Year: 2015

This is the Angel Gabriel.  

I met him on the Newport Beach pier as he was eating French Fries out of a trash can. 

He was homeless and hungry. I asked him if he would help me with a photograph and in return, I would buy him lunch.

The pier was very crowded and I wanted to take a 30 second exposure so that everyone would disappear except Gabriel. 

We tried a few shots and then Gabriel wanted to hold his bible. The image worked and the only people you can see besides Gabriel are those “ghosts” who lingered long enough for the camera to record. 

Gabriel and I then went into a restaurant to share a meal; he ordered steak with mushrooms and onions.  

When it came, he ate it with his hands.  

I discovered he was Romanian and so am I, so we talked about Romania. He was simple, kind and a pleasure to talk with.  

I asked Gabriel how I might contact him, in case I sold some of the photographs and wanted to share the money with him.  

He said I should give the money to someone who could really use it; that he had everything that he needed. 

Then the Angel Gabriel walked away, content and carrying his only two possessions: a Bible and a bed roll.

_______________________________________________

My Dear Friends,

The Center for Fine Art Photography asked if I would help them raise money by offering (50) prints of Harbinger No. 1 (below) and of course I said “Yes!”

Well my printer died just as I was going to prepare them and so I fell behind schedule. And as soon as the printer was fixed, I rushed to print them.

But after I had printed 32 of the prints, it suddenly occurred to me that I was printing the wrong image! I was printing The Angel Gabriel and not Harbinger No. 1. 

How did I make such a silly mistake? Well, I had just printed an order for The Angel Gabriel and then just kept going, not stopping to think about what I was doing.

Now I have a stack of prints of the Angel Gabriel and will offer those at the same price that The Center for Fine Art Photography is selling Harbinger No. 1:

$100 which includes shipping. The print is 8 X 12 on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308.

Now if you don’t know me, and I realize that many of you do not, you might think this is a staged event, a sales tactic to sell prints. Heck, I’d be suspicious of that also!

But it’s not a gimmick. It really happened exactly as I have said.

If you’d like to purchase a print of The Angel Gabriel, please send me an email at Cole@ColeThompsonPhotography.com and be sure to include your address.

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving! 

Cole

P.S. If you prefer Harbinger No. 1, please check out the “Double Double” promotion over at The Center for Fine Art Photography. Click here to see the promotion.

Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia

I’ve just driven 7000 miles in 22 days and during that time traveled through 22 states and 2 Canadian Provinces. That’s a lot of time in the car and it afforded a lot of thinking. 

And what I’ve been thinking about is Passion and how it relates to Vision.

I noticed that as I drove through the incredibly beautiful autumn scenery of New England, I was not inspired to create. But when I came across water of any kind, and particularly along the coast, I found myself excited and creating.

Now one might initially attribute this to me being a black and white photographer in the middle of a color wonderland. But I don’t think that’s what it was. Fall colors can make for some amazing black and white images and I know that there are great images in those hills. 

And yet here were thousands of photographers flocking to the area to shoot the beauty of the mountains and trees…and I’m only taking the occasional iPhone snapshot to send back to my family! Why?

My conclusion is that I just don’t feel a Passion for mountains and trees, but I do for water. 

But “why” do certain environs inspire me while others do not? I don’t know and the “why” is not very important to me: what’s important is that I recognize the source of my Passion and then do something about it.

In the past I’ve tried to force projects that I didn’t have a Passion for: the projects languished, I had to force myself to work on them and I was not happy with the results. Not one of those projects were ever successful. 

Never. Not one. Ever.

And so I’ve decided that with my limited time I will only focus on the places and things that excite me most, and for now that’s water and the coast.

I’ve long understood the role of Vision in creating work that I love, but now I’m beginning to appreciate the role of Passion as being nearly as important.

With Vision I can create unique images. With Passion comes an excitement that drives me.

And while I might use each one individually to some success, I now realize that my best work is created at the intersection of Vision and Passion.

Cole

Nothing, other than they are both featured in this blog post.

Cole

He’s Not That Interested in Awards

I was reading a short blurb about Bill Murray and how he’s a possible Oscar candidate for his role in St Vincent, here it is:

He’s not that interested in awards 

While he won a Golden Globe for 2003’s “Lost in Translation” and got caught up in the excitement of his Oscar nomination for the same film, he’s come to realize awards are not the end-all, be-all of acting.

