1 00:00:01,742 --> 00:00:08,342 Hi everybody, this is Ty Schwartz with Snap Lens and we are here driving again in 2 00:00:08,342 --> 00:00:11,442 the back hill country of Texas. 3 00:00:11,442 --> 00:00:18,342 It is such a beautiful, it is flat, it is hilly, there is cacti everywhere. 4 00:00:18,722 --> 00:00:25,042 I have never been this deep into Texas and I'll tell you what, it is absolutely 5 00:00:25,042 --> 00:00:26,322 beautiful. 6 00:00:26,682 --> 00:00:31,886 So one of the things that popped up as I'm doing this drive in Texas. 7 00:00:31,886 --> 00:00:38,346 is I love looking I actually I do I like I like watching tick tock I'll tell you it's 8 00:00:38,346 --> 00:00:43,526 a nice little - brain break - it's kind of like - when I play the train game I have a 9 00:00:43,526 --> 00:00:44,426 train game that. 10 00:00:44,426 --> 00:00:49,726 Allows me to - get my thoughts together and think in a linear manner. 11 00:00:50,126 --> 00:00:53,906 I think sometimes that my brain - over goes. 12 00:00:53,946 --> 00:00:56,006 And over thinks things. 13 00:00:56,346 --> 00:01:00,110 And so I need a brain break and so I'll turn on tick tock. 14 00:01:00,110 --> 00:01:05,350 And I am that person that sits there and scrolls and watches tik -toks for two 15 00:01:05,350 --> 00:01:09,330 hours, and I'm like, okay Where did time go and why am I still awake? 16 00:01:09,330 --> 00:01:16,590 but that's that's that's the really cool thing about social media is If you if you 17 00:01:16,590 --> 00:01:20,910 manage your social media time and you think about what you're doing what you're 18 00:01:20,910 --> 00:01:24,860 not doing You know and you have a purpose for it. 19 00:01:24,860 --> 00:01:28,974 So for me looking at tik -toks is a brain break 20 00:01:28,974 --> 00:01:30,984 The same thing for Instagram. 21 00:01:30,984 --> 00:01:36,894 Now I'm not, I would love to say that I'm on Instagram way more than I am. 22 00:01:36,894 --> 00:01:41,394 I'm on Instagram just enough to know what's going on and looking at what other 23 00:01:41,394 --> 00:01:46,074 photographers are doing and just seeing some really cool images. 24 00:01:46,374 --> 00:01:48,374 I always find it interesting. 25 00:01:48,374 --> 00:01:57,194 There's a lot of Instagram models that they're learning and it's interesting to 26 00:01:57,194 --> 00:01:57,774 watch them. 27 00:01:57,774 --> 00:02:03,014 grow from the first couple of times that they've modeled something to after a year 28 00:02:03,014 --> 00:02:05,494 or two as they've matured as a model. 29 00:02:05,494 --> 00:02:12,634 And that's kind of what my topic is today, is the maturity of our understanding of 30 00:02:12,634 --> 00:02:17,054 what impact is in the world of photography. 31 00:02:17,054 --> 00:02:22,474 Now, impact is one of the elements of the 12 elements of a merited image. 32 00:02:22,474 --> 00:02:26,822 And I think that for me, when it comes to impact, 33 00:02:26,862 --> 00:02:30,802 I think about TikTok and I think about Instagram and Facebook. 34 00:02:30,802 --> 00:02:33,602 I don't do so much with X. 35 00:02:33,982 --> 00:02:37,942 It's more, X is so political that I just can't do it. 36 00:02:37,982 --> 00:02:44,222 But I do like social media because it allows you to scroll. 37 00:02:44,222 --> 00:02:47,282 If you don't like something, you can scroll on. 38 00:02:47,462 --> 00:02:53,722 I typically don't make a lot of comments because if I disagree with something, next 39 00:02:53,722 --> 00:02:56,226 thing I know it is just nothing but. 40 00:02:56,430 --> 00:02:59,670 intolerant people be visceral. 41 00:02:59,770 --> 00:03:02,450 And that's not something that's a lot of fun. 42 00:03:02,450 --> 00:03:08,750 So what I do is as I'm scrolling, I'm looking around and I'm saying, oh, this is 43 00:03:08,750 --> 00:03:09,200 interesting. 44 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:10,650 I stop what I'm doing. 45 00:03:10,650 --> 00:03:11,950 I'm looking at something. 