those that want to be YouTubers. Our next generation of photographers will truly be social media influencers first and photographers second.
The funny thing is; this is almost too similar to what I’ve been doing since the beginning, only I do it in a written form (aka lost art of communication). I started blogging with AOL’s journals back in the day when I first started out and have kept that going as a “dear diary” of sorts through each iteration of my website. The difference is the blogs happened when I had new photos to add to my portfolio and the blogs were in support of the actual photography. From the beginning, it has always been about the photography for me first and foremost. I don’t bother with anything other than the actual process of capturing the photo while in the field. When I get back and the photos are finished, I start to go through the events that brought me to that point in a narrative fashion which then becomes the blog entry that you read. It helps me to remember how the photos were created as well as allowing the viewer to share in the adventure with me. The blog entry is wholly in support of the images, and it doesn’t really matter if anyone clicks on the link or not…although I really do appreciate those that take the time to read through my thoughts.
In this current definition of a photographer, do I matter anymore? Does my work really make a difference out there? The more I post on social media, the more I am reminded of how much photographers have been reduced to content creators. I post my photos, get likes and comments, but that is the end of it. If I don’t post, or if a particular viewer doesn’t see several my posts thanks to the algorithm, then I am eventually met with a comment of “I’ve missed you, where have you been?” on the next post that they see. The indication there, is that I do make a difference to them through my photography, but then the sting of reality comes into play. Photography is my profession these days and I get no measurable benefit from comments on social media. If my work really did make such a difference to this person, then why aren’t they purchasing prints to be able to see them every day in the form intended? Apparently, my photography is good enough for a minute or two on social media, but then it is time to move on to the next post and that next dopamine hit.
If I were to stop photography today, and never create another photo, I would still have quite literally thousands of photographs in my archives, but those would likely die off without a care in the world. I say this because looking at my website stats, the gallery rooms don’t get much traffic at all. All the traffic is in the blog which isn’t a terrible thing, but the galleries is where the photographs live. It seems harsh, but other than some questions about why I haven’t shot any new photos lately, I doubt that an exit from photography would even garner a notice. This is a sobering thought to me after putting my heart and soul into this craft for nearly 20 years now. It has come between my wife and I more times than I care to confess to. I left a very good career to devote more time to the craft, and even picked a house because of its proximity to where I liked to shoot and the fact that it had a lot of space available for a studio. A very good bit of my life has been devoted to photography in one form or another. To see the value of photography declining so quickly really makes me sick to my stomach.
Over the two decades that I have been involved with photography seriously, I have devoted probably half of that time just to learning the skills needed. I’ve driven all over to find the subjects to shoot and have revisited those locations many times over. I’m sure that I have driven well more than 200K miles just for photography which means that I have worn out at least one vehicle in my quest for photos. I’ve changed with the times and tried to adapt to the current trends and even branched out to portraiture and boudoir photography in hopes of keeping things afloat. The amount of money that I have spent on gear over the years is way more than I want to try and add up. While I haven’t accepted any sponsorships, I have formed relationships with Singh-Ray Filters, B&H Photo, and Amazon as an affiliate with each of the companies. These links appear at the end of my blog entries as well as throughout my gear pages. These links provide me with a few dollars every few months, but it is a negligible return for the time that it takes to put the links in, especially considering that a purchase has to be made after entering the sites through my links to count as a commission. If you save to a wishlist and return at another time, that credit is gone.
It sounds all doom and gloom and from a business standpoint, it probably is. I accept the fact that I probably don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I even accept that for the most part, I’m a social media photographer who works for likes and comments rather than a paycheck. I accept that everything that I try to do to boost my income and make this a viable business usually falls on its face. I was in the black last year when I decided to branch out into portraiture which has left me financially, very much in the negative since. My plan was to have climbed out of it by this Summer and be back to making money, but the truth of it is, I’ll be lucky to be out of the hole by the end of the year at this rate.
