Beyond The Negative

Yesterday morning I received an email from the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center stating that two of my photos had been selected in the upcoming Strait Art Exhibition. Yesterday, I did NOT receive a phone call from the Northwinds Arts Center stating that my photo of Machu Picchu had been selected; which required me to go pick it up.

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited to finally have some work selected for a gallery showing. The photos, all from my Salt Harvesting series, represent the kind of work I want to be doing in this area and are more appropriate for a first showing than the Machu Picchu photo.

March 22nd, the PAFAC will open the Strait Art Exibition, showcasing two works each from 35 artists including me. The exhibition will be open from Sunday March 22nd to May 10.

On February 14th, 2009, my wife and I welcomed our second son, Miles Henry Johnson into the world. I am fortunate to be able to take a few weeks off of work to take care of my wife and family as we transition to a new way of life with two kids.

Welcome Miles, may you grow up to be a better man than I.

I’ve been pretty introspective lately and this is a nice multimedia icing on the cake. Please watch this video, especially if you work in a creative medium.

First posted on Scott Kelby’s blog:
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2009/archives/3433


Video by Zack Arias:

I struggled last summer in putting together my first portfolio. I struggled because I had no idea of what to expect or what I should present. After hours of countless research and talking with other photographers, I built a portfolio that I hoped would cover the basics and show a variety of scenarios. In short, I created a portfolio for the newspaper business. However, I realized after my first stint at the Buc, that I did not want to be a newspaper photographer. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but newspaper photography was definitely not it.

After the review, I hated my portfolio, I hated the work I had done and I was disappointed with myself for not seeing what I felt should have been obvious.

I now realize what I had done wrong, I had created a portfolio for a job I did not want, and of work that I wasn’t really interested in. I made a portfolio to please the masses, adding news, sports, travel, a few portraits, commercial work etc. If I didn’t really care about the work how could I expect anybody else to?

I ran across this post on Chase Jarvis’s blog where he summarizes an article by Doug Menuez that was published on Editorial Photographers

…If you create a book [portfolio] that you think will get you work based on your perception of what sells, or on the advice of anyone who steers you away from your core, you have a complex problem ahead. Yes, you may find some work that way, which is really tempting short term, while you tell yourself you’ll do the real stuff on the side or in the future. “Show the work you want to get” is a lasting truism and if you have chosen to show work other than the purist version of your creative vision then whatever jobs do come in will be based on that work. There are many shooters who do this exact thing and end up with a middling level of success, stuck on a financial and creative plateau, slowly starting to run out of gas. After a few years they hate their work and life in general. They are getting divorced or leaving the business or pursuing whatever diversion eases the pain. They are not living the dream. They are not challenging themselves creatively because they did not give themselves permission to be who they are as photographers in the first place. This is the road to being a burned out, bitter hack. Boring. But by defining what you show based on what you truly are and what you want to do, you create a self-selection process: you are not for everyone. You are different. Be courageous enough to show that you see in a way no one else does…

This is who I am now. I don’t know how far I’ll get, but I’ll have a lot more fun getting there. I don’t think I could even create a portfolio yet, but I know what I need to do. When it was recommended that I start over on my portfolio last summer, I scoffed. Now I relish the thought, looking forward to building a body of work that represents me.

Tags: portfolio

It seems that I always have something in the works. As soon as I return from one adventure I’m looking for the next. I promised myself that after Vietnam I would concentrate on the local area, the Olympic Northwest and surrounding territories. I know what I need to photograph and there are plans already in the works. Short term plans and long term plans out to a year. One big adventure a year from now, you may be able to guess, but I’m going to keep it quiet for now.

This week and the next I will be working on entering galleries and photo contests. Its time to get my name out there and get noticed by other people. After March, I’ll be finished teaching and the family should be settled in with the new baby. Starting in the Spring will be my next big photo push and will go through the summer and into the fall.