46 00:03:11,950 --> 00:03:17,830 I'm really interested in what I'm watching and learning when I'm seeing this stuff. 47 00:03:17,830 --> 00:03:20,500 But it's interesting to me. 48 00:03:20,500 --> 00:03:24,490 So whether it's video or it's a photograph, it's creating an impact. 49 00:03:24,490 --> 00:03:26,158 It's emotionally. 50 00:03:26,158 --> 00:03:33,098 attaching me to something that's going on in somebody else's life or it's connecting 51 00:03:33,098 --> 00:03:35,858 me with a vision that somebody has. 52 00:03:35,858 --> 00:03:41,598 It's given me an idea for sometimes I'll have an idea that's floating around in my 53 00:03:41,598 --> 00:03:48,678 head and I can't necessarily get it on paper or describe it or I've described it 54 00:03:48,678 --> 00:03:51,750 100 % wrong and I've tried things and I've made it wrong. 55 00:03:51,758 --> 00:03:57,238 But by scrolling through social media sometimes I get a great idea based on 56 00:03:57,238 --> 00:04:03,378 somebody's idea and then I take that idea and then I add my personality to it and 57 00:04:03,378 --> 00:04:09,398 for me, I'm adding my impact and my understanding and my level of 58 00:04:09,398 --> 00:04:15,378 Communication visual communication to that now I'm not going to go out and I'm not 59 00:04:15,378 --> 00:04:17,158 going to copy somebody verbatim. 60 00:04:17,158 --> 00:04:20,454 I mean, I think that is you know, I 61 00:04:21,197 --> 00:04:25,057 not as creative as you could be. 62 00:04:25,057 --> 00:04:30,217 But if I take parts and pieces of other people's ideas and then I turn that and I 63 00:04:30,217 --> 00:04:35,437 grow that into my own idea, then I've created impact for not only me, but 64 00:04:35,437 --> 00:04:39,957 hopefully the people who look at what the content I'm creating, they're saying, 65 00:04:39,957 --> 00:04:45,377 okay, so that's different, that's unique, that's really impactful for me, and I'm 66 00:04:45,377 --> 00:04:50,958 helping them come up with ideas or visions, and that's what... 67 00:04:50,958 --> 00:04:57,538 I think being a creative analytic is, is how do I take and I analyze other people's 68 00:04:57,538 --> 00:05:03,638 work and then I take those ideas and then I create it and mesh it into my own. 69 00:05:03,638 --> 00:05:08,678 And I think that's kind of a simplified way of saying, hey, I'm doing a mashup. 70 00:05:08,678 --> 00:05:12,058 There's no way that anybody would ever want to hear me sing, so I'm not going to 71 00:05:12,058 --> 00:05:13,378 do a singing mashup. 72 00:05:13,378 --> 00:05:16,778 You definitely don't want to see my, see me dance. 73 00:05:16,778 --> 00:05:18,956 My wife Nicole has. 74 00:05:19,214 --> 00:05:23,074 banned me from dancing in all 50 states and pretty much every country we've ever 75 00:05:23,074 --> 00:05:24,174 visited. 76 00:05:24,174 --> 00:05:29,314 She knows that I have zero rhythm to dance whatsoever. 77 00:05:29,314 --> 00:05:34,254 I could carry a tune in a bucket and the bucket would sound better. 78 00:05:34,394 --> 00:05:36,714 I've tried to pick up musical instruments. 79 00:05:36,714 --> 00:05:41,534 I have zero ability to create beautiful music. 80 00:05:41,534 --> 00:05:45,634 It's kind of like a dying goose squeaking at Hallhorn. 81 00:05:45,634 --> 00:05:47,252 It's horrible. 82 00:05:47,726 --> 00:05:54,246 singing abilities, but when it comes with a camera I'm able to create and design and 83 00:05:54,246 --> 00:06:00,726 tell stories and create impactful emotional events for people and I think I 84 00:06:00,726 --> 00:06:09,006 think to me that is That is important When I look at my images, I I want to have 85 00:06:09,006 --> 00:06:15,146 Memories, I want to know what I've done Over the last couple of days. 86 00:06:15,146 --> 00:06:16,486 I want to know what I did last month. 87 00:06:16,486 --> 00:06:17,486 I want to know I 88 00:06:17,486 --> 00:06:23,846 You know, I want to be able to tell my life stories in the images that I created. 