There’s a special rule for photographers that I feel has been disappearing more and more on social media. However, it’s still incredibly relevant today! Some of us call it the 80:20 rule. And mostly it’s about the translation of the technical mindset and the artistic mindset. They’re two different entities speaking their second language and trying to make something work. To do that, they both have the be masters of whatever they’re trying to accomplish. And one photographer talks about how to do this incredibly well: Albert Watson. We’ve covered his great advice before, but this is even better.
In his book Creating Photographs, Albert Watson discusses how photography is like driving a car. It’s not about how you do it, it’s instead about where you’re going. To that end, he talks about being 80% creative and 20% technical. It reminds me a bit of how in 2017, he discussed the idea of analog vs digital with Mark Seliger.
In Seliger’s case, he also stated:
“But I had to take a picture and then print it…I was more excited about going to the darkroom…I’d print all night. I’d walk out with the sun coming up and I’d say, ‘Wow I got two final prints.’ I have never seen that same experience through a digital process yet.”
Mark Seliger
For both of these masters, it was all about getting to the endpoint. They kept their creative vision paramount and took the least technical processes that they could to get to the image they wanted. In fact, Albert states that the more creative photographers who don’t see themselves as technical often have an advantage because all their energy goes into the creative side of things. Perhaps this is also why real photographers are buying fewer and fewer cameras — because they’re all so good. Even though photography has advanced, it hasn’t necessarily improved. Photographers have to find different ways of expressing themselves.
In the chapter of the book, Albert says that you should learn the ins and outs of your camera but never lose sight of your creative vision. More importantly, he states that the two need to work off of one another. To get further in your career, you’re going to still need the technical side.
When people say that the camera doesn’t matter, it often doesn’t in regards to how most people do photography. But perhaps the camera and lenses you use do something totally different that helps you express your creative vision much more.
I’d go further with this and state that the technique that you’re using to make the creative side should be pretty inherent to what you do. Otherwise, everyone else can copy what you’re doing or an AI can figure it out. Make work that stands out on its own as something very unique to you. To do that, you need to develop your own photographic identity and creative vision. You can take inspiration from other lens-based mediums and artists, but then you’re just copying another photographer of some sort. Instead, look at books, paintings, etc. Try listening to music.
That leads us to the lead image of this article. My inspiration for it partially came from Pulp Fiction. But the other part of it came from a genuine and serious love of pizza and flash photography. I mixed the two up and left NYC as the character in the background to make it even better. Sometimes, you have to allow for creative freedom to go its own way.
But most of all, don’t lose sight of your creative vision. There’s no point in trying to be an influencer for a brand if you don’t have actually good work that isn’t dated at all.