Goal Setting for Documentary Photographers

Contrary to most business books, magazines, white papers and articles, I've never been good at setting goals. Experts say that goals need to written down and specific (there seems to be a lot of numbers involved in most goal-setting examples).

But what I do have is vision. I know what I'd like to see accomplished with documentary projects and visualize what the end results will look like. Then , I look at what steps might be needed to achieve those results. There is usually less stress involved in this approach rather than meeting self-imposed deadlines and number crunching.

My vision for my documentary work for the coming year involves four items:

1. See "Florida Soup" printed, published and on store bookshelves. I am currently involved with tweaking the final manuscript and photographs with the publisher.

2. Complete a significant amount of work for the statewide project, "Back Roads to Back Home: Finding the Voices of the Sunshine State."

3. Get a handle on blogging and social media. To do this, I will be working on a social media experiment combining old-school tradition photography (influenced by the work of Atget, Penn, and Avedon) with the latest social media methods. Okay, there might be some numbers involved with this one: something like "add____ number of new visitors or "Likes" from Facebook based on this experiment)

4. Begin a local project (Volusia County) focusing on the positive perspectives of people at work and at play.

Re-Use and Sustainability

A new photographic / oral history session:

“Seems like the more civilized we get, the worse off we are. Wasn’t it Nero who fiddled while Rome burned?” asked Dan Hiscock. It was a different start to our conversation but it was hard to avoid the news from the day.

In what would become apparent in a short while, it was a day of contrasts. The negativity of the times with the contentment and satisfaction of an individual devoted to sustainability and self-resiliency.

Dan has kept his hands dirty in a lifetime dedicated to hard work. Now retired, he is devoted to two pursuits: gardening and mechanics, which lately has involved building cookers/smokers out of recycled parts.

Communication Skills Learned From "Florida Soup."

Well, the materials for the book project, Florida Soup: Putting History On the Table, have been sent to the publisher. At times, this 2-year project seemed like it was taking closer to 10 years to complete. I have been evaluating the project from several different perspectives and have recognized some skills and traits that were used. Some of these skills I acquired during the process, others were inherent; some technical and related to photography technique while others were more - philosophical. Over a series of blog posts, I thought I'd share what skills I have learned about completing communication projects. Today's trait:

PATIENCE

Effective communicators, whether they might be working on a photography project, publishing/book project, or even a PowerPoint presentation need patience. Photographers are known to wait for the right light, pose/expression, and the "decisive moment." As an accidental oral historian, I learned to be patient with subjects who decided to stray somewhat from the topic being discussed. Many times, this proved to be valuable additional information.

Patience and the ability to see the goal in the distance and keep working diligently rather than haphazardly is sometimes difficult, but a key in successful projects. Impatience can lead to mistakes.

On a time-crunched Saturday morning, I tried to save some time and vary my approach in talking and photographing a rancher for "Florida Soup." I had no other appointments to keep, but I thought it was necessary to complete this work as soon as possible. I started to fumble with my camera equipment, made a wrong light meter reading, and generally, was making a fool of myself in front of this rancher. I apologized over and over. Finally, he said, "It's a beautiful day. I've got plenty of time. It's okay."

I stopped, gathered my thoughts, and said, "You know, why don't we just sit a talk awhile, first?" We talked for nearly three hours. I listened to some fascinating stories that I might have otherwise missed due to my impatience.

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." John Quincy Adams

Dark Night's April

Photographic oral history session with north Florida peanut farmer, Gary Ward. “We plant around May 10. But it used to be, the older people, before my time, would plant on a ‘dark night’s April.’ That's like the 15th to 20th of April. That was the old belief - the Old Farmer's Almanac. They would say we've got to get our peanuts out by the ‘dark night's April.’ That's when they planted.”

Oyster Heritage

Patrick Millender: "I’d go out and oyster with my mom and dad. I would skip school saying I was sick, but there was no sick day at the house. We’d go out oystering. About 2:30 or three o'clock, I'd see the school bus go by and think, I can go home now and do what I want to do. But when that sun crests on the bridge, that's when we go home. That was four hours later."

Florida Soup Project Nears Completion

We have two stories left to complete about old Florida cooking and food production for the Florida Soup project. One of our most recent photographic oral history sessions was also one of the most memorable. Home-cooked meal on an old wood-burning stove at the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement in Blountstown.

Photography and Farming: It Gets In Your Blood

Wonderful photographic/oral history session with Gerald and Valarie Meadors for "Florida Soup." They are blueberry farmers near Mims and I can't wait until blueberry season. They have an interesting operation including U-Pick Blueberries. "Farming and gardening gets in your blood. You grow up with it and it stays with you. I always have to have a garden." Gerald Meadors.

"Cuba, Castro, and the Life of a Florida Farmer."

"My dad was a farmer in Cuba. He started out as an actual worker. And over the years, he ended up owning his own farm. I think he ended up with having 60 or 70 people that actually worked for him. He was the owner of the farm. They had everything from cows, vegetables; everything you can think of. The farm was probably one of the largest ones in Cuba.

As things got better, he was very successful. Had probably the best food that existed in our country. Everything was good. Then, Castro came in and promised everything in the world. Within two years, Cuba became communist. All my dad’s stores were taken away. All the farms were taken away, they took everything."

Back Roads to Back Home: Finding the Voices of the Sunshine State

This is a documentary portrait of rural Florida to be presented as a gallery exhibition, book and art education program.

The history of this land, and what it means to be “rural,” remains largely unknown. Florida has a rich harvest of storytellers from a tobacco-spitting blue crab fisherman who recounts commercial fishing practices of yesteryear to a rancher who reminisces about Depression-era farming. We will travel extensively throughout Florida with no strict schedule or itinerary, allowing us the freedom to discover lost Florida through documentary photography (exclusively using the 4 x 5 large format view camera) and oral history. The project will give a voice to ordinary Floridians who have interesting stories to share about rural life.

Past Projects

Through research, fieldwork, and exhibitions, the programming of CDI provides thought-provoking material to the general public. We have received grants from the Florida Humanities Council and Cultural Grant support from the County of Volusia.

FLORIDA SOUP: Putting History On the Table

A documentary project to learn about about the historic cooking habits, food production and recipes that defined the family and community in Florida’s rural counties.

www.floridasoup.blogspot.com

Sponsored by Dairy Farmers