teaching an old lens new tricks

by julie posted July 1, 2009

From a post by Kirk Tuck over at The Visual Science Lab:

The idea being that the hand/mind relationship (haptics and all that) predisposes one to work in the same fashion over and over again and only by making a conscious attempt to change the tools will you change the construct and the paradigm that keeps you slavishly locked into the same subconscious fabrications.

The psycho therapist had to get off the phone at that point. You see, we’d been talking about the really cool f2 zoom lenses for the Olympus E system and he wanted to go play with them right away.

It’s true, when I start playing with a new lens or camera it brings me fresh vision, and inspiration to go out and shoot things in a different way.

I’m thinking about how to balance that up with the premise that when you are ‘at one’ with your equipment to the extent that you don’t have to think about how to use it, you can get on with the stuff that comes from deeper down.

How can I get the best of both worlds? How can I use the ability to work away without having to think about operating the tools to my advantage, but not get stuck in the rut that sometimes comes with using a particular lens or camera? Is there anything else you can do to kickstart your mind, whilst using the same tools?

10 Responses to teaching an old lens new tricks

  1. What I see.

    That is my motivation, inspiration and moving force. Following lot’s of people that may not be the best and most inspiring photographers brings randomly pictures that trigger my mind. And it is what I see that makes me think, compose and try new things.

    New gear also helps, sometimes even lack of new gear or restricting to nifty-fifty brings lots of ideas.

    Personally, I don’t like having habits, although I have lots of them. The realisation that I do something automatically makes me think what could I do differently. Not to mention that I am neither happy nor satisfied with my pictures.

    That reminded me to buy another magazine with lots of pictures for the weekend ;-)

    Enjoy and be creative, as usually.

  2. What I see.

    That is my motivation, inspiration and moving force. Following lot’s of people that may not be the best and most inspiring photographers brings randomly pictures that trigger my mind. And it is what I see that makes me think, compose and try new things.

    New gear also helps, sometimes even lack of new gear or restricting to nifty-fifty brings lots of ideas.

    Personally, I don’t like having habits, although I have lots of them. The realisation that I do something automatically makes me think what could I do differently. Not to mention that I am neither happy nor satisfied with my pictures.

    That reminded me to buy another magazine with lots of pictures for the weekend ;-)

    Enjoy and be creative, as usually.

  3. Its odd that having a choice of lenses can both provide creative options and can also eat into creativity as spending too much time worrying over/try different lenses does.

    A new toy will alway s inject a will to go out and use it, but its a really short term fix.

    I suppose the obvious answer to your question is that if you are not going to change your equipment, you must change your subject matter. I dont really believe that your subconscious is really going to lock up your creativity to the point where you keep producing the same tired ideas, if you dont change your equipment. I’d stop taking photos because I’d be bored at that stage!

  4. Its odd that having a choice of lenses can both provide creative options and can also eat into creativity as spending too much time worrying over/try different lenses does.

    A new toy will alway s inject a will to go out and use it, but its a really short term fix.

    I suppose the obvious answer to your question is that if you are not going to change your equipment, you must change your subject matter. I dont really believe that your subconscious is really going to lock up your creativity to the point where you keep producing the same tired ideas, if you dont change your equipment. I’d stop taking photos because I’d be bored at that stage!

  5. ‘How can I use the ability to work away without having to think about operating the tools to my advantage, but not get stuck in the rut that sometimes comes with using a particular lens or camera?’

    I think the trick is to only add adjacent things to your repertoire. For example, I find the holga nearly useless as a creative foil because it is too foreign to the way I normally work. It’s interesting, the but the results are so far removed from what I’m normally after, I can’t find much in it that I can take back to my daily practice. On the other hand, my really fast, kind of crummy voigtlander 35mm has some of the same optical oddities as the holga – light fall off, only sharp in the center, etc etc – but with the volume turned way down, so it is closer to what I would normally do. It allows me to push into new territory, but only a bit.

    Equipment that brings big changes is like a hard, fast rain. You get wet, but the soil just washes away unless you’ve got some serious roots.

  6. Giving yourself a “project” might help — one limited to both a particular subject matter and a particular set of equipment. Alternatively, going into your “archives” and ruthlessly editing, practicing cropping, etc. might help you deal with equipment limitations (either real or self-imposed).

  7. It may well depend on where you see your creativity originating from. If you see yourself as being the originator, in other words you are completely and solely responsible for your art than that is a difficult question to answer and you will quite likely often feel like you are in a rut and you may often feel like you need something new to motivate you. If on the other hand you see creativity as inspired, in other words, if you see yourself as nothing more than a tool in the process of creating art than the question is more easily answered. I think that when you are open to the idea that art creates itself through whatever means it can you find ideas flow easily. When such ideas come you can feel a sense of gratitude and a sense of effortlessness in the creation process and when nothing comes you can just relax knowing full well that life expresses itself best through art and so will not stay quiet for long when there is someone open to creating art.
    Just a thought…

  8. It may well depend on where you see your creativity originating from. If you see yourself as being the originator, in other words you are completely and solely responsible for your art than that is a difficult question to answer and you will quite likely often feel like you are in a rut and you may often feel like you need something new to motivate you. If on the other hand you see creativity as inspired, in other words, if you see yourself as nothing more than a tool in the process of creating art than the question is more easily answered. I think that when you are open to the idea that art creates itself through whatever means it can you find ideas flow easily. When such ideas come you can feel a sense of gratitude and a sense of effortlessness in the creation process and when nothing comes you can just relax knowing full well that life expresses itself best through art and so will not stay quiet for long when there is someone open to creating art.
    Just a thought…

  9. Wow, I have so been in a lens rut recently. I think knowing your equipment is part of the process – soemtimes your use of a certain lens can help define your style. But other times, like recently when my 50mm 1.4 is stuck in a repair shop, I realise how lazy I had gotten, and how much I need to branch out. Great post.

  10. Good question. I found out I haven’t changed much since the 80s, in matter of my photography. Though not using the same tools, I’m still using about the same types of lenses. The only difference must be my Lensbaby (a present, actually, not my own purchase), which for sure has triggered lots of inspiration. I’m not sure if I should be depressed over this, or not. Probably not, there are so many other things to be depressed over.

    I believe it is a personality thing, some people want continuous change, some don’t. I’m in the latter category. Inspiration comes to me occasionally, usually not when I want it mostly. I have no clue how it happens. The creativity engine might be more predictive for others, but I doubt it. To me, it’s okay to be bored and come up with absolutely no new ides for a while. It is probably easier to get used to that than the opposite, trying to be creative although the mind don’t cooperate.

    How satisfying would it be to come up with something revolutionary creative whenever you wanted? How do you know that you have made something extraordinary, when everything you do is totally breathtaking? Better to get surprised from time to time and not to have a daytime work depending on it. :)

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