The Photographic Eye

[Chanelle Glugla]

Thisannual 5-day festival, celebrating all things photographic including digital media, is now in its 22nd Year! The Centre brings together the biggest and most prestigious names in the business to share their expertise during hands-on workshops, demos, lectures, seminars and photo shoots. Community and public events bring the art of photography to Downtown West Palm Beach!

I can't find the photographic toning presets in the gradient mask panel (gradient editor). The menu, in the top right corner looks also very different from what I've seen here (as you can see in screenshot). The Legacy Gradients option is missing entirely.

I found little help when searching the internet: I found several definitions of Vision, but none of them made any sense to me. Was it something you were born with? Was it something you could learn? Was it a style or look? Was it a talent that you developed? Could you go to photography or art school and gain it?

I needed to stop paying attention to what others thought about my work and so I stopped posting images on social media and entering contests. I was doing all of that for the validation, because I lacked confidence in my work. Each time I got a like or won a contest, I saw that as evidence that my work must be good.

And the other reason I still find Photographic Celibacy useful: it keep me focused on what I am doing and not what others are doing. When I look at the work of others I find myself comparing their images and successes to mine. Sometimes I get discouraged at the large number of great photographers out there and all of the great images being created. All of this is an unnecessary distraction that keeps me from my purpose: creating images from my Vision.

Photographic Celibacy still serves a purpose, even ten years later. I always thought that once I had answered the question: do I have a Vision? that I would be able to go back to looking at images. But I discovered that the same forces that kept me from my Vision are still at work ten years later. And so, I believe that practicing Photographic Celibacy is as important for me today, as it was ten years ago.

I believe your concept is one of the most radical artistic

ideas that is crucial to developing personal vision. We

compare ourselves to others too often and it becomes

a seesaw of ups and downs. Thank you again Cole for bringing this wonderful concept to light, also for your

beautiful evocative imagery.

Hi Cole,

I thoroughly enjoyed your blog. Thank you for sharing your path and photographic journey. I am grateful that you sustain your passion for photography and continue to create work that speaks to us and moves us. I am grateful for the kind and inspiring ways you share your wisdom and your artistry in capturing wonderous moments.

Cole,

Not only do I admire you for your commitment to stay with your unique philosophy, I also admire your ability to articulate it so clearly in your writing.

Count me among the 20% who understand but would clearly miss my pile of monographs by photographers who inspire me to grow artistically and to strive to make better photographs. Had I embraced photographic celibacy I would have never discovered your imagery and subsequently been able to share several engaging and insightful emails with you.

While I still enjoy external validation of my work, what has changed since reading and absorbing your missives is that these compliments and feedback no longer alter my goals or what subjects I should shoot to supposedly have greater mass appeal. I also look for and create many more black and white photographs than I did before. This is partly due to your commitment to the medium, your encouragement that I should keep making them, and the extra level of satisfaction I now experience from a well-executed black and white image.

Thank you Cole for your superb imagery and inspiration.

Paul, you make a great point. We all love external validation, but the question is: do we create to get that validation or do we create for ourselves and then the external validation is the cherry on top? Only we know our motives and can make that determination. Being honest with ourselves about our motives is the first step in change.

I too have made piles of my work with the intention of hanging them in my house. I put my favorites on the dining room table to see what rose to the top as I walked by. And I did see a theme! Have not verbalized it yet, or hung the pictures. These are things I personally want to live with. Thanks for your thoughts! I love your back fence image.

Cole, Very interesting discussion and observations. I have admired your work for some time. We met at You fist show in Ft. Collins. You may find it interesting that have a few photos where I tried to emulate YOUR style! I have since done a review of my work, and realized that the work I am most proud of, is where I had a vision, and was able to convert that vision to an image.

In this conversation, Vincent and Pablo are overly focused on equipment such as brushes, easels, stools, frames and etc. In the end they chastise themselves for focusing on the technical over the creative, and wonder if photographers do the same.

My friend, a recognized painter, wrote to tell me that painters actually do act like this! It surprised the heck out of me. I though we were the only ones who compensated for our lack of creativity and confidence by pursuing the technical.

Michael, there is no doubt that all of that looking is now a part of my Vision. The question that I ask myself is: Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Might I have not found my Vision much sooner if I had been Celibate sooner? Might I have a very different and unique Vision if I had done this? In a sense, we can control some of our Vision by what we choose to do in life, what we choose to experience. How might I have crafted my Vision differently with different habits?

Cole, I am a great fan of your work. It is truly inspirational. I am stuck in the grist of photographic promiscuity.; contests, posting on social media, etc. I see now that this is so limiting for my own creativity. I will have to give this much more thought. Thank you for your vision and sharing your experience.

Hi Tom, thanks for those thoughts. Not many people really understand much less believe Photographic celibacy is a tool that would be useful to them. But it has served me well for over 15 years and it helps me to create honest work.

I don't normally post articles linking to other sites, so this is a rare moment on the blog. The reason for that is because I have always maintained my complete independence with this blog. Sharing links to my favorites wouldn't seem genuine to me (or you). Unless of course the message was such an important point for the photographic community that I just had to make an exception. So here is the exception, and, it comes from a site that I hardly ever visited over the last decade or so (my impression was that it was a video-centric site only, as opposed to photographic centric). Hats off to Andrew for both of these two videos. One so ahead of it's time, and the other just so on point. I completely relate to both and have been saying the same for sometime myself. Amen Andrew, great job on these.

Pentax (Ricoh) stuck to their guns. Instead of making yet another "me too" mirrorless camera, Ricoh have decided to stick to doing what they do best- make an excellent DSLR. With this iteration of the K3, the wait was definitely worth it. True steps forward in design are under its amazingly tough and weatherproof magnesium shell. Oh you're going to love that grip and rock solid construction. It's a masterpiece. As you know, I have a full suite of Nikon and Canon DSLRS, as well as Pentax. I use whatever camera is suited best. Comparatively Pentax are the best built and most weather proof in their class compared to the other brands. It's just their brand strength, along with being backwards compatible to very old lenses (like Nikon). Pentax's weakness has always been autofocusing speed and tracking when comparing to Canon and Nikon, how will it fair?

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