inspiration: david duchemin -- a mentor i never had

Painting with Camera

1/20 sec @ f/32, Nikon D700, 105mm

"Perfection is overrated, and technique without passion is like vision without a voice, it rarely moves the heart." -- David duChemin.

These words are sweeter than the sound of the mockingbird.

I first heard of David duChemin in April of 2010. I had been busy reading books by Joe, learning Photoshop techniques from Chris, and watching an interview of Zack, who suggested that listeners check out David. I looked up his blog at www.pixelatedimage.com/blog, and was completely intrigued.

"GEAR IS GOOD, VISION IS BETTER" is the tagline across the top on his blog.

The topics seemed random and varied, but there was one central theme--becoming a better photographer. Photography is a funny craft in that there's certain geekiness associated with gear, even more so in the digital age. David encouraged the reader to look beyond photography as a technical pursuit, and to return to it as the art and craft of self expression about which so many of us are passionate. I found myself nodding as I read and saying "Amen!" in my head. He mentioned some ideas that he wrote about in a e-book called Chasing The Look--10 Ways to Improve the Aesthetics of Your Photographs. At five bucks a pop, this was a steal. As I pored over the pages, it felt like a fireside chat with a mentor I never had. He talked about how as a teenage photographer he too pursued technical perfection. It took him twenty years to realize the importance of vision over technique. Using the visual language metaphor, he encouraged the reader to pursue a different goal, to consider two important questions, "What are you trying to say?" and "How can that camera and lens help you say it?"

I could not put down the computer. In the section on depth of field, he stressed that the choice of aperture should to be very deliberate. He had a Creative Exercise where the reader was to pick a subject some distance away, and to pretend looking through a 50mm lens at various aperture settings and focus points. The idea was that if you've done enough of this you could easily imagine the effect of depth of field in your head. "I can do this!" I thought proudly to myself. I read the book from cover to cover, and then bought other books by him: TEN--Ten Ways to Improve Your Craft, None of Them Involve Buying Gear, and TEN MORE.

I've always known the importance of practicing, but wasn't always sure exactly what to work on. What I got from these books were very specific ways to hone the craft--depth of field, shutter speed, lighting, lens choices, etc. Like a mentor telling me, "now grasshopper, go try this."

For example, in one exercise he suggested that the reader explore the effects of slow shutter speed. (We're told from day one in Photo 101 to hold the camera steady so we don't introduce camera shake, as if we're to fear images that are not perfectly sharp.) "Go out and shoot for a whole week and never allow your shutter speed to go above 1/15." Elsewhere he wrote about how creativity can be as simple as asking, "What if?"

Shortly after, I went out with a group of photographers, armed with many of these "exercises" to try. We came to a place where the river takes a sharp turn. I've done many of the long exposure "flowy" photos of waterfalls and fast shutter speed shots to freeze the water. "Hmm, what if I pan with the flowing water? I've never done that before." I stopped down the lens to f/32, to get a slowish shutter speed of 1/20 sec. Kinda gauged the speed of the water, and off I went. The result was most surprising! It looked like an impressionistic painting right of the camera.

I had a grin on my face for days.

Note: you can now get both TEN and TEN MORE for only $7 via David's blog here by clicking on the "Add to Cart." It'll be the best $7 you've spent.