I’m glad to be out of touch with mainstream camera culture.
Don’t get me wrong. I love photography and all that it has to offer. But truth be told, I’m not at all in touch with mainstream camera culture. You can just ask any of my friends whom I’ve traveled with and shot with over the years. I’m waaaaay out of touch.
And I’m perfectly fine with it.
There is no way to get away from photography being a technology-dependent form of expression—it’s inherent in the process. I’m just not technology driven. Never have been. And that is precisely why I integrate my images with beeswax and pigments where I can totally and completely leave behind knowing about the best app, the latest camera, the newest actions in Photoshop and Lightroom, and all the coolest technology. It drives me crazy that so much of it seems to be less about what the photographer can envision and create, and more about all the this and that.
In my mind it should be about the experience of art making. For me, it’s not all about the shot as the image is just the beginning—becoming something that I can modify and rework, adding multitudes of visual layers each with new levels of meaning.
Recently I was working on a sample image for a special collection I’m creating for the MN Landscape Arboretum. Since it’s for the new bee and pollinator discover center, I want to create images of flowers (as they need bees to pollinate them). But I’m always shied away from ‘pretty’ floral images. I did have one image though.
Now what to do with it. I tried something I learned in January. I printed the image on a piece of transparency film and doused it with an alcohol so that the ink would shift and run. (Psst, don’t tell some of my techy friends about this one, they’ll think I’m crazy.)
After a couple of trial and errors—I came up with an image that I liked. I then had to take another image of it as it wasn’t on tissue paper and I didn’t want to embed any of the alcohol residues that might be left behind. If you are following, that is digital (original capture) to analog (print on transparency) to digital (iPhone image of manipulated print) to analog (print on tissue paper). Finally, I was then ready to embed it in my wax. Not your traditional process. But an effective one all the same.
At it’s best, photography has this wonderful, inherent ability to allow us to connect to things, places, moments, and people; and photo encaustic allows us to further connect to ourselves as we manipulate and create our vision of the image.
It’s about putting ourselves into the image. Our vision, our craft, and our dedication. And that is what makes great art.
Would love to hear from you about how you feel about the mainstream camera culture. Do you love it or hate it?
Be well….be creative,
Love it and you Clare! I Feel the same as you do. One day I will free myself enough from all the tech stuff to spend more time mastering the techniques you so generously share!
Hi Susan, thank you! Yes, yes, yes, you have beautiful work that is shouting for you to spend time working with them and encaustic…..hopefully that ‘one day’ will come sooner rather than later.
Love your flower photo. The best camera equipment in the world will not give you the best photo if you don’t know how to use it. Look at Ansel Adams’ photos which are still popular many years later. Encaustic gives us a chance to really personalize our photos by giving them a unique look, something only we can do. Thank you for your wonderful tips and outlook. I think there are a lot of us who will agree with you completely.
Thanks Nancy. Indeed…..encaustic really does allow us to really personalize our images….
I love the photo technology! I would not go back to film. I’ve immersed myself in all things photography and digital darkroom. I have three cameras and it’s been a great education for the last 7-8 years.
Now I’m starting to educate myself about other art mediums and want to use my photography as the start of another kind of art.
That’s why I’ve been reading your blog and looking at additional ways of expression. I’m inspired by your encaustic horse art. I’m a pet photographer. I’d like to expand your ideas into my world.
I’m setting up an area for analog art. Another journey is beginning.
Hi Shelle, I’m so glad you’re following my blog and looking for additional ways of expressing your imagery. I had a quick look at your pet photographs….nice work. It would be really fun to see what you do with them and encaustic!
Hi Claire,
I so much want to take one of your workshops someday. But first, I’d like to be able to select and play with a digital image or two out of the thousands that I have taken over the years to bring to class. Which is why my question relates to the technology that I know and use, and your comments today. Is there a way that I can previsualize and plan an encaustic project using layers in Photoshop? Or is the process so much like watercolors or oils that there is no good way to do this, one just has to trust the process and the serendipity that happens as you put on layers of wax, pigment, etc? If layers won’t work how do you suggest students select an image to try first? I bet you have discussed this on your blog before, so your answer could be as simple as sending me to a previous date. Thanks!
