At what age does a photographer do her/his best work?

[AratiRao]

The discussion on Neelu's elephant picture about age and photography and years of photography came back to me when i read this. Thought of sharing it with you.

Or is the more pertinent question, "How many years after you start off, do you peak?"
what do you think? or is this all hogwash


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arati

[Nilanjan Das]

What about young geniuses becoming old masters ? . Now to something more serious.....

How is best work calibrated or judged ? Judged by whom and in what perspective ? I remember, having a discussion on the term called Success. It was being used to define a person who is considered to be successful in life and naturally even among the elite cream of the society, the definition came down to a degree from IIT, a degree from IIM, then fat pay job, 2 foreign trips each year, big BMW car, posh flat, Club memberships, diamonds for wife, PSP , XBox and iPAD for son etc etc etc. This person probably buys a few paintings of Hussain and invites colleagues and friends to show a living room which only has a Grand Piano worth a crore, Hussain worth 2 crores and a Gold Cuckoo worth god knows what..... why does he have this ? He knows these are the best, but he does not remember well what colors were exactly used in the painting but he had to own the painting as it was an exclusive one from Tao's gallery, sold as one of Hussain's best work. You must be wondering why am I writing all this when we are discussing what is the right age for best work ? My only point is that a creator can never understand or realize what is his / her best work. It is people like my friend who derive pleasure out of words like best or success etc. In all probabilities, an artist of any genre would try to create a subtle change and spend a life time working on it. Only he or she would know how big those small steps of changes are and if he or she has been able to achieve them. We can see this in every sphere of work, I can tell a little bit about Science, we used to see a few guys working on biochemical or biophysical areas and publish 20 papers at least in a year. We used to feel so demoralized , but the kind of work we used to do, perhaps 1 publication would be enough in 5 years. Our biodata did not look so filling as theirs ( often needed 3-4 pages to write all the publications ). Why was it like that ? Did we have less talent in understanding science ? No, it happened as we decided to take the challenge of working on something where info was not available as in the case of other guys. We had to explore and explore and explore and may be after 6 months reach a stage which was part of the preparatory stage of the actual goal we had in mind. Similarly, the most satisfying time and efforts in art ( painting , sculpture, photography etc )are perhaps spent in exploring and trying to figure out how does a person express best in his form of art. Every classical musician knows how to sing or play Malkauns, but when those in the Dagarwani Gharana figured out the way to make it sound like Purvi by not disobeying the laws of the raga, 200 years had passed. Were they only singing Malkauns and nothing else for these 200 years ? Probably no, as the knowledge of mastering all the notes of every raga showed them the possibility of experimentation. God knows what their actual goal is, may be they wish to create a new raga. Perhaps the discovery that one raga can be made to sound like another is just part of an experiment, a small step. To me perhaps it could one of their greatest contributions, but not for them.
Hence, I do not agree at all with this concept of best work and age and all that..... we always have different goals at different age, as young we are often more aggressive, and get more slower and matured when we get old, so there's nothing new in this. The only difference is if we have been able to determine what we are looking for, have we made sincere efforts to reach to a certain point ? Am I really happy because I have been able to do what I wanted or am happy as others think am successful ? Steps lead to further steps, some we see, some we do not, the body might fail one day, but the mind should carry on......this is perhaps one of the reasons why artists like saints have more attachment to loneliness than being celebrities. . We can see celebrity saints these days, celebrity artists too, but in my eyes, they are like my friend who looks for the identity of the BEST.

Hope I made sense.

[Ganesh H Shankar]

I agree that there is a tenure during ones life time when any person produces most of his *remarkable* (whatever that means) work. I don't think this phenomena is restricted to photography alone. I think below certain age we didn't have all our neurons wired properly and we were not as effective and after some age they loose efficiency and we will not be effective again. What is that mid period ? I am not sure whether we can find a useful answer there. May be it depends on individual's DNA. I think we can find examples for both - even in photography. I know young ones being recognized as well has aged ones. Couple of years back I met a Nat Geo photographer who's best works have come in his late 50s. When did Steve Jobs conceive iPad/iPod ? Similarly there young achievers too. I was just going Einstein's achievements - E = mc2 (mc squared) happened when he was 26, Unified field theory came when we was 71 and he lived 76 years.

There is an interesting other phenomena specific to nature photography. It seem to take a few years for most to get across some "desires" in nature photography - of making closeups, portraits, fine details etc irrespective of age. Recently I met a person who is in his 60s
who started with a kit lens and and SLR an year back, then a zoom in 100-500 range and now a 500mmf4 to show feather details. I thought at that age he will start producing compositions that reflects his experience in life but his thoughts where very similar to mine a few years ago and he seem to
be taking similar path as me. Probably his tastes will change sooner but I found that interesting. I do believe lessons of life will start showing in our compositions once we get over *learning* usual technical photographic lessons.

"How many years after you start off, do you peak?"

