Education is important. That’s no secret. But sometimes, it’s easy to discount the value of furthering education for photography after you’ve completed your undergraduate or graduate degree(s). The fact is, there’s always something more to learn — something that’s worth learning because it will sharpen your skills for the next job while helping you form and evolve your personal style.
A “mentor” doesn’t have to be a limiting term. And it doesn’t have to be a single person, either. But when it comes down to it, finding one or more people who shoot the things that you tend to shoot often (or that you want to shoot often) and who can offer help and advice is the best way to kick start your education in the least amount of time possible.
With regard to managing the technology and logistics of taking photographs, I knew more than most coming out of high school. That knowledge pushed me away from furthering my technological skills and, instead, I went straight to art school to get a better background of everything that was created before my time. I wanted to be able to place my work in context and understand the context of history within which I fell. And that was a huge help.
Meanwhile, however, others grew their technological skills to a level far past my own as my skills remained largely similar as they always had been. I learned some darkroom tricks and my eye for capturing a “good” photograph improved, of course. But I didn’t learn lighting, or architectural photography, or Photoshop.
The art world is full of amateurs. Fine artists are, more often than not, amateurs in their mediums (especially when it comes to photography and video art). It’s their voice, what they have to say, and how they choose to say it that compels the industry to stop and listen for a moment. But it’s not hard to be technically more proficient than many of today’s fine artists or to have a more refined, finished product compared to any artist out there. So the bar wasn’t set high. Content was king.
Now, I’m a fairly technical person. I’ve always understood how to use a tone curve and how to color correct with color balance, etc. But I had no idea how to actually implement them in a professional, clean way, how to smooth skin without it looking over processed.
In my particular case, I always had other people do the finishing work for me. The Dark Skate project that I now shoot for Los Angeles artist Lia Halloran (previously a professor of mine, and now a good friend and “boss,” in a way) doesn’t require any editing on my end. We have our own printer that handles drum scans, editing, and printing. Once I take the shot, everything is taken care of. For my own documentary work, it’s very That’s nice, but it doesn’t help me when I’m asked to shoot a portrait session or when I really want to put those final, finishing touches on my work.
This is one of the photographs I shot with Lia Halloran for her Dark Skate project, this time in Vienna. These are shot on a Fuji GX617, which produces 6x17cm negatives that we print roughly two and a half feet tall by seven feet wide.
However, as time went on, I began shooting portraits more and more. Eventually I needed to find someone. Luckily for me, that search was easy.
Those of you who read Fstoppers even only on occasion know Dani Diamond, the bokeh king, portrait sensation, master of somehow finding that “glow” down New York streets… Given that I was shooting more portraiture, he was an obvious choice for me to approach once I learned he offered one-on-one sessions.
Our two-hour session was quick, pointed, and taught me the subtleties of editing portraits that you just can’t get from a book or a YouTube video.
Here's an unedited, straight-out-of-the-camera portrait I shot in downtown LA.
You can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on an education. But honestly, as much as there is to know, there’s just not that much that you really need that you can’t get from a few good people in relatively short time combined with some smart experience. My advice: find someone (or several people) whose work you admire and that you’d like to one day be able to build upon. Track them down, pray to yourself that they’re already teaching or at least willing to teach, even if just for a short time, and take advantage of everything they can give you.
Was my session with Dani cheap? Not exactly. But then that’s all relative. Seeing as it saved me hours of other tutorials I would have certainly wasted time on and seeing that I actually got exactly what I needed out of the session, it was the cheapest thing I’ve ever done. Where else can you get such a significant leg up in just two hours?
This is an example of how I would have previously edited a photograph -- just a few simply Lightroom adjustments...not even any brushes, etc.
That also won’t be the last lesson I pay for, as there are plenty of other things to brush up on. The first image I edited after my session took 10 quick minutes. And there’s probably plenty more I can do (personally, I’m still not convinced it’s not too blue. It’s a process. I’m getting there). I’m sure I still don’t know what some of that even would be. That will come later.
But if you’re interested in composite work, go find someone that does that every day for Hollywood movie posters or international advertising campaigns and ask that person if he or she teaches classes at all. Go find the landscape photographer of your dreams and learn how he or she does the work you love. And as a quick “aside,” if you happen to be applying to school to do this kind of work soon, don’t apply based solely on the name of the school(s). Make your selection based on the faculty at that university. After all, it’s that faculty that you’ll be working with for the next two to four years (and in my case, for much longer thereafter).
The highly anticipated Fstoppers Bahamas Workshops are coming up. Those are a great opportunity to work with some of the top names in the industry. Perhaps the timing isn’t good for you. Perhaps your dream mentor isn’t on the list of workshop hosts. Perhaps the commitment is too great for you schedule. Whatever it is, make the time and some kind of commitment to find and learn from your ideal mentor. You’ll be so much better off for it.
Finally, here's that same image with some new methods I learned in a couple hours. As I said, there's still room for improvement. I probably killed the skin just a tad in some areas. The dark spot on the upper right bugs me a bit (I think the wall itself is dark, and that just got worsened by the natural vignette). There are a few other minor issues. But for ten minutes of work on a "first try," I think the results were well worth it.
