So your prints aren't very good? Learn to be a better printer. Learn to process the film correctly. Learn to expose the film right in the first place so you can get the most out of it in processing and printing. This is the easy part. For every frustrated photographer who says 'It can't be done' we have a John Sexton, David Muench, Gene Smith and a host of others who have honed their skills to the highest level... showing us it CAN be done, and done well.

Every Master of photography has a grasp of the basics and uses them constantly. New or old gear. The latest in film technology. The future of imaging in their mind... all rely on the basics. After the basics they have a willingness to work at their chosen craft and an understanding that it is the images that count, not the cameras. Many use excellent equipment and use it well, But, you don't find them changing cameras, formats & films everytime the latest article comes out.

The first 'visual dead end' is the constant 'upgrading' or changing of what you use to photograph. Can't get good results with your Nikons? Buy Canon... or Minolta...or whatever else the ads say is hot this month.You won't get good results with it either and the cycle will start over again with another brand. It is an endless cycle that leads nowhere. Depending on the Guru of the month, your use of whatever brand never improves your photography because you never really learn to use what you have. There is always something better, the ads say so.

The possibilities for mediocre photography are endless and constant changing of the gear will insure you stay at that level. I am not talking about wisely choosing new or different gear because it offers something you don't have, and actually need. I am talking about the photographers who blame their gear for rotten images yet never learn to use it well enough to climb high enough to be even 'adequate'.

Change for the sake of change, in some vain hope that 'this camera' will solve your problems is a dead end. Both Adams and Weston used gear some wouldl have thrown away, yet they produces excellent work with it. Yes, they got better lenses & cameras when they could but didn't let the camera become an excuse to keep from getting better. Moving up is different from changing what you use. Learn to use what you have & then move to what will allow you higher quality.

Few really need 9 frames per second in a motor drive. Kodak would be smart to buy Canon EOS 1v cameras and Nikon F5's and give them to photographers free of charge in exchange for the photographer using Kodak film. Lousy photography at the speed of light and a ton of film sold. Yet in the hands of one who knows how to use this speed, miracles occur. Just as they do with an old, pre-world war II 12x20 view camera in the hands of one who knows how to use it. In the hands of a fool who believes the images are important just because they are done on a big negative you have bigger mediocre photos. The idea is to use the tools to help you get better. To work up to their capability as they help you extend your own. To reach higher and get better. Not to buy another tool the will only help one waste film faster or in bigger monetary chunks.

If you have to change or upgrade, understand what you are doing. If you can't sit down and write out in clear, concise language just why you 'need' the new gear, you probably don't need it at all. And, if you are rich enough to buy anything you want in the photo universe, fine. You will be just one more rich lousy photographer. If you get a new camera, change systems or buy a new lens, know why you are doing so. And don't belive what the ads say. For every photographer who just 'has to have' an F5 to get good there is an old guy or gal with an outdated Pentax who will forevermore shoot rings around them. A photographer, not an equipment junkie.

Buy what you think you need and learn to use it well. It is as simple as that.

"One more workshop". This one is a killer. I do not discourage workshops nor do I discourage learning from those who are excellent teachers. It is a great way to hone skills and improve. I do see too many photographers who show nice images from workshops or classes... and nothing more. If you don't already have the desire & drive, a workshop won't give it to you. It can help hone the skills a bit if you will learn. But the endless cycle of workshop junkies gets tiring. "I've been to SSS, BBB, and MMM, workshops this year" is one we hear more and more. But, ask the photographer to show you some good images and they are lost. They have a few images done at a workshop or during a class and little else. They are looking for praise from the Guru, not good images.

There are many who take workshops & learn from them. They benefit and grow & improve and use the workshop experience as a help in getting better. Most of us would like to take workshops with some of our photographic heroes but few can afford to. When we do get the opportunity we want to learn so we can improve. Not to be like the hero, but to take the technique and finesse taught & make it our own. Others take workshop after workshop in a vain attempt at becoming their hero. It won't happen. And, if it does, you don't become the hero, just another copycat and we already have too many of those.

