Looking Back at my 2012 Goals
This year has been a year of incredible growth for High Impact Creations LLC. I hate to be repetitive but I know that there are so many people that are learning about High Impact Creations LLC every day so here is a quick summary: High Impact Creations LLC is the creative outlet of Janesville photographer Jason Mielke (that’s me). I began photography way back in high school as the yearbook photography editor but I put the camera down for quite a few years to pursue a career in technology. Eventually I returned to photography but I returned with a technical mindset and close to twenty years of working in a promotional industry. To what end? I’ve developed an eye towards promotion and the technical know-how to make mental vision a reality.
My goal in 2012 was to distinguish my photographs from those of other photographers by creating separation in three areas: photograph creativity, technical proficiency, and post processing. All three of these elements must come together harmoniously for a photograph to become a work of art rather than a mere snapshot. Of course, designating a photograph as “artwork” is the subjective duty of the viewer and, as in music, everyone seems to have a preference for different styles. I tend to work between a few different styles, depending on what the subject is and the final use of the photograph. I suppose if I was photographing newborns I would work in a lighter, airy style. But newborns are not my primary audience—there are plenty of very good newborn photographers in the area that do great work.
I digress (that’s digress #1 for anybody keeping count). Back to the photographic creativity I mentioned earlier. The creative process is both fun and a ton of work all at once. Coming up with different themes, locations, and unique ways to shoot that combination requires plenty of planning beforehand. I am often times fortunate to work with people on the other side of the camera that also contributes to that creativity. The model in the photo here, Alicia, is actually throwing flour up in the air and she was the one to dream up the idea. The belly dancing outfit was on-hand in the wardrobe area and I thought it might be a good compliment to this bizarre idea. I was stunned to see the images begin to appear on the back of the camera.
The lighting for that shoot was adapted from another concept that I tamed earlier in the summer: that of capturing rain drops. Of course, I didn’t bring anything new to shooting with water but most demonstrations of catching water drops relied on garden hoses shooting water behind the subject and letting the wasted water run down the drain. My adaptation of this technique is a little invention I call, “the rain machine.” The rain machine is simply a pump recirculating water from a reservoir up through hoses to PVC pipe drilled strategically with holes. The water then drops down behind or over the model to create the rain effect. Below is a quick phone video I took before one shoot in the rain machine. The photo below that is from the first shoot I did with the rain machine. The model, Melissa, is a frequent model in my work and is often my “go-to” model when I want to try bizarre concepts such as this.
Beyond the creativity, great photographs require technical proficiency. Improving my technical proficiency has been a huge goal in 2012 and it extends beyond simple camera settings to include lighting and posing as well. I will push the limits of lighting in EVERY shoot. Often, I’ll move through a few different lighting setups to find the setup that produces the most interesting outcome. Here is where that discussion of style flares up again: the manipulation of lighting by the photographer often leads to a signature “look.” My signature look relies on shadow as much as light to reveal the features on my subject. The number one thing that a photographer must do, in order to create an image, is to paint a CMOS sensor with light. It is, therefore, one of the top priorities of any photographer to make sure there is enough “paint” for the sensor and the paint is distributed across that sensor properly. I suppose a less boring way to say that is, “the photographer needs to get the lighting right!”
My third goal in 2012 was to continue to look for creative ways to post-process images. Post-processing is often a topic of heated debate amongst photographers. There is a whole cult that believes in “getting it right straight out of the camera.” That is, little to no post processing. Then there are those that believe a photograph is merely a starting point—that much of the artwork is added in the photo-editing software. I believe both points of view have merit and I use both of them. Wedding photographs, for example, should be able to stand on their own without any real changes afterwards. Then again, if that image can be converted from a mere image to a fine art piece suitable for display in the living room, well I’m all for creating that artwork. The real trick is finding a balance between how much time should be dedicated to processing, how many images should be processed, and timely delivery of the product.
Model portfolio images, on the other hand, always receive a good amount of post processing. I use several different techniques for beauty retouching and I continue to seek out new and more efficient methods to do the same. I’ve begun to work some more significant edits in when appropriate. I call these edits my “signature” edits. Below are two of my signature edits.
As I look back on my 2012 goals, I am rather happy with the outcome. I will continue to pursue these goals into the New Year a well. But I have some new goals for 2013 to add to them and I’ll going over my New Year Resolutions in the next post.
--jay