I am sure before we die, not sure when though - At least I want to believe it that way

[AratiRao]

Ganesh, Nilanjan - thanks for weighing in.
After posing the question and its modification, i fell silent, thinking about it. in my own context and in the general "data" context too.
it is like asking for the "truth" - what is truth? it is different for each.

1. First, the notion of "best" work.
"best", especially in creative work is subjective. best can mean sophisticated-in-thought to one connoisseur, it can mean technically brilliant to another, and it can simply mean aesthetically-pleasing to a third. So in creative endeavors, defining "best," is at best, nebulous.
2. Who is to judge
most evaluation (serious ones) happen posthumously, or, after one has been given the lifetime achievement award!! Looking back over an artist's life or a creator's life, there will be periods in which his work shone. there will be duller periods. Periods in which he refines. Looking back at all these, one might be able to opine what was "better than the other periods." And why!! [this would be an interesting exercise - to study the life works of photographers over time, their own opinions and other's evaluations]
3. The creator's PoV:
"Sab se acchi tasveer toh maine abhi banayii nahin" - dil chahta hai dialogue
So let's ask the creator. One evolves. one likes what one does. one doesnt like. one improves. one likes the improvement. one improves further - iterative. (what Ganesh refers to as "overcoming the desires"). Maybe, at some point, the creator feels a certain period to be her best. maybe. but she still is creating - so maybe there is never a "best" according to her. looking back on her own life later, she might be able to pick our a period or periods where she really performed and analyse what led to those!
4. The process of evolution
However, 1,2,3 apart, there is a process, we will all agree - a process of evolution. One where the beginner is eager, tries everything. then learns. life happens, emotions happen, she refines, she morphs. in mind and in art. for what is inside one comes out as art. What life deals to an artist is manifested in their work. If they are in love with what they do, it shows. But that emotional stuff apart, in photography - which does involve technique, one has to pay ones dues. now, what of the 10,000 hr theory? is that the "dues" or something else? get out there and shoot. make terrible mistakes, fall, pick oneself up and shoot again. As one shoots, one sees more, learns to see, learns the camera, how to use it in tough situations, one hones ones sensibilities, one becomes more comfortable. and the technique and art become second nature.

resonance! no dissonance whatsoever. the state of pure performance. when one looks back on ones work, i feel, it is NOT SO MUCH AN AGE, but more like "periods" of pure brilliance. when heart and mind were ONE! Maybe it is when you have paid the dues and are doing EXACTLY what you love, and love exactly what you are doing?

still mulling.
A

[Vijay Mohan Raj]

HI!
A very nice thread and I was on the move so the late response.

Firstly we need to know what amounts to the best work. I have seen a pattern in photographers. In the initial days when unsure of their skills they try to imitate a lot of what they admire and slowly they sync to their strengths and tastes. This process sometimes takes from a few months to many years. Some tend to show that they are different by throwing interesting images right from the beginning but the consistency is not there in the initial years.

Now coming to the moot question;
At what age does a photographer do her/his best work?

I believe that age though plays a factor but from my brief experience its the 'zone' which is very important. Every photographer when fully sensitized and involved to make creative images gets into a zone where everything he creates becomes magical. I think this is because of the 'zone' which is akin to cricketers being in top form. When one reflects back it all revolves to that particular trip or particular evening or morning where the light and the subject come together and sometimes the whole trip is that special where special images get crafted.
I personally believe that this is because mentally the photographer is either in an extreme mood either happy or sad or in turmoil and then the brain unleashes its creative forces. I also believe that there is an unknown higher calling where the 'special visits' of the people/forces in your dreams make you to think extremely and you are literally walking on the edge of the realistic/normal portrayal to turn that into creative work. I have been regularly visited to these 'higher' moments where most of the ideas strike. Surprisingly most of the images I make get pre-visualised while I am travelling most often when I am travelling in a red KSRTC bus which I do often because I like the simple un-sanitised atmosphere of people getting along in their lives.

Another interesting feature is this 'zone' is something which is occasional and sometimes even with your best efforts it would be very difficult to make images. This is mainly because of the mental condition you are in and ofcourse sometimes the elements of light and subject are also not there. In reality this is because we ourselves have high expectations from our previous experiences we believe we can better that. That is the undoing. I have tried and failed badly and some relief comes from the mindset to look at the positives. I would suggest having a look at the video by Dewitt Jones called 'Celebrate whats right with this World' if you haven't, a very inspiring one

I agree at a particular age you tend to be more fit and more outgoing but at the end what you actually shoot comes from the kind of exposure you have had and the influence of various photographers whom you admire. I clearly believe that one should not shoot just because it pleases other photographers, what you need to know is what got you into photography first and you need to keep revisiting this basic element and shoot to satisfy that, infact with higher skills you can shoot better and help in better rendition of your basic interest.

Speaking for myself, I got into photography mainly to document nature and tell strong nature photo stories to common public and has a positive conservation action so that they start taking interest in nature. So I tend to keep that focus going in most part of my work.