I’m really excited. I can’t wait to begin and I’m getting ready by buying film, saving money and making connections. This is going to be a good year for me.

It all began on a whim, what is it like to use a rangefinder? I won a Yashica GSN on eBay last year and played with it for about a month. It was neat, but was missing a bright focus patch which made focusing very difficult. A few weeks later, I was surfing eBay and spotted a Leica M3 selling for much cheaper than usual. Furthermore, this same M3 had recently been seen by a technician for routine maintenance. I won the camera and instantly wondered what I was going to do with it. I had no lens, or light meter or really any idea how to use and operate a Leica.

I set about researching and learning everything I could and found myself with a decent beginners kit. My first photos were pretty much terrible, although I improved. The bad photos were a result of two factors, the first being my learning how to use a rangefinder and manual focus, and two, trusting a completely manual film camera. I had grown so used to “chimping” my photos to check exposure and composition that going back to film was like relearning how to use a rotary pay phone.

Over the course of several months, I essentially left my DSLR in the camera bag choosing to use the Leica whenever possible. By August, the Leica had grown on me and I traded the M3 for an M6, the M6 having a built-in light meter.

One thing that makes using a Leica awkward is that film is loaded from the bottom. A removable plate comes off of the botton of the camera and you thread the film leader into the camera, tucking the tip of the leader into a small spindle under the shutter release. It’s hard to explain and there are youtube videos that show this much better than I can explain. According to Leica, this is a “feature” that makes the camera body as a whole much stronger than other systems. Either way, loading film is much slower than a swing-back design found on nearly all film cameras today.

During my time in Vietnam, the only camera I used was a Leica M6 with either a 35mm wide or a 50mm normal. During that trip the camera and I became one. I think I’ll be shooting film for the foreseeable future.

Now motivated and super-charged on photography, I’ve been busy with work and two upcoming juried art shows. The first, with a deadline of February 14th, is at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center and will display work from local artists until May 10. For the PAFAC entry I have been cleaning up and tweaking a photo set from my time on the salt fields in Vietnam.

The second juried art show is at the Northwinds Art Center in Port Townsend. The theme of the show is “Mountains” and I will be submitting a matted and framed print of Machu Picchu.

My current work includes figuring out how to write an artists bio. I can’t submit for the PAFAC until I figure that small bit out. Writing about myself and how good I am has never really been a strong point. Although I can begin to see how artists become arrogant jerks. They believe what is written about them.

I have mixed feelings about the art world, but as “they” say, all publicity is good publicity, so here’s my shot at getting some exposure.

After returning from Vietnam, I have a renewed interest in documenting and photographing my home town. For a long time I’ve wondered what kind of work or photos could be made in this sleepy, rainy, dark little town trying to redefine itself, as one mill after another closes. Viewing the town from native eyes it was hard for me to see why anyone would want photos of this place.

It has taken several overseas trips for me to understand how to shoot like a tourist in my home town. Traveling in Vietnam, I actively sought out the everyday scenes off of the tourist beat. I was looking for the heart and character of a country that can only be found apart from the tourists. My search led me deep into the Mekong Delta to stay with a family who lives and works an average life.

Coming home, I realized that the same search away from the tourist beat could be done here. After talking with Kevin, I’m less worried or driven on specific stories and more concerned about making interesting and telling photos of the area. The stories and theme will appear over time, but for now the work needs to begin.

Exactly one week after walking the salt fields in the Mekong barefoot, I went snowshoeing in the Olympics. My renewed motivation and goals prompted me to make a PhotoShelter account and begin hosting photos I would like to sell. I am starting to build a catalog of photos from the Olympic Northwest.

Most of my film, with the exception of all slide film, has been developed and scanned. Until I integrate the photo set into my portfolio/gallery, you can view the photos at:

http://www.beyondthenegative.com/vietnam

Thanks!

Still developing and scanning negatives but I’m making some headway and thats a good thing.

Here’s another until I put together a gallery with my favorites: