The more I learn, the more I realized how much I don't know. The perfectionist in me keeps pushing to know more. The laziness in me says "that's enough!" In my head, this somehow relates to your article 🤔
Love this, and I’m still very much trying to become a better artist. I think it’s additionally challenging to do this when you’re making your living from commercial photography. Only the best of the best can marry the art and the commerce because they’re often antithetical.
Also, this footnote was pure delight:
Nobody's arguing you can take a picture with a shoe.
Good piece of writing here Bill. I agree with you on the gear obsession. My advice from a fellow commercial photographer to another is to close your eyes, visualise all the technical knowledge you have acquired over the years and place it in a box, a mental box. Take a deep breath, and let go. You'll know what I mean with this. 😉
I appreciate it, Xavi. I am better at letting go of what I think I "should" do, technically, than I used to be. But it can be genuinely hard to try to do less in order to make something better. Especially when you were trained that "Production Value = Quality." Thanks for reading.
You are on point with this one. During the height of my magazine career, my favorite parts of interviews had to do with with ideas and process, rather than gear and technique. However, the latter is what was often emphasized because it was advertisers that kept the wheels greased. Today, that structure has transitioned from print to the internet. The podcast provided me an excuse to escape that trip and to learn for myself how photographers discover what they are meant to say with their photographs. I'm still figuring it out, but I'm glad that I'm not stuck in the rut of obsessing on equipment and gear.
I would have thought one of the great freedoms of moving from print publishing to the DIY model would be that everyone would be free to talk about other things beyond what the advertisers wanted. Instead so much is made to serve the algorithm that I think it's gotten even worse. So instead I write what I want to read and hopefully others like it too. And I am most definitely still figuring it out right along with you. Thanks for reading and commenting!
"My problem is I’m all craft and not nearly enough art". That's the most brutally honest self-assessment I think I've ever read Bill.
It's also a question that everyone who is endeavoring to be creative needs to ask themselves.
Good stuff.👍
Thank you, Ross. I appreciate it. I’m bleeding all over the page here.
Here’s the TL:DR summation: “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing” applies to photography as well as to jazz.
I won't argue!
The more I learn, the more I realized how much I don't know. The perfectionist in me keeps pushing to know more. The laziness in me says "that's enough!" In my head, this somehow relates to your article 🤔
Love this, and I’m still very much trying to become a better artist. I think it’s additionally challenging to do this when you’re making your living from commercial photography. Only the best of the best can marry the art and the commerce because they’re often antithetical.
Also, this footnote was pure delight:
Nobody's arguing you can take a picture with a shoe.
Don’t come at me, photog cancel mob. Get a life!
That's right! Don't come at me, outrage machine.
You make a very good point: the art and the commerce are often antithetical. Man, that's so true.
Good piece of writing here Bill. I agree with you on the gear obsession. My advice from a fellow commercial photographer to another is to close your eyes, visualise all the technical knowledge you have acquired over the years and place it in a box, a mental box. Take a deep breath, and let go. You'll know what I mean with this. 😉
I appreciate it, Xavi. I am better at letting go of what I think I "should" do, technically, than I used to be. But it can be genuinely hard to try to do less in order to make something better. Especially when you were trained that "Production Value = Quality." Thanks for reading.
You are on point with this one. During the height of my magazine career, my favorite parts of interviews had to do with with ideas and process, rather than gear and technique. However, the latter is what was often emphasized because it was advertisers that kept the wheels greased. Today, that structure has transitioned from print to the internet. The podcast provided me an excuse to escape that trip and to learn for myself how photographers discover what they are meant to say with their photographs. I'm still figuring it out, but I'm glad that I'm not stuck in the rut of obsessing on equipment and gear.
I would have thought one of the great freedoms of moving from print publishing to the DIY model would be that everyone would be free to talk about other things beyond what the advertisers wanted. Instead so much is made to serve the algorithm that I think it's gotten even worse. So instead I write what I want to read and hopefully others like it too. And I am most definitely still figuring it out right along with you. Thanks for reading and commenting!