Brooks Jensen, the editor of LensWork (truly great Magazine) with some frequency posts Podcasts on the magazine's website. The one that has inspired this post comes from his latest series.

Mr. Jensen argues that there are many great photographers out there that are very good at their craft but once they reach a certain level of proficiency they stop. It seems the challenge of making a great image of a particular style (imitating a favorite photographer’s complex lighting setups per say) ends their curiosity as the challenge has been met. Mr. Jensen argues that they stop because the next step is the hardest, the creativity that separates the craft from Art.
I just found that very interesting because I had about a 2 year break from photography. Coming back to it was a mere choice of tools but that was not as big of a challenge as when I was learning all about Large Format and everything around that. My return had a clear view of my subjects and what I want my work to represent.
I was curious what some thoughts on this idea are on MM. Has anyone here met some great photographers who choke and stop once they master their craft? Has this happen to anyone here to pause for a while but only to come back stronger then ever to have your work say something distinct?

So I thought this would be a good topic to start a thread on.

-Marek

In "Art&Fear," the authors noted that the graduate show is the last show most art grad students will ever do.  When they lose the captive audience, they have no one to make art for and no assurance anyone will look at it.

Jensen's point seems to be that for most, photography can only be a craft.  Once a photographer can make a photograph technically indistinguisable from Adams or d'Orazio or Penn, they have no where to go unless they choose someone else to emulate.

But emulation of art doesn't make more art.  Adams, et al are artists because they invented their techniques and became completely defined by their photographs to the point where the pictures were their signatures.

It's creating the signature that makes something art, not copying those who came before.  (Note:  "copying" is not the same as "being influenced by.")

-Don

Don,

   Thank you very much for a great post. I would like to share that even as I started to learn about photography the best images that were most rewarding at the time (and encouraging) shared something that now I can recognize as a familiar quality. Perhaps its the 'Signature' you mentioned which would link the LensWork comment to the fact that art is being created all along, even while mastering of the craft is not yet fully achieved.

-Marek

So there I was -- at a cross roads.  I chose to put my cameras down and pick up another job at the newspaper.  Before I left, I was working on a picture and a friend came by and said "Tony, if you leave, you won't be able to take beautiful pictures like that, anymore."  I explained that I had taken that picture nine time that year alone -- and it was only July.

I missed shooting and tried to be creative in other areas.  I love the 4x5, but in the field it is waaaay to slow of a process.

I have a deep need to be creative.  I do photography because of its intrinsic value.

Last July, my wife Susan and I launched SmartAz Photography.  Here's what I've learned:  It's hard to be competitive and it's harder to reinvent yourself.  I've never really ever embraced the "Been There, Shot That," attitude.  I've been a professional photographer for more than twenty years.  I've won awards on a regional and national level.  I love taking pictures and every time I do it, it's as if it's the very first time.

If I see something I like and I find myself trying to emulate the style, it's more than curiosity.  For me, I want to figure out how I can embrace what I'm seeing and make it mine.  When I see something else I like, I can make that mine too, but I allow the personal influences of my style to be part of the process.  If I didn't do that, I would be like those photographers who find the secret and lose interest.

The beauty of all of this is that it's so personal -- and it's art.