Workflow and the Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho)

Workflow, what the masters can teach us

Workflows comprise an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of actions to achieve an objective.  As we set off on this journey of a thousand miles along the path to creative photography, it is important to have an objective (or else we risk wandering aimlessly in the wilderness). It is equally as important to have a repeatable pattern of actions or workflow so that we can reach the same objective over and over.  If your objective is perfection then wouldn’t it be nice to be able to achieve that objective repeatedly?

With this in mind, I’d like to establish a few milestones for our journey. Just so that we all know the general direction of travel and if we stray too far from the path to remind us to get back on track.

Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho)

In his “Book of Five Rings“, Miyamoto Musashi, the 17th century master swordsman, describes the phases of battle through a five step workflow as he teaching sword skills to his pupils through five chapters or books:

  • The Book of Earth, is an introduction to the fundamentals, discussing martial arts, leadership, and training as “building a house“.
  • The Book of Water describes Musashi’s style of fighting with two swords “Ni-ten ichi-ryu”, or “Two Heavens, One Style”. It describes basic techniques and fundamental principles.
  • The Book of Fire”  talks about the heat of battle, and discusses issues such as timing, and
  • The Book of Wind” and “The Book of the Void“, discuss enhancements such as other styles and the importance of a correct mindset.

The Modern Workflow

In our journey together, we’ll work our way through the entire creative workflow.  Following the path laid down by Miyamoto Musashi we’ll adopt a similar approach:

  • Pre-Shoot where we will learn the fundamental building blocks (The Book of Earth) before going into battle (metaphorically), as well as become familiar with the tools of the trade (The Book of Water),
  • Shoot we will learn how to keep cool during the heat of “battle” (The Book of Fire), by correctly using our tools as well as getting our rhythm and timing right, and
  • Post Shoot we will learn how to enhance the image during the post processing stages (Book of Wind and Void)

Throughout the creative workflow we will look at being creative from start to finish and ensuring that every little move or technique is brought to bear at all stages to enhance the message of the image.

creative workflow

Workflow at its most basic

 

Final Word

Wax on, wax off

Throughout the Book of Five Rings there is an emphasis upon good old fashioned hard work, slogging away until you get it right. Repeating over and over again until the actions become second nature. Well, I hate to break it to you, but not much has changed, if you really want to master your craft you need to do the graft.

In the movie Karate Kid (the original) Mr. Miyagi teaches his student Daniel the noble art of karate.  All summer long he has Daniel wax his car (“Wax on, wax off“) and paint his fence etc. In the remake (which I must admit I prefer), Jackie Chan has Jaden Smith take off his jacket and hang it up repeatedly. In both cases, the students think they are wasting their time doing boring repetitive chores but when it came time to flex their muscles and actually do some karate, they find that all the “Wax on, wax off” pays dividends as their reflexes are tuned and the moves come easy.

Well, it’s the same with photography, if you put the time in learning the basics in the PRE-SHOOT stages, then when it comes time to spring into action during the SHOOT, you’re at an advantage, you don’t need to think about depth of field, speed etc., it comes naturally (well almost), so you can make the most of any opportunity and spend less time thinking about techniques and more time creating images.

I hesitate to say “lens on, lens off” but getting to know you camera is vitally important, mind just don’t do what this guy did.

Becoming familiar with your gear and constantly practising your technique will stand you in great stead.  It does require discipline and application but is worth it in the long run.  Ultimately, it allows you to focus on the creative aspects and in making images rather than fumbling around trying to adjust settings.

Remember….

Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

…. so get shooting and get all those practice shots out the way.

 

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