There Are No Secrets

I'm often amused when perusing the covers of photography magazines and I spot the title of an article that reads something along the lines of, "Secrets of the Pros Revealed." Likewise, when I see advertisements for schools and workshops and seminars claiming the same.

There are no secrets! There certainly are lesser-known techniques and tricks but these are no secrets.

Photography is both an art and a science; it ain't alchemy. I've said this before, maybe in different words, but I'll say it again: There is no secret and mystical photographer's cult where a few, fortunate, members receive the well-guarded and "secret" formulas to outstanding imagery.

The art and science of photography overlaps, that is, these two elements do not work independent of each other but, instead, they (need to) compliment each other. Photography is a good example of Yin and Yang at work, where seemingly opposing or unrelated forces--art and science--come together, in harmony, to produce (hopefully) successful results.

I was reading a forum thread the other day where my name was brought up as an example of something or other. The thread's original poster had some nice things to say about my work. Later in the thread, someone noted that, while they enjoy looking at my images, I'm not doing anything new, lighting-wise, and that my lighting techniques are pretty standard in terms of glamour photography. I jumped into the thread, not to defend myself in any way, but to agree with this person's observation. I wrote that, while my approaches to my work offer nothing new from a lighting perspective, neither does anyone else's. And that, in my opinion, goes for everyone regardless of the photographic genre they specialize in.

There are no secrets. There is nothing new. Everything has been done. The thing that separates some photographers apart from others is how well they (newly) accomplish what's already been done.

In glamour photography, there are many factors that set images apart. Certainly, the beauty, sensuality, and photographic-charisma of individual models are a big part of it... maybe the biggest part of it. MUAs and other, behind-the-camera, artists, also contribute immensely. And, of course, there are the photographers themselves.

What is amazing about photography and, in my opinion, what makes it a life-long, never-ending, learning process, is that there are so many ways to approach capturing an image--artistically, technically, and in almost infinite combinations of the two--that it would seem there are secrets that some shooters know about and the rest do not. In reality, the various and numerous techniques and styles and tricks (that could fill many, many volumes) that might be introduced or utilized in the capture of an image makes it seem to others that some shooters are calling on secrets to achieve the kinds of results they accomplish.

There are no secrets. It's all out there for anyone to learn. When all is said and done, there is only knowledge and creativity. Each shooter's level of knowledge, coupled with their individual creativity, is what will set them apart... or not.

(Note: I know I've written about this subject before and I hate being repetitive but the preponderance of articles--both in hard copy and on the web--and photo forum mentions and even emails I've received have led me to write about it again. There are no secrets. There are only those who don't take advantage of all the easily-accessible info that's out there and/or those who don't practice what they've learned.)

The beautiful and sensuous model accompanying this post is Cytherea. Each pic was captured during different shoots over the past year or so. I'm in a black-and-white mood today so that's why you got what you got... Better than yesterday's post, I guess, where all I gave you to look at was some old Japanese advertisement for a camera.