This past year has been a revelation for me. Conducting workshops often means I have to explain my motivations.

And often, trying to explain why some images work more than others brings me up to talking about those images of mine that are simple.

It’s been interesting hearing members of this blog explain that they find simple images the hardest images to make. I’m certainly aware of this as I’ve seen participants on my Harris workshop struggle when presented with a beach full of …. space.

I feel this is because when we start in photography, we always think of capturing objects. Items that have a specific meaning – a loved one, your new car, your favourite pet, but as we progress, we should learn to understand that photographs work because of form mostly. It’s irrelevant if the subject is something abstract or recognisable to us, for it to work well as a photographic subject, it has to be elegant.

Most beginners struggle with this. Give them a beach full of space and they become undone. I’ve heard participants say “but there’s nothing here, I don’t get it!”. They can’t see a specific focal point to the photograph, when in fact they should be thinking about how the light is interacting with the beach, how the tones are subtle, different through the sky.

Beaches I feel are a great study in simplifying composition, tone and colour. Being aware of the elements, how they interplay with each other, how a wave crashes on a beach and how the texture of the sand is altered, are all great studies to be involved with. Using a beach like this I feel, can only help you with your photography technique and the art of ’seeing’.

I was perhaps playing devils advocate a few days ago when I listed all the negative aspects of perfectionism (there are plenty). But life is never black and white with clear boundaries, and certainly that can be more true in artistic endeavours.

So in this post, I want to talk about the positive aspects of perfectionism.

I would like to start by saying that if you are passionate about what you do, this means that you care deeply about the final result.

I would also add that you only release what you feel is your best work and strive towards making sure everything you do is done to your best ability.

Perfectionism if often about then end result. Making sure that what we output is good enough is really important to an artist who cares about his work.

Perfectionism is also responsible for setting a standard, making sure that we strive for the best we can do. In my own photography, I know that I am a perfectionist. I don’t want to release anything I can’t personally live with.

For instance, I had a very big calendar company approach me this week about putting a calendar together about Patagonia. They told me they loved what I do (I have to please myself first and foremost, so this is neither here nor there – this is perhaps another topic – listening to yourself and not caring what others think, positive or negative), but they said they wanted more images of Patagonia than were available on my site. Considering that I have more than 12 images of Patagonia on my site, which I felt gave plenty of scope for several calendars, I interpreted their request as ‘we would like to also see your sub standard images of Patagonia too’. Like I said, I only publish what I would be able to live with (we have to have our own standards), but it was clear that they didn’t care about my opinion about what was good or bad, which in some ways is ok because they may see something in an image that I do not, but overall, I felt that if I gave them the additional sub-standard images, I would be selling myself short. In other words, i would be selling out.

So I told them that the pics that they see on my site are the only ones I have for sale.

Perfectionism enables quality control. Without good quality control, we project a mixed signal to others about our own standards. I personally feel it is better to release a lower volume of good images than a lot of mediocre ones. Quality over quantity.

And that can only happen if we are perfectionists about what we do. Because if we are perfectionists, it means we care, and if we care, we are more than likely passionate.

The past year or so, I’ve found myself in the midst of running a photo workshop business and as part of that, I’ve been aware that I have set the bar very high in terms of what I’m trying to offer.

I’ve had a few discussions with others about this and I know, from my musical past, that setting the bar too high, can cause a lot of issues. So I want to talk about perfectionism.

I think some of us have built in perfectionism. It’s just part of our personality-makeup. I know that I suffer from this. I use the word ’suffer’ because perfectionism is not something that goes along well with being creative. It can be a stifling force, that stops you before you’ve even begun, stops you mid way when things are in that ‘not come together phase’ of creativity, and it can stop you from accepting that what you did today is still good, even if it’s not the best thing you’ve done.

Paddy Mcaloon said ‘You’re only as good as, the last great thing you did’ in one of his songs. It’s a lyric that stays with me, because although I think there’s some truth in it, it can be a frightening feeling to think that you may not do anything good again, or at worst, as good as what you’ve done in the past, let alone anything greater.

Yes, perfectionism is a killer.

One of the things we have to get used to, if we are to create art, photographs, music, books, is that we have to work with something and keep it loose. Until it is finished, it may not be anything good at all, but we have to give ourselves a lot of slack, let our greativity go where it needs to and not be too analytical about it. This I feel is where perfectionism comes in. Perfectionism is writers block. It is a lack of inspiration and a sinking feeling that we’re going nowhere, that we can’t create anything good.

I’ve learned to live with the fact that some days are better than others. I know some images are perhaps not as good as others, but that’s fine. I just never know what’s going to happen. But I’m reminded of a quote by Winston Churchill which goes: “If you’re going through Hell, keep going”.

Improving our art, our photography isn’t easy. I’ve had my fare share of downs as well as up moments. But I’ve never given up.

