THROUGH THE MIND

Photo Ethics | Inspiration | Thoughts

ADAM BACKER

Dedicated to my dear Ones who have supported my madness with patience, even when I wasnt the one they wanted me to be.

ADAM BACKER

THROUGH THE MIND

Photo Ethics | Inspiration | Thoughts

 Adam Backer 2013, All Rights Reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author.

Dear Reader, As you read along, I hope youll like this book. Its all about the internal discipline that photographers ought to follow. Id suggest you take your own time in reading, understanding and working out the ten philosophies mentioned here, to get creative. I can assure with a great degree of certainty that youll begin to see results once you start implementing them. It has worked for me, and Im sure it will be the same with you too. After years of photographing and blogging, Ive nally decided to pen down this and its the rst one for me as an author. As mentioned in the beginning, I hope youll like it. In the dedication where I said, Ones, I meant everyone right from my family, friends, critics and all those who contributed towards my being a photographer, directly or indirectly. This perhaps is the best way I can mention everyone to give their due, not missing out any one. Once youve nished reading this book, it includes you too. Prayers and wishes, Adam Backer

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VISION V/S INTENT

Every photographer has a vision on ways to contribute to society through one form or the other; in other words, Vision is a form of expression. Coming to Intent, that too is a form of expression. You might ask, What are you saying? If both are forms of expression, what then is the difference? Vision is what youd like to do with your photography as a whole, or what youre aiming at eventually. Coming to Intent, its something more specic, say for a particular shoot or even a particular picture. Ive another way of putting it across to you. If I say, Id like to travel all over the globe my entire life. - thats Vision. On the other hand, if I say, Id like to travel to Brazil. - thats Intent. Everyone has got a Vision in them or even Intent during a shoot. The sad truth, not often told or discussed among photographers, is the difculty in getting things across onto the sensor and further onto the audience the way you perceived. In the present digital era, the two possible reasons are:
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- Obsession to gears by techno-geeks. Expecting gears to do everything for them, they keep accumulating more of them, without ever realizing their creative worth. I would state this as the most dangerous block. - Technical laziness. It happens among creative photographers who are excessively rated creative, either by themselves or others. They simply dont want to get to know their gear or craft better. In this digital era, they rely excessively on post-production, often tending to overdo them. A good photographer is one who keeps an optimum balance between the geek and creative artist within him, while striving towards his Vision/Intent.

OUTWARD EXPRESSION
Your pictures arent Pictures as we call them. What then are they? They are reections of your inwardness, or the person who you are. The kind of pictures you make tells your viewer a lot about the person in you, and its so recorded in their subconscious mind. Getting to know everything about photography, delivering shots in a creative way and applying all rules, is a signicant part of the entire creative process. However, theres something more important than this. Learn to love yourself. Dont get me wrong; I dont mean being selsh. When you love yourself, you give an effort to discover and study yourself, realize what you truly love doing, pursuing it in the best possible way and expecting nothing in return. This sincere passion within you for your craft in turn will ignite a deeper afnity for your pictures by your audience, for there will exist in these pictures an uncommon brilliance.

CREATIVITY A HABIT
Getting Creative has seemingly got a challenging task of delivering something different. Creativity isnt creativity when it isnt created, so there is no point having creative thoughts as long as you dont put them onto your camera sensor, print, canvas or wherever youd want to have them. Sometimes, creativity comes out of nothing or most of the time its an outcome of a combination of different things you know that has been put together. Either ways, its a habit, it isnt a How to? stuff. You dont get to buy Creativity from B&H or any other camera store. If dollars can, I would stake everything in life to have Creativity in my stride. So build it. Give your best efforts, try out various combinations of things you know or have known, to come out with something different.

WHY TAKE A BREAK?

You get stressed out from your work at ofce; you take a vacation. Every day, youve had home food; you visit your favorite restaurant for a change. After a certain period, you change your mobile phone cover because youre tired of seeing the same for quite long. All these are nothing but different forms of break. My question now is, Why dont you do the same with photography? When you feel nothing is working out the way you want to, or your shots are losing that creative touch or the punch youd like to have in them, its an indication that you might want to take a break. Set your gear aside, venture out and do anything you want to do, except photography. Totally forget photography! Dont think about it! Avoid it! Go out, take a dip, enjoy a long drive or chat with your best old buddies. See how much you can resist staying away from photography. After a period, no matter how hard you try, your true love Photography comes back to you yelling, Im back, lets start it all over! Then just grab your gear and head outdoors. I bet youd make your best shots then, and youre back on track. Speaking about the return period, it can be for days, weeks or even a month. Ive always observed that Ive done my best work whenever I returned from a break. So if you feel things arent getting creative, take a break!

