Risky Business:
After many years working as a photographer, I am beginning to find it important and rewarding to take risks with my work. I know this sounds silly; I would have agreed with you not that long ago. However, the older I get, I find myself disinclined to make photographs according to the rules I have felt were laid down by the masters of the medium.
For me, I think this mindset has served as a bit of a safety hatch, this rule-abiding approach. The craft of photography, especially film photography, is very specifically defined. Black & white and color both have a set of requirements to be seen and regarded as quality work. So the safety hatch worked for me like this: photographs of traditional subjects, made with large sheets of film, printed on fiber-based paper, selenium-toned, and matted in a white over mat. The pressure was off of me as an artist; without question, I was making quality prints. I had gone through all the steps with all the right tools; I was golden.
Do not get me wrong, along the way I made good pictures. In silver at the start and for 20 years in platinum, I feel good about what I accomplished and created. It was work of the time and it fit. Now I have a new drug.
When I started printmaking, I discovered these rules could not be applied in the same way, although I tried at first. I soon learned that photogravure prints were a completely new way to interpret my photographs, a unique look at feel. They are both a unique departure from photographic prints, and they have the ability to look and feel different from one to the next. I do try to print consistent editions of prints, but I treat each new picture as just that, a new interpretation. This is what felt risky to me at first; the escape hatch had closed. As I looked at more and more printmaking by other artists, I found myself letting go of the rules I always used when looking at work by other artists. I widened my scope of what is possible and beautiful at the same time. Now I apply the same ideals to my own work.
I am not suggesting all photographers have to take up printmaking to start taking risks. I do think you might find some true joy in your photography practice by taking risks with your work. If your methods are digital-based, try something different from what you know in the digital processing or printing steps. Ditch the actions and plugins that someone else created and make one yourself. Print on a new and different paper. If your photographs live only on your digital screen, send a few out for printing and feel what it is like to hold the object in your hands. Color outside the lines; what you make will be true to your heart, and the risky feeling you may have will turn into the satisfaction of being an artist.
I would love to read your thoughts about risk taking, please join the conversation.
Be well,
Ray
