Are these guys nuts – these people who surf Lake Superior during late fall/winter/early spring during big storms. Why do they do this? I haven’t got a clear answer to why any particular person surfs Lake Superior, but I have no doubt it may be difficult to articulate. There is a very real sense of why, just difficult to articulate.
I was recently asked to judge a photography club competition. On my drive to the club meeting to present my judging results a thought occurred to me. I realized I like judging – working with an audience, talking about photography, sharing some insights or experiences, meeting new people – but don’t like being a judge. The ranking, sorting, “this one is better than that one.” I found it odd, given my professional history, that I would be so uncomfortable with this part of the judging process. It took me a while to sort it out, but I settled on this one simple notion that we all learned as small children; beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
As a photographer that has presented his images to many strangers and friends alike through this blog, I’ve had the beholder lesson reaffirmed many times over. Some responses to my work really hurt and some responses were amazingly kind and generous. All of it was true and all of it has me less concerned with WHAT (external judgment of good/bad, creative/dull) of my photography and more focused on the WHY (internal motivation and approach) of it.
Sharing our photography, like many endeavors artistic or otherwise, takes a great deal of courage. We tend to think of our photography as a reflection of the sum total of us because its a product of our energy. I see this in photographers, in musicians, in entrepreneurs and in parents. Its natural to feel this way. We put significant energy into these things and at some point we all want validation that the outcome was somehow worth the effort. We want our artistic work to be praised, our businesses to be successful and our children to be happy and secure. The EGO really needs this, but we shouldn’t boil our sense of self down to any one single event or image, or painting, or song or business. I contend that WHAT we produce says relatively little about us and WHY we produce it says relatively more about us. Just like the surfers on Lake Superior. Yes, they are surfing – the WHAT – but the motivation behind – the WHY – says more about the individual than the sheer act of courage and insanity to actually do it. The WHAT is easy to focus on – it hits our five senses – but the WHY is very difficult to observe. Each of us has to go out of our way to find the WHY.
The WHY aspect of our work was articulated by Simon Sinek in a recent TED talk. 18 minutes of your life well-spent watching this talk. Click HERE to watch video at TED.com
Which all leads us back to today’s images of my good friend John Benzik who regularly surfs Lake Superior. We here in MN had a classic early spring snowstorm this week that created some great surf on the Lake Superior. On short notice I grabbed my gear, my good friend Sam Sherf, and we all headed north to catch one remaining hour of daylight to photograph a Lake Superior surfer. Why? I think I’ve answered it for myself, but I’m curious to know your WHY with photography.
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4 Comments
Why? But first, I like the close-up, there is a wonderful grittiness to the face. It reminds me of B & W photos from photos taken by war corespondents from WW2 and even Vietnam. Watched “On The Waterfront” movie from the early 50′s the other day…. B & W and lots of gritty, grimy, grungy, visuals throughout the movie….. very powerful technique, and great on the surfer. There seems to be a lot of this “look” being used currently. I look forward to trying your “Photo Tips” used for this image.
Why? (for me) There is no one single answer to the question for me, as different photographic tasks have a different why.
Snapshots of events, people at events living life; A documentation, a memory to be relived in the future by myself and others. Technically I’m capable of focus control and exposure that beats a point and shoot camera or some one using their iPhone.
Landscapes; The physical challenge of getting to the right place, right time of day, with the right equipment to capture an image that is unique in it perspective, yet compliments the subject.
Wildlife Animals: Emotion. Either the images express a strong emotion of the subject, or create in the viewer, a strong emotional response…..fear, respect, cuddly, a question, something.
Through all of the above, I just love the machinery of photography. The sound of a great shutter, the feel and view of a well made lens, a tripod that works and performs as it should. The list is endless. I hope everyone gets to hear the sound of a early 1950′s 35mm Zeiss Ikon Contax camera shutter, in their lifetime. Better yet, you get to trip the shutter a few times and feel it with your finger.
But I will not trade my digital camera for the Contax.
Chet,
THANK YOU for the awesome comments, especially on WHY.
WHY they surf Lake Superior in teh Winter.
If you have never experienced the feeling of surfing itis hard to explain, but I’ll try.
There are two main reasons:
1.) Surfing is very peaceful.It’s man and nature in united. You paddle out, you wait your turn (you are at the right part of teh wave at the right time). Then you paddle in and all of a sudden the wave picks you up gently and pushes you on. The wave allows you to ride its face. Once you have experienced this flow of feelings and emotions you want to experience it again and again. This is the emotional reson.
2.) The second reson is completely rational and very simple. Lake Superior has good swells in Fall and Winter. Swell means that the size,shape,length, break and frequency at which the wave form and occur are favorable to enjoy a good time surfing.
The cold becomes a boundary condition that a surfer is willing to accept as the price to recreate Reason 1 over and over.
Markus \m/
Love how you wove Simon Sinek’s talk and photography with surfing together – Top Shelf!
Markus,
Great analysis. Very precise and logical. I’m probably more in the mystical on this, but I accept your linear, closed-loop system perspective.