The Art of Photography… and of procrastination-free speech preparation
At this very moment I am trying to plan my presentation that I am giving for the Art of Photography Show in San Diego next Thursday night, in which I have an image of mine exhibited. Steven Churchill, who I met in 2009 at the Palm Springs Photo Festival, kindly offered the idea of doing ‘An Evening with Miss Aniela’ as part of their speaker series, and I thought it was a great idea. I never worry about presentations or public talks – until a few days before I go. And now is that time…
Why does my mind seize up like this? I scheduled today to be the day I open Word and Powerpoint and get my arse into gear, but all day I have felt positively inert. Inertia is the classic feeling I get when I am trying to plan a presentation or talk of some kind. There is so much I want to say and yet I don’t know where to start in planning it. It’s like trying to write a dissertation, except in this context, you shouldn’t feel like you have to say a massive amount, as no-one wants to watch someone reading off reams of notes. Improvisation always sounds more natural and is more enjoyable to watch.
That said, I have a folder full of previous presentations I have delivered: from Photokina Cologne to Photocamp Bradford, and my habit is to go to my last delivered presentation (in this case, the last one was one I did at Portslade Community College) and simply tweak various bits to fit in line with my latest thoughts, cover any burning issues that have emerged since then, add new work and any topics they raise, and mention what else I’ve been doing. Main things to cover this time include my commercial Self-Portrait Photography book that has just gone to print (a mix of technical, art and commercial like nothing the shelves of Waterstones has ever seen – and that I am VERY excited about), and my recent fashion and band photo commissions, along with more to say about the hybrid nature of the modern photographer/artist since I first started airing my thoughts in my Photocamp presentation last year.
I always am tempted to start the whole thing from scratch, bored by the idea of trotting off the same introductory lines about how I got into photography and Flickr this and Microsoft that, but then I come round to the sensible conclusion that my previous presentations actually went quite well due to those carefully prepared and illustrated Powerpoint slides, delineating my emergence from bored depressed student to present ‘artist’, happy but slightly confused at what to call myself…
(Above: Sojourn and Soliloquy… two separate self-portraits from my work that both use naked flesh and yet have somewhat very different tones.)
I have found that having a Powerpoint slideshow is always necessary, simply to be able to show my pictures. It’s also a way to show a few bits and pieces like the odd brainstorm or press clipping. I have found though, that incorporating a PP show is the point of difficulty itself – because then you have to work out what you are going to say whilst a certain image is onscreen –thus initiating the need to write down some notes with the slide number alongside – and the whole thing necessitates a kind of choreographing. That leads to the need for rehearsal – unless you want to run the risk of eradicating the natural, free-flowing, actually-look-at-the-audience appearance. Some of my past talks have been so carefully prepared though, that I end up sounding natural simply because I know the words so well that I don’t have to look at my notes.
I’m sitting in a car park writing this blog post. I needed to get some space to myself to be able to think – that’s how foggy my mind goes at times like this. I can’t have any clutter around me, or any people talking about anything at all, or the cat unfurling its long black body near me and causing the ultimate delicious distraction… I brought a hot water bottle and my laptop and have managed to get quite a lot done at last. I made the mistake of bringing my internet dongle with me but at least I got this blog post up. Unfortunately, a guy has just turned up in his van and parked opposite, and is staring eagerly thinking I am some kind of dogger. I think I will post this, turn on my engine and move on…
My talk is free to attend, at the Lyceum Theatre, San Diego, Thursday 28th October at 6pm. Read more about the event at this link.
Posted in Essays, musings, Talks on October 22nd, 2010 | 4 Comments | Tweet This!
4:38 pm on October 22nd, 2010
Actual spontaneity is way overrated in my opinion. But the appearance of it is pleasing. If you know beforehand what you want to say and do and have rehearsed it enough you will give that impression. Actors do it all the time and so do good presenters. Consider it a performance and you can raise it to an art form.
4:57 pm on October 22nd, 2010
Well, this is an interesting take on presentation. It appears that you have done presentations before (based upon your past blogs and posts on flickr) and I truly believe the more you do public speaking presentations the better you get at it. Really. It’s experience that’s the best teacher in this realm.
If I can give any advice based upon this past blog is to simplify it first. For example, make an outline of what you want to present and craft a story to it. Hence, it will have flow, meaning, and will resonate better with your audience. Then, you can be more detailed when you want to be because you will be able to extract from the simple message you want to convey. Start small and build and build from that. Hope it helps. Good luck and beautiful San Diego!
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1:52 am on October 27th, 2010
Thanks Brad and Bernie!
Sorry I got the time wrong. For anyone coming to the talk – I will begin at 6pm, not 7pm. That’s six!!
5:05 pm on November 5th, 2010
I have found when speaking that I need to know what my aim is and how I get there otherwise I get distracted and it becomes confusing to everyone. But I am sure that will not happen to you as your pictures are an inspiration in themselves and people are enthralled at the amount of work you put into them.
Good luck and I hope all goes well