So I’d like to ask you, do you feel your photography is going somewhere, and do you feel that perfectionism is part of your personal make up? Do you find sometimes, you’ve set yourself such a high bar to achieve, that you feel you give up before you’ve even started? I’d love to hear about this from you.

I just installed CS5 Design Suite on my Mac Pro a week ago, and tonight, I’ve just de-installed it.

I’m now back running CS4, because with CS4, I get performance. I fail to understand why we ‘upgrade’. I think the term ‘upgrade’ is used rather loosely by the software industry. CS5 is like CS2…. Slooooowwwwww!

I was talking to Dave, one of the participants of my April workshop about ‘nothingness’. Dave agreed with me that it’s very easy for most photographers to point their camera at a well known land mark to make an image, when really, it’s not the object that is the main point of interest, but the interplay of light, shape and tone that is what makes a photograph work. Dave finished off his email by saying a lot of photographers don’t have the ‘confidence to shoot nothingness’.

I’ve certainly seen that on some of my trips. I give someone a beautiful beach like Scarista on Harris to photograph and they struggle with it. I’ve had comments like ‘there’s nothing here’ and also one participant who told me they did not want to go back to the location because they’d seen the beach and there was nothing there.

My feelings are that if there’s nothing there, then it’s really a reflection on how open we are to what we’re being presented with. I often feel we just need to work at it or look at the location in a different way, or walk a few more yards and then we will find something that will work for us.

I love space, texture, light. In the image above of Scarista, the main point of focus for me was the moving clouds and so for me, using a beach with less demanding shapes and textures was ideal because it would not distract.

I feel my images have become more simplistic over time. Simple is good, simple is effective and it’s a great lesson in being able to break a scene down into its main components. I feel I understand a landscape and also the image process better when I work with simple locations.

But I’m sure that for some people, they feel intimidated by the space. It is also not for the person who feels that there should be something of note. Some people simply feel that a photograph should be about a land mark, like Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Mount Everest, when really, it can simply work because we’re playing with texture, shade and tone.

I wonder if you find minimalist landscapes something you wouldn’t consider shooting and if so, why you wouldn’t shoot them?

I’m heading off to Mallaig today. I’ve got a private client for a week on Eigg.

I thought I’d post a little contact sheet (click for enlarged version) of the images I worked on this week.

I find the ‘process’ really interesting as I knew that some of the images that are present on this contact sheet were made in haste (during a workshop) or were made at times when I was feeling very tired and exhausted.

I remember, for instance, not feeling up to making many images whilst I was on North Uist and Barra, yet the results are very positive considering. I love to consider all the aspects of ‘creativity’. How our moods can affect what we choose to shoot (or not to shoot) and how we interpret what is around us.

I don’t think these are my best images by a long shot (just my own standards talking here), but I do find a lot of them very satisfying. I think as creatives, we need to be kind to our creativity. Setting the benchmark too high and we grind to a halt, unable to produce anything. Set the benchmark too low and we create mediocrity. There were a lot of failed images from the sheets of film, and perhaps that is where my tiredness came into the equation. Perhaps the successes are those moments when I felt really inspired or got caught in the moment. I don’t know for sure, but I do like to wonder about the creative process and how we can create something from nothing.

After all, at the beginning of the week, these images didn’t exist as far as I was concerned.

Last one for a while. I think I’ve gone through all my films now. This is a shot of one of the amazing geological features on Laig Bay on Eigg.

It was a quick shot before the end of the trip. I’d really like to try and shoot this at high tide at some point, but I’ll just have to wait and see. I think Paul Wakefield has one of the most stunning images of this spot.

Well, that’s me for a while. I’m away next week with a private client for a week, so until I get back, hope you’re out shooting !

In 2 months from now, I’ll be back on one of my most favourite beaches in Scotland. There’s just so much to photograph here and I’ve not had much time myself to fully explore all the features and geology here.

But I did manage to make this shot in April, after discussing the composition with one of the participants on my workshop. Similar to the geology found on the east coast of Arran, we have what seem to be scars running across the stone landscape.

But I also liked the diagonal fin in the foreground of this shot taken on the more sandy part of the bay.

Just dipped into my images over the past few days – my scanner requires a good cup of tea each time it is loaded, oh, and so do I. I’m such a tea jenny.

Anyway, I thought I’d show you a contact sheet of the images worked on so far. I feel like I’ve been let loose in a sweetie (candy) shop. So much material over the past six months – Eigg, Harris, North Uist, Barra, Torridon, Glencoe. It’s a bit of a whistle-stop contact sheet for me. Keen to see what’s left on the remaining rolls of film :-)

Just busy working through some images from this year. I love this one in particular of the isle of Rum from Laig bay.

We had some very mixed weather over the entire week and there were times when I felt that we weren’t getting the light I’d hoped for, but I think that’s one trait of most photographers : we’re never entirely happy unless everything is ‘just right’. As it turns out, I remember there being some exceptional mornings with beautiful hues.

Colours courtesy of Velvia 50 RVP.