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My name is Michael Morris, I am a photographer who came to photography later in life.  I started with digital and found it unrewarding so after a short time with MF, I moved to LF 4X5.  Almost everything I do now is large format B&W.  I am working to improve my technical and artistic skills constantly.  Living in Phoenix, I have access to some very good photographers who are willing to help and teach.  I am on a journey exploring photography, the US, and myself to some extent.  Along with my wife Mary, we are traveling the US together, cameras follow us everywhere and as we travel, this BLOG is updated.  It is very much a journal of my journey with ramblings about everything from the photograph I took while traveling, to the ah-ha moments when something new is grasped.

The old masters work is enthralling to me and I spend a lot of time looking at their work as well as most other work I have access to.  

 

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Entries in art (4)

Friday
12Feb2010

Thoughts on Composition, Design, and Analysis 

DateFriday, February 12, 2010 at 5:34AM

One of the Blogs I read recently had an post on composition and what I got out of it was that the author believes the proper way to take photographs is to analyze the composition and apply rules while shooting.  Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows that is contrary to my approach and I believe to the approach used by many very good photographers throughout history.  When in the field, shoot what moves you.  Sure, tweak it a bit from the first take if necessary, but I have found that usually the first take is close and too much adjustment takes away from the scene that moved you.

To me, art is not an intellectual activity, like accounting, engineering, etc., it is a communication of thoughts and ideas that are visceral in nature.  Perhaps no words can express the idea as well as the image, or sculpture, or music, but it is communication nonetheless.  Photography is a language and should say something.  When you spend too much time adjusting things to fit the "rules" you lose the communication.  It may be balanced and may fir all the criteria for a "good composition" but does it communicate something worthwhile.  

The author of the article stated that those who were opposed to his views were unwilling to improve their art.  Not knowing those people, I can not speak to that and neither can he.  To some it may appear that I am unwilling to improve and grow, but the opposite is true.  I always strive to grow in every aspect of my life, and none more so than photography.

Think about your approach and what you try to do.  Last night we say a film about photographers in the West in the late 1800's.  It was quite interesting, but one thing I got out of it was that the photographers who are remembered are those that had an artistic component to their work.  Many of the photographs we saw were quite moving.  And I dare say not a lot of thought was given to making sure the rule of thirds was followed, or any of the other rules.  They were good because they had something interesting to say.

If you are in Phoenix, be sure to go see the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum.  His work is magnificent but the exhibit was put together in a manner that really showcases his work.  There are some negatives and chromes.  Some descriptions of how he did some of his work, much information to go along with the great prints.  Don't miss the exhibit!  I plan to make a few more trips down there to see this wonderful exhibit.

I have a couple of outings this weekend.  Today we are going to Sedona area and staying in the desert tomorrow.  I hope to have some work to talk about next week.

AuthorArizona Treks | CommentPost a Comment |
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Friday
29Jan2010

Expression, Creativity, Mediums, and OMG Am I an Artist? 

DateFriday, January 29, 2010 at 10:01AM

Recently I have been rather quiet on this site.  Not due to a lack of creativity or effort but due to the type of work.  The software products I offer are showing their age and need to be updated.  I am rewriting them using native OSX tools.  There are many who claim to be Computer Scientists and practice software development as a scientific discipline.  When it comes right down to it, I have never seen anyone successfully practice software development as a science or engineering discipline.  Of course, I have not been in the mainstream for several years and can not speak to the current state but it is an art.  Like paining or writing it is something which requires skill, talent, and dedication to do well.  I am not speaking just about writing the code but the architecture and design as well.  

When it comes top producing art, I see almost any result from a creative endeavor as art.  There are many very good artists who work in ephemeral mediums.  Like chalk drawings on sidewalks, sand painting, etc.  But they have in common with other forms of art the vision, desire to create, and effort applied to instantiate the vision.  But I think of different attributes of different types of art.  Some attributes are concerning the medium, some the effort, some the result.

Medium related attributes include concrete medium, stone for carving, wood for building furniture, etc.  Another type of medium is manufactured, paints must be manufactured, although it may be the artist who manufactures the paint and that may be part of the art.. The last one is abstract, like writing or telling stories, writing software fits this mold as well.

Effort can be categorized as labor intensive, thought work, skilled, or inspirational.  I consider sculpture to be a very labor intensive art.  Thought work is along the lines of composing, writing, painting, not a huge physical effort and as the work is created it can take on a life of it’s own.  Inspirational is where I put photography and some painting, mostly abstract.

