It's Tuesday, February 2nd and I feel good. Since I had surgery to repair a deviated septum, I've been able to breathe normally. I have slept through the night which I haven't been able to do for such a long time.

I heel human!

But, you didn't come to visit my blog to have me tell you about my deviated septum. You came here to learn a little more about how I think, work and create.

What I write here are just my thoughts and mine alone. These are my personal thoughts about how I see things. It's not critique of anyone or any photography work that I see either in magazines or on the web.

I'm self taught. If you want to read a bit about how I started in the business, check out my website. There are two panels, A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME and A LITTLE MORE ABOUT ME. Those pages will tell you how I started.

I'm self taught.

I don't have any formal training in photography. I've never taken a class. I came from the corporate world where I was extremely successful and I knew what I was doing. But, here, in photography, I didn't know anything. I came in with a skeptical eye, but admiring a lot of the work of the masters like Richard Alvedon, Helmut Newton, Horst P. Horst,  Clarence Bull, and so on. I loved the feeling they created. I loved the black and white work I saw.

It made sense because I have always loved classic movies. I loved how they handled the ideas and subject matter. I loved that they have me use my imagination, be it romance, suspense, or violence. They didn't need to show me everything. They let my imagination take over.

Of course, they were bound by stiff rules on what they could and couldn't show. But, that was great.

Today, I have to watch someone being murdered in full color, or the actors having full on sex. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude, but I don't need to be spoon fed anything.

So, when it comes to photos.  I take the same tact.

There is too much "IN YOUR FACE" type of work.  So much work is just pretty blah. There is no life. There really is no imagination.

iPhones now dominate the photo world with full on Ad Campaigns and wedding photography being done on them.

Is there anything wrong with that. No. But, we've become to desensitized to what we see. There really is no imagination.

It seems that so many buy a camera, capture a few good shots of friends or family and all of a sudden they turn it into a business. They never understand the business and they go to a few snake oil seminar events to learn the latest and greatest fad or technique. SECRETS of the PROS.

This is all gunk. It's just a way to make money I'm sorry.

I hear about so many photographers who rely on the camera to do the work for them. In dance, they burst shoot a ton of shots and then select what they think is the best one. Some will just ask a model or dancer to move while they shoot. Then there are those people who will ask the model or dancer to hold a pose for whatever length of time; to move that finger over 1 centimeter.

Who is going to look at a photo and say, "that photo sucks because that finger is off by 1 centimeter.

Then, I see a lot of photos where it's obvious the photographer doesn't understand lighting, be it ambient, flash or the combination of both.

To top it off, I see a lot work that is exactly the same as everyone else. Same pose, same lighting, same everything and to me, it's just a copy of a copy of a copy.

Think back to Anne Geddes. Amazing and wonderful baby photographer. She did something no one had ever done before and she is fantastic. But, now there is a cottage industry to copy her work and sell props that she uses. What a shame that people can't create photos that speak to their creativity.

Same thing goes with portraiture. Every family member wearing the same thing.

Boudoir photos where it's all about being cheesy, never understand the woman they are working with, or what women really think about being sexy.

Nude photos where there is nothing left to the imagination and there is nothing artistic about the photo.

Senior pics where the kids are sitting on swings and stuff. I got a feeling high school seniors are a bit more sophisticated than that.

In dance.....powder shots, train tracks, beaches....all the same. None of it, in my opinion saying anything about the dancer. The photos lifeless, but technically good. Dancers on pointe on concrete or cobblestones.

Dancers jumping in classrooms and coffee shops. Dancers in construction yards.

They make for cute shots, but really don't speak of the passion and life of a dancer. You may disagree, and that's fine. This is my opinion. But, I work with dancers. I see and feel their passion. I don't have them pose or hold a shot.

This is just me.

But, take a look around. Use your eyes to look at the photo and don't accept things because that's the way they have been done.

Don't accept the fact that you can't get what you want. You can.

...and PLEASE TAKE THIS TO HEART WHEN I SAY IT.....

People don't know the difference between what they are getting and what they deserve.

I hope I have shared some of how I see the world of photography. If you have any questions, please contact me.

~Ed