89 00:06:24,166 --> 00:06:30,466 And it doesn't have to include me in those images, which is what I love about being a 90 00:06:30,466 --> 00:06:37,366 photographer is there's so many images and so many stories of just watching people do 91 00:06:37,366 --> 00:06:41,466 amazing things and then trying to figure out how to tell their story and create 92 00:06:41,466 --> 00:06:42,566 impact for the viewer. 93 00:06:42,566 --> 00:06:45,306 Because I want the viewer to say, wow, that's a great image. 94 00:06:45,306 --> 00:06:47,086 What are they doing? 95 00:06:47,438 --> 00:06:49,858 you know, and find out information. 96 00:06:49,858 --> 00:06:53,158 One of the things I loved about the Navy is the images that I created. 97 00:06:53,158 --> 00:06:57,498 Got to tell the story about sailors doing stuff around the world. 98 00:06:57,498 --> 00:07:03,918 I absolutely love telling humanitarian mission stories because, you know, you 99 00:07:03,918 --> 00:07:10,158 have a sailor that's from Iowa that's never been out of the country going into, 100 00:07:10,158 --> 00:07:14,304 you know, Indonesia and helping people who need help. 101 00:07:14,510 --> 00:07:18,410 I think that is an impactful story, but how do you tell that story? 102 00:07:18,410 --> 00:07:24,050 How do you create the impact where people want to ask questions? 103 00:07:24,050 --> 00:07:29,230 And I think that is one of the challenges that you have as a photographer because 104 00:07:29,230 --> 00:07:33,800 for me, I don't think I could ever be a bulk photographer. 105 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:38,230 I could never be a high school portrait photographer that just went into an 106 00:07:38,230 --> 00:07:41,750 elementary school or a middle school and just photographed every single kid the 107 00:07:41,750 --> 00:07:44,174 same exact lighting, the same exact pose. 108 00:07:44,174 --> 00:07:49,094 click click click click that to me I hated doing that I've always hated doing that. 109 00:07:49,094 --> 00:07:54,974 Because there's no - for me there's not a lot of creativity it's just a lot of 110 00:07:54,974 --> 00:08:01,454 people coming in sitting down smiling next person - and it's I could be a factory 111 00:08:01,454 --> 00:08:06,954 workers very repetitive - but what I do love about photojournalism or creating 112 00:08:06,954 --> 00:08:08,774 high school senior portraits is. 113 00:08:08,774 --> 00:08:13,326 You know what's your personality what what's impactful to you. 114 00:08:13,326 --> 00:08:16,626 And what do you want to tell the world about yourself? 115 00:08:16,626 --> 00:08:21,246 Because you have to imagine 10 years from now, are you going to still be playing 116 00:08:21,246 --> 00:08:22,266 that instrument? 117 00:08:22,266 --> 00:08:25,776 10 years from now, are you still going to be running track? 118 00:08:25,776 --> 00:08:28,376 Or are you going to be running at all? 119 00:08:28,376 --> 00:08:36,186 I mean, I know after I was injured and I broke my leg, it was so painful to run 120 00:08:36,186 --> 00:08:39,906 that it just was very, it was life changing. 121 00:08:39,906 --> 00:08:42,158 So I just want. 122 00:08:42,158 --> 00:08:47,758 people to see when they create when I create images what's changed in their 123 00:08:47,758 --> 00:08:51,538 lives and one of the books that I read as a kid. 124 00:08:53,138 --> 00:08:59,158 Was a book about transcendental analysis and basically how do you say hello to 125 00:08:59,158 --> 00:09:02,758 somebody after you haven't seen them in a while and that's what I want that impact 126 00:09:02,758 --> 00:09:06,478 to be is hey I know this person but. 127 00:09:06,858 --> 00:09:11,310 Is that the same person in this photograph or is it a different person. 128 00:09:11,310 --> 00:09:13,270 What impact have they have on my life? 129 00:09:13,270 --> 00:09:16,110 Or what impact have they had on other people's lives? 130 00:09:16,110 --> 00:09:21,170 What story is happening here that's impactful to my emotional state when I 131 00:09:21,170 --> 00:09:22,310 look at that image? 