Ted Belton Photography

What If: You Could Learn Skills Overnight?

Ted — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:23 +0000

“New research published today in the journal Science suggests it may be possible to use brain technology to learn to play a piano, reduce mental stress or hit a curve ball with little or no conscious effort. It’s the kind of thing seen in Hollywood’s “Matrix” franchise.”

( source: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=122523 )

That article describes the possibility of a new technology that would allow people to learn skills over night.

I wonder – what effect would this technology have on the creative industry? What happens when the skills that set us apart are overwhelmingly common? What happens when being the best isn’t enough?

I think the answer is the same as it has always been. How well you do something is not the key to success, it is why you do it. To what end do you create? What motivates you and inspires you? What experience do you draw from that infuses your work with something that transcends skill, and sometimes even surface appeal?

It might be worth thinking about from time to time; what if everyone was as good as you? Knew every trick you know? Would you stand out?

…

I think there are a thousand tangents of conversation we could have based on this idea, and it took many drafts of this post before it was this small and to the point. Among the other thoughts I had were:

Would Meryl Streep and John Williams still be the two most award-nominated artists in their field?

Are they so successful because of the dedication to one particular craft, or because of inherent ability at said craft, or because of inherent determination to be great at something?

Do people actually recognize talent, and are they willing to pay for it? I remember seeing a story about a first-violinist in a major orchestra playing anonymously in a subway station. And only three people stopped to listen to him. Even if people do recognize talent, do they value it enough to actually stop and pay attention?

How do Nicholas Cage and Michael Bay continue to get work? And will the world end when they make a movie together?

Ugly Numbers

Ted — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:33:49 +0000

Managed to squeeze a few frames out of my 40d today, I couldn’t not try. I love foggy days, and I haven’t done a self-portrait in ages. Usually the fog rolls around in the early morning or at night, and the light ends up just being muggy, but it was just magnificent today. It was pea-soup fog for about 3 hours in the middle of the day, so the light was intense but diffuse. I also shot about half a roll of Delta 100, which I suppose I will develop some day…. Until then:

Daily Deviation for Jamie

Ted — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:04:37 +0000

My photo of Jamie was lucky enough to be among the first Daily Deviations of 2012 on DeviantArt!

Waking up to this was pretty shocking, having had zero messages the previous night:

I remember 7 years ago, when I first started on DeviantArt, dreaming of waking up one morning to find hundreds of messages in my inbox cuz I was just too damn popular. It’s not as life-changing as I might have once thought it would be, but it’s still pretty darn cool. And it’s been an especially encouraging (and hopefully foreshadowing) way to start the year!

Happy New Year! Thanks for reading!

Kaitlin and other things.

Ted — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 07:21:24 +0000

Kaitlin (B&M)

MUA: Onna Chan

Photo Assist: Matt Veen

As I mentioned briefly a couple posts ago, my 40D had been giving me more problems than usual. Well, it appears the end really is nigh. During my most recent shoot with Caitlin, above, good-old-40D crapped out so frequently that it became entirely inconvenient to even try and shoot with it. I managed to get a few good frames out of it, but it was mighty frustrating and buzz-killing. So, I ended up shooting both on 35mm and 120mm.

Since the 40D started acting up, I have been using my AE-1 as my walk-around. And I must say, it’s lovely, and has shown great mercy to my harddrives. In two weeks I’ve shot two rolls, instead of hundreds of frames I’ll never look at. Not to sure what I’m going to do in the new year on assignments, but I’ll figure it out. The worst thing that can happen is that I shall have to shoot 35mm, which, really, isn’t a bad thing at all. If it weren’t for the turn-around time, I would be terribly tempted to shoot every test on film. But I guess I’m just not that trendy yet…..

Hopefully some scans and better news coming in the new year…..

The Storm

Ted — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:48:07 +0000

Finally found some time to go back and process this image the way I originally intended. It was mild torture to do without a tablet, but I’m glad I did.

The Holy Redux

Ted — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:00:30 +0000

‘The Holy Redux” sounds like the name of a Michael Bay movie…. but nevertheless…. I went through the images from Saturday once again, and as I said I might, I tried out a slightly different look. And, once again, I attempted to do in photoshop what I should have done in camera. Oh well, I think they look better this way regardless. Still some small details to be attended to, but I’m impatient.

