BLOG

Standard

Open to Collaborative Work

It took me longer than I wanted, but this post is finally here. With this post I’m closing a series, written mainly about creativity and inspiration, but also the process behind creating a specific project. Here are the previous posts in the series:

1. Connecting the ‘Why and the ‘How’. (Process/vision through to execution of a project)

2. Training our Creativity. (Exercises for our inspiration)

3. The Benefit of Challenge. (Improvement/growing of skills through adversity)

© Heber Vega 2012 | Photograph part of the story of the last Kurdish antique cleaner.

This week we have Open to Collaborative Work.
It’s not a secret that the life and work of photographers sometimes get pretty lonely, and therefore we get used to the idea of creating and working alone. This is not a bad thing, and I’d say it’s necessary for the journey. The problem begins when we think that’s the only way to do things in our craft. That attitude has a flaw; with time we don’t listen to other artists or photographers who may have experience and skills that would enrich our work. How are we making artistic decisions for our work? Are they based only on our own thoughts and opinion? Worse yet, are we the only ones critiquing our work?

Unless we are the next Beethoven in photography we’ll have a problem with this approach. We’ll end up with a crappy website design because we think it’s a cool template. We’ll end up losing some jobs or revenue because we don’t know how to deal with contracts, and try to be our own reps and lawyers. What about the accounting part? Yeah, those red numbers don’t look good, do they? And I haven’t even touched the artistic side of creating photographs. When was the last time someone reviewed your portfolio? Have you ever spoken with a photo editor or art director? Ok, let’s get more basic; have you ever talked to a painter and asked how to improve the ‘light’ in our frames? Have you talked to other experienced photographers about what they think about our ongoing projects? You can guess my point with all these questions: we are not alone in this world. Surprise!

 

Martin Luther King Jr. once said:
“All I’m saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we’re caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

 

It should not be a surprise to us that we can improve our work by sharing and working with other creatives. Most of our work can improve dramatically if we ask the right questions of the right people. If you still have doubts, check the leaders in our industry today: McNally, Jarvis and Arias, to name a few. You will discover a team working with most of them.

 

Joe McNally said this two post ago:
“The above is of [dancer] Alexis Fletcher, who is truly magnificent. She is particular, as
classical dancers tend to be, and she can float through the air as effortlessly as the rose petals we blew into the frame with her. She would look at every frame we shot together, and effectively, she coached me through it. She remarked on my timing, and her form, critically, but also wonderfully. Because of her devotion to craft, she, effectively, pushed me to be a better photographer on the set that day.”

 

When was the last time we allowed our subject to ‘coach’ us through a shoot? Well, McNally sometimes does. Are we afraid of losing our own vision by working with others? Afraid of losing our own identity as artist?

 

Jim Jordan, explained a good balance here:
“That’s what sets good photographers [in this field] apart. Instead of throwing in the stylist or makeup artist to do all the work, I show them what I want. The direction needs to come from the photographer so that it fits with their vision.”

Working in a team doesn’t mean you will lose your vision, instead it will be enriched by the skills of other artists.

If there’s one thing I want to build into my life, it’s having friends and colleagues who can contribute to my soul and hone my vision. As I give to others, I also try to ‘stay close’ to people that I can learn from. This is a list of people that you may have around you that can help to make your business better: designers, accountants, videographers, painters, singers, musicians, art directors, editors, photographers, journalists, storytellers, dancers, athletes, etc. You can learn far more from each of them than you ever learned in school. So give them a call, listen to them, and ask good questions. Study their creativity, inspiration, discipline, etc.

Let me give you 5 ideas that I’m starting to use that I think can improve our work. If you have a better idea (I know you do) please share it in the comments.

1. Work on a multimedia project. Create a project that is bigger than what you can put into place yourself, and therefore find people interested in working along side you. Benefit from each other’s skills. Consider partnering with a videographer, musician, singer, editor, sound engineer, designer, etc. You can direct, and of course provide the images.

