Archive for the ‘Thoughts & Perspectives’ Category

I don’t claim to know the right answer to this question and suspect it is different for every individual, but it has plagued me and so many other photographers for years.  The question at hand….. Do we specialize and create a niche with our photography or not? To be honest, I have been picky my entire career and for the most part have been very selective about the work I show and the jobs I accept.  I have never wanted to water down a web site or portfolio with images that I thought a client might want to see or hire me for, if it would somehow reduce the quality of work that it was among.

For all intents and purposes I completely stand behind that philosophy, however as I mature in my career and creativity, the fact that I like to push myself to be challenged in shooting different subject matter, grow creatively, and have a passion for creating and problem solving in general, is hard to ignore.  It also seems counter intuitive to the way I was educated in a liberal arts and Jesuit tradition in both high school and college, which emphasizes a love of learning, well roundedness, and critical thinking.  Who would have thought that having a wide variety of talent and experience to bring to the table and a passion to learn and challenge one self to deliver the best results would be a disadvantage.

I completely understand that to be great at any one thing, an individual must invest an incredible amount of time and effort to pursuing that education or craft, but I wonder if as a society we have taken it a little too far.  Witnessing the intensity and training of some of my sons teammates in particular sports at the early age of 8 is a prime example, and I find it sad.   It is determined for so many children at an early age by their parents, what sport they will play and dedicate their lives to.  In China, children who show promise and talent in a particular sport or area of education are plucked from their families as early as 5 years old to train year round.  In a global market, those are exactly the individuals that we and our children will compete against at every level and wonder if trying to keep up, compete, and follow the mold of success like the Tiger Woods of our generation, is the wisest choice.  Yes they might have far superior training in one area of expertise.  Yes they may have played a sport so many hours for so many years that their bodies operate like machines on instinct or they might have studied complex math problems and equations from the age of 3 that they can make sense of any complex code and command their salary for a job at the NSA, and yes, I have absolutely gone a little further down a road then I anticipated, but my point is this.  As much as I respect the Peyton Mannings of this world, or the Frank Lloyd Wrights, or Warren Buffetts, the reality is, most of us are not in a position to win a Superbowl, are trying to build the most creative and unique home in the world, or have the means to seek Warren Buffetts investing advice to make millions.  The majority of us simply want to seek satisfaction out of our work, do a job well, love and be loved, and live a quality life.

I am not sure what grand revelation I have come to, or whether I will brand myself as a specialist or not, but what I do know is that the friends that I enjoy the most are those that I can hold an intelligent conversation with about anything,  the best solutions to specific problems seem to come from people who are able to look at it from a different perspective, drawing from a broader knowledge base, and as much as I hold myself to a high standard and would love nothing more than to be the absolute best at one thing, I believe the sacrifice of not experiencing all the diversity that life has to offer, as well as the time with my family in the pursuit of perfection, is far too much to sacrifice.

Well I was poised to add another blog today about another subject when I received an email and learned about the death of Ken Gehle, a fellow photographer out of Atlanta,  just shy of his 47th birthday.  Although I did not know him personally, I knew his work well and the loss comes as a shock. Perhaps the shock is due largely to the fact that I see the similarities in our lives and it hits a little too close to home.  He too had a wife and 2 children, one boy and one girl, just as I do, and we both had similar styles and passions in life as well as our photography.  A battle with cancer took him from his family and already having a melanoma myself when I was 27, I understand that cancer can strike anyone at any time.  So naturally, when I heard the news, it caused me to reflect on my own mortality, and on what truly matters in life.

First and foremost I want to share Ken’s website with you, where proceeds from print sales will go towards his kids college education  http://www.kengehle.com .     From his landscapes of Newfoundland to his environmental portraits of everyday people, his work was beautiful, clean, and of the highest quality.  I myself would visit his website from time to time to seek inspiration in my ow work.

The unfortunate news conjured up various thoughts.  What about the the longevity of my photography and more importantly, it’s ability to earn income for my family, if I were to meet a similar fate.  The reality is, if I were to suddenly die today, my computer would gather dust, the 12 external hard drives with over 6 terabytes of images would become paper weights, and the filing cabinets full of transparencies would remain in the dark.  Like most photographers, I can be very controlling when it comes to my work and therefore am the only one who really knows the system, what images are where, and how to access them, so the reality of my photography living on and having the ability to earn residual income as stock photography or prints for my family, is remote.

