On Photography, Discipline, and the Lessons of Winter Term

The other day I stumbled upon something coincidental in a recent issue of the magazine American Photo: one of America's "best photos of 2012" was taken in the Congo, by Michael Christopher Brown, who was covering the impact of mining on the people and community. Funny, given my Winter Term project in Arizona was all about photojournalism of the copper mining industry. But what most caught my eye - and perhaps disturbed me the most - was that he took all his photos with an iPhone, with apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic.

Top: the issue of American Photo I bought in the airport (it's fantastic by the way). Bottom: the photographs by Michael Christopher Brown, taken with an iPhone in the Congo.

Let me explain one thing: I generally hate Instagram (although I do use it - I know, I'm a ginormous hypocrite, but that's another story). Instagram has turned all of its users into semi-talented and artsy photographers, without having to work for it at all, except being dedicated enough to stuff their phone in their pocket wherever they go. Now, Michael Brown is an exception, because he obviously had to do a fair amount of work to get his iPhone photos (just check out his coverage of the Libyan Revolution); but generally, I'm frustrated by how easy it's become for iPhone users to take superb photos with relatively minimum effort. I was constantly humbled last semester in New Zealand (where I studied abroad) when my friends took the most amazing pictures with their iPhones; and meanwhile, I lugged around my clunky Nikon D3000, living in desperate fear that it would get dropped off the side of a mountain and/or a glacier's crevasse. (You run both of these risks fairly often in a place like New Zealand.)

Me and my camera in a New Zealand glacier. Photo cred to Adam Krauland. (And for the record, this was not taken with an iPhone!)

Of course, I'm being pretty unfair. The thing about having a nice camera lens, like my macro one, is that it, too, can turn its owner into a semi-talented photographer. All you have to do is 1. take a ton of photos from different angles, 2. adjust your shutter speed and aperture a few times, and 3. be in a beautiful place, and bam! You usually come up with something pretty decent. You don't even have to develop the film! Your photos are right there, ready to go, on your computer. To me, there are only a few truly talented photographers out there (I am not one of them), and they can turn something that is easily overlooked into something that is spectacularly aesthetic, and then turn that spectacle into something that really says something, i.e. a work of art. You have to be very, very dedicated to do this - hours and hours working on tiny details, learning the ins and outs of light, experimenting with Photoshop; in other words, being disciplined as well as creative.

When I was in Arizona, I was constantly conflicted with the question of "Should I carry the eight pounds of extra weight that is my camera case, or should I just bring my iPhone?" Every time that I succumbed to the latter, I was annoyed for cutting myself short. My real camera's photos were easily of a higher quality than my iPhone's, even if the difference is not always consciously noticed by others. My Winter Term trip taught me that yes, it can be a pain to carry a camera case around with you EVERYWHERE and switch lenses on the side of a canyon and/or in the middle of a mine; and yes, Instagram can be freakin' awesome and fun to play with... but Winter Term also taught me that a pinch of extra effort makes a huge difference. I am firm believer in going above and beyond - in doing what most people think they "could" or "should" do but don't, and instead just do it. John Maxwell states it so well: "In the end, hard work is really the accumulation of easy things you didn't do when you should have." I completely believe that these seemingly small steps can make a huge difference. Life is about pushing yourself to reach your potential - as a photographer, a student, an athlete, anything - and to do so, you have to do the little things every day, that will add up to a lifetime of difference.

In my last post, I talked a lot about the freedom of Winter Term, and how fun and fulfilling it can be. But I also believe that on the flip side of any freedom is discipline. Freedom, for me at least, cannot be enjoyed fully unless I have discipline and dedication to lead up to it. I'll leave you with some more photos of my trip, but my intention for this post is to be less about me/how much fun I had (look to my previous post if you're for some reason craving that!) and more about some of the values I've learned along the way.

Top photo cred to Clarissa Fortier; bottom, to my friend Drew (last name I can't remember!). Note that the first photo is a photo of me taking a photo of the second photo. Woah! Trippy! And on that note, I should probably stop talking about photography.