132 00:09:22,310 --> 00:09:28,430 So those are the things I think about when I'm thinking about impact and creating 133 00:09:28,430 --> 00:09:30,390 images and telling stories. 134 00:09:30,390 --> 00:09:38,190 I think that it's real important for me to understand that just that one image. 135 00:09:38,574 --> 00:09:45,334 life changing impactful image - I remember - and I know I'm running out of time I try 136 00:09:45,334 --> 00:09:50,234 to keep these down to ten eleven minutes - one of the most impactful photographs that 137 00:09:50,234 --> 00:09:51,054 that. 138 00:09:51,054 --> 00:09:54,194 I took was I was on mission. 139 00:09:54,194 --> 00:09:55,874 Photographic Marines. 140 00:09:56,434 --> 00:09:58,994 And one of the Marines was sitting up on the A. 141 00:09:58,994 --> 00:09:59,714 V. 142 00:09:59,714 --> 00:10:03,814 - and they were leaving the back of the ship and I just happen to photograph him 143 00:10:03,814 --> 00:10:04,594 sitting. 144 00:10:04,594 --> 00:10:06,414 On top of the A. 145 00:10:06,414 --> 00:10:06,766 V. 146 00:10:06,766 --> 00:10:12,126 And I made the front cover of one of the Navy military magazines. 147 00:10:12,366 --> 00:10:18,506 And I was out photographing, I think George Bush had gone to Naval Air Station, 148 00:10:18,506 --> 00:10:19,786 Coronado. 149 00:10:19,786 --> 00:10:23,606 And his mother was there. 150 00:10:23,606 --> 00:10:27,436 And somehow she had gotten hold of the PAO. 151 00:10:27,436 --> 00:10:34,222 The PAO walked her over, introduced her to me, and she let me know that... 152 00:10:34,222 --> 00:10:41,002 That image was the most impactful image of her life because six months after I had 153 00:10:41,002 --> 00:10:46,362 taken that image, her son had been killed in Afghanistan. 154 00:10:46,382 --> 00:10:52,962 And that was one of her favorite images of her son doing what he loved. 155 00:10:52,962 --> 00:10:59,102 And I think for me, the emotional impact of that hit home more than any other 156 00:10:59,102 --> 00:11:01,486 photograph I've ever taken because... 157 00:11:01,486 --> 00:11:06,206 I was able to capture what I thought was just a moment in time and I thought, oh 158 00:11:06,206 --> 00:11:07,786 wow, cool photo. 159 00:11:07,786 --> 00:11:12,586 And that's as deep as I got with that photograph until I met the mother. 160 00:11:12,586 --> 00:11:19,686 And then I realized that as I'm creating these images, I'm telling the story of 161 00:11:19,686 --> 00:11:24,486 somebody's son, somebody's daughter, somebody's significant other. 162 00:11:24,486 --> 00:11:30,680 And that is more impactful and life changing. 163 00:11:30,862 --> 00:11:34,002 not just for them, but for me as a photographer. 164 00:11:34,002 --> 00:11:40,202 And I'm seeing things that I'd never saw before I even had that moment with his 165 00:11:40,202 --> 00:11:41,282 mother. 166 00:11:41,462 --> 00:11:47,802 And even telling the story now, I get kind of choked up because of how impacted I was 167 00:11:47,802 --> 00:11:53,102 with that level of sincerity and honesty from mom. 168 00:11:53,402 --> 00:11:55,282 Anyway, so thank you for listening. 169 00:11:55,282 --> 00:11:59,242 I am Ty Swartz with Snap Lens Education. 170 00:11:59,242 --> 00:12:00,110 And I... 171 00:12:00,110 --> 00:12:04,250 would love for you to check us out on YouTube, check us out on our SnapLens 172 00:12:04,250 --> 00:12:09,510 .blog, visit SnapLens .com and see if there's anything there that you like. 173 00:12:09,510 --> 00:12:14,950 Our goal is to help people learn about photography, just kind of get insights 174 00:12:14,950 --> 00:12:22,610 into the photographer's mind and just really just tell stories and think about 175 00:12:22,610 --> 00:12:25,370 why we do what we do as photographers. 176 00:12:25,610 --> 00:12:29,070 And I just absolutely love everything. 177 00:12:29,070 --> 00:12:29,760 photographer. 178 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,410 Thank you and stay tuned for the next episode.