95/365: E is Education.

I have a lot of photography books. My little sister got me a comprehensive 35mm guide when I got my first SLR, the Canon AE-1, and through it I learned the technical side of my SLR and the basics of photography in general. That was in 1997, I think...I didn't really buy another photography book until about two years ago, not long after I discovered the Strobist website and it awakened a desire to consume information and LEARN such as I hadn't felt since somewhere in the middle of college. It was then that I ramped up an addiction to photography books. Not so much books of individual artists and their work, although there's a few in the library now, but technical books. Instructional stuff. Joe McNally bridged that gap better than any, combining a portfolio of his amazing work with a story and lots of technical expertise along with each photo. But he's the exception to the rule. Most of the books are purely technical guides: exposure, composition, using lights, night and low-light, panoramic, and a host of photoshop books. Not all are purely technical, there's some travel guides and a few that are dedicated to the more philosophical, lifestyle aspects of a photographic life. It was in this last genre that I started to get burned.

Not burned out, but burned as in, let down. My first bad photo book was kind of a shock. I paid $30 for this tripe? The guy was saying nothing I didn't already know, or it was stuff I just didn't care about. Wait, that's not true; I wanted to care, I mean, it was about photography...but I couldn't, because I didn't like the guy's stuff. His photos did NOTHING for me. Not that they sucked, not really, just, they didn't do anything for me. No inspiration, no desire to emulate or copy his style or subject matter, or learn from him. So I couldn't take him seriously.

Since then, I've picked up a few more books that I can't finish, even if I hit them with momentum knowing that if I slow down, I'll just move on past them. Looking at those I don't like so much, I'm now noticing a common thread: they are one photog's perspective on the trade, his/her philosophy mixed with a little technical instruction here and there, but mainly their own personal approach and advice. Some of you may have been fortunate enough to have had a teacher or teachers that have rocked your world, someone who got you excited to learn and really connected with you. I'm sure all of you have had teachers that did just the opposite, that made education hard to stomach and snuffed your desire to learn anything from that person. I suppose it's the same with authors: some speak to us, some don't, and most, if not all, of that is subjective.

 
But there's another thing. The technical books worked for me; I enjoyed learning new hard skills like balancing ambient light with flash, or using Curves in Photoshop. And I learned a lot from these books. And I kept thinking, soon, I will use this skill, or that technique. Some I did indeed use, but many I have not. And soon the tech books were just retelling me things I had already heard many times, so I branched out to the philosophical books. But these were too personal, too subjective, and I couldn't connect with most of them. Now I'm beginning to see the problem and solution: I need to stop concentrating on the technical side of things as much, and focus on MY OWN personal philosophy in photography and art. To develop my vision, so to speak. This still involves learning both sides, and learning from others especially, but I think it has a lot less to do with sticking my nose in a book, and more with sticking it under a camera. I've always wanted people/teachers/internet/books to tell me how to do a thing; not out of laziness, so much as I didn't want to reinvent the wheel if I could save the time. When it came to the philosophy of art, the answers didn't cut it for me…because I have to supply my own answers to those questions. And here we are, another day closer to an unobtainable zenith of knowledge and experience that will always loom in front of me, only to prove a false peak once reached. I'm ok with a lifetime of learning. As long as there's beer at the after party.

-llg