"Robson Magic"

“The Shunned Photographer” Yep, I am an “All in Camera” “Old School” Photographer! Yep, I will say it again, loud and proud….I AM AN ALL-IN-CAMERA photographer. Apparently in a post-processed world, for some, these are some pretty “DIRTY WORDS”. These are dirty nasty cuss words that I have been told I should not say or claim. Fortunately I rarely do what others tell me too. Apparently I cannot get into the “photography bubble” on social media because I do not do post processing. Apparently you cannot get into this bubble unless you are trying to do photography like every other photographer. I find it crazy that photography has gotten so far away from itself, that if you choose to be “Old School”, and do all the work in the camera, you cannot be cool with the popular crowd. Fortunately for me, I don’t give a care at all to being in the hip crowd, and not being in the photography bubble is just not that important to me. But I do find the trends in photography on social media to be very puzzling, so I decided to do a little research that I hope to turn into an article series. This research has given me some insight to the photography bubble on social media, and to photography in general. I found some of it to be so disheartening.
One of the first things I have realized is there is always a current trend in photography that is constantly changing. I would say evolving, but I believe in many instances it is actually devolving. Case in point: Last year I visited Mt St Helens during wildflower season. It was a great year for flowers and there were many meadows that had amazing blooms, one was right behind Johnston Ridge Observatory. I found my spot in early evening light, and settled in to shoot it all the way through sunset, then I returned to the exact spot for sunrise. It was an amazing shoot and I walked away with 3 new gallery images right in the camera. During this time I decided to do some research and tried to talk to every photographer I ran into. I talked to 32 photographers in my time there and 29 of them were doing focal blending. It was all the Rage at the time, so everyone was doing it. Seven of these photographers told me they has seen another photographer’s image from the area, and they were out to get the same shot. I call this comp stomping, they were out literally to get the exact same shot someone else had gotten using the exact same techniques. I found that to be very sad. There was also about 10 photographers who were staying out for the Milky Way, and all of them were doing composites, which also was all the rage at the time. All of them were shooting their foreground early and them leaving their camera in that spot and waiting 4-6 hours for the Milky Way to come out. I am sure every one of these photographers got great completed images, but not one would show me the back of the camera. I then knew how encompassing trends in photography have become. Out of all the photographers I met over my two days there, I did not see one photographer trying to capture the wider view of the beautiful meadow with Mt St Helens. They were all running about through the flowers, and through my image, looking for that perfect grouping of 3 or 4 paintbrush. This worked out great for me, as I am pretty sure I was the only photographer capturing the entire scene on that evening. As a matter of fact, most of them missed some of the best light, as they could not settle on a spot.
You might think I am writing this because I have a problem with post processing. Not at all. As a matter of fact I am perfectly happy with every other photographer in the world doing post, leaving me to be the only all in camera shooter left! Well I am know I am not, but that would not bother me in the least, as I thrive on trying to be unique, both in my images, and in my business. As a matter of fact, I have mentioned in a previous post of many photographers that do post processing, that I appreciate and follow. Photographers I admire in the post-processing world, of which there are many. I will not ever do that again, as I later learned that some of these photographers were offended that I had mentioned them. For this I truly apologize as I meant no offense what so ever. Actually just the opposite, I was trying to pay them a compliment on their images, and their post-processing technique. Some of the photographers took it as a compliment, and some thought I was just trying to call them out. I find that very curious, as I know these offended photographers worked countless hours over months or years to master their post-processing techniques. I would think they would want to show off these talents. No, I do not have a problem with photographers doing post-processing at all, as it is the excepted and expected norm in photography these days. But I could never compete with them in that realm, so I got to go my own way and do my own thing and do it ALL-In-Camera. And that means I cannot be in the photography bubble. I was recently told by a photographer who is part of a group that is on Facebook with a Washington focus that I could not be a regular contributor to the page, because I am an all-in-camera shooter. When I pressed him for more details, I was told that they did not even want to start a conversation about post processing, and they were afraid I would stir things up if I said my images were “All-In-Camera”. What a sad commentary on today’s photography. I also had my worked reviewed by another professional photographer, and I was told if I did not spent 6-12 hours in the"Chair" in post, I was never going to make it. I had a good laugh over that being this is my 18th year as a professional.
Now I see a new trend in post-processing and in photography that I find disturbing. The new trend is to actually take all the color out of a photograph, just add a few highlights, keep the color in the image to the color wheel, and create the mood of the image after the fact in post-processing. Take all the color out of the photograph? What? I find this crazy, but it is now all the rage and the latest trend in photography with thousands of other photographers following a few who have deemed this as the correct way to do post-processing and to do photography. This is so, so sad to me. Sometimes Mother Nature puts on a color show, and she always provides a mood for an image or scene on the spot. When did this become not good enough in a photograph? Are some of these photographers even taking photographs anymore? And why do so many photographers want their photography to look like someone else’s? What happened to your own vision, your own eye, and your own technique? When did it become uncool to be unique? When did it become uncool to capture what Mother Nature puts out there for all to see? If you want to take almost all the color out of the image, why not just shoot it in Black and White? Well I do not know the answers to these questions, but I do know, like always, I will strive to not follow, and to be unique, and to try teach and save good old fashion “Old School” Style Photography. I have always said there is no right or wrong way in photography, just your way, and if your way makes you happy, then you are doing it right! But if your way is just someone else’s way, are you truly happy? Truly happy just to copy?
So I will not be a part of the photography bubble. I will not be a part of the bubble photographers who like and follow other photographer’s work that look just like theirs, are doing it just like them.
This is not a pity post and you need not feel sorry for me, as I am not bothered in the least. Actually I thank the photography bubble for leaving me out. I am blessed to be one of the few Landscape Photographers out there that get to do this for a living. I truly believe the reason I am so lucky and so blessed to be able to do my photography as my full time job, as my career, is because I do my own thing in my own way. I may not ever get 100,000 likes on my page or images because I am not in the bubble, but my unique style does resonate with enough people, to allow me to be able to do it to make living. I could not be more grateful for it. I am grateful to every publisher who uses my work, for every customer who comes into either one of my galleries, for every student that comes out for a class to learn my All-In-Camera Style, and for every one of you out there that take the time to read my posts and like my images. You all are helping me keep the Old School Photography Style alive, and I could not thank you enough. I am grateful to each and every one of you! I will continue to do my own thing, and shoot my own unique style. I will continue to use and say those dirty words…I am an “All-In-Camera”, “Old School” Style Photographer, and damn proud of it! If you bump into me out in the field, come on over and ask me to see the back of my camera, and I will show it to you. Or stop on in one of my galleries when I am in, and I will show it to you.
Sunset with Wildflowers and Mt. Robson in the Canadian Rockies, thank you so much for looking, and reading! Have a great day everyone!
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