I have increasingly becoming less interested in photographing a literal moment in time — a portrait, a moment when someone is working, an expression, a stunning landscape, and such. Oh yes, I still photograph these, but, while editing they do not interest me as much as before. I am more intrigued with the moments that a casual glance cannot see. Only a virtuoso of seeing can notice them, and only a master of a camera can express them. These images exist in shadows, fleeting expressions, and wiry juxtapositions.
I think travel (or should I say “destination”) photographers go through certain phases; I know I did:
First: Figuring out how to use a camera and just pointing the lens wherever.
Second: Clicking when you see a moment you like.
Third: Deciphering more of the camera and then clicking more deliberately.
Fourth: Feeling confident about your photographic skill and so photographing with enthusiasm but not intent.
Fifth: Starting to understand that the combination of a camera, lens, and sensor (or film) has a creative potential of its own.
Sixth: Traveling further afield with a camera, feeling confident, and then the emotion of the travel smothers creative photographic expression. (An amazing travel experience doesn’t necessarily translate to amazing images.)
Seventh: The technical level excellerates and expectations rise, images become technically lovely (perhaps like a photographer you admire) yet they are soulless.
Eighth: The photographic journey eventually begins… and expressive levels become very personal.
Ninth: You hate everything you have ever done and see all the imperfections.
Ten: Photography becomes more than a record or documentation of a journey; it becomes an expression of self, place, and beyond. And it is more challenging than ever before.
© nevada wier 2009 Assam, Manjuli Island. Rass Dance.
Nevada Wier Photography 
16 comments
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September 11, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Dennis Lenehan
You are so so right.
So far to go.
But the trip is fun.
Dennis
September 14, 2009 at 1:37 pm
nevada wier
It is indeed a variable and exciting journey! nv
September 6, 2009 at 7:22 am
peripheral vision blog » Blog Archive » Sunday grouch
[…] found a ray of hope on Nevada Weir’s blog when she outlined the ten stages of a travel photographer’s development. I suspect it can be reasonably generalized to any photographer? Anyways, the ninth stage is when […]
September 1, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Nikographer [Jon]
I enjoyed this post a lot. It became part of a post I did myself.
I wasn’t familiar with your work I don’t think until I listened to the candid frame interview…
And I know I have a lot to learn. I’ve gotten lucky before on more than one dimension, but I want to increase those odds. As a nature/wildlife photographer it might be like travel/destination photography in that you learn a land but respond to the new… and when you respect a subject you can ‘get closer’ than trying to just rush in and grab shots, etc. I try to balance ‘get as close as possible’ as a goal to ‘show the environment/habitat’ – for me they are both top things to shoot for…. but it’s easy to take shots of something from far away.
-J
September 1, 2009 at 11:03 pm
nevada wier
Thanks J. Actually I don’t really believe in luck. I think luck is there all the time … we don’t always take advantage of it. nv
August 23, 2009 at 10:02 am
Gladys Deniz
I have wanted to comment on this post for several weeks, but feel my words are so inadequate:
Thank you Nevada for bearing your soul, and lifting all our spirits!
August 10, 2009 at 7:35 pm
cathy scholl
This is exactly what I voted for you to write about in your poll. Thanks!
I have been a member of David Alan Harvey’s blog community for the past couple of years. The mantras over there are “authorship” and “be a window as well as a mirror.” Easier said than done but I’m headed in that direction, no looking back.
Unfortunately it seems in a lot of the “contemporary” work I see (I’m not talking about you here!) photographers convince themselves they are moving beyond the literal by blurring an image or substituting one technique for another and calling it “self expression.” I guess what I’m trying to say is that IMHO there is a lot of non-literal crap out there! :))
I’ve been telling David for a long time now that he should write a book about all of this. Not a “how to” but essays about photography. Perhaps you will write this book? I think there is a huge interest in topics such as you’ve written about here.
I find myself in several of the phases at once :))
August 10, 2009 at 7:52 pm
nevada wier
Hola Cathy
well.. that is why it is Phase Ten and not earlier. However… literal or non literal when you are beginning (or even in the middle) of learning how to photograph you are floundering. That is normal. And, there is no other way to circumvent the process. Photography is HARD. nv
August 10, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Paul Grecian
Wonderful image and good read. I consider myself at level 10, but I potentially experience level 6 whenever I go someplace new. How do you avoid it?
August 10, 2009 at 6:26 pm
nevada wier
I don’t always avoid it. I allow myself to take the “insurance” shots; it is inevitable, like photographing a pretty sunset. But after a few frames I have a mantra “See Differently, See Intensely, See Profoundly”. Sometimes it works. I just know that usually my first inclination can be quite boring. Also, I like it when there are problems–then I HAVE to be creative. Hmmm I should write about that sometime. Cheers! nevada
August 10, 2009 at 9:37 pm
nevada wier
Actually “phase six” is where most travel photographers get stuck. very stuck…in gooey quicksand. It is so easy to let our emotional responses to travel override our visual aesthetics. I have seen countless animated travel presentations with utterly mundane images from photographers who are brilliant in other fields. They just got carried away with their own experience and projected that excellence (falsely) onto their photography. nv
August 10, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Larry Larsen
Nevada, I took your workshop in Seattle 2008. It was great fun and I am still trying to integrate the lessons into my work. I really like your “literal/ephemeral” piece. I guess being stuck at #9 isn’t all bad, “I want to express myself better”. Its people like you and David duChemin that help my outlook and improve my work. Thanks.
Please have a look at my web site.
August 10, 2009 at 1:02 pm
nevada wier
I just got an email from Deigh Bates (I “mentored” him via the Santa Fe Workshops Mentoring Program and am in awe of him because he photographs almost everyday in his immediate environs. Try it… it is hard!)
“Wow – thanks so much for the current blog posting. I was just thinking about it as I was mowing the lawn and it occurred to me that the steps are not a one time deal, IMHO, and that we may go through at least portions of them time and again as our understanding and view of the world changes. I have been reading “Take Your Photography to the Next Level” by Barr and what you did in a wonderfully concise manner is to some extent what the book is about. All of this is what I have yearned for. Thanks so much. Deigh”
He is right. I think I recycle through Phase 7 – 9 quite often.
nv
August 10, 2009 at 9:38 am
Jeffrey Chapman
I think maybe phase nine is really a series of phase .5s. At least for me, it’s an intermediary phase between all those others. It’s 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, etc.
When I see a scene that captures my attention, I really try to break away from the shiny-object mentality of being fixated on the attraction and ask myself why I’m drawn to it. The answer to that (when I can answer!) tells me what I need to photograph to capture that essence. It might not be the object; it might be the shine.
How’s the book coming? I don’t even know what it’s about, yet I’m looking forward to its release.
August 10, 2009 at 11:35 am
nevada wier
Ha! That is very funny Jeffrey. Yes, I there have been many times along the photo journey where I have hated my photos but I REALLY hated them once I started to understand more of what I was missing in my images. I have almost given up photography numerous times (although that has as much to do with the business than actually photographing) but then … the beckoning tendril of expression pulled me back (oh if only I could paint!).
ah, the book. it is limping along… involves writing … coherently, not just musings.
nv
August 9, 2009 at 10:31 pm
barcelonareporter
amazing photo. keep it up .