Received Stephen Johnson's latest e-newsletter today (
http://www.sjphoto.com/newsletterframset-9-08.html) and he has a short article that fits in with this thread:
"Reflections on Mastery
Looking ahead to 2009, even late 2008, I'll be on the road quite a bit. I'm working on an Alaskan workshop for early August 2009, perhaps even another Galapagos trip, definitely Iceland. In planning these trips the biggest thrill is the chance to show others some of the wonders I've seen. It is a very different sharing than the photographs themselves, but it is at the heart of teaching and encouraging inspiration.
Travel lately seems mostly about teaching, and therefore sharing, helping, nurturing and sometimes just plain old pep talks. Sometimes talks about slowing down and looking carefully. I always learn from my students, always end up seeing things my eyes alone would miss. It is a very rich experience. It's no wonder so many people want to do the teaching gig. It's a shame more of them aren't good teachers. I hear horror stories of indifference and self-absorption all of the time. I also hear great stories of wonderful experiences.
Many of the people teaching out there self-declare themselves to be Masters. Not only is this lack of humility rather shocking, it also seems that when self-declared it is almost never true. Mastery is never reached, it is only reached for, in my opinion, new and more distant aspirations keep pulling us forward, reaching, always reaching, for that perfect execution.
I am very suspicious of self-declared masters, or notions of mastery in general. It is a bit like the word genius, so overused as to almost lose meaning. I remember a story about Einstein getting some help in the early 50's at Princeton in an area which he knew little. In the middle of a rather detailed unload by the improvised lecturer, Dr. Albert said something to the effect, can you slow down, I'm not as smart as they say.
Photography is about vision and craft. Both can be made stronger in us, but they are very different. The image is non-verbal, often intuitive and always visual. The craft is care, experience, patience and detail. Meshing the two can be challenging, as they seem to draw upon different parts of the brain and personality. Both can be aided through teaching, but in very different ways. We are in age of craft defined as tips and tricks, and little discussion of vision at all. Craft is not tricky; it is plain hard work and care. Vision cannot be taught in and of itself, but sensitivities can be recognized and encouraged, as can strong design.
Neither my workshops, nor anyone else's, can make you a master. It is about the aspiration to master the medium of photography to your level of satisfaction, and perhaps go even a bit beyond. It is about intensive photographic experiences that challenge your mind, heart and soul to make art. My workshops discuss technical issues and procedures, but the emphasis remains on content and asking the most of your commitment to photography as art. But even that remains a journey, not a destination, the aspiration and seductions keep changing, growing, staying tantalizingly out of reach, but hopefully bringing ever more beauty and satisfaction to your craft and vision.
Of course making art always has its ups and downs. It's often a struggle to keep working, and impossible to feel good unless you are working. It's often lonely, and maybe has to be, as that is sometimes the only way to concentrate, to find that one instance that has to be held now, shared now, almost obsessively, certainly with a unique concentration and passion.
In those senses, it is not about mastery, it is about necessity.
Make the Art (a song from 1999)
I can make the art
I've got a vision to put out there
but it's fragile at its heart
and can fall to despair
Workin' all day and night
pourin' heart and soul
to keep those dreams alive
that blood pumped and flowin'
What is really at the heart of art
a passion struggle from the very start
I try so hard, so hard to see
try so hard to make it seen
There's rarely money
to ease your mind
no security over time
but a hunger to the core
seeking light like some mythic lore
I move around this great big world
see such beauty and intricacy
I want to hold it like some precious love
let another soul see and believe
Pushin, pushin' hard
light fallin' into form
reachin', always reachin'
for that perfect execution
Its instinct, it's drive
to shape the world through your eyes
you go way up, and way down
fighting for some faith and hope
Workin' all day and night
pourin' heart and soul
to keep those dreams alive
that blood pumped and flowin'
What is really at the heart of art
it's a passion struggle from the very start
I try so hard, so hard to see
I want so bad to make it seen
Out on a cliff, on the edge
earth and sky filling my eyes
the brush of a breeze
space like infinity
Out on the trail till you ache
the next horizon is too far away
but we gotta press on, we gotta see the dawn
from that hill way over there
What is really at the heart of art
it's a passion struggle from the very start
I try so hard, so hard to see
I want so bad to make it seen
-Steve Johnson"
Also in the newsletter is a recommendation for this book - "Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" by David Bayles & Ted Orland. I haven't read it, but it sounds interesting...
Mike.