You see why I have been hesitant to get into this topic here for Behind the Camera? When I put it all out there, a reasonable man would look at the evidence and call it quits. It would appear that this is going to be a very long uphill battle with no hope of relief. Only an idiot would continue on this path. Well, I’ve been called worse many times over so I can accept that. The truth of the matter is photography is a language for me. Photography is the reason that I leave the house and interact with others. Without photography, I would probably die an early death with no sense of purpose. When I ask the questions whether or not photography matters, or if I matter as a photographer, the true answer is much more convoluted than I have made it seem. I have no idea whether or not photography matters anymore, and while I don’t matter to the masses, I know that I do matter to some. Even that is not as important as the fact that photography actually matters to me.
I have always been one to devote myself fully to something in life. From as early as I can remember, I was very much into military history. I would build models and read books about how the equipment was used in different wars. I then found music and dedicated myself to playing instruments. That was followed up with a driver’s license which created the love of the automobile which I learned how to detail and maintain them. Photography happened in a response to needing to take photos of the vehicles I owned, and morphed into what you see here. There were a couple of diversions from photography where I took up ultra endurance cycling. Coincidentally, I would be gone from photography for a year or more at a time with barely a notice. At each stage, these hobbies became a primary focus to my existence and a way of defining who I am. Now that I am almost 50 years old, my eyes are not near good enough to build models anymore. I don’t have the interest to play an instrument because I did learn that I had no rhythm and could only play by ear. I still like working on cars, but my knees don’t like for me to do it that much anymore. I would love to get back into cycling again, but road riding is just too dangerous, and I beat the odds much longer than I probably should have. This leaves me with photography which has become my voice over the years. I can share what I see and how I see it in a way that is very fulfilling for me. It is an excuse to get out of the house, and now that age is catching up with me, I am having to stay a bit more active to keep my blood pressure down as well as my weight. Hiking for landscape photos is a great way to do just that. It gets me outside in the fresh air, and then gives me another eight or more hours of mental activity here at the computer editing and writing the blog. I am always able to find new things to learn with photography which keeps my mind active, and it keeps me inspired to do greater things with a camera.
Occasionally, I have the opportunity to help a new photographer learn something that they have been having difficulty with. With a high percentage of return clients to my workshops and mentorships I have to assume that I am doing something right and that there is value to what I am teaching. This is fulfilling on its own in a lot of ways and something that keeps me motivated to learn more on my end. The satisfaction that I get when I am able to create a photo that matches how I saw the scene is something that I can’t describe. It is a perfect moment for me, and one of those things that outweighs all of the negatives that I have talked about thus far. While I would love to be that photographer that sells a piece for a million dollars, I realize that probably won’t ever happen. I absolutely understand many of the great artists from the formative years of art though. Most of them were poor and unappreciated while they were creating their work. Only after they died did their work garner any attention, and centuries later we still talk about them and admire their work. While they were creating though, they were obviously doing it for themselves and for a much deeper reason. This reason, which I am starting to understand is likely why photography does matter, and why this photographer matters. There is a need to communicate, and photography is the language that I choose to communicate with. I do it because I have to, and without it, I can see myself fading away into oblivion. Who knows, a century from now, my work might be appreciated on an entirely different level. Maybe I’ll define a new era of photography. Probably not, but I do know that photography matters to me.
If you are wondering where the photos are in this entry, maybe you have answered the question for yourself as to whether or not photography matters to you. I chose not to include any photographs because they really wouldn’t add anything to the story that I was trying to tell. They might have even distracted from it. But, if you are missing them, consider this…if the internet collapsed, or I took down this website and stopped posting on social media, would you miss my photography? If the answer is yes, consider supporting this starving artist by purchasing a print (or more) of your favorite photos. There are far too many computer related failures out there, but I have never had a print malfunction while hanging on the wall. They will be there long after I am gone. Do your part in showing that photography matters. Even if it isn’t my work, buy prints from other photographers so that you can enjoy their work which is a large reason why the work is created in the first place. Likes and comments only go so far since they cost nothing to give. With it costing nothing, they have very little value for the artist.
Thank you for joining me for this installment of Behind the Camera, I hope that you have enjoyed it and possibly learned a little something about me, my photography, and art in general. Let artists know that you enjoy what they create and support them the best that you can. It is a humbling experience when somebody parts with their hard-earned money to show appreciation for a photograph that I have created. For those moments, I am absolutely sure that photography matters, and so do I.
Until next time…
***THIS SPACE FOR RENT***
