T.O. Lee Consultants Ltd - Photography Column 302

The Life Cycle of a Photographer

PART II

(September 1994 Issue, Photo Asia Magazine, Singapore)

Phase 4: The Small Master

After winning many prizes in the salon competitions, both from local and overseas, he becomes a Small Master, particularly in a special category, such as landscape, portraiture, still life, table top, sports, etc. He becomes a mentor of a lot of Beginners and Amateurs, who often flatter him in order to make him talk more. He begins to tell them his much glorified past.
Surrounded by a lot of yes men, he begins to rest on his laurels, without self- awareness of this.
He is often invited to be the adjudicator in local photo competitions. He gives more marks for those photos he likes best and little marks for those photos he doesn't like. Like and dislike becomes his yardstick to measure the artistic value of the works under review. He then carries this spirit to the open exhibition. If he does not like the exhibits, he tells his disciples that they are all rubbish. He is turning more and more subjective, and narrow minded. His comments to works of others become more and more judgemental, often quite acute. Hence he has made a lot of enemies in the photo circle unintentionally as gossips do spread very fast. When he goes to the photo exhibition, his intention is no more broadening his perspective but rather trying to judge the works of others, according to his own standard. I often see a lot of Small Masters leading groups of disciples, touring from one corner to another, pointing at the exhibits, criticising. "If I were to take this picture, I would move my camera more to the left side and use a wider angle lens to cover more of these interesting faces to create a bigger impact." "I would like to crop this picture this way. Cutting more skyline can make the picture more impactful." These are the remarks I hear everytime I visit a photo exhibition.
Hence he can never get anything new in this stage as he has closed his doors himself. His progress and development has all stopped. After a few years, he is far behind in the contemporary concepts in visual arts. Ultimately he turns into a mummy. And he finds more and more of his dedicated disciples leaving him for another master. He does not try to find out the reasons behind this. Instead, he tries to win sympathy from his friends by telling them how ungrateful his disciples are, nurtured by him and now betraying him.
Their eyes are totally blind. As a photographer, he cannot see even himself clearly.
And he keeps on blaming the world for not knowing how to appreciate his works which he thinks is one of the greatest pieces of photographic art.
He is an island, isolated and lonely. According to the Peter's principle, he can grow no more and stays in the Small Master phase for the rest of his life.

Phase 5: The Real Master

If in the Small Master stage, he can stay open, objective, enthusiastic to help others, humble and friendly, he will enter the final stage, the Real Master phase. "Real" also means "kingly" in Spanish.
He is very broad-minded. When he sees something he does not understand, he would try to look at it from different angles to try to understand and does not wish to make any judgemental comments.
He also shares his success secrets with others to help them grow.
When his disciples decide to leave him, he even helps them to find another master so that they can be exposed to different schools of photographic art to create their own style ultimately.
He is getting less and less dependent on the hardware. "All cameras can take great pictures" is his message to his disciples. "As a photographer, you should control the camera and don't ever let the camera to control you." "Don't blame the lighting, the weather, and the people when you cannot make great pictures, you are held fully responsible for your works!"
"Trophies are meaningless. They only reflect what you were in the past." "Your certificate is the photo you made yesterday."
"To create, you should be subjective. To appraise, you should be objective."
Those are the words I have heard from the Real Masters, who reflect these concepts in their behaviours as well as in their works.
"No input, no output." Hence the Real Master keeps on learning, a lifetime learning, to make one breakthrough after another.
Unfortunately, we do not have too many Real Masters in this world. Those who make a lot of noises in the photographic scene are often the Small Masters, as the Real Masters often do more and speak less.
Who am I? Frankly speaking, I am not the appropriate person to answer this question as my answer may not be totally impartial. Am I right? or am I too diplomatic? You own the answer.

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