Photography

The @Lytro isn’t a new camera, it’s a new medium.

The Lytro is a discontinuity in digital camera evolution. It’s not a new camera: it’s a new medium.

Lytro at SXSW PhotoCamp, Austin, TX, 2012

The Lytro isn’t just a new camera, it’s a new medium. Let me explain.

The Lytro, a discontinuity in digital camera evolution.

If you haven’t heard, the Lytro is a “light field camera” that leverages a new technology to capture images in such a fundamentally different way that comparing it to the average digital camera isn’t the right way to think about it. Instead of capturing a single representation of a scene at a single focal length, it captures a wide range of representations at different focal lengths. Press the shutter, and it doesn’t take a “picture” is as much as it captures a range of pictures.

What does that mean? That means instead of focusing the Lytro camera on a specific point of focus, you merely take a Lytro picture of the scene, and then when you look at a Lytro picture on your computer or the web, you can browse through the various possible focus points. This is the functionality most reviews focus on: you don’t focus a Lytro camera, you focus a Lytro image.

Of course, it’s not quite that simple, as the two modes, Everyday and Creative, are a bit different in how they are best used: Everyday mode is best for “refocusing across the entire scene”, while Creative mode “allows the refocusability to be concentrated around your subject”.

The difference between a Lytro and a traditional digital camera is most obvious (at the moment) for a particular kind of shot: where you have a close-up subject and a far-away background. In these situations, the Lytro “living image” is truly living, and as you click through the foreground, middle and background to refocus the image, the image feels as if it’s never finished (click here for examples).

I got to experiment with one at SXSW PhotoCamp, and talk to the Lytro marketing crew, and was fascinated.

As a technologist, I think the Lytro v1 is a fascinating example of the potential of the lightfield technology. Not quite a mass-market device, clearly not a competitor to Canon, Leica or Nikon, but something to watch closely. Just remember this is a v1 consumer application of breakthrough scientific research. The Lytro has lots of room for technological improvement and new applications.

The Lytro, a new medium.

As a photographer, I’m convinced this isn’t just a new camera, but a new medium.

Serious photographers will mock it initially, but that’s to be expected: discontinuities in evolution are always mocked. Serious film photographers mocked digital cameras. Painters mocked the first photographers. Each new style of painting was mocked by the prominent form of painting that proceeded it. That’s how evolution works.

What most of the reviews of the Lytro hint to, even as they compare the Lytro to a traditional camera, is that the Lytro isn’t meant to be compared to a traditional camera (digital or film):

When we spoke to Lytro’s Founder and CEO, Ren Ng, he made a comparison to Polaroid photography, and we think it’s a telling reference point. Polaroids seem ridiculous if judged by the standards of film photography but that didn’t mean they weren’t capable of offering something interesting and creative. It was a medium that offered something different and it was used both practically and creatively for those differences.

The best images out of a Lytro won’t feel like images out of a film or digital camera: the Lytro (and lightfield technology more generally) creates a new form of creative expression. Viewing a Lytro image is a lean-forward experience, not a lean-back experience. A great photograph invites us to lean back and move our eyes and our minds around an image. A great Lytro image will invite us to lean forward and dive our eyes into an image.

Neither form of experience is better or worse, they are just different. It’s possible to make great websites as both lean-back and lean-forward experiences. Television is increasingly creating interactive components and experiences. Why shouldn’t photography?

The key is that the creator of a great Lytro image will have to think differently than the creator of a great static image. Creative expression will be uniquely different with a Lytro camera, just as all new forms of artistic technology grant a new range of ways to create. The Lytro is different enough to warrant a different scope of creative imagination and interpretation.

Great artists learn how to use the tools available to them in their time. New mediums bring new masters. My hat goes off to the still-to-be-discovered, first, great lightfield photographer: it’s going to be fun to see how they do it.

Posted March 26th, 2012 in Perspective, Photography.

“Collaboration works best when both parties are curious about the outcome; hiring works best when you have a fixed objective.”

Two key points about collaboration, through the lens of photography.

Last October I spent an evening with 30 photographers, directors, videographers, sound engineers, producers, and editors through a Collaboration Speed Dating event led by Miki Johnson. The goal? Bring together a wide group of creatives to talk about how to find collaborators, to share tips they have learned about collaborating, and to find potential collaborative partners. *

After a bit of networking / chatting to kick off the evening, we broke up into three smaller groups to discuss and share. As one of the three facilitators, I kicked off the conversation by asking people what collaboration means to them.

Stephen Mayes, head of photo agency VII Photo, responded with the perfect spark:

It seems strange to be discussing collaboration when everything we do is a collaboration.

And he’s right, in a way, depending on how you define collaboration. To a portrait photographer, a portrait is a collaboration with the subject of the portrait. To a street photographer, the images are a collaboration with the street. To any photographer with an editor, the final images are a collaboration with their editor and the broader story. But many of us don’t think of it like that, and consider all the elements outside ourselves as merely inputs into our creative process, rather than key components of the process itself.

As we continued the conversation in the group, we delved into the topic by sharing stories of collaborative projects and the lessons we’ve learned. Two key points I pulled from the evening:

1) “Collaboration works best when both parties are curious about the outcome; hiring works best when you have a fixed objective.”

My summary: When both people are open to learning, listening, and figuring out the end goal through the creative process, collaboration works. When one person has a fixed objective in mind, hiring works best because it aligns both parties on expectations and roles right from the beginning. And even though collaboration may result in a better final product, if one person has a very set final objective, then they really won’t be in the right mindset to engage in the creative process. The creative process takes work, and both parties need to be willing and excited about putting in the work to make the collaboration successful. Important point for photographers. Very important point for startups, entrepreneurs, and investors.

2) “Don’t collaborate with friends, but collaborate with friends of friends.”

My summary: This is actually one of my contributions, which I attributed to Spencer Fry, who said “Don’t hire friends, but hire friends of friends.” Applies to professional photographers and creatives in the same way it applies to startups. Friendship isn’t enough, and is often distracting and suboptimal for the tough decisions and friction involved in creating great things. Regardless, the key is about establishing trust, communication, and paying deep attention to filters like skills, vision, and commitments to make sure you’re truly good matches for collaborating.

While this conversation focused on photography and creative projects, I strongly believe that they also apply to entrepreneurs and new ventures, particularly around hiring. Do you want someone curious about the outcome? Or do you have a fixed objective and discrete need? Do you want to hire your best friend, an acquaintance, or a loose connection? And when does it makes to hire each one of those people?

* Noting: a past audio / image collaboration between Miki and I from April 2010.
** I also kicked off SXSW PhotoCamp 2012 by sharing these lessons about collaboration.

Posted March 23rd, 2012 in Perspective, Photography.

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