He told Variety in the fall of 2014 he wouldn’t campaign for an Oscar nomination for his well-received performance in “St. Vincent,” saying,

“I’m not that way. If you want an award so much, it’s like a virus. It’s an illness.”

(I like how Bill thinks!)

A Cheap Affordable Tablet

I recommend that people who want to dodge and burn purchase a tablet. However up to now tablets have been quite expensive. 

Well I’ve just stumbled upon a tablet that is very affordable. I have not used it, but judging by its specifications it sounds pretty good! It’s offered by Monoprice which is a company I’m familiar with and regularly purchase from.

If you’re interested in trying a tablet, here’s a good sized one for a very reasonable $50 price.

http://www.monoprice.com/mobile/product/details/6814

If anyone purchases this, would you be sure to let me know how you like it?

Are you a professional or an amateur? And what exactly do those titles imply?

For years I have heard people proudly call themselves a professional or apologetically confess that they were “only an amateur.”

In modern times “professional” has come to imply high quality and of course an “amateur” does amateurish work. No wonder everyone is embarrassed to be an amateur and wants to be a professional.

I’m afraid we’ve lost sight of what the word amateur really means: it originates from the French and Latin and means “lover of.”  The word refers to someone who does something because they love to do it, they are not formally trained and they do not earn their living from it.

I have always referred to myself as an amateur because I am self taught, I chose not to earn a living from my art and because most importantly I create because I love to. And also there is a part of me that refuses to play the name game, trying to impress others with a title that does not fit.

This week I tried an experiment: I’ve been shooting in Nova Scotia where I have been asked many times if I were a professional (I really think it’s the tripod). I normally answer “no” to this question but had an idea after reading last weeks comments and thought I’d try something different.  So this week I answered instead: “I’m a fine art photographer.”

It’s a technique that I’ve seen employed before: give an answer, but not to the question that’s been asked.

It was interesting how it worked, I could see in people’s faces that they weren’t quite sure if I had answered the question and they were certainly not sure what a fine art photographer was (I don’t blame them!). But it then led to a discussion about what I did.

I liked how this answer worked, only one person saw through my misdirection and asked again: “so are you a professional?”

Does it matter what we’re called? Unfortunately to some people it does.  

It’s a shame that we are sometimes are judged by our titles, instead of by our work.

Because ultimately the image is the only thing that matters. We can hide behind a title, but our images cannot!

Cole

Recently while photographing on the the Oregon coast, a woman on a bicycle stopped and announced that she loved to talk to photographers. Her first question to me was: Are you a professional? 

In a split second my mind calculated the several different responses that I could give her:

• Yes.
• No.
• What is a professional?
• What does it matter what I’m called?
• Wouldn’t you rather know if I’m any good?

Because all the definitions I had seen for “professional” were income based (you must earn at least 50% of your income from your photography) I chose a simple “No” for my response.

The woman then rode away, asking no further questions.

I just smiled.

Cole

Last week I asked: “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” 

Many of you guessed that I was up to something because I never list specifications and I never ask others about my work (it’s a Vision thing).

So what was the real point of the post? It was that the listing of technical specifications detracts from an image. They’re not just superfluous, but they actually detract from the viewing experience.

Listing specifications draws attention away from the only thing that matters (the image) and it furthers the folly that with the right equipment and processes…anyone could create this image. 

• If only I had a full-frame camera…
• If only I had those “white” lenses professionals use…
• If only I had a tablet with 2048 levels of sensitivity…
• If only I had an 8-core processor…
• If only…
• If only..
• If only…

I loved what Stephen said in his comment: “An artist doesn’t praise or blame their tools, what only matters is their final work.” 

There were other comments that brought up some important points that I’d like to reinforce:

1. Equipment and processes do not an image make. If I had to choose between the best equipment in the world but without my Vision…or a Kodak Brownie with my Vision…I’ll take the Brownie. 

2. Never learn the rules of photography. But if you already know them, try to forget them and vow to never consider them when creating an image. Rules are an inadequate substitute for Vision.

3. Create for yourself. When you create an image you should only care what you think of it and not be concerned what others think. The best success is when you create an image that you truly love.

4. There is no right/wrong or good/bad when it comes to art. There is only what you like and don’t like. Please don’t be fooled into thinking that if more people like an image, that it’s a better image. The only thing it means is that more people like the image.

5. Never ask others about your images. Don’t you know what you want? Haven’t you discovered your own Vision? If not, then listening to another’s opinion will not help you find it, but will actually harm the process.

