About Exhibitions, Black and White Photography, and Professional Photographers

This brief article deals with some of the concerns raised by members of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Photography Club, St. Augustine Campus.

The UWI Photography Club Exhibition 2006 (St. Augustine) photographs can be found here.

We are pleased to announce the receipt of our first batch of hate-mail concerning the comments we made regarding some of the black and white photography produced for the UWI exhibition. The writers were irate over our "lack of constructive criticism", which was compounded by our "lack of awareness" of the fact that the University does not offer a course in photography, thereby leaving the Club members to make do on their own. Our comments were also construed as advocating that good black and white can only be achieved using conventional darkroom techniques, and not with digital cameras. It was also suggested that "real" photographers are not willing to share their knowledge with "amateur" photographers. We presume that the term "real" in this context refers to professional photographers.

About professional photographers

Starting with the last concern first, we sadly agree that, in Trinidad at least, some professional photographers are not very conversant on the technical aspects of their photography. They are even more reticent on matters concerning marketing, and how they go about earning from their craft. As noted in our "About Us" page, our photographer is NOT a professional, and he has asked some of the same questions of our local professional photographers that all amateurs do at some point. Their responses have never been very helpful. In all fairness to our local professionals, we have had dealings with some of their potential clients, and it's a wonder that photographers make any money at all. Certainly, their "professional" status was a hard-fought victory against entities who would be more than happy to take their pictures and copyright for free. We therefore do not begrudge our professional colleagues for not revealing all their trade secrets.

Amateurs and professionals have different goals. Professionals do not really obsess about equipment, and very rarely are they apt to experiment with new techniques and materials. Photography is not a hobby to them: it's a job. They know a certain formula, and they stick to it. They are not really concerned about artistic endeavours either; the overriding priority being able to produce the shots that their clients want. Thus, professionals are usually restricted photographically by the needs of their clientele. There are exceptions abroad where photographers can work on projects (like the destruction wrought by hurricane Katrina, for example) as amateurs, win critical acclaim, and sell their work on their own terms. Things are different in Trinidad. We are certain that our long-term disappearing canefields project will end up in the dustbin of history, and as faded slides in our cupboard: people have other concerns here at home. Getting back to the point, we believe that asking professionals about the technical aspects of photography is quite futile. The great majority have very fixed views on a limited number of topics. In other words, they don't know all that much. They really don't have the time to dig up all there is to know. They depend on a formulaic approach to photography that makes them competitive in the market, but that has no broad applicablilty to amateurs. The best advice comes from advanced amateurs and hobbyists found readily on the internet. The internet provides an immense repository of good information regarding all aspects of photography written by passionate individuals who are experts in their respective areas. Answers to your questions can all be found online.

About Exhibitions

Beginning photographers have an egocentric attachment to their photographs. It's a marvellous thing to be able to take a half-way decent picture. Recently, as we looked over many of our first slides from those first few years, we came to a depressing realisation: they all looked mediocre to bad. Don't even THINK about having an exhibition of your work until you can edit your work like a cyborg. At an exhibition, viewers don't care about the "behind-the-scenes" trials and tribulations and lack of photography courses and you've got a cheap camera excuses. Moreso, at an exhibition run under the name of The University (in this case) viewers will certainly judge photographs according to an international standard. If you are prepared to exhibit you must be prepared for the sometimes scathing criticism that will be sure to follow. The best photographers have their detractors who detest their work, often with valid reasons. The law of averages applies: once your critics don't outnumber your admirers, you should be okay. Although constructive criticism is nice, many viewers cannot articulate exactly why they dislike a particular photograph. It is the photographer's job to sit up and re-evaluate the photograph to determine what the problem may be. It is always best to evaluate the photograph for technical flaws first (is it properly exposed? Is it sharp? Are the colours accurate? Are there blemishes in the print or frame? etc.) and then move on to aesthetic considerations.

Our photographer was a past member of the UWI Photography Club, so the argument that we are unaware of the unfortunate circumstances the Club finds itself in is not valid. We are actually quite overjoyed that the Club is producing some excellent pictures for a change. We hope the trend continues.

About Black and White Photography

The best advice we ever received regarding black and white photography came from Clyde Butcher, who has devoted his life to photographing the Florida Everglades in a heroic, and widely recognised, conservation effort. He said, and we paraphrase, that it is impossible to make a good black and white print if you don't know what a good black and white print looks like to begin with. Only by looking at the prints produced by masters of photography can one get a sense of what all the fuss is about. With good technique, a digital black and white photograph can be indistinguishable from a conventional analogue print, up to a certain size. Clicking on the "convert to greyscale" command in Photoshop is not the way to digital black and white nirvana: use the "channel mixer" instead. Additionally, the dead give-away that a black and white print was taken with a digital camera is poor exposure technique. Digital cameras have a tendency to clip highlight detail, which is then rendered as an area of ugly, featureless white in the print. Good black and white prints hold tonal detail from the brightest areas all the way to the darkest shadows. Use digital cameras with a "histogram" feature which will indicate whether the highlights have been burned out. If they are, retake the picture while underexposing slightly to record highlight detail. The shadows are less important as digital cameras do a good job of recording shadow detail that can be lightened up (dodged) in Photoshop later, if necessary. Finally, don't go overboard in toning a print unless a Bromoil effect is desired.

Anyway, thank you for your emails. We hope our comments were helpful.

- October 2006