2. Find a photo editor. If you are on a tight budget, find someone who has talent to describe what s/he sees in photographs, someone who understand photography and has ‘good taste’ (in your opinion). Ask that person to critique your latest projects, and see what you think about the process. If you trust her/his opinion then you have found your editor. The key here is once you have
placed your trust in that person, allow them influence your future work.

3. Find a designer. If you have someone who knows their way around design, ask for advice on your logo, personal website, portfolio, brand, etc. Again, once you have found someone who you trust, start building a long-term relationship, so that person can influence your future work. The same for a ‘retoucher’. If you suck at Photoshop (like me) then find someone you can work with.

4. Interview artists, and learn from their experience. Ask questions about inspiration, creativity, concept, execution, etc. Want to go a step further? Make a photo essay based on their work. That way you get to shoot and learn as well.

5. In your next photography project, don’t make it ‘personal’ work but a collaborative work. Shoot the project with someone else. Define the goal, vision and process but essentially go with another photographer and learn from his/her approach. Want to make it even better? Gather a group of photographers around the project and watch the synergy that happens.

Bonus: Invite friends and family to an ‘personal exhibit’ at your house. Print your work and let them talk about it; what they like, what they don’t like, why, etc. Invite critique; praise from a room full of people who love you won’t help you improve your craft.

 

Finally, the most important part of collaborative work: give. If people perceive you as someone only interested in ‘taking’, you will be avoided. Generosity always comes first. Let me know how these ideas work for you. Thanks!

Standard

The Benefit of Challenge

A month ago when I was scheduling posts for my blog, I didn’t think that some of these posts were necessarily related. But now after publishing the last two, I can see that there’s a back bone joining them all together.
Here are the posts I’m talking about:

Connecting the ‘Why’ and the ‘How’. (Process/vision through to execution of a project)

Training our Creativity. (Exercises for our inspiration)

© Heber Vega 2012 | Photograph part of the story of the last Kurdish antique cleaner.

Next I want to explore the ideas of challenge and collaborative work, and how they can benefit us as photographers. When I say ‘challenge’, I am talking about activities that take us out of our comfort zones, that introduce us to a different way of creating. For ‘collaborative work’, I’d include any type of activity where we exchange ideas and work along other artists in the process of creating a project. I’m going to explore these subjects a bit deeper and have some examples that we can apply in our work.

The important thing to remember here, is that challenges & collaborations are an important element in the growth of artists, and without them our talent and skills are not going to reach their full potential.

 

Challenge: “a task or situation that tests someone’s abilities.”


Last year, while working on the ONE-SHOT workshop, I remember talking to Erin Wilson about how much I like the adrenaline that comes with assignment work. I love the challenge, although it doesn’t feel that great in the moment. Every time I get hired for a specific task as photographer, I like the feeling of making things happen within certain limitations, like time, funds, circumstances, etc. The reason? They have made me a more creative photographer in the process, and have allowed me to explore new things that have become valuable for my work, but that I’d never have discovered otherwise. It’s a journey of personal discovery; there’s so much inside of us that we don’t tap into for various reasons, including fear. Taking on challenges gives us a reason to face the fear. Lastly, constrains are always good if you make them work for you, just keep that in mind.

Here is a list of challenges that can make you a better photographer and that I have experienced myself. These activities have really enriched my work.

1. Limit your gear. Use your cellphone camera or your iPhone for this project. Or use your DSLR, but with only one lens at one focal length. Explore how you see the world at that perspective; go out and shoot for a couple days to really explore the limitation. Whatever happens, don’t add more gear. Just keep shooting.
2. Take a pro-bono assignment. Find a non-profit that identifies with your values and offer to work for a couple of weeks, or for a specific project. Better yet, don’t bring your camera at the beginning, listen to them carefully, and then create a project that could help them promote their cause. To make this effective, give yourself time restrictions.
Let’s say you will do this assignment in x number of days but no longer than that. Treat it as if it’s a paid assignment with a deadline.
3. Step into multimedia. Create a project where you will build with more elements than just your photography. Start with audio. Take the time to record people, ambient sound, etc. Perhaps music? Where can you collaborate with some musician and create something unique for your work? What about putting together a whole website for that project, with interactive materials, then finding some good designers interested in something like that? What about video? Read some basic information about video and storytelling and then give it a shot. Nothing to lose, and so much to gain in the process.
4. Write a column. Find someone who might be interested in publishing a story of yours, and pitch a story. Complement your photography with a longer article that explains the context of your images. Try to work either with another writer, to proof-read your work or better yet, a real editor. You’ll see how they can cut to the chase quickly.
5. Explore another culture for a photography project. Save some money and then go to a distant location where people don’t speak your language, live in a different culture and where you don’t have any expertise at all. This is the closest thing to being reborn. I’m telling you, you become a baby again, and it’s ridiculous how you have to depend on other people to carry out a project in a place like that. But that challenge, and the desire to understand with eyes and ears open to new experiences, beside making you a better photographer, will make a better person.

