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vancouver, british columbia
Research has shown that successful people have a high degree of understanding of what makes them tick. More than knowing their abilities, they understand what motivates and satisfies them and therefore they make wise choices in focusing their strengths and addressing their weaknesses to achieve results. As the understanding of their behaviour and style deepens, they are able to discern the situations and people that will help them become a success.
So how does this apply to learning photography? Each of us has a preference for how we learn new concepts. Knowing how you learn will help you figure out what you need to do to improve your skill level. My preference is to learn by bringing together different aspects of a subject and integrating them into something that I can understand as a whole. I like to collect data and put that information into a framework that makes sense to me. Others prefer to learn by doing, testing new and old concepts, something more concrete than just thinking about data and ideas. Last summer, quite by accident, I realized that when I combined the ways in which I like to learn with the ways that challenge me, I had a more complete learning experience that led to a deeper understanding of photography.
One of the first photography books I read was Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. It is a book that I would recommend to anyone who is struggling to understand the technical side of photography. Actually it is also very good for learning the creative aspects of photography that are influenced by technical choices. When I found out that Bryan taught an online class on Understanding Exposure, I signed up and spent 8 weeks reinforcing the key concepts in his book. A winning formula, the classes blend information and practical assignments with weekly evaluations where participants learn not only from the instructors but also from the questions other students ask. Shortly before the end of the 8 weeks I decided to join one of Bryan’s weekend workshops which happened to be in Seattle. That was my very first photographic workshop and I have to tell you that I am a bit addicted to them. In the beginning I was quite uncomfortable being in a group of people who all knew their cameras inside out and were creating amazing images (and of course I was in awe of the instructor–still am). By the end of the workshop, I knew it was one of the best decisions I made. Not only did I come home with images that remind me I can do this but I had a much better understanding of what I needed to do to improve. It is an approach I tested once again this past summer when after reading Freeman Patterson’s books Photography and the Art of Seeing and Photographing the World Around You, I spent an entire week with Freeman and Andre Gallant at their Photography and Visual Design workshop. In January I will again follow this path to learning when I join David duChemin for a 10 day photographic safari in Kenya armed with his book Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision. I can’t wait; bring on the learning!
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