Over The Threshold – A Conversation On Creativity With John Paul Caponigro and Sean Kernan
During this inspiring hour, John Paul and Sean share images, thoughts, and provocations for themselves and viewers. A lively question and answer session brings this free program to completion.
At some point, all photographers sense their best and truest work lies at a point somewhere out beyond the threshold of their comfort. The question then becomes how to get there.
John Paul Caponigro and Sean Kernan, long-time friends, approach creativity in different ways, but they both head for the same transformative experience. During this conversation, they share personal stories of moments that changed their art and their lives. Meditation, playing music, acting, drawing, and writing are just a few of the practices they use to make room for the revelations that improvisation brings. They offer insights into moving beyond habitual practices and making space for the unknown, which is where the magic of the creative process happens.
Read Sean Kernan’s quick Q&A here.
Read our conversation for Camera Arts here.
View more video with Sean Kernan here.
View more Creativity Continues events at The Santa Fe Workshops.
Deciding what’s in the frame and what’s out is a critical decision that can make or break an image. You can look at it very simply. What is an image of? What is an image not of? And how does what’s left over support or distract from the essence of an image?
In the past we had two simple options; one, use the frame to crop; two, crop when printing or post-processing. Now we have two more options to think about; three, distort; four, retouch. Each of these offers different possibilities and becoming familiar with them all will help you choose.
It’s a new mindset. Once you learn to see in these new ways, you’ll find you’ll make images that you previously passed by, leaving them unmade or even unnoticed. As a result, you’ll make many more successful images.
Classic crops eliminate the most information
Crop
You’ve got choices. Choose wisely.
One – Crop Before Exposure
Use the frame to eliminate distracting information around a subject(s). Take extra care with image information that touches the frame, as it will draw extra attention. If part of an object is eliminated by the frame make sure what’s left looks deliberate - just a sliver lopped off or a sliver left over seems careless. Once you’ve made your exposure, you’re committed. You can crop more but you can’t uncrop. When in doubt, shoot both tight and loose.
Two – Crop After Exposure
Shoot loose (more than you need) and you’ll preserve your ability to refine a composition during post-processing, testing, and comparing many variations, even over extended periods of time, before settling on a final solution. Doing this will take more time but you will gain precision.
Distorted to fill the frame
Distort
Distorting photographs is widely practiced. But most photographers tend to think of their limited use of distortion as having produced no distortion. In fact, every lens distorts in its own way, some more than others, like wide-angle lenses. Lens profiles are designed to correct for lens distortion during post-processing by ‘undistorting’.
Many people think they aren’t distorting their photographs when in fact they are doing it on most of their images in multiple ways, first by using a lens, second by using a lens profile, and sometimes third by creating panoramas. Why are these practices more acceptable than using distortion and retouching as a part of your cropping practices? In the end, it’s your choice.
You can push one or more sides of an image outside its frame and achieve similar results to cropping. What’s different here is that the proportions of the objects and spaces left within the frame will change, typically getting taller or wider, usually only a little but potentially a lot.
You’ve got options. Test them before you settle on your final solution.
One - Transform
Use Photoshop’s Edit > Transform to distort an image uniformly. To move an entire side, hold the Shift key to move one side without moving the others. And/or, to move one corner independently, press the Command key before moving a corner point.
(To do this an image’s Background Layer needs to be a Smart Object or a duplicate layer.)
Two - Content-Aware Scale
Use Photoshop’s Edit > Content-Aware Scale to distort an image non-uniformly – smooth areas will expand or contract more than textured areas. Pull the areas you wish to crop outside the frame. Hold the Shift key while you’re doing this if you wish to change one side more than another and the image’s aspect ratio with it.
(Do this on a duplicate layer. Content-Aware Scale doesn’t work on a Smart Object.)
Three - Warp
Want more localized control? Try Warp. (Edit>Transform>Warp) Warp gives you a grid to adjust more points with. It adds the ability to modify the position of elements not just with the edges but also the insides of the frame. Do this on a duplicate layer or duplicate Smart Object. Warp works on Smart Objects but since it is not a filter so you can’t get the future flexibility of a Smart Filter.
Four - Liquify
You can use the Liquify filter to distort small portions of an image. For instance, moving something in the middle of the edge of a frame off frame without moving the corners. To do this, go to Filter>Liquify, start with the first tool Forward Warp and use the brush to get the effect you desire. It’s worth exploring the other brushes too as Liquify is a powerful distortion tool.
Distorted to fill the frame
Distorted version with aspect ratio changed afterward
Preserve Or Adjust Aspect Ratio
Both cropping and distortion may or may not change an image’s aspect ratio (the proportions of the frame). Cropping can be set to preserve a set aspect ratio but this puts limits on what’s possible as at least two edges, if not all, are adjusted together. if you adjust one edge separately from the others you’ll change the aspect ratio, for better or worse. But if a specific aspect ratio is important to you (either because the original creates consistency between images or because a new ratio is more expressive), after cropping you can distort the entire frame to the aspect ratio of your choice.
