As photographers, we translate our ideas into objects. In this episode, we look at how we can get our work “off the wall” by using the print on demand service MagCloud to get our photographs under viewer’s eyes.
MagCloud – I’ve linked to the “Create” section here where you can find out how to make a MagCloud of your own.
At the Lake’s Edge – Jeff’s MagCloud publication available either printed or as a free e-download
Learning photography is like learning a language. As we assimilate photographic vocabulary, nuance and the like, we wind up being interpreters or translators of our ideas, interpreting those ideas into objects.
Paper Maiché maker in Lecce, Puglia, Photograph by Jeff Curto
I’ve realized that as I progress, my interest in photography as an artistic practice is in the learning of more visual languages and in becoming a strong enough speaker in each to effectively translate the many stories I have continually flowing through my mind.
“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” is a phrase attributed to psychologist Abraham Maslow, but I’ve always thought it had application to photography and its practice, too. In this episode, I discuss how the small Panasonic GX-1 has energized my photography and brought me to new ways of seeing.
Not long ago, I saw an article by Nicholas Day on Slate.com about babies and pointing. The article discussed how babies point at things to help them create meaning in their world and to share their experiences with someone else. It immediately made me think of what photographers do. We use our cameras to point; to carefully and systematically say to the rest of the world “look at that!” In this podcast, I discuss the importance of pointing and what it means when we point in a sophisticated way at something.
I’ve long loved the detail image; the photograph that shows just a snippet of the larger world. In this episode, I look at an image of mine that has that sense of detail and also look at the historical referent of images by Ansel Adams that brought me to that place.
Think about the way focusing on the details of the world can help you create meaning in your images; work toward an understanding of the importance of what at first might seem insignificant.
