but I think there are different type of curiosity in people. Some people want to know the secrets just to imitate them, and after awhile a lot of the magic disappears. I can feel that way with polaroids sometimes. Even though I really enjoy polaroid photos, I think much of the love I have for them is in the format itself, the look of it, and a lot of the magic happens when the format fuses together with the personality (the “style”) of the photographer. With all the iphone apps that exist now, the format is easily recreated, and the secrets are exposed, and used dispassionately, losing it’s magic.

I’m writing a book, and I would like to combine it with photography. Not really as an accompanying illustration, but more of an amalgamation or merging with the words. I have sort of a vision or a sense in my head how I want the pictures to feel, and a lot my experimentation is trying to get closer towards that vision. I guess, that’s the other type of curiosity – for example, when I saw your underwater pictures, I was thinking that I want to learn that technique, not because I want to imitate it, but because I wonder how it will look like trough my eyes, how I can use that technique trough my vision, where that will take me, where my creativity will lead me from there.

When talking to people about secrets, I feel this is how I decide what to tell – whether I feel the person is going to imitate, or be inspired. The ones wanting to do an imitation probably would want the whole formula, but the ones wanting to use the knowledge as a spring board is more than satisfied with seeing a picture of you holding a camera in a plastic underwaterbag to begin to experiment, learning and making mistakes along the way to create their own view.

Needless to say, I am glad for the little crumbs of insight into the secrets I pick up. Just the word Collodion under a photography has made my journey leap a big step. And even though I’m not doing collodion prints, that little nibble got me into liquid emulsion on glass negatives and large format and hand coloring and what not.

So maybe, when I get as far as you, if someone ask me how I do underwater pictures, I’d just say – transparent plastic bag!

I love it when someone asks me how I did something. It validates my work (haha, “work”). I understand when people prefer not to, but I enjoy when people ask and I tell them freely. People who have done the same to me have turned out to help me greatly advance my OWN WAY of doing something similar–they basically helped me get things rolling.

BTW, a while ago you linked to some free textures on flickr. How do you use them since they are at such a small size?

Love your stuff. I have you bookmarked.

……

I try to use Flickr as a tool for learning, not only to learn editing but also to stare at other people’s work and to decide more or less if I like doing this or not. Putting it in a nutshell, to develop myself by comparing techniques, styles, and new textures.
Everybody has to have an influence in his own works -influence from a person, from a picture, from past experiences, etc.- and that’s not bad. But if your intentions are to try to copy someone, that’s different.

To conclude, I’ll say that maybe it is good to teach your skills to someone else, but only if you are a paid photography teacher. Other way, you will hurt yourself and this person won’t try to fin out by him/herself.

If what you are creating truly is art, then it’s unique to you. People could try and cultivate a Brooke Shaden style but all that does is make the original look so much better :)

You should believe that you’re more than your “secrets”, because those are extremely hard to hold onto, and art is much more than just elements stitched together ~ it’s the creativity of one individual captured in a format others can see, and in the end no one can replicate that.