Re: [Leica] Talent - And Emotion

[Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>]

>I suspect that the pattern Harrison talks about,
>where people just "don't get it", has relatively little
>to do with "abstract intelligence" and a lot to do with
>sensitivity, perception, resonance, and lack
>of focus.  (And by the way, I don't know that I
>"get it" all the time....)

I think that's correct. I've hired three interns since becoming photo
editor. I don't hire the best photographer, necessarily, but one I think
shows promise. And, I might add, some whose portfolios are best described
as "beginner." Of course, that's an intern, right? 

With the right feedback, added responsibility of acting just like a staffer
at the paper, with the knowledge that we expect useable pictures every time
they come back, they blossom. Two have left here good enough to work as
staffers at newspapers. (And I mean good newspapers). The current one has a
shooting style somewhat like Eugene Richards (an immature one for sure). 

It takes exposure to good work, feedback in what is good and bad about
one's work, and the chance to actually do the work, to get a photographer
to blossom. 

I think that to unleash a person's talent, they need to work with others
who know something about what they're doing. It's hard to do it alone all
by one's self. Some people can do it alone, but it's difficult. 

So if one wants to realize their photo potential, don't be happy with just
doing what one is used to. Go to a workshop, get to know other
photographers in the area you live, join a club, take a class. If you want
to find out if you really have talent, you likely can't do it alone.

It takes a community (like the LUG? <G>) to raise a photographer. :-)
- -- 

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

Mi.caw.ber n [Wilkins Micawber, character in the novel David Copperfield
(1849-50) by Charles Dickens : 1852] : one who is poor but lives in
optimistic expectation of better fortune