Digital BW, The Print

On response to "why do you take pictures".   I teach photography at several 
locations in Los Angeles. My classes are about working in B&W in both digital 
and silver. I can make superb prints both silver and digitally. I dont teach 
people how to use a camera, I expect that my students already know that and 
sometimes they know a lot more then I do. I do answer many questions about how to 
make a good print both in silver and digital. I also help people find answers 
to problems using photoshop and the printing process. The digital revolution 
has made the photographic process exciting and wonderful. Many of my students 
combine digital and silver to realize wonderful images. I even know people 
using the Colloidal process for image capture on glass plates. I am now teaching 
people how to use printing out paper to form images and transfer them to film 
or scan on a flatbed scanner.   

 The most difficult thing is to teach people how to think and get in touch 
with the creative side of themselves.   One of the first questions I ask on my 
first day of class is " why are you here?" What motivates you to pick up a 
camera in the first place? Well, why does a painter pick up a paintbrush, why does 
a poet make poems, what does a sculptor see in a piece of wood or stone? The 
simple answer for me is that if I dont create the images I make I would be an 
empty person. I would probably go crazy in a short amount of time. I can't 
help doing what I do. It makes me whole. I love bieng involved in the "process of 
creating".   Having a camera on my hands feels like it belongs there. I love 
getting to know my vision.

I   have an old house out in the desert that I have been photographing for 
years. I keep going back to this house over and over again over the years and I 
now feel that this house is a part of my visual bieng. It changes and falls 
apart more and more over the years and soon it will fall over. I love seeing the 
changes and finding new ways to make images of it. When I am out in the 
middle of the desert by myself photographing the old house I feel alive and 
excited. I am visiting an old friend. My visual bieng is alive and well. I am happy. 

This all fits in with the visual and creative process. I love the creative 
process. The hard part is getting in touch with your creative vision, learning 
to trust it and working with it and recognizing it. I have students that have 
never thought about this aspect of the creative process. Why do I do it? I   
have to. SILVERWORKS IMAGING   Enjoy   Steve



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