Take the workshop or class and use the information to improve your photography. Not as a springboard to take another workshop. Take advantage of your local colleges & art centers. In Salt Lake City we have Rodger Newbold. A selfless and excellent photographer who heads up the Salt Lake Art Center photo program. An excellent teacher. Other areas have very good people as well. If you want or need to improve technique, take classes from these people. They are excellent resources. Just make sure you photograph using what you have learned, after the class. Don't leave your photo quest in the classroom. Take what these teachers can give you and improve your images and your technique. Rodgers students aren't 'little Rodgers' and he doesn't want them to be. They are better than before (if they will pay attention and learn) and the classroom experience can only help if they will let it. So, take a class or workshop in your areas of interest and see where it takes you. Just don't get caught up in the experience & forget to learn.

"If only I had..." This one is a real downer and a major dead end for your photography. We have all said it & not let it stop us. The dead end here is in letting the wants stop our photography. Can't afford a 600 f/4 for wildlife? Is it keeping you from photographing wildlife? If so, you aren't a photographer. If you were you would get what you could afford, borrow or share and photograph. Then when you did finally get that big gun you would already have your technique down and the transition would be easier. You would already have good photos and just expand your vision with the new glass. "If only I had a 8x10, or a 12x20 or a whatever. So what is stopping you from using what you have now.

At times the dream gear turns out to be a nightmare for many reasons. You aren't ready. You don't really want to use it, but somewhere you got the ideas that 'real photographers' use it so you got one. Your hero has one so you will get one. Or, you believe the advertising. Years ago I got a nice Kodak metal 8x10. A big mistake. That camera and I just didn't get along and I gave up on 8x10 for a number of years. Then I got a Deardorff. It just felt right & from the start it was comfortable. Maybe I just wasn't ready for the bigger camera when I got the first Kodak. I doubt it because I enjoyed the studio 8x10's I had been using on and off for 15 years. The camera & I just didn't work well together, a problem solved with the heavier and bulkier Deardorff. It just fits me better for some reason. But, move up to new/bigger/better before you are ready & it can be disaster. An expensive lesson that turns some off of photography. I had heard good things of the Kodak Master View and got is partly on that basis. But, we just didn't get along. Luckily I solved that problem & am now a lot more comfortable with what I currently use.

Some get the idea they have to have a specific camera. This often hits in the form of a Leica or a Hasselblad. Both excellent cameras capable of excellent results. But, face it. You aren't Cartier-Bresson and you aren't Ernst Wildi. You aren't Ansel. There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying gear used by your heroes. There is also nothing wrong with selling it when you realize it isn't right for you. And, few of us really fit well with a Leica or Hassie or 11x14 view camera. For those who do the results are like magic. For those who persist, eventually they might get better. For those who force it, for whatever reason, lousy photography will result. Not every camera fits every photographer. The wish of 'if only I had' fills a lot of ad space as used cameras are once again sold and the realization that we aren't our heroes comes back to us in reality. If the camera is comfortable & you like using it, and the quality is there in the images, then use it. Even if Ansel didn't. Remember, you aren't Ansel. Take the teachings & inspiration & make them your own, including using what works for you even if your hero used something else.

"I'm going to photograph like..." This one can be a real killer. The world of art is filled with copycats & pretenders. It is a good thing, in my opinion, to have people whose work we admire. Look at it. Learn from it. Try the techniques. Then move on and do your own thing. Becoming a copy of what has already been done, and done well, makes you the photographic version of Television. Boring, predictable & an endless rerun. Wonder why no one who is any good gets really excited by your photos? It isn't because you are so advanced they can't recognize it, it is because they have seen it before. Done better, most likely, by the person you are copying.

