windows and a door ~ New Orleans, LA. (embiggenable) • iPhone
found / made ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
In my 40 years career as a pro photog, 99.99% of the pictures I made were "made" pictures. That is, pictures which were made-to-order to meet client needs / demands. Every element of those pictures was controlled by me .... placement / arrangement of product, people (models), props within the frame plus complete control of the lighting thereof and scene selection (when on location).
In my personal "serious" picture making, 99.99% of my pictures are so-called straight, aka: "found", pictures. That is, while I do control the selection of my referent(s) and the manner in which I arrange it/them within my frame, I picture the world around me-places, things, people-as I see and "find" them.
Both my "made" and "found" picturing activities have provided, amongst other things, a great deal of art(istic) satisfaction/ pleasure. Over the past 15 years, virtually all of picturing has been of the "found" variety. However, of late, I am starting to feel the itch (need?) to pursue creating pictures of the "made" variety. That is, non-commercial (client-driven) "made" pictures which, in their making, I control what-things / people-is in the picture.
The issue that I am dealing with in order to scratch that itch is that the possibilities for creating "made" pictures seems endless. Still life pictures of things-in studio or on location leads to the question of what things? And, to what end / intent? People pictures present the same issues ... studio / location and which people and to what end / intent?
iMo, it seems that the real issue is not still life / people pictures on location or in the studio. Rather, it is the to what end or intent that matters most inasmuch as, if one is going to create "made" pictures, it is the to what end / intent where the starting point lies.
While pondering that issue, I just keep on creating "found" pictures.