This week we've been working with flash in my Camera Tech 2 class at ATC. I've assigned my students a project to photograph a bright subject on a dark background without a backdrop. This is the example I made for them in my backyard last night.
I've never been good at flash. Now I'm intrigued. Coming back to teaching is the best thing I've done for my photography skills in years.
After a while, photographing casually becomes a documentary recording of objects or moments. Waving a machine around pushing buttons, "recording" life.
Working professionally again, I have to push my brain into creating something from nothing. Like when looking at a new blank document in Illustrator, I have to see a picture in my mind first, then make that. It's a whole new exercise and I am out of practice!
In this case, the "thing in front of the camera" is on the left. It's a straight recording of the scene with the light managed by the camera. The thing I made is on the right.
As Dr. Nix said to us new photo students on our very first day a few decades ago, "photography" means "writing with light." Or a similar thought from GZA, "I'm not an actor, but the author."
This is the thought I'm pursuing now.
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