6. Don’t give other people advice about their images, even if they ask. Why not? Because it’s their image and what you think or would do with it is unimportant! (sorry to be so blunt)

When people ask me what I would do with their image, I say: It doesn’t matter what I would do, what is your Vision for it? If I kept telling you what I would do and you kept following my advice, it wouldn’t take long before your images would start to look like mine! (which is not a good thing)

7. The creator gets the final word. When I showed this image to my wife, the first thing she said was: “I like it but you should get rid of some of that rock wall.”

My response was: “No, this is how I see it.”

And unlike most things in marriage, I get the final word when it comes to my images!

While the original point I wanted to make with this blog post was that the listing of specifications is not a good idea, I think the more interesting discussion has been centered around Vision. And as you might have noticed, I am fixated on Vision.

Why? Because finding your Vision changes everything. It gives you the confidence to create what you want without the need for validation or the fear of criticism.

Vision changes the image and it changes the image maker.

Cole

I’ve just spent the last ten days creating new images on the Oregon coast. Conditions were wonderful!

This is my latest addition to the “Monolith” series: Monolith No. 85

Specifications:

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-105mm f4 “L” lens set at 24mm

ISO 50, f-22, 314.1 seconds using a Singh-Ray Mor-Slo 15 stop fixed ND filter

The tripod is a Manfrotto MT057C3 Carbon Fiber with a Manfrotto Model 486rc2 Ball Head.

This image was shot in RAW and written to a Kingston 266X 64gb CF card and co-written to a PNY 64gb 90mb/s SDXC card.

The RAW image was imported using Photoshop Camera 9.1.1 and the post processing done with Photoshop CC 2015.0.1 Release, build 20150722.r.168 x64.

I processed the image using my Wacom Intuos PTK-840 tablet with 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity.

The image is a 16 bit TIFF with a resolution of 5760 X 3840.

This was processed on my Velocity Micro PC, a Raptor Z95 mATX with 32gb DDR4 2400mhz RAM, a 1000 watt power supply, a Gigabyte X99m mother board with the Intel X99 chipset and the Intel I7-5820K 6-core processor. Video is a 2gb NVidia GeForce GTX960 Video Card GDDR5. It’s cooled using Liquicool’s 8 loop closed loop liquid heatsink. 

So, what’s wrong with this picture? Leave your comment and I’ll weigh in next week with my opinion.

Cole

Railroad Tracks

It’s all about the image and nothing else matters.

It doesn’t matter what awards the image has won.

It doesn’t matter what gallery it’s in. 

It doesn’t matter how many prints have sold or for how much.

It doesn’t matter if the image appeared on the cover of a magazine.

It doesn’t matter where the image was taken.

It doesn’t matter what equipment was used.

It doesn’t matter if the image was taken with a prime or zoom lens.

it doesn’t matter if it was created with film or digital. 

It doesn’t matter what program or plugins were used.

It doesn’t matter what printer, ink sets or paper were used.

It doesn’t matter who the photographer is.

It doesn’t matter if they are famous or not.

It doesn’t matter where they went to school.

It doesn’t matter what famous photographers they studied with.

It doesn’t matter what critics think of the image.

It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks of the image.

The only thing that matters is the image and how you feel about it.

Nothing else matters.

Do you like it?

Wonderful!

Enjoy it.

Don’t over-analyze it.

Simply enjoy it.

You don’t like it? 

Maybe the image failed.

Or maybe…you simply don’t like it.

That’s okay.

We all have different tastes.

Several years ago a friend of mine, Greg McKean of Master Photo Workshops, shot a video featuring me in Death Valley. And through a series of unfortunate events, we were never able to finish it…until now.

This video is entitled “Discovering Your Vision in Black and White.” It’s a two CD set: one shot in the field and the other at the computer showing my very simple Photoshop techniques including dodging and burning with a pen and tablet.

My biggest concern while shooting was: What if I don’t see any good images, I’ll be documenting myself failing! Fortunately we found a few including “The Road to Nowhere” above. This video will show you how I saw it, shot it and processed it.

To kick start the introduction of this set, Master Photo Workshops is offering a 15% discount between 9/16/2015 and 9/23/2015. Just use the promo code “masterblackandwhite” when ordering. Here’s where you can learn more:

http://masterphotoworkshops.com/catalog/discovering-your-vision

This video an honest representation of what I believe, how I see and the way that I work. I sincerely hope that you will find it interesting and helpful.

Cole