We’re responsible for everything that’s in the frame. We’re also responsible for everything that’s not in the frame. Deciding what’s in the frame and what’s out is a critical decision that can make or break an image. Framing and cropping are critical. If you miss a key element during framing you’re out of luck. However, if you overcrop you’re not, if you crop non-destructively and you remember to reconsider your crop from time to time. After you crop, you forget what you’re missing. It’s out of sight and out of mind. But it doesn’t have to be.
Lightroom and Photoshop’s crop tools allow you to see the image information you’re missing Here’s how …
In Lightroom, highlight an image and tap R. You’ll see the areas eliminated with a darker overlay. You never lose image information when you use Lightroom. It couldn’t be easier. What’s hard is remembering to do it.
Photoshop also makes almost as easy. First you have to open an image. Then press C (or click on the crop tool). Then click on the Crop tool control handles and you’ll see the missing information, again under a darker overlay. When you use Photoshop, be careful. Unlike in Lightroom, you can eliminate image areas permanently. Here are two ways. One, check the Crop tool’s option Delete Cropped Pixels. Two, flatten the file or merge other layers with the Background layer. You may think this has happened when you first look at a file that has been cropped in Photoshop as when you first click on the crop handles you won’t see the larger canvas but simply drag the right corner of the window out and you’ll see the bigger canvas.
Why would you need to reconsider your crop? To make future improvements as your vision evolves. In the analog darkroom photographers never (almost) cut their negative’s or transparencies. They masked them during printing. This means every time them made new prints they reconsidered their crops. Sometimes, after their seeing matured, they changed their minds – significantly. I’ve witnessed the greats reviewing their top images. One day, Arnold Newman adjusted his crop on his portrait of igor Stravinksy. Another day, my father reconsidered his crop for Running White Deer, making subtle but significant shifts in their final compositions. Those two images are both dramatically influenced by the way they’re cropped. If the masters do it, you may want to consider doing it too.
Small changes can make big differences. But you won’t think to make them if you don’t see what you’re missing. So make it a habit to reconsider your crops from time to time. It only takes a few moments and if you do, perhaps even your best images will improve.
Read more in my Creative Composition resources.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.
Maine’s rocky north Atlantic coast may be short on wineries but it’s rich in breweries. With the most breweries per capita of any state, as of early 2020, Maine is home to 155 active, licensed breweries, representing over 100 unique brands with a deeply independent strain (like its people) ranging from classically elegant to off the hook inventive. It’s become a beer drinkers paradise currently applying for its own internationally recognized style.
Many Maine breweries have tasting or taprooms. A disproportionate number are in Portland. Stop by and try what you can’t find even in the best stores with their limited batches and seasonal varietals.
No store could possibly carry them all so finding specific ones requires considerable hunting and gathering, which just adds to the fun. One of the best selections in the state can be found in Freeport’s Bow Street Market.
Whether you’re a Maniac or ‘from away’, with riches that could be an embarrassment (but we’re not) it’s hard to know where to start. Here are my top picks. (My taste tests are ongoing, so check back for new additions.)
1
They excel at Belgians.
Their White is a staple cloudy wheat.
Their Curieux is a stellar bourbon barrel tripel.
2
They do it all without overdoing it … or is it overdoing it just the right amount?
Savor their lush Thirsty Botanist.
3
They’re playful, richly rewarding, and sometimes even sweet.
Enter their radiant list with an Epiphany.
4
Their flavors are so in step with the independence of the pine tree state.
Taste the place in their evergreen Brightside.
5
Their creativity runs deep.
Ease into a wild ride with Substance an IPA with an understated name.
6
They excel at IPAs.
Start with their beer Lunch.
7
Though their list is deep, with plenty of range, they excel at lighter classic IPAs.
Try their Maine Island Trail Ale.
I find it mysterious and wonderful! The same oyster species grown in different places taste different. When you eat oysters you taste the seaweeds and kelps that surround them, the minerals in the rock and mud they grow on, and the salt in the waters they breathe. You even taste the temperature they live in. How is that possible? You’ve got to taste it to believe it.
Today (2021), about 150 oyster farms in Maine, extending from York to Washington counties, raise over 11 million oysters per year for the white table cloth market (an industry worth over $8 million). The Damariscotta River estuary in Maine is the largest site for oyster growth. Most Maine oysters have strong, hard shells, plump full meats, and a beautiful briny sweet flavor of a cold fresh clean ocean.
Maine offers a savory adventure with an impressive variety of oysters to choose from.
Pemaquid Points burst zaftig and briny.
Winter Points remain firm with brothy umami.
Taunton Bays offer a complex minerality.
