Advancing Your Photography. Marc Silber
(not in how to make them!) What it means is that study periods are alternated with practical experience. This is the best way to approach your photography education so as to maintain a good balance. This is why I recommend that when you’re studying your camera, you should have it right in front of you. Also break your study time up and go out and shoot. I want you to connect with everything you study in this book.
One last point before we take off: be sure to have fun on your journey! Here are a few tips to help you do so:
1. The sign on my door doesn’t say “no shoes – no service,” but, “Check self criticism at the door!” It’s okay to want to do better, and of course that’s the whole point of AYP, but don’t be your own worst critic. In other words, allow yourself to win!
2. Study and use the AYP regularly. As when you learn any new skill, you can’t dabble at it and expect to get very far. Set your pace weekly and stick to it. I suggest a minimum of one hour, three times a week.Three hours a week isn’t a bad investment to make in becoming an accomplished photographer.
3. Take at least one photograph every single day. If you don’t have your trusted camera, then use your smartphone. Follow my advice on posting to social media (in Chapter 5), and also tag the ones you are proud of to #AYPClub on Instagram.
4. Don’t take it seriously, but have fun. Fall into the joy of learning to express yourself better and more effectively as a photographer.
5. You can always reach out to me with your questions or comments. Reach me on my YouTube channel or on our contact form on AYPClub.com. Unless I get bombarded, I promise to answer every question you send me.
6. Have fun and fall in love with photography more deeply every day!
“I THINK IT IS IN COLLABORATION THAT THE NATURE
OF ART IS REVEALED.”
— STEVE LACY, JAZZ COMPOSER
In writing this book, I received so much help and support from so many people that it felt like the universe was telling me that my large network of supporters was behind me the whole way. And indeed they were.
I’ll begin by thanking Chase Jarvis, for inviting me to his studio for one of our very first videos and for his friendship and continued support throughout the years. Thanks to Bob Holmes for his friendship and for his continued advice and support along the way; he also contributed his time and support in creating our videos that are so loved. Similarly, thanks to Huntington Witherill for his advice and contributions in his videos.
I’d like to thank all those who contributed to our many, many interviews, especially those whose work you see here in AYP: Chris Burkard, Matthew Jordan Smith, Camille Seaman, John Todd, David Smith, Lena Hyde, Anna Kuperberg, Joey L., Hunter Freeman, Florian Schulz and Bambi Cantrell. Without them, the book would lack the dimension that it has.
I’d like to thank those who helped me edit and smooth out AYP: Jerome Milac for his belief in and continued support of AYP; Catherine Weaver for her expert guidance on editing, Pete Hoffman for his Photoshop mastery and David Jensen for his advice. To my fantastic digital film producers over the years: Rocky Barbanica, Sam Rider, Matt Cross, and Hollie Fleck for their production on our AYP Videos (and thank you, Hollie, for modeling.)
I would especially like to thank my followers who have supported me over the years; without you, I would have had no purpose behind my production, with you, it has meant the world.
And a big thank you to the team at Mango Publishing, especially Chris McKenney, who believed in and supported AYP, and Hugo Villabona, who has been my editor and guide through the project, making this much more fun than a solo expedition and Elina Diaz for her beautiful design.
» Five Stages of photography: Visualization is at the center as it is involved with each of the other stages. Each stage is interactive (with arrows going both ways) since by improving one, you improve the rest. For example: by improving your skills in Processing this will improve your ability to Capture and vice versa. The same is true for each stage of photography.
CHAPTER 1 THE CYCLE OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND ITS PARTS
“PHOTOGRAPHY IS A WAY OF FEELING, OF TOUCHING,
OF LOVING. WHAT YOU HAVE CAUGHT ON FILM IS
CAPTURED FOREVER…”
– AARON SISKIND, PHOTOGRAPHER
There is a natural cycle to photography, as there is to all parts of life. For example, if you want to learn to cook a certain dish, you follow a natural cycle of first getting an idea of how you want your dish to turn out, consulting the recipe, and getting out your kitchen equipment – pans, cheese grater, etc. (learning how to use each if needed), then cooking the dish, which hopefully comes out how you visualized it, then you share it with others!
I’ll be covering each of these parts in detail to help you break down the whole subject into its components to understand them easily.
Now, before I dive into these, I want you to promise me you won’t stop taking photographs until you learn all these parts.
As I mentioned in the introduction, I want you to take at least one photograph every single day, no matter what camera you use or how you do it. The point of AYP is to advance your photography, and that is done by learning and photographing continuously, okay?
Let’s begin with the word “photography” and see how each part of its cycle fits into this definition from the Oxford American Dictionary: “the art or practice of taking and processing photographs.” It comes from two Greek words: “phos,” meaning “light,” plus “graphein,” “to write.” Put them together and you have the art of writing with light! Just as we write with words to tell stories that communicate ideas, feelings, and emotions, with photography you use light to convey those same ideas and feelings, but depending on your skill, perhaps even more deeply. Remember this derivation as you go through each stage of the cycle of photography: Step by step, you’re improving your ability to write with light and thus tell stories with your images.
Now, where does the cycle of photography start? It turns out it doesn’t start with the camera, it starts with you!
» Visualize how you intend to create your photograph
“LOOK AND THINK BEFORE OPENING THE SHUTTER. THE HEART AND MIND ARE THE TRUE LENS OF THE CAMERA.”
— YOUSUF KARSH, PHOTOGRAPHER
That leads us to the first and most important part of the photography cycle: it’s what we call visualization, or the process of forming a mental image of what you are going to photograph and how you intend it to look as an end result of all the stages of photography, that’s why it is in the center of the cycle. After all, to even pick up a camera, you had to first have some idea of what you wanted to capture, no matter how brief or vague. I will teach you how to develop your powerful sense of visualization, which in itself will make you a better photographer almost instantly!
A big part of visualization is looking at others’ work, both photography and other art forms. You get ideas from others about how they were able to tell the story with their camera or paintbrush. But it’s not good enough to look at a photograph and say, “I like this, I don’t like that.” That won’t let you into the inner workings of that image. Go deeper: if you like it, look at the image and see