We recently connected with Christopher Pany and have shared our conversation below.
Christopher, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
In my experience, trying to “learn” photography is overwhelming – cameras, lenses, aperture, ISO, shutter speed, composition, style, individual style, etc., etc. Understanding the basic facets of photography is much like learning music theory – they will undoubtedly help you, but in the end, it is the individual’s creativity and vision that matters most. What’s more, trying to consider each photography concept in the moment is difficult, to say the least, and can lead to over-thinking and render an interesting moment lost in the process. So my take on learning is to just go out and do it and expect to take lots of mediocre photos. Eventually, you learn why they’re just mediocre, make adjustments, and in time, start to take great photos. Likewise, you develop preferences, styles, and notice peculiar things that, for reasons unknown, strike you (for example, I like power lines). Trial and error is the best approach in my experience.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I like to think I’ve always been creative, so music and photography were both attractive and accessible means to channel that side of me. I hope to continue building each skill set and identify additional business avenues, including combining both.
A “problem” I encountered early on was finding my personal approach, especially in photography. There were many styles and subsets which intrigued me, but often they stylistically contradict one another and were not practical to combine.
So in line with my recommendation of trial and error, and exploring photography as a means to learn and develop artistically, I stumbled upon what has become the theme of my first fine art photography series – a concept I’ve come to call “FACES” photography. I find what I believe to be buildings which represent a city, region, country, etc., and merge them into a single work to create a sprawling mural of building faces which embody the spirit, character, history, and culture of that location. I included a few early variations of these works for this article to better demonstrate the “faces” concept. I’m currently searching for the right gallery to debut this series, which is very exciting. Updates will be posted on my Instagram account and any business inquiries can be sent to christopherpanyphotography@
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding part is the “Oh man, I definitely just captured something” feeling. Sometimes that happens in the moment, sometimes later in Lightroom, sometimes years later when I stumble upon old photos. That feeling easily parallels when I create/compose music as well; when fooling around on guitar or piano, I’m suddenly struck with the “Hey, that sounds really cool” thought. Both give you a rush unlike anything else and can really reinforce your work and drive, especially in times of self-doubt. Sometimes you wonder how you captured such a compelling photo or wrote an emotive line of music – skill? practice? luck? . . . probably all of the above- and more importantly- it doesn’t really matter. You made it and that’s the most rewarding part – feeling true pride in your work as an emotional reaction. It is a pure emotional response, so you know it is genuine and honest. Those are some of the greatest moments and make it worth it.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Ultimately, the mission is to continue to learn, improve, and create, thus garnering opportunities that will allow me to do what I enjoy as a profession. This requires me to push out of my comfort zone and embrace some ambiguity—a concept towards which I am not naturally inclined. That said, there is something doubly satisfying in creating something new and proving yourself wrong.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christopherpany/