A Heart-Felt Testimonial Makes It All Worth While!

At every Photography As Art  seminar I present, I’m consistently reinvigorated in my approach by the heart-felt words I receive from participants. The exchanges before, during, and after my presentation illustrate why I take this message of changing the way you see as a photographer and artist on the road.

I received a testimonial from Jack, an attendee of the Portland event this past Sunday, who’s kind words and the time he took to send them are a true pay-off for the energy I’ve put into creating and continually refining the message of Photography As Art.

I was so appreciative of this gesture that I asked Jack for his permission to share his words. He has summarized so well the perspective I hope everyone is able to take away from these seminars. Enjoy!

I attended the “Photography as Art” seminar in Portland this past Sunday.  I continue to mine the experience and discover more and more gold.

 

It was amazing how different it was to be at the seminar versus watching Art on Creative Live.  One could not help but feel a connection to Art, the person.  He is one of the most open, vulnerable, accepting and receptive people I have been around.  It is easy to see how he makes such a strong connection to people all over the planet.  Who he is as a person is integral to his art and his photography.  What I came away with is much deeper and broader than the content of what Art taught (valuable as that was).

 

Art is a work in progress.  He is constantly changing and evolving.  Rather than whining about the radical changes in photography over the past decade, he uses those changes as an opportunity to grow and move in new and different directions.  This is a life lesson.  I am 81 years old, but I find this lesson as valuable today as when I was 20 (maybe even more so with the dramatic demands of aging).  I started my photographic journey in 1950 with a Brownie Hawkeye and an el cheapo darkroom in my tiny closet.  What I know is that I am the best photographer and artist that I have ever been right now.

 

What Art made crystal clear was that being an artist and a fine photographer is no sense dependent upon traveling the globe the way that he has.  Rather it is all about training the eye.  His presentations demonstrated that he sees things that few of the rest of us see.  But what he helped us to understand is that what is crucial is that “seeing” is a learnable skill.  If we are intentional and focused and willing to work at it, all of us can develop our eyes and see things that we have not seen before.  If we were bed-ridden, we could still continue to grow as artists and photographers; we would still have the potential to create some of our best work.

 

I think that most of us came away with a deeper hope for our creative journeys.  Seeing how truly “alive” Art is made each of us aware of our potential to be more truly alive.  And for my money that is much more important than art or photography per se.

 

-Jack
Portland, Oregon