Results are varied I categorize them as physical,  utilitarian, temporal, abstract.  these are less clear than the medium or effort.  A piece of furniture is physical but it is usually also utilitarian.  But although it lasts possibly centuries, it is not fundamentally temporal in nature.  Movies, and music are temporal, but are stories?  CD’s are physical but the music is not, so I find it fits in the abstract category.  Actually most forms that require some sort of technology I consider to have an abstract form.  Computer software is one of the most abstract forms of creative work.  It is all abstract form concept to realization, but it can and should also be utilitarian.

So I have 2 forms of art that I produce, photography and computer software.  They are very different in their very nature.

Photography uses manufactured or abstract mediums.  It is mostly inspirational but can also be thought work but after a long session in the darkroom standing for several hours   I begin to think it is labor intensive even though it is not.  The results are physical or abstract.  Prints are physical things, images on a computer screen is abstract.  

Software uses an abstract medium although an argument could be made for an manufactured medium, I disagree.  It is very much thought work, the application or end product can take on a life of it’s own and become something very different than originally conceived.  The result is abstract.  

On long drives I often ponder different forms of art and discover things about the arts, artists, and myself.  It is an interesting exercise and can help you under stand yourself a little better.

I hope to get out to photograph this weekend and can then settle down and quit thinking all the time.  I am driving myself crazy with it!

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Thursday
05Nov2009

Thinking on Things

DateThursday, November 5, 2009 at 8:48AM

Last night at class Rod implored everyone to spend time every day with photography.  Either doing something or thinking about it.  He also talked some about why we photograph.  

Why do I photograph, to create something.  My entire life, at least as long as I can remember, has been filled with creative pursuits.  The time I set my bicycle on fire because the jet engine I built for it leaked and the ignitor set the kerosine on fire.  Not one of the brightest things I have done but it was creative.  There are many stories of how my latest thing blew up, scorched my eyebrows, fell apart, on on rare occasions, worked.  Then I became interested in art and began drawing and paining.  An art teacher in the 7th grade took me on as a special project and I continued painting into my mid-20's.  Then designing and building computer hardware and software took over.  After spending 30 + years doing that and searching for other pursuits, I began photographing.  It is more satisfying to the creative part of me than any other pursuit has been, other than designing computer systems.  Designing computer systems lost it's appeal because of the long hours put into something that would be antiquated in a few years.  I wanted to create something that will be viable without constant effort applied to it as well as lasting longer than I last.  Something in me drives me to create, it is a force that has always been there and has helped to shape my life.  But I wish to create something that stands on it's own.  A rather long dissertation but it is why I photograph.  

Doing something with photography every day, most days I am shooting, printing, or looking at photographs for at least an hour.  Many days I get up and spend the whole day in the darkroom.  Many times I lie in bed thinking about an upcoming shoot, or trying to figure out how to print some negative that I like and having trouble printing.

It seems that I do as Rod recommends, but I already knew that was sound advice.  

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Friday
06Mar2009

Books

DateFriday, March 6, 2009 at 7:32AM

Today I am not including a photograph, I hope to paint a bit different picture with words. I had a birthday a few days ago and received a couple of books. One is the "Edward Weston, Forms of Passion, Passion of Forms" book which is a wonderful collection of Weston's work. This is goodtimingbecause I am just finishing the "Daybooks of Edward Weston" and it is nice to see some of the photos he talks about making in the daybooks. Although I know more about Edward Weston than any of the 20th century photographers, some of his work is a puzzle to me.

Much of Weston's work is a puzzle to me. Much may be somewhat of an overstatement. I love looking at is work. Many of the photos from his Mexico trips are among my favorite photos. I like most of hisvegetablephotos, many of the kelp and rocks. Some however I simply don't understand. This seems to be more so in his later work but I can find examplesthroughout.

Some of the places he shot I have also shot. ave you ever shot someplace and then seen another persons work form the same place and been surprised that you missed things? I have a time or two, and I hope it helps me learn to be more observant.  There are a fair number of his photos that I recognize the location and remember the scene but passed up shooting the scene simply because I thought it would make a poor photograph and when I see that Weston took it it becomes a head scratcher.  

 

  1. Why did he take the photograph?
  2. Why was it included in the book
  3. What am I missing since it is obviously something that EW and the person putting the book together thought deserved to be seen. 

 

So I ponder the photograph and try to understand what it is I am missing.  This is not a matter of simply not liking the photograph, there are many instances of art that I can see the beauty but do not like the work.  This is a case of not seeing the underlying values.  There are other cases of this in many bodies of work so it is not something specific to Weston.  

Perhaps I am just not ready to understand it, or perhaps I never will.  Or perhaps I am looking too hard and unlike the cut cabbage photographs with their intricate patterns are intriguing and appealing to me, these simply do not appeal to me and I am looking too deep.  But, I will continue to study these photographs and continue to scratch my head over them.  Perhaps there is another epiphany coming, or not.

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