In my next post I will talk more about collaborative work, and how that can benefit our photography. In the meantime if you want to add another suggestion for a challenge that has improved your craft, please feel free to add them on the comments. And if you take up one of the challenges listed here, please leave a link so we can follow your progress. Thanks.

Standard

Training our creativity

This last Monday, I put together a blog post about connecting the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ for a story or project. I was basically outlining the creativity process that goes from a concept, idea or vision, through the tools or elements that are needed to transform that concept into a final product. Well, I want to continue with this idea for a bit longer.

About inspiration: it is an important element for creativity, but as others have stated, it doesn’t come to us while we lay down on the couch and we just wait for it. No, more often than not it comes when we are in a process of pursuing it, in a process of cultivating of ideas. Inspiration usually comes when our souls are stimulated by something that’s meaningful to us.

The following video is a good example of how successful artists have trained their minds and their creativity, to start flowing based on prompts. In this case Moby, the singer, had been given certain images and later certain words, to compose and record a whole song within 48 hours.

I think this is a very good training method for photographers (I will talk on this later next week). Imagine having the challenge of composing a photography project based on certain assigned words or music or images. Let’s force creativity, therefore inspiration and our art.

Standard

Connecting the ‘Why’ and the ‘How’

Two weeks ago I submitted a story for a guest post, called “Haunted Memories”. It was published in this place. Today I want to talk about the process behind those images, not just the ‘how’ but also the ‘why’. What distinguishes an artist and photographer is the ‘why’, or his/her vision behind the work. That is what sets apart the great photographers that you and I admire. Throughout this entire assignment, I felt connected to the story in a way that I’ve rarely experienced before, and I think that one of the reasons is that I was able to successfully merge the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of this story.

© Heber Vega | Images from the 'Haunted Memories' story.

The ‘Why’:
First, I must admit that this story represents a real milestone in my personal life. It marks an ending, as well as the beginning of a new Heber. So one of my motivations was to create a visually strong story, because I experienced the story in such a strongly visually way. What I saw in my mind during that time has stayed with me in such a powerful way, that it forever changed my perspective on life. It pierced my soul, so I had to put emphasis on that in the images.

I had that clear concept fixed in my mind, and then began to write the story in a way that would strike a cord with my readers. I wanted the illustrating images to add to the experience, to evoke the feelings of repression and hopeless that I felt in childhood. Because I had this powerful experience while reading a book, most of the images I associate with the story I created in my mind. To illustrate my own story, I wanted to create images that would evoke the feeling of being in a dream.

So that’s basically the ‘Why’, the concept… the way I envisioned this work.

The ‘How’:
There are two main elements in the illustration of this story: the location I chose for the images, and the way I post-processed them. I decided to use my iPhone instead of my DSLR because of the post-processing technique I wanted to use. When I started this project, it was only available as an iOS app that I was using on my iPhone. Now it’s also available for Mac, but I’ll say more about that in a minute.

Element One: The Red Prison (location). Choosing this location is totally related to the ‘Why’ of this story. I have been in the Red Prison more than 10 times, and am still impacted by that place every time I go. I normally end up being really quiet, full of thoughts. Now that I think about it, I guess I’ve been connecting the Red Prison with those difficult thoughts from my past, and that’s why this story became so moving for me. Once I was able to connect contemporary elements with the emotional theme of the main story (the ‘why’), I was able to “get into the zone”. I know that sounds really zen, but once you make the connection between your vision and concept for a story, with the visual elements around you, you are ready to portray a story.

