Walking the Plank: Mythology Today My experiments with “the Beast” (my Nikon D3X) and going to digital capture are ongoing—but I want to switch subjects for this column. The interim time will give me a moment to catch up with my new photography experiments. Suffice it to say at this point that my path forward with digital capture is not all rosy, and it remains an open question of what will happen next—so stay tuned. Consequently, this column deals with a different subject: avoiding the pitfalls of our cultural mythology on your work as photographer. Joseph Campbell, a 20th-century American writer, was a mythologist who studied the impact of myth and culture on humankind and modern social development. He was married to a highly accomplished dancer and choreographer, so art “lived” in their home, and was a constant subject of his work. Throughout his career, Campbell described the premise that every society operates around a mythology. That is to say, a society conducts itself around a common belief system by its members that helps them stay interested in functioning together as “one” in their day-to-day tasks—a “social fabric” that meshes their work together by common belief. Mythology stems from the stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that often uses supernatural or religious beliefs to interpret common events—trying to fit together the nature of the universe, humanity, and its own society. As we can see, the mythology of some societies can make for some rather bizarre practices. For example, in one ancient South American society,select children were specifically raised to be sacrificed high upon the local volcanic mountaintop as a gift to the gods (it was supposedly a high honor). In our times, that ancient culture’s mythology does not fit our current societal beliefs, so ritualistic sacrifice of some of our children is not a part of our cultural practice—or is it? Ancient Greek society had a complex system of beliefs in which their many deities created the power and order in the universe. A lot of good things came out of ancient Greek culture and its beliefs, but we find this mythology as dated today as the Greeks would have thought of a society in need of sacrificing children as a gift to the gods. Our own society has a mythology, though we rarely view it as such. In our society, our belief system is based upon the notion of “wealth, money, and reward.” Most of us are taught from a very young age that our goal should be to gain wealth through our career choices. If we do well in our career, we will be handsomely rewarded—and all will be good with our lives if we have enough money to make it so. As a result, it might be said that there are parents in our own culture who “sacrifice” their children as a result of this modern mythology. Some parents now worry so much about their children’s "career path” that they are already obsessed as to which kindergarten class their children will attend. The belief of parents in our mythology is so strong that they are convinced that without the proper start of their children beginning in a good kindergarten, their children will not get launched into the proper elite social structure, with the consequence being that they will never rise to their full potential in adulthood. Though it is nonsense, some in our society have gone to this level of extreme behavior in supporting our own cultural mythology. The “sacrifice” of our children may now be in their enjoyment of childhood for the sake of a career path feeding our own mythology. I recently heard a radio program that cited a study based on the “happiness factor” of people. It turns out that for most people there is a happiness “norm” in their lives. If they win the lottery and suddenly become rich, their happiness norm bubbles up to a “high” for a few years—but strangely, it returns to their personal norm thereafter. While their life has changed substantially on a financial basis, for most people, money alone will not make them happy or even “happier” in the long term. I think that art is one of the few endeavors that actually fills us up, makes us better people, and generates our happiness in the long term. Why? Because the world of art can step far outside of our own cultural mythology of wealth, money, and reward, and equate our lives around a different principle: that beauty can lead to our happiness. What I see in my work is that there is a certain truth that can be found in the beauty all around us. Indeed, I wrote a manuscript for a book called, “Finding Truth in Beauty: My Life as an Artist,” which barely escaped publication by a major publisher. I have met many photographers from all walks of life—some are rich, some are poor, some are old; others are just starting down their path in life. What is fun for me is to see that they all have come to photography to add something to their lives. Sadly, a lot of people come to photography at a critical juncture of their life, when they are searching for something of substance outside our cultural mythology—but then their work in photography “fails” them, and frustrated, they give up. I don’t want this to happen to you, so I hope I can break up a bit of photography mythology before its “voodoo” affects the reality of your own work. I feel there is an important reason to photograph and do the work. What photographers bring to the rest of the world are images that evoke in us a way to look at the beauty of our world and appreciate it once again. Transcending culture, mythology, religion, and location, photos brings us to an appreciation that our planet is simply stunning, and it is a great honor to be alive and part of it with everyone else. Back in the mythology of money, the advertising industry has learned how to constantly bombard all of us in a blizzard of advertisements. As you read this, look up and around your computer, and I bet you can find twenty forms of advertisement in a single gaze—from corporate logos, to sales pitches, to “in-your-face” adverts. We live in a sea of advertisement continuously assaulting our visual senses. If we paid attention to each of these ads and actually let them into our perception, we would be overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all each and every day. So, we have developed a coping mechanism of freezing the ads from entering our brain—sensing them, but not perceiving the content. We have become “comfortably numb” in navigating through our day-to-day life, oblivious to seeing the artifacts of our culture. But in so doing, we have taught ourselves how to not see and not perceive the world around us—and this includes the beauty that is everywhere. Photography to me is about capturing beauty in front of the lens and conveying the feeling we had upon seeing it, in our final print. If one believes that there is real truth in beauty, then it makes for one of the few ways any of us have to reconnect with ourselves, and with the world—breaking through the numbness that we use to block out the daily assault of advertising. That is why I think your work as a photographer is critical. You have the power to affect the world around you through your work by bringing joy, balance, and beauty back into the lives of those whom your work touches. It does not matter what the skill level of your image-making is, so long as the feeling is genuine in your final photograph.