Belon Rivers glide coppery smooth.
Dodge Coves supply sweet and sour tanginess.
Bagaduce Rivers balance bouquets in small creamy packages.
Glidden Points achieve an unusually crisp density.
North Haven Islands have a hint of honey.
Gay Islands share a touch of sugar.
Find the best selection in Portland at Eventide.
Find the best selection in Boothbay at Mine Oyster.
Find the best selection in Rockland at North Beacon.
Find the best selection in Rockport at 18 Central.
Follow the Maine Oyster Trail here.
Want them shipped to you? Try Maine Oysters Company.
There are lots of things to see and do in Maine.
Here are some resources to help make your visit even more special.
6 Great Maine Museums To Visit
The Best Breweries & Beers In Maine
Maine’s Best Oysters & Where To Find Them
15 Colorful Things To See During Maine’s Fall Season
.
Portland, Portland Museum of Art, 207-775-6148
Brunswick, Bowdoin Museum, 207-725-3275
Waterville, Colby Museum, 207-859-5600
Rockland, Center For Maine Contemporary Art, 207-701-5005
Rockland, Dowling Walsh Gallery, 207-596-0084
Rockland, Farnsworth Museum, 207-596-6457
Rockland, The Strand Theatre, 207-594-0070
Owls Head, Owls Head Transportation Museum, 207-594-4418
Camden, Bay Chamber Concerts, 888-707-2770
Southwest Harbor, Red Sky, 207-244-0476
Bar Harbor, Havana, 207-288-2822
Camden, The Waterfront, 207-236-3747
Camden, Natalie’s, 207-236-7008
Camden, Long Grain, 207-236-9001
Camden, Wolf Peach, 207-230-8315
Rockport, 18 Central, 207-466-9055
Rockland, Suzuki’s Sushi Bar, 207-596-7447
Rockland, In Good Company, 207-593-9110
Rockland, Primo, 207-596-0770
Thomaston, Thomaston Cafe, 207-354-8589
Thomaston, The Block Saloon, 207-354-5145
Clark Island, Causeway Restaurant, 207-910-6622
Portland, Empire Chinese Kitchen, 207-747-5063
Portland, Eventide, 207-774-8538
Rockland,Hampton Inn, 207-594-6644
Rockland, 250 Main Hotel, 207-594-5994
Rockport, Samoset Resort, 800-341-1650
Rockland, Berry Manor Inn, 207-596-7696
Clark Island, Craignair Inn, 207-594-7644
Monhegan Island, The Island Inn, 207-596-0371
There are many wonderful cottages in Cushing available on Airbnb and VRBO.
Rockland/Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce, 207-596-0376
Camden/ Rockport Chamber of Commerce, 207-236-4404
Maine Office of Tourism, 888-624-6345
Maine Tourism, 207-623-0363
You can learn a lot just by listening to yourself. Listen not only to the words you actually say, usually to others but also to the words you use in your inner dialog. When you speak about yourself, your creative life, and the works you produce, the words you use can be very revealing. They mean something to you. You choose them. Often you do this without realizing it and once you do new creative connections and opportunities will open to you.
Ask yourself …
Do you keep repeating specific words?
Do you use different words that all point to similar meanings, orientations, or attitudes?
Do the words you use share common concerns?
Do you tend to use more nouns (things), verbs (actions), or adjectives and adverbs (qualities)?
Do you tend to speak actively or passively?
Do you tend to speak in the past, present, or future tense?
Do you speak specifically and concretely or do you speak more generally and abstractly?
Do you finish your sentences or jump to new ones before you do?
It’s best if your observations about the words you use are made without judgment. Simply make observations. You can use this practice to savor the qualities of your everyday experiences that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. It can be helpful to expand your statements; say more to describe it better and find its connections to other things. After that, it can help to distill it all back down to what’s most important. If you do this you’ll feel freer, clearer, and more energized.
Becoming more aware of your concerns and attitudes will ultimately help you make more considered choices about your actions, reactions, emotional responses, and even self-image.
Greater awareness of the words you choose and how you use them can inform the images you make in many important ways – how you make them, the images you select, how you sequence them, how you process them, what you title them, what you write about them, how you talk about them, how you present them. Your words can help you discover and shape identity, meaning, and purpose.
Thinking too much about the words you use while you’re using them can sometimes get in the way. When this happens, record yourself and listen to it later.
It can also help to talk with someone about a subject that’s important to you. They can help you get your tongue rolling and keep it going by asking you helpful questions and offering you useful reactions while you’re talking together. Again, make notes while this is happening, or better yet record it and make notes then so you can stay in the flow while it’s happening.
It only takes one important observation to make the practice of observing how you speak extremely worthwhile – give it time and it will lead to breakthroughs if that doesn’t happen instantly.
Read more in my Writing Resources.
Learn more in my Creativity Workshops.