Great article! I'm always looking for a mentor or just someone to go and shoot with. Being a 16 year-old in the small city of Charleston West Virginia, there's not many people around here that shoot, or shoot in the style that I'm interested in. It's pretty difficult to find a good mentor around here, or even just someone to assist on a session.
Internet. Don't be limited by geography.
Like Aaron says man, Internet. Here in Portugal (country next to Spain and older than Spain), it's even harder. You live in the US man, land of the free and stuff :) you're thousand of miles closer to all fstoppers than i'll ever be. So think out of the box, make things easier, use the internet and meet people there until you can manage to go somewhere else. ;)
It seems people have caught on, but they're right: Internet. My session with Dani was over JoinMe and worked extremely well (he's in NYC, and I'm in California). My professor/mentor Lia Halloran is another story. We're great friends, now, and that's solely because I made a point to always "show up." And I do think it's important to form relationships like that. But for the time being, you can easily find mentors that are willing to work/communicated online. At least that will improve your photography, even if it doesn't lead to the closest personal relationship(s). :-)
This confirms what I've been thinking lately. Great timing. Went to PPA and listened to the speakers talk about their mentors. I am happy with my work in just the short 5 years I've been photographer, but Im looking forward to learning more from a mentor.
True man, great article. Somehow i feel stuck, I think I need to meet great photographers to evolve. Like you said, i'm a techie, i know how to read tonal curves, histograms, metering light just by looking at something, but i miss that clean photography, and i feel redundant... Still I put some cash into courses like Michael W. RGG EDU course and i try to draw some fstoppers members attention to my work so that I can get some insight about it, beeing this last part harder than putting the money aside to buy courses. :)
Good stuff Adam! More than anything in my life, mentorships have helped me simply grow into a more fully functioning adult. There is so much in any business that comes down to relationships, believing in yourself and having other believe in you. This is what Mentoring has given me. Great post man, I'll be following.
Definitely a great little writeup. I've had countless mentors and even talked about them yesterday to someone. Another important note is to pay it forward and help someone else out. It doesn't necessarily have to be for money either, but helping someone else can help you evolve yourself.
I've been helping a few local buddies and they've improved greatly! When they thank me, I just note that they should do the same to someone else, because that's how I've gotten to be able to help them!
The more people you know, the farther you can go. This is a great article about utilizing the community around you. I cannot preach it enough. As someone who is going through the same thing currently. I'm always down to hang out and learn or heck even teach what I've learned here and there.
With that said, are there any folks out there into "cinematic" photography willing to chat about your process and workflow? I've been dabbling in it lately, but really want to expand my views on it. This seems like kind of the perfect place at ask.
Aside from there having been a few decent posts on that very topic lately (cinematic photography), you could always look up photographers that make use of that look and ask them... But I have a few ideas just in my own limited experience.
First, split-toning is everything -- almost. Some call it selective color (because that's a way to do it in photoshop), some call it two-tone (that's weirder to me). But basically, turning your shadows one color (usually cooler) and you highlights another (usually warmer) is largely what Hollywood does. The key is subtlety. But check out the recent House of Cards Blue/Yellow post, etc. The other thing as that you'd be amazing what actually cropping the image to 16:9/16:10 ratios and/or adding letter boxing does to make it look cinematic. It's weird, but true. In any case, I hope that helps.
Great article and something people need to start considering, regardless of their chosen profession. Limitations are often based on accepted barriers. Look at the story of Roger Bannister breaking the four minute miles barrier. Everyone accepted that a four minute mile was impossible, but once it was achieved, a flood gate opened and running times dropped. Some one illustrated that something "impossible" was possible. I believe it is the same in this craft. Leaps in creative processing occur when we spend some time learning from those who have come before us, who have "figured it out"... allowing for new creative barriers to be tackled.
I too took a one-on-one mentoring session with Dani Diamond and it was by far the greatest decision I have made thus far in my photographic journey.
I met both of my mentors by chance during my travels to San Francisco and New York City. Riley Johndonnell became my life/art mentor, and it was through him that I ended up interning for Michael Thompson. Learning from those who know more than you and have that experience of being successful in the industry is invaluable. Paying for a tutorial is great, but for those of you who aren't attached to where they are for any reason, I suggest getting out and traveling for the sake of experiencing new places and meeting others. One of those strangers could change your life like they did mine.
I dig your pic.
Thanks! :-)
I got lucky and had a short mentorship (well, along with, like, 100 other students) with a professor at the university I went to, so I didn't really have to seek him other than figuring out who taught the photography classes.
Now that I'm in LA, it's been a little bit more difficult connecting to other photographers simply because I'm living on a shoestring budget. Hopefully I can get the ball rolling as I get more acclimated to the city.
I know what that's like. Don't worry...every new city has its challenges. But I'm sure you'll get used to it. At least there's some killer food in LA to help make the transition a little better :-) In the meantime, it's nice to have beaches, city, suburban, and mountain life within an hour of each other...not too bad. There's a lot of material to shoot!