Journal — Tristan Parker Photography

Lessons in life through following your passion

This is a topic that has been slowly forming in my mind for a while. Today, I had a chat to a good friend online, and some of the things that we were discussing finally started to crystalise these thoughts into some sort of form that I think I will be able to get out. The general thought that has been slowly forming goes something like this:

If you lead a life that involves following your passion, this is a path that you are able to follow that will teach you lessons about yourself, and others

What is a camera?

We all fall prey of the camera and the strange yet powerful hold that it has on us. Whats this about? Its a lust, its one of the sins in the history of many religions... Dont get me wrong, Im not religious. I just know from experience that this is what drives the obsession with the camera. Its also what drives modern society to want better cars, bigger houses, better whats its, and so on. If its not lust then its greed, I dont know if one is better than the other, but I am going to say lust... I know this as its something that I need to fight to control myself as well. The answer to the question is quite simple really. The camera is a tool. The camera is the same sort of tool as a painters brush, a sculptors clay, and a woodworkers saws. It is however one that has been much abused by society, and has hence lost some of its bygone allure and mystery.

Digging out of creative ruts through writing

I have been in a bit of an artistic rut lately. I dont know the pin point reason for this, and I guess I dont even know if there is a single reason, or if there are few things that have come together to result in the lull in productivity. Since I started to get back into making images with a camera about 12 months ago now, I havent had this happen yet, so its causing me a little stress. When I remove myself from the situation and sit back and try to be objective about the scenario I am not overly concerned. I know deep down that I will come back again. But its sometimes hard to be removed and objective, so I thought that I would write about it in the hope that maybe penning these thoughts would act as the conduit that I needed to return to some form of productivity.

My Photographic Inspiration - Mum

I have written in the past about my Dad and the inspiration that he had on me as a photographer (I still feel like a bit of a fraud when I call myself that by the way). Well the article caused a bit of a stir... Mainly in the form of my Mum saying, in the words of Shannon Knowls, 'What about me?'. Well this ones for you Mum...

My Mum is a bit of a strange story really... I guess we all are in our own ways, but its likely that you will find this story a little stranger than most. I will try and give you a little overview. I think for the purpose of the story its going to be a little easier to start from the end for a minute, and then run through how we got there, at least the how that I know about anyway...

Street Photography Without People

As the topic title says, we are going to have a look at street photography without people. A lot of the street photography at the moment is centred on people. People doing things out of the norm. People in the right light. People who have an interesting look. A majority of the work of the masters of Street Photography also contained a people element, but I think at that point there was more of a trend of telling a story and showing a snapshot of society. Maybe the trend of the moment of seeking out and capturing the weird and wonderful says something about us as a society in the modern era, but that is likely the topic for future conversations. But... Is there a need to have a person in a shot, or is it possible to shoot street work of high quality without shooting people?

Long Term Street Photography Projects?

If you look to the greats of our magical art form they by in large have something in common. They have long term bodies of work exploring something that they found interesting. This is not only the case for the street photographers, and it may not have been that the project theme was something that they intended to investigate until they realised that something tied a lot of their work together already, and continued with something that was already there.It can be broad or very narrow, but they usually have something that to them built their body of work.

The Masters and Street Photography: Not what you think

So there is a wealth of information out there on the classics of street photography, and what you can learn from their work. I thought I would take this tried and tested, well read blogging formula and perhaps have a look at some of the masters of photography in general, and what we can still learn from them from a street photography perspective. I have blogged on the rules of photography applied to the street, and I think that my aim with this initial blog will be to take some of those rules and contrast them with some work from some of the real greats of our art. Not just street greats, but landscape, studio, and fine art greats, surrealists... What can we as street photographers learn from them?

My Photographic Inspiration - Dad

Where do you draw your inspiration for your photography from? If you cant answer this question clearly, then youre in trouble I tell you. It might not be a simple answer to convey to others, granted, but it is an answer that you should be eager to provide to anyone who would ask such a personal question.

I am lucky. I have a very personal source of both inspiration and knowledge for my photographic journey. My Dad... He isnt the single source, and I dont think that any artists would ever claim to have only one influence in their work, but he is an important one.