Many people think that they are great artists - some are correct in this, and some take a lifetime to find out they were wrong.
That's the brushes, canvas, marble chisels, and plasticine side of the thing - leaving aside the artists that collect discarded bricks or stand hooting in a city street. You can make up your own mind about them. However, I suspect that in the photography game there are a lot more people who are better at it than they realise. The simple fact that they have picked up a camera or poked a computer keyboard tells us that there is something in there.
Some people drive at their art - some art drives people. And we have all seen what drivers are like in wet weather... But the rainy day that keeps you in can make you a dynamo in a studio or indoor event. Look at the success of the portraitists in Perth - including, of course, the pet portraitists. If that's not art and accomplished art at that, I'll eat my beret. The working pros who work inside need not worry about whether what they do is art.
The amateur, though, may get into a rut after the first flush of beach shots or temple tours is over. They'll try all sorts of things in turn, and sometimes never quite find their métier at the end - everything is not quite what is seen on other people's screens or Instatwit or the camera club circuit. Some sad souls get discouraged and tell themselves that they are just not artistic. The old saw about not being able to draw a straight line is trotted out as a reason for dissatisfaction. I doubt Vincent Van Gogh ever drew a straight line in his life, either...and he seems to have made some little fame.
It is the same with graphic design work - it's a complex subject that has a jargon that would rival anatomical Latin. There are books about it on every shelf in the town, and bureaux around every corner. It is presented as too hard for the amateur to understand. Yet...you can all make a picture with a simple computer program, and all you need is the will to do it and the courage to be satisfied with the result. The professional graphic designer will not like it, of course, but that is not your concern.
The whole point of this article comes to: If you need something artistic, there is enough talent in you do produce it for yourself. You can do it with a watercolour set and block of paper from the newsagent, but we'd prefer if you came and bought a camera, a monitor, and an editing program from us and started to do it digitally. You do not need the high-octane program - much of what you'll like can be done with the lo-test version. My Adobe Mum-and-Dadprogram will celebrate its eight birthday with cake and fairy bread and is still turning out the goods.
The images I'm dotting this post with are simple two-dimensional prints butterfly-clipped to an A3+ frame made of MDF. Bunnings opens late...I need these backdrops to take pictures of model airplanes and tanks and while I can order superb examples of this sort of photo accessoryfrom a firm in the UK, the price of doing so means no more model airplanes for six months. Plus I would be using the same image as countless other customers.
The whole workflow is simple - camera images of cloudy skies gathered from Perth's hills during or wintertime, sea images from the ocean in all lights, foliage pictures from the park, and a bit of imagination to make stylised sunrises or Pacific island mountains. They all go into the low-test Adobe program on my old iMac and on to my old Epson printer.
I use Epson paper, so the printing profiles are all in the machine to start with. The colour management has all been done and dusted years ago. The A3+ prints get the superb genuine Epson K3 inks so there are no horrid surprises. I can count on 6 prints from 6 pieces of paper.
The graphic designers will scowl, but I've gotten the result I needed as an amateur, and that's the best news for a cold winter.
Note: No copyrights were harmed in the preparation of this article.
