January. The first introductory class.

Doors on Perception. The distance learning on-line course

While this free course is being presented monthly at the library in Ganges on Saltspring Island ,B.C., Canada, there are some who attend the course who also travel and miss meetings but need to stay current. There are some others who will stumble across this presentation on photography on the web and find it interesting to follow, and as much of the 'work' expected of participants, even in the Saltspring classes, is individual in nature, this will make it easy for distance learners from around the world to participate too. This is not a 'how-to course' or a set of rules for making good photographs, but rather an exploration of photography aimed at broadening and expanding the knowledge base of each individual. 'Doors on Perception' is our way of naming this widening of understanding and we will be presenting a wide range of ideas and approaches to photography.

The extra material presented in this on-line version is to stimulate thought and make up for the possible lack of resources that students may not have ready access to while studying in places around the world. However, remember that the web gives you access to a wide variety of information about things and thoughts photographic.

The first introductory session was presented at the Saltspring Island Library last Sunday and we had nearly a full house, 45 people, to have a look and decide if this was right for them.

Greg Klassen gave the introduction: our philosophy behind the title 'Doors on Perception', the question 'What is photography?', and an introduction to John Szarkowski's book, 'The Photographers Eye'. which will be used as a framework for the seminar series. Not that we now slavishly follow his definitions of what makes photography a separate and definable visual art, but that he and his book do provide a grounding point from which to wander. Whether we recognize it or not, much of what we understand about photography stems from the concepts he has developed here and it is the aim of this year-long series to unpack his ideas, understand where they began, where they can take us and to then perhaps to leave them behind in the dust. Behind every photograph is a mind, each mind is full of ideas and those ideas control each image we make. If we add to and adjust our ideas we can widen our horizons and develop ourselves.

He then pointed out that each of us three presenters ( Bill Gardam, Simon Henson and Greg Klassen) have an academic background in the visual arts and are educators, but beyond that we represent remarkably different photographic approaches and will be presenting the course material from three different angles. Bill will present Szarkowski's ideas and focus on the craft aspects, Simon will use student work to discuss the aesthetics of photography and Greg will 'open the box' and show us work of many photographers so we can begin to grasp what is truly possible once we start looking through alternate doors of perception.

Each of us presented five of our own photographs as an introduction to our personal approaches to the art of photography.

Bill showed his wide range of subject matter, from portraits to landscapes and he was at pains to point out that the common element was his earnest attempt to be a good craftsman and to use the camera and his understanding of design so that each image was organized to communicate the subject well, whatever the subject matter happened to be.

Simon selected his imagery to show his interest in wildlife and landscape photography. He is of course the aesthetics teacher and his photography showed how once one understands his craft, then the art can begin. Simon uses Lightroom and photo-shop to both fine tune and to create new forms of blended imagery.

Greg showed photographs from one of his gallery presentations and pointed out that he uses the camera not to simply capture reality in all its forms but rather to create complex images that emerge from a more psychological and personal place. Photo-shopping figures largely in his work.

The assignment for the workshop in February is to select ONE image from your photo-bank that you feel best reflects yourself, not in terms of selfies but rather who you think you are and where you are going. The point of the course is to provide a place where all students can develop themselves within a very rich soup of creative possibles. This may sound easy at first, but as this requires a considerable amount of self-evaluation, just making that selection should stir one up quite nicely, and that is the necessary state we all need if we are to profit from the 'Doors on Perception.'

Extra material:

More than ever was I convinced that the old way of seeing was inadequate to express this big country of ours, her depth, her height, her unbounded wilderness, silences too strong to be broken – not could ten million cameras, through their mechanical boxes ever show real Canada. It had to be sensed, passed through live minds, sensed and loved.

Growing Pains Emily Carr.

Emily, a Canadian artist writing around a hundred years ago, casts doubt on whether photography, as it was then, could express 'real Canada' anymore than the old painting traditions brought from Europe could. She worked to find a new form of expression in art to match her subject. Is it possible that her words still have resonance for us today who point our cameras at the world? Do we not still need to know our subject first, sense it and love it, before we frame it in our viewfinder? Just a thought.: ) Bill

 extras 2

My work- purpose, my theme, can most nearly be stated as the recognition, recording, and preservation of the interdependence, the relativity in all things – the universality of basic form. In a single day’s work, within the radius of a mile, I might discover and record the skeleton of a bird, a blossoming fruit tree, a cloud, a smoke-stack; each of these being a part of the whole, but each, - in itself, becoming a symbol for the whole, of life.

The camera should be used for the recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it is polished steel or palpitating flesh.

Edward Weston.

Edward Weston ( Google him and have a careful look at his work) presents some interesting ideas about photography that we will examine in more detail further on in the course. His thoughts though, are worth beginning to ponder because much of what we think of as photography today stems from this 1940's California photographer and the philosophy that underlies the studio f 64 group that he is associated with.

Here is the first mention of 'the thing itself', the importance of the camera's strength (and weakness) in recording in detail the actuality of 'reality'. We point and shoot and have a two dimensional record. Today I still check out the subject matter first ( the thing) before I begin to question the way the photograph was constructed ( the other 'thing'  - the photograph).

This questioning is also a critique of Weston's basic assumptions about the separation of the mind of the 'shooter' from the reality of nature, whether landscape or nude. We know that photographs do lie consistently, that propaganda, advertising, portraits (the 'best side', the flattering lighting etc.) present a selected view. But then it is not so obvious that every photograph made is filtered through the taker's mind set, his purpose. It is just that the detail, the verisimilitude, makes it a persuasive medium. The maker of the image is also in the photograph no matter what.

His photographs though, are powerful persuaders for the power and independence of the natural world, so I can be moved by the photographs, persuaded, even as I place his work into an historical context and see his approaches to using the camera echoed in the world of present day photographs. I look, I feel, I think, I understand and then I see.

Can you begin to look at your own photographs and understand your own basic assumptions, your philosophy, that informs ever photograph you make? That understanding you come to over time will give you a powerful tool as you develop as a photographer.

Extras 3. The thing itself and Edward Weston continued.

Why should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passerby to pick up idly? Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the artist. It is the melody that he sings for you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination.

The Moon and Sixpence.

S. Maugham

So, did you Google Weston? Perhaps like me you were a little disappointed because at first glance his photos seem pretty ordinary. “I could have taken those!”might be our response, but then all these years later the originality of his vision has become the normal way we view the world and photograph it. It is in being original, having our own individual vision in the first place that is our true personal challenge.

I did find though that when I began to engage with his imagery as though it was for the first time ever, that I could see he really has something here that merits more than just a second glance. His ethic that the photographer must attempt to absent himself, his desires, prejudices and opinions, from what he is photographing, is a powerful discipline and shows a serious relationship with the world and with his craft. I found that I needed to break through the 'seeing' barrier, and experience his imagery through his eyes and feel the strangeness and the power and beauty of life as though for the first time. It required a lot from this viewer, to pause and “repeat the adventure of the artist”as the above Maugham quote says we must be prepared to do.

One prerequisite for passing through any door on perception may be the essential requirement of a photographer to SEE and to do that requires “ knowledge, sensitivity and imagination” especially as photography presents such a literal take on the world. Because of its 'factual' surface presentation it is that much more challenging to peer through a photograph's door of perception and into the heart of the matter.