Element Two: Post-processing. Last December I began to use an app on my iPhone call Snapseed, and I fell in love with it because of several of its features. One of them is a filter called “grunge”. When I was thinking about illustrating ‘Haunted Memories’, I couldn’t stop thinking about this grunge look. It is edgy, dreamy, and has a lot of texture; ideal for what I wanted to convey in these images. The best part is that by the time I was ready to process the images, this app had become available for Mac. This meant that I could use it on my computer as well. Without that, I would have used the iPhone exclusively to capture and post-process the images.

Well, that’s the process behind “Haunted Memories”. The most important lessons?

1. Identify a concept or a vision before you even start to work on a project. Think about how you want this story to make your reader feel. Know in your own mind why you want to work on this story. Close your eyes, and become aware of the visual images that come to mind when you think about the story. Pre-visualize.

2. Look for the elements that can best represent your story. Think in terms of what kind of reaction you want to provoke in the readers; think of elements that will generate that kind of emotional response.

3. Finally, think about how you can use those elements in the best way possible, so they become the interpreter of your story. In this example, visually. But it can also be through another type of sense, like using sound in a multi-media piece.

I hope this post will be useful for your stories as well. Have a great week.

Standard

Guest Blogging – “Haunted Memories”

Today I’m guest blogging at a friend’s Blog. The special thing about this post is that it isn’t just another Blog post for me. This is a very intimate, deep and difficult story of my childhood that I had to put into words and photographs. I’m really thankful for this challenge, thanks to Jose Martinez. This is a great idea. The whole project made me a better and a more sensitive artist.

Here are some of the images I used for this self-assignment. I will be probably blogging about these images as most of them were taken with my iPhone and post processed with a new software available for mac. Stay tuned for that.

© Heber Vega 2012 | Red prison, Iraq. Torture room.

© Heber Vega 2012 | Red prison, Iraq. Interrogation room.

© Heber Vega 2012 | Red prison, Iraq. Female Cells

© Heber Vega 2012 | Red prison, Iraq.

© Heber Vega 2012 | Red prison, Iraq.

© Heber Vega 2012 | Red prison, Iraq.

© Heber Vega 2012 | Red prison, Iraq. Female Patio.

Standard

This is just the beginning!

For the last couple of months, I’ve been involved in the most ambitious project ever in my life. And that also involves my family as well. I once blogged about it here, Photography for Good!, and today I want to share with all of you the very first fruits of our work at The ONE-SHOT Project. Enjoy it!
Thanks for all your support specially to the ones that have helped, donated and volunteered for this cause.

See the following video.

ONE-SHOT – 2011 Workshop Iraq from Heber Vega on Vimeo.

What do you get when you mix Iraqi students and volunteers from four continents with donated digital cameras, classes and photo walks? You get a set of remarkable images, three months of fun, and a lifetime of memories.

The ONE-SHOT Project staged it’s first workshop in the fall of 2011, in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq. The volunteers brought instruction in photography. The students brought an incredible eagerness to learn. And together they all learned a different way to see the world.
http://www.theoneshotproject.com

Credits:
Photography: Heber Vega and ONE-SHOT Students.
Production: Oscar Leon.
Music:
Ukelele Smile
By Robert Critchley and Brent Robitaille
Copyright 2011
Used by permission.

Standard

Assignment: The Other Iraq (And the other Me)

© Heber Vega 2011 | Neanderthal Cave Gallery - Erbil, northern Iraq.


A couple months ago, I contacted one of the main newspapers in Chile, called La Tercera. It publishes a Sunday magazine that has a very unique approach to storytelling. This magazine, El Semanal, is not based on documentaries, reports, analysis or interviews, which is the norm for a publication like that in Chile. Instead, El Semanal features people telling their own stories, speaking in first person, talking about what they have experienced or what they have witnessed around certain issues, places and life in general.
From the very beginning I really liked their editorial work and approach to storytelling, because it identifies with the way I personally feel related to stories. For example, in most cases, my role is to tell the story of someone else and make it visual. At the same time, that person’s story, more often that not, begins to influence my own personal views and my experience as photographer. In most cases, I am touched, moved, or changed by either the subject’s life or the lessons hidden within their stories.
As you can see, my approach isn’t that of a photojournalist, but from someone who wants to relate and make a personal contact with his subject. I am someone who wants to get involved and be part of the story.