What derails most photographers is the need to prove their work within the mythology of our culture. Specifically, they want someone’s approval of their work (“You’re such a gifted photographer!”) or they want to have financial reward to prove the worth of their work. When those two elements do not come into play, photographers give up—or they get grumpy and start throwing “wet blankets” on every one else’s work and success. I imagine you have noticed in some of the online photo forums just how grumpy people become, and I think a lot of it is the person’s own feeling of being unfulfilled about the acceptance of his or her own work. Let me outline a few “voodoo” photographic trappings from my own experience, hoping that in so doing, you will not need to find “approval” of your worth as a photographic artist from these entities. I am not very hip about photo contests, so I would warn a fellow photographer not to expect significant results from entering one. This also applies to being juried into fine art photography shows. Do so for fun, but with no expectations. I rarely see the most brilliant work rewarded, and often see safe choices given the most awards. Ever notice how an increasing number of contests and shows charge a steep entrance fee? Where do you think the revenue goes and what is the motivation for holding the contest or show? And even if you do win, don’t expect to get your “that a boy” or “that a girl!” pat on the back. I have been on both sides of the line as a contestant and also as a judge—it is just a “crap shoot” who wins—and sometimes that phrase is literal. In this respect, the subject of fine art galleries, art shows, and museums is a sore spot with me. Galleries are not the friend of the artist, nor art. Let me repeat the news: galleries are not the friend of the artist, nor art. Do we have that down? Most gallery owners come to the field knowing little about photography or fine art, except “what they like.” It requires a lot of wealth to open a fine art gallery these days, having to locate in some of the most expensive real estate in the world to secure the proper foot traffic to the gallery. For most galleries, it quickly all becomes about profit and loss, not the art. Safe “taste” in photography is often historic, and relies on the blessed past masters’ works to sell and keep the gallery afloat. The recent Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) show in New York City was quite amusing. Reports from the show indicated that by far the majority of the works presented as significant at the show were those of past masters. It was difficult to find any works by contemporary photographers, leave alone in COLOR! Get over it. Galleries don’t want living photographers. They want safe economic bets. They sell the work of the dead, don’t understand and shun most modern photographic works and processes (to defend the “value” of past masters’ works), and in general are in it for the social experience of being a “gallery owner.” There are a few exceptions, but it is a rarity. Museums are even more out of touch with contemporary photographers, but I am out of time to go into gyrations on that subject. Quit measuring the success of your work as a photographer by the approval of others or the money it does or does not make you. If you break out of our cultural mythology and start believing in your work based on the assumption that what you feel inside as seen through your lens is of “value” in helping others, you will see hints of truth through the beauty that surrounds us each and every day. Then you are a hero to photography and the world. And while I may practice fine art photography as my profession, I can assure you that I can only be at one place at one time and see one small view of this planet’s vast beauty. It is as much a gift to me to see your work as it is for everyone else. Get over it. No one is going to give you the rewards of our culture for your photographic work. You’re not going to be told how good you are as a photographer. You’re not going to be standing in a pile of cash even if you are one of the most gifted photographers. But your work can have deep meaning to those around you, even if they cannot express it in words. Your work does matter. It matters a lot. Keep at it throughout your life, and keep sharing it with every one you know, in any way possible. Start a list. Send one (and only one) photo out via email to all of your friends each month—something special that you want them to see from your work. Write a brief note on what you see and feel in the photo yourself, and why you want to share it with them. There! You have just changed the world. My hero this month is Hawaiian photographer and artist, Clark Little. Check out his work. If it does not change how you feel about water, the ocean, and our planet, you are already dead. http://www.clarklittlephotography.com/ It takes great courage to step outside our own cultural mythology and value our work as photographers based on beauty, not money, wealth, and reward. If you can find the courage to do so for your own work, I feel that you will be much more at peace with your own accomplishments as an artist. You are a storyteller of the beauty that celebrates our planet—I can think of no nobler task to live your life by. Keep smiling, and much shooting!
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© Red Dog Journal, 2008 |