Gotta love The Onion. First rate reporting.
It’d be great to be a Blue Angels pilot, I think. But having flown in formation with them a couple of times and having my head scrambled to the point of not being able to find my ass with both hands while these guys are flying wingtip to wingtip at several hundred knots, I know that’s not happening. Ever. Just ain’t got the skills.
Everybody has occasionally wished to be something else, or perhaps something they cannot be. I wanted to play center for the New York Knicks many years ago. My meager athletic skills and tendency to remain steadfastly governed by the laws of gravity made that unrealistic.
I’m sure all of us who endeavor photographically have met folks who want to be photographers, which is totally cool. I’ve always been of the opinion that we’re all in this mix together. It can be a tough gig, but also a wonderful one and thus very alluring, so questions and aspirations abound. And, once the photographic cat is out of the bag, a gear discussion often ensues. Also cool. I’m a gearhead, so hey, let’s talk f-stops. But then there are those folks who don’t discuss wanting to be, or the fact that they love shooting and are thinking of dipping a toe in the market waters, or they are working on a project and learning and seeking advice and pushing and getting better. There are those folks who coulda been.
Met a pretty confident, aggressive guy recently, while shooting this Geographic job that is currently turning me into an angst ridden pretzel. He went the equipment route immediately. No wonder. He had lots of turbocharged stuff, like, I don’t know, the Canon 3D Mark4S with the Eddie Bauer camo coating and the fast glass with the low rider flame decals. I was, you know, respectful, saying intelligent, pithy things, like “Whoah.” And, “Cool.” Maybe the occasional, “Yeah!”
It was an extensive recitation, to be sure. He flat out said he really had the gear down, knew how to work all of that stuff and that he could be a photog. Lock solid. Done deal. Shoots lots of pictures. Then, he got thoughtful and said, “My big problem is content.”
You know how you’re smiling at someone and there’s that moment where your face just kinda gets fixed and slightly immobile, cause it doesn’t know what to do next? You keep smiling, but it feels like somebody just slapped on a quick facial mask, one of those gooey, crusty, pomagranate, blue green algae seaweed paste numbers? A glazing, if you will.
What do you say? In my head I’m screaming, like, “That’s a pretty big problem, dude!” But I think I mumbled something about just hanging in and working it.
Happens, right? I had someone once, swear to God, say to me that they could be a photographer, but they just didn’t have the time. I kind of spluttered a reply, something like, yeah, wow, it can be time consuming. You’d have to take fewer shifts on the lube rack.
I love photographic dreams and aspirations. Got a ton of ’em, even still. I love looking at pictures and sorting out ideas. Especially at a workshop, where there is one essential element in the room all of us share–the desire to find the next level. It’s great looking at work, especially a project, ’cause that set of pictures is really a road map to how that person thinks and feels. That’s why picture editors I came up working for wanted to see your contact sheets, not just your greatest hits. Your contact sheets show very clearly where you hit it right, or where you went off the rails.
I especially love the fact that I still feel overwhelmed in the field. There are time I am so completely bereft of inspiration and ideas I say to myself, “I wonder what a really good photographer would do right now?” I’m not kidding, or being self effacing. There are some jobs I just feel like I’m standing there, the last human in a horror movie, and the zombies are closing in.
So you have to be confident, to be sure. (Or project confidence even while inside your head the insecurity meter has gone to DefCon Five.) But a healthy dose of anxiety and self doubt (“I’m using a 200–maybe I should go wide?”) are also important tools in your bag. Causes you to double check yourself and remember how fragile photographic success is, and while your last frame was Fat City the next one might be a ticket to Pismo Beach. The fact that you rarely have THE answer is a good one to remember. No need to focus on it to the point of paralysis. Just remember it. You are only as good as your last job. The next one may just eat your lunch and your soul.
So I don’t have too much patience for the odd person or two or three or dozen who gives you that kind wink and cocksure nod about how they could do this bang on full time and you should see the fantastic stuff they just shot. I used to just smile and nod. Now, thirty years on in the struggle to be good at this seemingly easy thing to do, I think I just nod.
Oh well, just part of the human condition I guess. I mean, I coulda been a brain surgeon. I just always had a little trouble with math and science. More tk….
;
Joe,
God, I hate that I’m doing this, but…check on the definition of knots. It’s already distance/hour.
From another numnut….with nothing better to do but knitpick.
I’m trying to become a photographer, and the thing I notice when I talk to pros is how old and beat up some of their equipment is. I think, “even your camera has more experience than I do.”
Joe, thanks! That makes me feel a lot better. I am one of those photographers who is always worried what I should do, if I should do this or that. I love my gear too, but I could give a rats *** what I am using. I just want to capture the shot. If I need my 1941 4×5, or thats all thats around, I will do what I need to get the shot, the whole time worrying, what will the client think when I pull this thing out. I really want to be a great photog, hope i have the guts to get there. Time will tell, but I am going to keep chuggin away till I figure it out.
That was fun – love your parting line.
“My big problem is content.” – You still kill me Joe. I laughed all the way to the coffee pot. You gotta quit dissing the Eddie Bauer camo coat or da Moose gonna come afta yer butt dude.
I could be a big time shooter, if only Nikon would give me free stuff, Elinchrome would have to pitch in too. After I finished my photographic career in record time, I could have a tryst with Elle McPherson….you know, I could.