© Heber Vega 2011 | Family Mall, central dome - Erbil, northern Iraq.


Back to my assignment, I talked several times with one of the editors of El Semanal, and we agreed on the story that we wanted to cover. The story was about the part of Iraq where I live, where life is so much different than what you have seen on the news. We wanted to talk about the story of progress and the economical renaissance that northern Iraq is going through, looking at the city of Erbil, the capital of the area best known as Kurdistan Iraq. The bottom line is the whole assignment produced 20 useable images and a chronicle of 8000 characters (two full Word pages).

The premise was to capture scenes that would show a different Iraq, so in the end, it was more like a travel photography assignment than a story about a specific person. Because of this, it was a totally new thing for me. I had never done a story about a place before, so I wasn’t totally sure how to approach it. I did not photograph people, except in few frames, but learned by the end of the assignment that if you are covering a story, no matter what it is, people always have to be included. Somehow people give “life” to a story and without them the story of that place is incomplete.

© Heber Vega 2011 | Shanadar Park, cable car - Erbil, northern Iraq.

TIP: If you are working on an editorial shoot, always take a lot of photographs of people. You are going to need them, and those images will probably end up being picked by your editors over other images.
From the moment I started shooting this assignment, two things were on my mind: I had to shoot everything I needed within 48 hours, and I had to write as well as the images I photographed. I was nervous… here was another assignment based on my fears and doubts, wondering why in the word I had accepted entirely something new. Why didn’t I stay with what I already knew? Why not stay in my safe zone? Why?

These thoughts can play in your favor sometimes (I will explain more in another post). But more often than not, they will play against you. So you’d better shut those doubts off quickly once you start working… if not, you will miss something. In my case, I was grumpy during the whole assignment, a little bit tense, and I ended up missing some photographs that could have made this a much better visual story. Don’t bring your fears to work, please. Besides, you’ll miss enjoying the company of wonderful people during this assignment.

TIP: Whatever fear you have, use it for good. Work harder, and don’t listen to the voices of fear. They are the worse kind of advisors.

© Heber Vega 2011 | Assignment for La Tercera, magazine El Semanal - Chile.

This was a very rushed assignment. As I said, I only had 48 hours total to shoot what I needed, which I don’t recommend to anybody. I was running for two days straight and because of that, I did not have those pauses that allows you to sit back and reflect on what you are actually doing. This is something crucial when you have the goal of telling a story. This time, trusting my gut worked well, but I can’t rely on that. It’s not good for my body or the story. Make sure you have those “time outs” to review what you have done and what else needs to be accomplished before finishing your work.

TIP: Build in time to think throughout your assignment. Check your lists, goals, editorial aims, and story. Confirm everything you need to bring back with you.

Now let me show you some images from this assignment. And let me tell you that my favorite photograph did not make the cut! Why? Because it was not part of the main body of the story. The editors chose images that were related to my writing. So if you want your favorite images to be part of the published story, then make sure to talk about them in your story.

During the assignment I thought that shooting from a higher place would give a better perspective, so I tried to find places with a high vantage point. The only thing at hand was a cable car – the poor man’s alternative to a helicopter. We jumped in, and I made my best shots from there. Because we couldn’t shoot through the windows, my local fixer decided that the best solution was to open the doors. I cannot tell you how terrified I was shooting with the doors open, but in the end it turned out to be a great solution.

Here are the final printed images from this article. I hope to have the time to translate it into English so that one day you can understand what I said here. So once again… the story about someone else, in the end, changed my own story. Right now I find myself loving creating photographs for magazines and writing. Perhaps this will take me on a new path in photography, but for now I can see a small shift. We’ll see if that’s enough.