Hi Steve, these are really great questions……and I’m thinking that I need to do a class around the selection of image process. To some extent there isn’t a good way to do what you are asking as you need to get a feel for the techniques first and determine the look and feel you love ….. your image selection will follow based on the techniques you love. And you may (or may not) even begin shooting differently.
I often refer to photo encaustics as ‘hands on photoshop’. And selecting your first image is really simply ‘rolling the dice’. I always start my class with a video on ‘Thinking Differently’ so students can get a feel for what images work best and some of the possibilities.
Would love to have you in class. Dan Mac has said he’d like to do one as well. It would be a load of fun to have you both in class.
Clare
Beautiful work, and no truer sentiment than staying away from camera culture!
Manipulating images is addictive – I love what you’re doing with the deconstructive process. One of the things you model for all of us is risk-taking. You have a rare confidence to follow your artistic intuition and, as you wrote, use your photography as the start of another kind of art. Great post!
Yes Lyn…..I know you know how addictive it is to manipulate images. Thanks for being a part and showing me your process of working with an alcohol base to move the inks around. I’m having a blast with these flower images for the new bee and pollinator center. More on that later though.
I was very reluctant to give up film because I just loved the surprise of what I captured. I did buy a digital camera about 4 years ago and I am hooked with being able to see that picture before printing. It is a second chance to capture that ultimate perfect picture!
I am far from being techy but I do enjoy playing with the options!
I too was so reluctant to give up film…..and had no interest in figuring out what camera RAW even meant. But I’m glad I did…..as it eventually led me down the path to find this wonderful and seductive alternative process.
Good morning Clare! I always love it when you share things that I can totally relate to!! I am not Techie at all as well…but I think that I can produce a photo that makes people think and remember…! I think I have made a breakthrough in my encaustic work. I think I was just trying to do too much…simpler is better….!!! Love the new things I am producing! Loved your class!!
Thank you Lois. I’m so glad you’ve had your breakthrough. Would love to see some images. Will you post them in the classroom?
I was a late adopter to digital photography and I still shoot some film from time to time. But I love working with digital photos to re-create what I saw in my mind. And then adding wax do it gives it an air of mystique and may be a little mystery, which I love.
I gave up chasing the latest cameras and software years ago. Now I have found my voice as an artist in encaustic photography using the equipment and software I have mastered, and I couldn’t be happier.
What a great endorsement for working with photos and encaustic……and I’m so glad that you have found your voice. Congrats!
I still shoot with a ten year old digital camera and occasionally don’t use any camera at all, but the sun to develop prints (lumen printing). I gave up on all the latest technology and software because I can’t afford to buy it and still do my art. I admire those who have great technique but I’m not one of them. I love to transform and blur my images, usually in camera. Encaustic adds a sense of romance and and mystery though I still can’t seem to integrate the two mediums to my satisfaction.
Hi Donna, I love how you talk about romance and encaustic. I’m beginning to believe there is a huge element of romance involved.
All the comments and replies are fascinating. I am looking forward so much to the workshop in October. I work with encaustics and also with a variation oil painting with beeswax. There is excavation in this process and finding the song in the history. Just as in photography it is good to find what works in a simple way. If one has something to say one does not heaps of mediums or the latest technology it gets in the way. The question I need to ask. Can I work directly on a photograph or is it printed onto paper via a photocopy machine. I believe there are artists who work directly on a photograph. Would wax adhere to that surface or would a medium be needed first.
Hi Crissea, I’m so glad you are learning from all the comments and replies.
I’d appreciate it you could save your questions regarding the process for Q&A Monday’s when I open the blog to questions about the process. Q&A Monday is every other Monday. Thanks.
Clare