The Model Scouts

Ted — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:00:26 +0000

I don’t often blog about things not directly related to my work, but I think this is worth sharing and might be helpful to some people.

There’s a great series that aired last year called The Model Scouts, featuring vice-presidents of IMG Models travelling Ireland to find their new face. It is NOT a commercially motivated modelling competition. IMG doesn’t mess around, and this show is serious business. For a photographer who is involved in model testing, it proved to be really interesting and inspiring. Unlike America’s Next Top Model (or any of the Top Model shows), they send the girls on actual assignments, and to actual, realistic test shoots, with some amazing results. The tone of the show is very professional, and they treat the contestants with respect and care.

The fact that this show appears to be low-budget actually does it justice. It’s easier to take it seriously when there aren’t giant graphics flashing across the screen and big, dramatic elimination ceremonies. Like I said, they respect the girls’ intelligence, and they treat them as they would any other potential models they scouted.

Even though it appears comparably low-budget, when sat beside Top Model, the producers of the show are clearly very immersed in the industry. They do not yank random, no-name photographers with big cameras out of the ether to impress viewers with the false-glamour of a shoot. They use talented, low-key, working photographers, the type that any model would naturally encounter when starting her career. That said, they did manage to wrangle some fantastic guests to mentor the girls. Steven Meisel, for one. Oh, and Gisele Bundchen, Monika “Jac” Jagaciak, Carolyn Murphy, and super-star casting director Maida Gregori Boina. I wasn’t familiar with Maida, so it was great to learn about that facet of the industry, which may well be relevant to me one day.

It’s definitely worth a watch, the entire series is on YouTube, and there are only 8 episodes. A great way to spend a rainy day inside.

A similar series saw the same scouts travel through what I think was Serbia (?), but as far as I know, it’s not online. If anyone knows where I can watch it, drop a link in the comments.

Here’s one video that shows some great test shoots they did while in London.

The Model Scouts, Episode 3, Part 2

The Holy

Ted — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:43:38 +0000

Model: Jenna

Make-Up and Hair: Buzz Garling

A very last minute affair, practically entirely improvised. I had a very loose idea of what I wanted, and some idealistic storyboards to work from, but Jenna really responded to the space and took the shoot in a better direction. I didn’t have time to do any real pre-production, so the art direction/set design ended up being “throw everything in the corner and see what looks good”. And, in the end, nothing really looked good. The focus then turned to Jenna instead of the overall look of the shot, and I must admit she really carried the shoot.

Every shot is pretty much entirely lit by candle light, and whatever other ambient light was collected during the fairly long exposures. It’s something I was experimenting with earlier, and wanted to apply in a more accessible way. In this instance, I should have paid more attention to what I was actually shooting than what I had intended to shoot. Sometimes a new direction presents itself and you have to adapt. I did, but not to the extent I should have.

In the end, Jenna looks amazing and I’m really pleased with some of the photos. They’re different from what I might usually do, and I kind of like that. It’s been a long time since I experimented, so in that way I’m really pleased with this shoot. I still have several images to sort through, but here are a few first picks:

Remember

Ted — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:55:09 +0000

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in contemporary trends, and so easy to fall subconsciously into competition with your peers. On days like today, I have to remind myself that I’m not striving to be more like my peers, and my goal shouldn’t be to be as good or better than them. It’s days like today that I have to remind myself of the photographs that inspired me in the first place. Remind myself of the type of photographs that made me want to become a photographer. And I need to forget the trash that floats around the net under the guise of technical precision.

As a photographer, I’m not in competition with people my age, in my city, in my market niche. I’m in competition with Avedon, Penn, Ritts, and Bassman. Someone in our generation will be remembered and revered as they have been, why can’t it be me? That is the level of quality to strive for, and it will take time and dedication and experimentation and mistakes, and most of all joy in what I am doing. This is a reminder to myself: remember why you started and where you’re headed, take your time, and stop worrying about how you’re going to get there.

Jason

Ted — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:00:09 +0000

Jason (B&M)