Because I go around calling myself a Photographer (and
hopefully sharing images that support that claim), invariably people just
starting out will ask me about lighting or techniques or camera settings—and I
freeze for a split second like the proverbial deer, and then laugh nervously as
I give some vague generality that might sound good. The truth is I’m not so
technically proficient. People think I’m playing the humility card or
something, but I’m not! I’m just not an academic when it comes to photography.
How do you learn things best? Are you a book learner or a
hands-on learner or somewhere in between? I learn things best by experiencing
them. I think I’ve always been this way, but it is more so now that I am older.
I will read about things, but I don’t retain the information, really, or I
remember bits and pieces. Until I put what I learned to actual use, it isn’t
practical knowledge.
I did take a photography class in high school and learned to
develop and print film and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I am very certain I
never had a true grasp on ISO and f-stops. These days that grasp is only
slightly firmer. I experiment. I play with the settings. I experiment even more
in post processing. I don’t think I can “teach” what I do or explain how I
learned it. I didn’t take a class in Photoshop. I learned a little working at a
publishing company as the Photo Editor and the rest I learned by just…doing. I
never read any books on the subject and I am quite certain there are several
functions in Photoshop I don’t even know exist.
My workflow is crap. My filing system is worse. I am
familiar with a lot of photographers at this point and just a peripheral
awareness of their online postings tell me just how clueless I am about the
amazing tools available to me. Though I will and do tap into them as resources
when I need specific information. They have it and share it, and it is
person-to-person education. I use Lightroom 2 and Photoshop now. I still
haven’t read anything about LR2 (actually, don’t tell anyone, but I still
haven’t read all of the manual for my Canon T1i I got in July). I was at my
friend and fellow photographer Jennifer König’s house the other weekend,
watching her process some of her images. I asked her about the exposure tool
because I had played with it a few times and knew I wasn’t doing something
right. In 30 seconds she demonstrated for me how she used it and it clicked.
While I know I could find tutorials that showed these things, there is
something so much more fulfilling and tangible when a friend shares something
with you isn’t there?
I don’t do things the right way or the best way, but I do
things in the way that works best for me. Just please, whatever you do, don’t
ask me any technical advice! :-)
