2nd March 2021
The Intuitive Photographer - Bob Ryan & Alison Price
Hello Everybody - gosh…what a fabulous night we had on Tuesday with Bob Ryan and Alison Price! I for one appreciated being guided to think in different ways….and beyond…..I loved it.
But Bob - I could see the dog! Top left. Ears and nose.
Bob Ryan started the evening, by drawing parallels with learning flamenco guitar introducing us to his understanding of emotional language in photography. The link between them being repetition and feedback; what Bob has called his EPF strategy - emotion, practice and feedback. He showed us an image of Don McCullins' which had inspired and influenced him; the image has a strong impact and through powerful emotional storytelling makes us ask questions.
Bob explained how we can build expertise at an intuitive level by using what is called the burning in process (a bit like riding a bike). Intuitive judgement is crucial in order to select the appropriate moment of taking an image - I think it's like training ones “eye”. Bob calls it the non-conscious expertise.
Using an image of Salgado’s which captures the fundamentals of Antarctica on one shot Bob continued to explain the way we think. He used Millers 7 plus and 2 minus example which is basically that we can, when dealing with complexity, cope with a certain number of variables (give or take) which is around 7.
Bob then showed us some fabulous and interesting images of his own where he stripped out everything but the core of what he wanted to show - very stimulating stuff. Some interesting images of animals in movement showed how Bob describes "hidden in plain sight" where he freezes time in order to capture the essence of movement. There was a fab image of an elephant baby where he had reduced the light, colour and tones in the image to an almost abstraction. Similarly, and more representational, a lion showing age, regret and passion of life all at once! Powerful - and again making you want to look closer for longer and to ask questions.
Further using his reductive techniques Bob showed us a truly inspiring water project. Wow. The essence of waterfalls.
Turning to heuristics Bob was able to show us some results of his research which demonstrated how judges often react by using shortcuts which blur or override their creative responses. His research showed how unqualified photographers were more intuitively aware of creativity and narrative but less bothered about the technical. The first 3 seconds is when intuitive judgement is engaged and if we use that in a heuristic way we lose an opportunity. This gives us a lot to think about and I hope Bob, I haven’t totally misinterpreted what you say!
Then we had Alison! Totally different and our thinking moved into different territories but just as challenging and inspiring. Alison started her journey as a police photographer and then forensic photographer which is a very prescribed field and she is now “flying” into some incredibly fluid areas of photography. She too wants to capture the essence of what she sees and shared with us her PHD work which is in progress - this was indeed very generous of her and initiated us into some of the process of a photography PHD! Which clearly can be a liberating experience.
Alison investigates the relationship between man and nature by concentrating on fragility, dominance and resilience. Alison is an experimental photographer (not surprisingly so given her PHD). It was interesting for us to see how her double exposures have sometimes been informed by Monet.
In other work, she intends to capture BEING - the ontology of the photographic moment: an interesting concept in itself. This way of thinking is an aspect of what has recently (controversially) been known as Speculative Realism and applied to photographic practice. Alison uses intentional camera movement in the most beautiful ways to capture this essence of being. She showed us some magnificent tree images which got us right in amongst the trees. Again there is a philosophical resonance with Bob's water project - although Alison's trees are very, very different in approach.
Interestingly Alison concluded by sharing how she now encompasses other media and genres into her photography and letting things develop.
Altogether a stimulating and engaging evening - a huge thank you to both Alison and Bob.
Some Links to books and “other” to which Bob referred in his talk
The Master Photographer by Bob Ryan | Waterstoneswww.waterstones.com › book › bob-ryan
Expert: Understanding the Path to Mastery eBook: Kneebone ...www.amazon.co.uk › Expert-Understanding-Mastery-R...
PreviewPreview1:06:02Expert: Understanding the Path to Mastery with Roger ...YouTube · Creative Rebels26 Aug 2020
The IMP test which Bob offers is £75 - I know some of you have already availed yourselves of this!