While the thought of it can be depressing it raises a more fundamental question, which is what is my true worth?  As artists we put our hearts and souls into our work and it very much can define us.  We value it more than any client is capable of doing because to them it is utilized to gain a result or profit, but to us it is often an expression of who we are and how we feel.  But when it is all said and done, they are just images, it was just work, and a means to supporting a family and although I would like to commit to having a plan for my work to live on in the event of a tragedy, perhaps my time would be better spent enjoying time with my wife and kids so instead of my images living on, the memories of me in their lives will be what endures.

I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for Ken to fight everyday knowing that sooner or later the cancer would take him from his family.  I can’t comprehend how heart wrenching it must have been for his wife and children to witness it.   What I do know is that it is very easy to get caught up in the every day and let work take over our lives.  I am very fortunate to make a living doing what I love, but in the end it is a job that will cease the very second that I do and there will be plenty to take my place.   The memories that I create and the love that I give to my wife and kids however will live as long as they do and my role in my family is unique to me and not one that is easily replaced.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Ken’s family and I thank him for  producing work during his time that was inspirational and for reminding me how  fragile life can be.

I lost an Uncle the other day who fought and defied cancer for 4 years after doctors diagnosed him as terminal and only gave him several months to live.  No photography related subject matter here,  just honoring a man that lived a life worth honoring.   My Uncle John was a true gentleman and one of the kindest and most positive individuals I knew.  He was what you would call genuine,  and they don’t make many of those these days.  He was always a good example to me and my siblings growing up but in fighting cancer and living the remainder of his life with such optimism, strength, courage, and grace,  he taught me more than he will ever know.  It is how we should all live every day.

One of my favorite memories of my Uncle, with photos included, was when during a family beach vacation we had a wig party.  At the time he was undergoing chemo and lost all his hair and that night someone loaned him the classic mullet wig. “business in the front and party in the back”  About midway through the night I pronounced that Uncle John’s  mullet was my favorite to which he turned to me and replied  ” You know everyone keeps saying that to me tonight……… now what in the hell is a mullet”

Thanks for the memories……. you will be missed.

O.K.  I am adamantly against those chain emails that threaten bad luck and disaster if you do not forward it onto 10 people and although the one my mother recently sent did not do that, it actually may have raised the bar.

She sent, by regular mail, a classroom journal.  Don’t get me wrong, I like my own kids school projects……… sometimes….. but this was a project for a 5th grade student in New York who I didn’t even know.   It was a journal that the class was hoping to spread around the country for individuals to write in describing where they lived. They wanted you to include photos, descriptions as well as to send a postcard to the class while the journal continued it’s way to the next victim.  Sure, in the initial directions it asks that if you can not complete the project within two weeks to please mail the package to someone else who can.  That doesn’t seem like a viable option to me.  I would have a very difficult time sending the journal onto a friend, family member, or even enemy, asking them to take out time to participate when I couldn’t even do it myself.

This task was going to take out time from any individuals schedule but to pass it on to an artist who by nature links a large part of their self worth to what they create… well that is just cruel.   Of course I know she didn’t think much of it and really, why would she think that I would obsess about it the way I did.  As I sat at the computer, literally for hours, importing images and designing pages when every part of me was trying to stop myself and get back to actually making a living, I began to question whether I had serious issues or not.  Part of me wants to justify it by claiming myself the perfectionist but there is the other part of me that is disgusted with myself for caring too much about something that really doesn’t matter.  What is ironic is that the journal entry before mine is from my mother who went on the computer, googled Ocean City, Maryland, and printed out a few pages she found on the area and glued it to the pages of the journal.  Done !    I started that same way, thinking she was brilliant, but after researching, I was not finding the right material.  I attempted to find a couple of skyline photos of Charlotte, and either was not happy with what I found or the ones I did like, could not in good conscience use out of respect for the copyright holders…..  O.K.  I am sure pride played a role in there too,  after all, what self respecting photographer uses someone else’s photos over their own?  Then it dawned on me, I had photographed Charlotte fairly extensively on an assignment for the US AIR in flight Magazine several years ago.  Piece of cake! Download the PDF’s of the article and photos, print them out, paste them in and move on……………well that would be too easy.

After downloading the pdf’s I realized that I had to contend with advertisements and layouts and dimensions that did not fit my 5th grade journal dimensions and that is when it all started.  Suddenly I was scaling things, redesigning, importing new images, and laying out a brochure on Charlotte……so maybe I really do have problems……. but I know there are others out there that would do the same thing.  The real question for me is, would my mother be proud that I have high standards and produced a good quality journal entry for a  5th grade project out of personal pride, or would she think I was an idiot?   Being that my mother used to put dried Cheerios and a frozen bottle of milk in our cribs at night that would be thawed when we woke, ensuring another hour or two of sleep for herself, tells me that I know the answer to that question.