developmental theory;
as a child, we are encouraged to find things we like, or have an interest in, and develop the basic fundamental skills so as we may understand them early on. then, when we get older, we may take the knowledge that we already have, and use without even thinking about it, and push them to yet another level. by combining this perfected skill with the other developed skills we have gathered from all the other different life experiences, we can push the skills to another level that in turn leaves a truly unique mark. each individual develops and refines each skill completely separately and specifically different from each other, because every single person will show interest in, and developed different levels of skill in, each specific area. everyone, in their own way, raises or lowers the bar each and every time they produce all and any single thing. this is how society grows, changes, and rises to a higher level of taste and knowledge.
personal developments;
i have developed many skills, most of which i find, in this society, are pretty useless. i can dress someone to a T, make sure their clothes fit to within an inch of their lives, push visual stimulation by mixing and matching different colors, stripes, plaids, layer tweak and pin up everything so that when a camera or spotlight is ready to hit it, it appears to be hand tailored to whoever i've dressed. i also learned that i have an untaught skill for taking photographs, creating situations that tell stories so that each photo makes the viewer have to think about the photo for more than a few seconds, and the other skill i developed without knowing when where how or why i developed it, is light and how it effects and changes, enhances and makes magnificent, everything it touches. these skills are all things i learned completely without trying. they are not things i sought out, nor are they things that i went to school for. they are just things that somehow, somewhere, i picked up, and then, proceeded to enhance due to hours spent playing with and making mistakes in, doing. every time i do something that i find interesting that i like a lot and really concentrate on, i notice that when it's seen by other people's eyes, they are in awe of just how i did it. the angles remain the same, usually, but the subjects change, situations around them change, and then, somehow, it all comes together in an unusual way that i have put a signature mark on, somehow.
it's not that i do things flippantly, on the contrary, i always know what i want to see in the final product, but then, as i sit and play with it, get input from the people i am working with, make changes and refine the light or lack of, around it, enhance and define, mask or unveil different things that each subject holds and reveals when they are in front of my camera. every single person is different from the next, because, they all have different views, fears, ideas, experiences in, and personal flaws that they want to show off or accentuate. and these change in time, as every time a person is experienced in doing something they maybe have never done before, they start to gain trust, knowledge, and experiences that can make them better, or worse, and also make it easier, or more difficult for me, or whoever is there working with them.
example,
shooting Channing Tatum at 19 is, i am sure, a very different thing than shooting him today. he has a more in depth knowledge (although he innately always did) of his good and bad angles, what kinds of light he looks best in, how he must prepare for each and every time he appears in front of a camera, his diet the day, even week before, as to make his skin, body, muscles and energy, be at peak performance, wardrobe he looks best in, and, well, i think you get it...
develop your skills in something random.
try to really concentrate and work on something you once showed an interest in, that you never really gave a chance. realize that today, with all of the other random things you have learned in your life, all the experiences you have had in varied things even every interaction you have ever had with any and everyone, somehow, changes, enhances, and develops every single thing you will try, do, say, or think, for the rest of your life.
"whiskey sour" photographed one late night after his/her performance at my friends Fran and Jay's home upstate NY