The IMP Test
Hello Everybody - gosh…what a fabulous night we had on Tuesday with Bob Ryan and Alison Price! I for one appreciated being guided to think in different ways….and beyond…..I loved it.
But Bob - I could see the dog! Top left. Ears and nose.
Bob Ryan started the evening, by drawing parallels with learning flamenco guitar introducing us to his understanding of emotional language in photography. The link between them being repetition and feedback; what Bob has called his EPF strategy - emotion, practice and feedback. He showed us an image of Don McCullins' which had inspired and influenced him; the image has a strong impact and through powerful emotional storytelling makes us ask questions.
Bob explained how we can build expertise at an intuitive level by using what is called the burning in process (a bit like riding a bike). Intuitive judgement is crucial in order to select the appropriate moment of taking an image - I think it's like training ones “eye”. Bob calls it the non-conscious expertise.
Using an image of Salgado’s which captures the fundamentals of Antarctica on one shot Bob continued to explain the way we think. He used Millers 7 plus and 2 minus example which is basically that we can, when dealing with complexity, cope with a certain number of variables (give or take) which is around 7.
Bob then showed us some fabulous and interesting images of his own where he stripped out everything but the core of what he wanted to show - very stimulating stuff. Some interesting images of animals in movement showed how Bob describes "hidden in plain sight" where he freezes time in order to capture the essence of movement. There was a fab image of an elephant baby where he had reduced the light, colour and tones in the image to an almost abstraction. Similarly, and more representational, a lion showing age, regret and passion of life all at once! Powerful - and again making you want to look closer for longer and to ask questions.
Further using his reductive techniques Bob showed us a truly inspiring water project. Wow. The essence of waterfalls.
Turning to heuristics Bob was able to show us some results of his research which demonstrated how judges often react by using shortcuts which blur or override their creative responses. His research showed how unqualified photographers were more intuitively aware of creativity and narrative but less bothered about the technical. The first 3 seconds is when intuitive judgement is engaged and if we use that in a heuristic way we lose an opportunity. This gives us a lot to think about and I hope Bob, I haven’t totally misinterpreted what you say!
Then we had Alison! Totally different and our thinking moved into different territories but just as challenging and inspiring. Alison started her journey as a police photographer and then forensic photographer which is a very prescribed field and she is now “flying” into some incredibly fluid areas of photography. She too wants to capture the essence of what she sees and shared with us her PHD work which is in progress - this was indeed very generous of her and initiated us into some of the process of a photography PHD! Which clearly can be a liberating experience.
Alison investigates the relationship between man and nature by concentrating on fragility, dominance and resilience. Alison is an experimental photographer (not surprisingly so given her PHD). It was interesting for us to see how her double exposures have sometimes been informed by Monet.
In other work, she intends to capture BEING - the ontology of the photographic moment: an interesting concept in itself. This way of thinking is an aspect of what has recently (controversially) been known as Speculative Realism and applied to photographic practice. Alison uses intentional camera movement in the most beautiful ways to capture this essence of being. She showed us some magnificent tree images which got us right in amongst the trees. Again there is a philosophical resonance with Bob's water project - although Alison's trees are very, very different in approach.
Interestingly Alison concluded by sharing how she now encompasses other media and genres into her photography and letting things develop.
Altogether a stimulating and engaging evening - a huge thank you to both Alison and Bob.
Some Links to books and “other” to which Bob referred in his talk
The Master Photographer by Bob Ryan | Waterstoneswww.waterstones.com › book › bob-ryan
Expert: Understanding the Path to Mastery eBook: Kneebone ...www.amazon.co.uk › Expert-Understanding-Mastery-R...
PreviewPreview1:06:02Expert: Understanding the Path to Mastery with Roger ...YouTube · Creative Rebels26 Aug 2020
The IMP test which Bob offers is £75 - I know some of you have already availed yourselves of this!
The IMP Test