ADVANTAGE SPOT
Every artist has a place so special to him simply because thats where his creative ideas are born. This applies to writers, musicians and artists in particular; I was unaware of this fact until I initiated writing for my blog. The dynamic work nature of photographers denies them the comfort of being stationed at one particular place. Nonetheless, this doesnt imply they fall short of being called artists. As a photographer, you too need to take some time off every day to spend with yourself, feel and experience the ultimate photographic vision youd like to envision, imagining your shots. This place could be a room in your home, the countryside or anywhere you think is special. Dream big. Research on the Law of Attraction and you are bound to get a better answer to this paragraph. Remember, this is a must do. The underlying principle is that here you are bound to nd solitude; you hear your inner voice with a more distinct clarity. When done on a consistent basis, youll wonder and ask yourself, Where on earth am I getting these creative ideas from?

FAILURE & LIMITATIONS

Ive learnt my best lessons in life from failures. Let me get this straight to you Embrace Failure. Its okay to have failures, and I would say its positive. But remember, expecting different results each time doing the same mistake isnt positive. If you want yourself to be known as a creative person, never fear to work out your imaginations. Simply give the very best you can without ever bothering about the outcome, for its part of life to have things go in your favour or otherwise. A good creative idea comes from lessons learnt through failures youve had. Never fear to risk! Photographers often get bogged down with numerous constraints like technology, location, lighting conditions, nance etc. The moment you start embracing these limitations, youll begin to develop ideas to work along them. Think of means to combine these constraints and come out with something different. Speaking about Limitations, Id suggest you consider Time as the most importantof all constraints mentioned above. Simply trick your mind into believing that you are living out your last moments in life, and that your times up. Doing so, youd think of prioritizing and doing only things that are most passionate to you.

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IDEAS
An Idea is nothing but a form of inspiration. This doesnt come without ever working or giving an effort to understand your nal output. Never force ideas, let your mind know what precisely you want as you work along. Wait, believe in yourself and a way will show up for you. This is an attribute and a result of loving yourself. Incubating ideas depends largely on your positive work ethic; make sure your thoughts are positive. Work selessly, expecting nothing; you get more of what you give. Never hesitate to share your experience. Ive never seen any world-class photographer who feels insecure about sharing his ideas. Always collaborate with other photographers; never even in your dreams must you compete or compare with them. As you grow older with photography, youll realize that talent is of no use. Talent got you started when you were a beginner; from there on, its your attitude and hard work that will dene the artist in you having unique ideas. Besides several obvious sources to get ideas from, Id suggest you study the work of legendary photographers. Inspirations from outside photography can also be looked into; ne art, literature, engineering-graphics etc. being a few examples. You denitely will nd some means to connect these non-photographic ideas into your work. A new idea is always a different combination of things youve known previously. Very rarely does a unique idea come out of the blue, involving things you never knew. And if it does, that would be exceptional. On such occasions, never let it go!
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RESISTANCE
The block or factor that prevents the photographer from advancing in creativity is Resistance. You can name many, but Id like to point the most dangerous one Knowledge. Maybe what you know could be the biggest thing hindering your progress. Be open to accepting and implementing things into your workow once you discover what you had been doing was wrong. Dont let your ego rule you. For instance, as a workshop photographer, Ive had the experience where other photographers were hesitant to accept the concept of ETTR in photography, in spite of my proving it to them. It wasnt that they hadnt understood its relevance; it simply was because they werent ready to change. As stated initially in this book, I would call it Technical laziness.
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BREAKING THE RULES

Knowing and applying rules are very important. Rules ensure that your pictures maintain acceptable standards with consistency. Rules are safe means, so study, master and implement them in your work. Its an absolute absurdity for someone to prevent himself from studying these creative rules, even if they seem to or believe themselves to be taking good shots. Moreover, rules give you the freedom to adapt yourself quickly to various genres youd later like to try. Once you are well versed with these so-called rules, youll need to think about means to break them. When theyre broken intentionally, its then that you land up with shots that are beyond exceptional. Im sure youd prefer to be Beyond exceptional than being Safe as a photographer. To break rules, know the rules rst; otherwise you are simply relying on your natural talent, being at the same position where you were when you started photography.

