Practice, Practice, Pratice

Several years ago whe I was teaching at the Maine Photographic Workshop, I had the good fortune to be teaching the same week Jay Maisel was there. If you don't know Jay and his work you should. He is one of the most prolific photographers I know. He always has new books coming out, new projects in progress and doing great commercial work. On top of that he is a great guy. To make a long story shorter, on Sunday morning after the workshop week I was with my family at a local community center, a park. It was a pancake breakfast for some good cause. I ran in to Jay that morning and he was in a great mood. During our brief conversation his eyes were constantly darting back and forth. He had at least one Nikon around his neck. In mid sentence, he walked away and began making a few photographs. Then he rejoined the conversation right where it had left off.

I asked him what was so important. He clapped his hand down on my shoulder and said "Tillman, photographers are the only artists who think we don't need to practice. Well that's Bull----. We need to practice our scales daily so to speak. We have to keep our eyes trained and constantly be looking for photographs."

Obviously that conversation made an impression on me. Earlier in my career when I was a photojournalist, I was making images every day. But when I began teaching and working with the large format camera that daily exercise wasn't happening. One of my resolutions is to look for images every day. To be aware of simple things like knowing where the sun is going to rise and where it's going to set where ever I am. Sounds simple, but if I have an hour to go make photographs, I need to know where the light is going to be. I also try to frame images with my minds eye. In conversation I often drive people crazy because I am constantly adjusting my position in realtionship to them and what is behind them. Trying to constantly frame them in an 8x10 rectangle, or even more recently in the 12 x20 rectangle.

There is another piece to Practice, Practice, Practice. As a large format photographer my skills at opening the camera, setting it up, and the simple using it of IT, rather than IT using ME requires practice. On more than one occasion I have been out working and failed to make a good image because I was struggling with my equipment. I was simply not in tune with my equipment. It became a struggle to set it up and make an image. Therefore one of my resolutions is to set my camea up on a regular basis and make some images. PRACTICE. They may not be great. But if I am in practice, in tune with my camera so to speak, when the opportunity arises then I have a better chance to make a good image.

We have just moved into a new home. We are gradually restoring it and making it livable. On several evenings I noticed the ceiling spot lights shinning on the sink created a theatrical atmosphere for the drying dishes. I hadn't made an image for a few weeks so I dragged the 12x20 out, set it up in the kitchen and made several exposures. I spent almost an hour setting these images up. Which proved to me I was out of practice. The best of the three is the one presented below...Practice, Practice, Practice.