“Seeing life from a different perspective” was the tagline for Jay Dickman’s Photography presentation at Cherry Creek High School. Last Saturday, January 25th, was his yearly photography presentation. This year, he went into the nitty-gritty of photography and how to put together a series of photos.
“I love the challenge of approaching an assignment with the idea that there is a “best photo” to be made from any situation”, he said in an interview, “it may not produce an image that will stay in my portfolio, but it should be the best image I can make out of that opportunity.”
He continued, “I’ve been doing presentations about as long as I’ve been in the business of photography, 50+ years. I love sharing my knowledge of photography, and that education has been an ongoing education for me as well.” Throughout the presentation he shared how he thought of photos as captured moments, and how the goal of photography is to capture as many moments as possible. As a photographer, I resonated a lot with his sentiments and saw his mastery of the craft at work.
Photography is a unique medium of art that allows people to capture moments in time and keep them. They are often much more effective than words at conveying information. For example, a photo of a car crash could far better display the destruction of the site, than any words could. This is, again, the sentiment carried by Jay. He won the Pulitzer prize in 1983 for his work on the War in El Salvador, due to this communication of information. These images were dark, and gave the public a view into the lives of those affected.
Even this article relies somewhat on photos in order to capture, and maintain your attention.
Going further, he says, “Photography is absolutely important to us as humans, as our brains use still imagery to recall and process our memory. We really don’t generally think in terms of video clips (try to recall a minute of a movie or favorite video-it’s impossible)… This is where still photography will always have a place in our world.”
Dickman wasn’t just interested in theoretics, he also had lots to say about the continually changing landscape of the field. As mentioned earlier, he had been in it for over 50 years, and had witnessed the evolution of digital cameras, then cell phones, and much more recently, AI. In his presentation he praised the use of “really any camera” and simply asked the audience to take photos–and to care less about semantics.
“In so many cases, photography has changed hugely over the decades in which I’ve been involved; from the huge change of film to digital, to the current issue of AI. But, in my world of photojournalism, those criteria of what makes an impactful, powerful photograph haven’t, and will never, change.” said Jay.
His optimism is in the face of what he sees as an admittedly serious challenge. Due to AI’s power to create images out of thin air, there has been speculation about a blurred line between real and fake, and how this will impact journalism, more specifically photojournalism. As mentioned before, photography has the ability to create a profound impact on how things are perceived. Thus, Dickmam, and many others, have a concern for maintaining the truth moving forward.
“You’re already starting to see that realization [that regulations for AI usage are needed] in contests and journalistic photography, where the lines are being drawn as to what is accepted and what is not… Unfortunately, today so many gather their news and information by what is posted on various sites, and there is no watchdog agency-currently- to make sure that honesty and integrity exist in that world.”
This wasn’t Jay’s first year going to Cherry Creek to talk about photography, and while leaving he mentioned his excitement for this yearly visit and to coming back next year. This presentation compiled all of his best photos from his years in photography, from his rock-and-roll photo days, to his time in National Geographic. And while he admitted he was his own worst critic, even he had to admit that many of his photos had a certain beauty to them. That, in capturing a moment and freezing it in time, and giving it back to the world for generations to come, he had done something he could be proud of.
If this article is interesting to you, I would recommend learning more about the medium of photography. Centaurus itself offers many commercial photography classes at all different levels–from beginner to advanced, and film to digital.
“Seeing life from a different perspective” indeed embodies the spirit of photography. Each photo will photograph a unique event from a unique perspective, an idea Dickman went into during his presentation. There is no such thing as “two identical photos” and, as he said, you can only take the best photo you can. “Photography is about problem solving, and that keeps your brain/creativity working”. It’s about continual improvement. And after all, isn’t that the whole point?