It is frustrating to see work you admire & would like to do and realize that you can do little other than copy it. The style, the lighting or the images. Learning from the style, the lighting and images and making them your own as you move on to another level can be fulfilling. You can't be your hero, but you can learn from them as you grow and progress. And, if you find that in trying the style you admire that you can't really improve on it, move on. If you can't really make it your own, you hit a major visual dead end. Learning from the style and vision of others is a nice way to practice. But, you do have to move past it. Every good photographer learned from someone else. No one does it alone. So, though you may well want to 'be like Ansel', realize you are not Ansel, you won't be Ansel and even if you do 'become Ansel', you are always going to be a copy. Better to be like John Sexton, who worked with Ansel and keeps getting better & better, using the information and techniques Ansel used and making them his own. John is his own man, his own photographer & creates excellent images, in the tradition of Ansel, though he has moved on and created his own style. While we can see the influence of Ansel Adams in John Sexton images, we see John Sexton photography. Not a copy of Ansel.

So, if you would 'be like' anyone, pick good photographers & hone the skills and create, don't copy.

"We live by the rules..." This one is a real killer. Camera clubs & 'grading' images tend to reinforce rules. These rules are some of the biggest visual dead ends you will ever find.

"You Must Have!" So there are 'rules'. Who says you MUST have a black & white in the finished B&W image for it to be good? Who says it MUST be sharp, or it MUST be this or that? Those who live by the rules. It is these rules that work much of the time but also allow us the freedom to break them with stunning results at other times. Rule of thirds? How about negative space? Putting an object in another location? Follow the rules too strictly and you end up with Formula Photos, just like so many others who follow rules and never break or bend them. You can end up with boring photos all to easily if you never question. Don't be afraid to ask why and then to try it another way and see why for yourself.

"I'm my own standard!"

Right, and I am really Rambo.

In the world of photography this is a drop dead killer. High quality is expected and the old excuse(no, it isn't even a new one) of "I am my own standard" is usually an indication of lack of quality in too many areas. In prints. In vision. In presenting ones images.

If your print quality doesn't measure up to museum standards it is too low. If you don't print to last the world will most likely be thankful as the crap fades off the walls. If you really do have a unique vision, show it off with the highest quality possible. Don't use this tired old mantra to cover up a lack of printing skill. If you really are good but just don't like to print, have an excellent custom printer do it for you. Go ahead and be your own standard, but make it a very high one so others will recognize it as well and we will have the images with us for a long time to come. It is just that too often the old "I'm my own standard" is a cover for "I don't know what the hell I am doing & by saying this I can excuse my own stupidity and lack of effort".

If you are really 'your own standard', make it a high one.

I will end with one that is coming on bigger every year as we get more and more digital advancements in imaging.

It is "I won't ever use this new junk".

If it helps, really helps you get better results, use it. For me there is a satisfaction in the wet darkroom. We know what images do if processed correctly there. We still don't know for sure (in spite of all the accellerated aging testing) what the newer digital technology will do, or if it will last. But, we do know IT SURE LOOKS GOOD!!!

Some of us may not use much of the new technology for various reasons, but that is no reason to dismiss it. It can and will be a help in the future for much of what we do. But, the learning curve is steep and with gear, software & information changing every day, it is a killer to keep up with.

Will the digital image last? Right now, we really don't know. Some of them should. We know silver, platinum and others do last, if for no other reason than we have the tangible images from 100 years ago to see that they do. But just because I trust the silver based images I make now will last doesn't mean the digital stuff won't. Just because I like the traditional image doesn't mean you have to. But, new just because it is new isn't an answer either. A lot of digital discoveries will be trash can material shortly as we move on. Just because it is new doesn't mean is it good. Nor does it mean it is bad. It is new. Anything more than that only time will tell.

So don't be afraid of it just because it is new. At the same time, don't dump what works and what has worked. Meld the two and create a new reality,with high quality the goal all the time.

There are other visual dead ends but few that working at being creative won't push out of the way. The best way to take pictures is to do just that: take pictures. Some or many may end up in the trash can, but at least you are trying. In the midst of that effort you will most likely come on something that sparks some interest. Then, new camera or old, you will get the interest again, the excitement. Even if someone else has done it, they haven't done it with your vision. So get interested & excited and start photographing. That is the only way I know to keep from hitting a visual dead end.

Plan on a Utah photo trip in August 2002