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 try new things and deliver the best results, regardless of the task, 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 difficult 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 any subject matter,  the best solutions to specific problems often 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 an extremely 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.