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I've been using a camera professionally and personally for 35 years. I love all aspects of photography.
However, last year this time I was in a rut, my creative well and technical well was dried up. So, I told a creative friend this and they said I should take up drawing. Any drawing will be helpful she said but especially nude figure drawing. She said it would slow me down and more me to look at things more acutely. So, I did. Spend a whole $20 on all the necessary equipment (which I liked), drawing pad, pencils, erasers and so on. Watch a few youtube videos on drawing, then started to attend a local bi-monthly figure drawing class. Wow! Did that change me. Yes, technically I am not a great artist (but learning) but the process of making a one new drawing every minute ( model changes pose) or two, ten or twenty minutes forces you to slow down and be much more critical of the lighting, shadows and composition. It is hard to do!!! However, I have found for me that this is some great training that has helped my photography immeasurably. Anyone else draw? Jan 11 19 01:01 pm Link Yes, and I also do watercolor (neither very well). Both help me "see" better I think and in the case of watercolor look more carefully at color, light, shadow etc. My wife is an oil painter which also helps me, I think. Reading and looking at art books of all kinds is another aid to storing up the creative juices. I suspect any exposure to any art medium is helpful. Ruts are so easy to fall into! At my age, 72, it isn't as easy to climb out as it once was.
One other thought, since you are in NYC you have a zillion art galleries and museums to visit. Also if you like to sketch take a look at a site called UrbanSketchers.com. Its an international group that gets together informally and sketches. NYC has a couple of chapters you can join up with. No cost, just other creative folk sketching the world one picture at a time. ( I may have that site wrong, but you can Google it.) Jan 11 19 03:40 pm Link I actually moderate a figure class; the previous guy retired. I can't say I'd hang any of my drawings on the wall, but I do think it helps me see. I also like the interaction with the class and the models. In addition to timing, I do model scheduling.
I would particularly recommend figure drawing for people who usually shoot fashion, wedding -- that kind of thing. In those styles, you are shooting primarily the clothing, really, making sure it looks good. And her expression. In figure drawing, and in nude photography, the model uses her whole body and you shoot the whole body. Jan 11 19 06:14 pm Link I have drawn since I was around 3 years old. I took up photography as a "shortcut" to capturing things to draw and then I quit drawing!!! I was never amazing anyway but a pretty good cartoonist.
I took figure drawing classes at community college, the instructor was really very good. We would always warm up on gigantic newsprint with a 2" long piece of thick charcoal, using the full 2". The model would change poses every 20 seconds, we would flip the page and draw a new figure. That would go for 5 minutes. By the end of that 5 minutes there were many in the class that had drawn figures that had compelling expression in the pose. That gets you in the "zone". Then we tackled slower drawings. I took another class where the instructor would put a replica of a human skull in the center of a circle, all of us would sit around it and create detailed drawings of the skull. Every 10 minutes he would turn it a 60 degrees so in a hour you drew 6 different angles. That was fun too. I still doodle often, have considered just switching back to drawing since it has always seemed to me to be a more personal artform than photography. The camera is very seductive for the precision and speed that an image can be captured but as always, something is gained and something is lost. Jan 11 19 06:39 pm Link markEdwardPhoto wrote: I think I am going to try this Jan 11 19 07:41 pm Link Hello, just a stage whisper, the boundaries between different mediums and disciplines are not necessarily so clear. Most of the time, the public decides these limits, in my opinion. For example, would Vermeer who abused the camera obscura not be a photographer? When Dürer uses a grid to draw his model or simply all the work of Uccello or Escher, that would not be closer to mathematics? I don't practice photography and I don't believe in its apparent facilities. When I say that I am a draftsman, some people remind me that they have too practiced drawing at age 5. Jan 12 19 12:03 am Link I posed for figure drawing classes for a couple of years before I got into consistently modeling for photography. I remember the person I did my 2nd or 3rd shoot ever with commented that I posed very well for having done so few shoots.
It was due to practicing gesticulation poses for figure drawing classes. I'd become extremely comfortable with not only being nude in front of others, but with filling space with my body, in order to create a dynamic shape. The skills I learned as a classroom figure model adapted easily to photography modeling. I'd really recommend it to about anyone who wants to gain experience modeling. Jan 12 19 07:20 am Link I think that was an excellent suggestion by your friend and if it wasn't for the fact I am a terrible artist I would give it a shot. I did have a similar experience when I switched from 35mm to 6x6 medium format. It also made me slow down. It also allowed me to use both eyes and be separate from my camera. With 35mm, you put it to your eye and it becomes part of you but with medium or large format, the camera and image are separate and you have to think.
I may go look at the youtube instructionals and who knows, I may follow in your footsteps. Jan 12 19 01:01 pm Link As the son and nephew and grandson of an unholy trinity of gifted bad angels at drawing, I only got a few things. While I am not strong at line drawing, I can construct well, and copy well and in shading I have game.
I started drawing when I was little. I always liked art, admired artists. Writing a few historical novels, one centred around an artist, and that and other projects saw a deep dive into art history. An art teacher friend of mine, opined that I had the equivalent in knowledge of the quattrocento. I could tell you how the paints were made. Yet although I am rather deep in art knowledge and history I would say it has no impact upon my photography. It is a completely different--for a while in the early stages, photographers were influenced by the artists of their era. Now it is clearly its own thing. Yes, I can compose and is relatable to drawing. The way I angle, and the way I frame-that is if a client wants 6" by 4", that is how I frame in my head-I don't think is attributable to the many hours of drawing. My tonality--I just have that, and inherited it from my ancestral crazy-chicks. I think doing something different with your time to change things up is good, however, my flair for shooting video has nothing to do with drawing. I'm not painting with light. I am a photon surfer as a cinematographer, surfing waves of light, as smooth as possible. Jan 12 19 03:08 pm Link This is the same advise I give ANY art photographer. I have been using cameras since my childhood days and have drawn since before that.
As I migrated to figure and art nude photography I periodically go back to practice the art of figure drawing with live models as well. It helps with the practice of composition and form but most of all it helps you really examine light and how it effects every part of your scene and subject. For example, Reflective light was not a thing until I started doing drawing studies on parts of the nude form. Light bouncing off of arms, legs, walls, objects and how it defines shadowed areas of the main subject and how it gave depth and contour. So much can be learned by drawing and then applied to your photography. It's funny because many have told me from seeing my drawings that I draw as a photographer meaning the detail to light and shadow values and how I never "outline" but rather use light and dark to create depth and edge, just like a photograph. If anyone is truly serious about improving their eye for photography, sitting down in front of a subject with a pad of paper and charcoal pencils is a key element to making better photographs in the future. Jan 12 19 03:57 pm Link markEdwardPhoto wrote: Hi,
Jan 13 19 05:58 pm Link Figures Jen B wrote: Best class you can take to compliment your photo studies. It will really train your eye on form, shape light and shadow play, everything that will translate to the camera.
Jan 15 19 12:32 am Link Art Silva wrote: Exactly what I reverted to. I felt it was easier to focus on light and shadows.
Jan 19 19 07:05 pm Link markEdwardPhoto wrote: Please visit Louisiana and hold some tent revival meetings on this topic. Thanks! Feb 03 19 05:32 pm Link |
