Open Forum: Multiple Hats – Singular Focus by Paul Brace

Paul Brace and I “met” last August when he clarified a comment I made about Photoshop.  His image, Jazzmatazz, was the lead in shot in a post that followed a few days later.  Since then Paul’s had some great comments on the blog and it’s time to bring him back for his own guest spot.

What I enjoy most about Paul is his constant quest for diversity coupled with that very identifiable passion for the craft.  But it all boils down to his closing comment about patience and timing.   My grandmother used to constantly say, “All good things come to those who wait.”   Put that into photographic terms and maybe the contemporary version should be “All good images come to those who take their time and know what they’re doing!”

Meet Paul Brace…

Photography and all things art wise have a single dependency that is hard to predict, the audience. You cannot look at a person who walks through the door and know what they are going to like, but you can look for clues.

As a small business owner I get to wear many different hats and with them comes the diversity of what I produce. As a graphic designer I listen to the descriptions and elicit clues as to a client’s desired end product. I may not agree with the choices, colors or design, but it is their satisfaction I am looking to fulfill. As a nature and landscape photographer I take the shots primarily that I envisage and enjoy the most, and then the ones that people will want to buy (I hope). For example I love to shoot raptors but I live in horse country; it’s easier to sell a horse photograph than a hawk.

As an artist, well, I am going to do what I enjoy and hope someone shares that same perspective. Then as a web designer I have to be concerned about marketing, functionality, type face, color, content and flow. My clients want to look good, be found and sell their services or products. This requires a blend of all the above and conforming standards and limitations.    

The point is there are clues and foundations all around us and if you think about it, what you produce will be what your audience wants. For me it is fortunate that my eclectic mix of methods and styles allow me to make a living doing what I love, creating works. It all comes with effort. Where I have strengths I try to improve, where I have weaknesses I will try even harder.

The challenge I set myself each day is to do it better both in the tools I use and in the knowledge of how they work. The next shot, artwork, or the next logo will be my best, that’s the target. For me, it is this variety and diversity of activity that keeps my days interesting, alive, and educational. I am not the best artist, photographer, web designer or graphic designer. But I want to be the best I can be, so I take advantage of every spare moment to practice, play and shoot to see what creativity is flowing that day. 

I might take a series of different shots into Photoshop and see what happens when I experiment with the tools and options.  You know the ones, they are those you’ve asked yourself about…”I wonder what I could do with that?” Have you ever cycled through the blending mode in Photoshop to see what effects it can have?  Many times I might toss away the end product, but sometimes there are “wow” moments and the work is a keeper. 

April is an example of that sort playing with Photoshop and Illustrator. She was not finished in one session and resided on my desktop as wallpaper as I pondered how I wanted to complete her. Then while going through my library for another project I saw the shot of the flower I had taken a while back and said that’s it, and with a little more work she was finished.

The Bluemont Village scene had so much character to begin with but I wanted more. I remembered some articles from an issue of Photoshop User and wanted to apply some of the techniques that would bring a different quality to the picture. I wanted to invoke longevity and a slightly unreal Brigadoon effect. A little playing and testing and the mystical side of the work appeared.

Then with my photography, patience may be the best tool in my bag.  Sometimes it’s the shot itself that makes the word keeper form on my lips. Then there is the “right-place-and-time-moment”.

The Juvenile Bald Eagle was one of those moments in time. That beautiful bird let me take quite a few shots before I disturbed it and it flew off.   Then, almost as quickly,  it turned back and presented me with the best shot of the day. The Osprey on the other hand left me sweating in the sun for quite a while before he graciously posed.  

My Horse in Autumn shot was another patience tester. I was drawn to the color of the leaves in the field and the light kept getting better but I had to wait so long for the horse to get the pose right even my wife left me behind.

The point is, if it feels like the right place,  be patient and with a click you can make time stand still. 

So what I am saying is take advantage of all the opportunities and clues. Good things come from time and effort. Getting better at what I/we do is rewarding in itself. Getting better makes a difference in everything we do.

Paul Brace