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BE A CHILD
Here, Im about to say something that Im afraid wouldnt make an impression initially, but I bet it has got something to do with photographers and artists alike. Creativity demands a peaceful mind; the simplest way to have it is by seeing beauty in simple things around you; there is more to life than work. When was the last time you saw the sun rise? When was the last time you observed a babys smile? When was the last time you felt the breeze in an open country or beach? The list goes on and on. Find something that can make you happy, truly happy at heart. In this busy world, a peaceful mind can be achieved, if and only if an effort is given with a greater degree of determination. Be like a child. For a child, everything and every day is a surprise; it takes so little to make him happy. This is why children come out of their sadness so quickly when compared to adults. Weve got to learn this from them. If we put this act to test, you are bound to nd happiness. Im sure this would make a hitherto unseen positive impression on your shots as well. Ive seen my son play with building blocks, giving his full effort to try out something only to later realize thats not what he wanted, then starts all over again and nally comes up with something totally unexpected that impresses him. We need to do the same, never being afraid to experiment with ideas and without ever fearing the outcome of failure.

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BACK 'WORD'
On the outset, let me introduce myself to you as I have not yet carved a niche in any particular genre of photography or other walks of life that might help you familiarize me. I am Ranadive, working with a nance rm in Dubai, with a passing passion for Photography. This might probably raise questions in you about my deserving to write a foreword to the very rst book written by a seasoned photographer and a great photography teacher who has guided many students across the globe through his blog, photographs and workshops. In fact, there is hardly a need to feel outright curious about it as its just Adams sheer magnanimity or as you may put it, a tribute to a friend who was with him for the last couple of years in his many creative assignments across the country. Yes, dear readers, I bear no celebrity stamp to merit this page in the book. Talking about the book, rstly I wish to replace all the words on Photography here with Art and perceive it as a handbook for all artists aimed to achieve a divine level in their passionate journey, as each point described here ts every art and artist. Always Art wins not the Artist. I believe the moment of realizing this quote is the real salvation for every artist. There is no real success or no nal destination for an artist; the journey of an artist is immortal and innite. I believe the essence of all the 10 points mentioned in this book is quite simple as that, but reaching that level is not very simple, better said than done, where you need to y beyond these words to achieve it. From experience had with Adam, I am sure these are not mere bulleted points for sake of creating a book. Whoever knows Adam personally can vouch that these are part of a mandatory checklist he
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has drawn from his journey of photography or outlook on his life itself. These too are not simply points that he has woven from a surreal world or a so-called philosophy; each of them very pragmatic and applicable to people from all walks of life for achieving ultimate success and happiness. You need to just step out from the prejudices and standards you created around you, and break the shell of ego that is the basis of every stumbling block in your life. While I dont feel these rules are the ultimate you need to follow for excelling in photography or the arts, rest assured that this will open the rst door to that divine world of Art and strengthen your work to survive time and generations. Ranadive Neelenchery

EDITOR'S 'WORD'
This title is not aimed at beginners, but mid-level photography enthusiasts aspiring to capture pictures creatively, while safely assuming they possess a fairly good understanding of the technical aspects involved. The attempt to pen this book can be termed noble, as the writers aim solely is to fully share with others what all hes learnt, nancial gains taking a backseat. Adams photographic style is artistic, with a tasteful eye for good composition. He interests himself more in taking ordinary pictures in mundane settings but making them look extraordinarily appealing, often characterized by sharp detailing and dramatized by light and shadow. His preferred genres are abstract and real life photography. Once you chew over this book, you will begin to realize that vision and creativity wins over photography equipment any day. I can bear testimony to this, having been together with Adam on photography trips to the same spot with the same gear, but him emerging with a handful of amazing pictures and myself empty-handed. If you can bear his tolerable level of eccentricity, this amiable guy can be your best and trusted photography guide. His book will force you to think as he thinks, and make you see as how he sees things. Voila, and then its just a click away from being the consummate photographer! Sudheesh Ponneth

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My heartfelt gratitude goes to my father, who've always guided me in my spiritual journey and the encouragement he's given me to write this book. Also, Sudheesh and Rana who worked closely with me to make this a reality, Roshith for triggering in me the idea of writing a book at a moment I was least expecting it. Last, but not least, you for having given your valuable time in going through these philosophies.

Best regards, Adam Backer Email: adambacker9@gmail.com Blog: www.adambacker.blogspot.com

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THROUGH THE MIND Photo Ethics | Inspiration | Thoughts

As a photographer, if youve found yourself struggling to get the creative rhythm envisioned, you must read this.
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