If I wanted to.
Life’s wasted on coulds and shoulds. It’s better spent half terrified and half excited of the things you actually did.
I like when people say, “that’s a lot of equipment you’ve got there, you must be a professional.”
I want to say “Only when I get paid.”
Joe,
I love ya brother. There is so much technical info out there, info on lighting and composition and framing, but the stuff i love reading is your stuff about how to deal with the internal battle of photography. Everyones looking at you and your like “how the hell do i pull of this photoshoot..”, or being on assignment shooting sports for a living and standing next to 5 people with better equipment just “doing it for fun and so i can see my name in the paper.”
I love ya joe, your the best teacher i never even met.
But on a serious note – it also hurts a bit.
I’m 41 and only started thinking about living of my photography a year ago. I’ve been shooting for a long time, but that’s when I started to take it seriously. I’ve stuff to say with my photos. I love working with other people. I’ve found my voice.
I also have two small kids, a wife and a rather expensive apartment. And a well paying job in IT.
That’s a hard switch.
I guess that kinda makes me coulda been.
Except, I’m working on it. And I’ll get there. I’ve a plan.
Joe, I must have met the exact same guy at our last exhibition. All the gear and a stack of average photos in his back pocket that probably weren’t even his, telling us all about how great he is but he just doesn’t have the time to bother becoming a photographer. Ya gotta love it…
Thanks for all of your wonderful insights!
Thanks Joe–just the pep talk/commiseration I needed today!
Joe,
What do you say to those folks who, say, have the content, have …some… equipment, but are too uncertain to “dip their toe in the market waters”? How do we get past the holy-crap-what-if-I-don’t-make-enough-to-pay-rent thoughts without any market experience?
I thought knots were something you got in the pit of your stomach when you fly with the blue angels.
Joe, I love your insights and truthiness… it is a comfort to hear that no matter how well you do something, you are still subject to moments of self doubt. Thanks for telling it like it is!
People looking for time I have your answer, cut out sleep. If you’re a parent you’re already doing this. The rest is easy, ignore your relationship, daydream at work, then take whatever camera you have and make it work for you.
Joe,
I think humility is a good trait for any human to have let alone a photog. Thanks for sharing all that you do. As for me? I’m just a hack. But I’m having fun! I don’t make any money from my camera.
“My big problem is content” – wow – how do you keep you face from contorting into the “holy smokes how can you function with only two brain cells” look?
Joe, you wax as eloquently in words as you do in the visual realm. Thirty years of shooting commercially, I so relate. One of the most frequent questions asked over the years has disappeared……”How do ya like that 1000 speed film?” But I still get the folks who have never mustered the courage to move the dial from “P”, telling me they know they could do this professionally. At a time when “pro” shooters are vanishing faster than the buffalo, I nod as well. Hope to see you at ISAP 2010, or maybe before as we cross paths at 5 am in a sky cap zone somewhere.
JW
Have you ever read Janet Evanovich??? Your blog read like her books about a really disfunctional family..and that’s a good thing. This camera man with the flames on the Eddie Bauer lens coat discription..just precious. You created a visual again…that’s what you do. 🙂 DK
I met a wonderful man and I think our mutual love of photography clinched the deal. And, almost from date one, he was talking about you and The Moment it Clicks and how good your tips are. You’ve really inspired him.
He’s the type who always has a good dose of anxiety and self doubt.
He’s a highschool teacher who gets to teach photography among some other things [like how to put a yearbook together]. He loves it!
I’m am a radio DJ who shoots for my own enjoyment though I tell him that, when we get married, we need to start up a photography business on the side. He says “Well, let’s practice some more because I’m rusty.” I laugh because he’s rather good and I say, “Sure, we’ll do more practice shoots. But have you seen what’s out there and who’s out there charging for shoots… and how much better you are than they?”
He lent me the aforementioned book (and I have since bought it for another aspiring photographer).
About a month ago, I did a shoot with my best friend in front of a huge sun flower field. I used a white pillow as a light modifier. It’s all we had… I own no fancy gear but a D40… Open sunshine and a pillow!
Ha! That frozen rictus face is exactly the one I had when a woman looked at my prints and exclaimed “my 10 year old takes pictures every good as that”. My eyes still bulge with indignation over that one. They’d never say that about someone’s watercolour sketches – it is the sheer ubiquity of cameras that makes people think photography is easy. And that improvement is a function of expenditure.
I’m one of those wanna be photogs. But I know I suck. I know have a shit load to learn and it’s not just about f-stops. I know I have to sell the hell out of it. I was trying to figure out how I could go out full-time. But I knew I need to work with someone first. Sorry, but school won’t cut it for me. Then BAMM! My dream came true!! I just got hired by a photographer full-time! I’m leaving the graphic design world, I paid a ton of money to learn, for a photog gig, self-taught. I’m scared shitless but super stoked at the same time. I love it.
I agree with Rock. Spent more time doing and less time talking. One of the best things about photography is you have tons of images to look back on and remember what it was like shooting that day. Oh and ya I could be a millionaire if I would just play the lotto…
I was a commercial photographer right out of college. Gave it up. Became a cop and got beat on and shot at for 28 years. It was much easier…
Straight talk and writing born from hard won experience driven by love and fascination.
It’s what makes you one of the best on or offline as well as a down to earth inspiration for many of us.
I’ll bet you also get “I could write like you” from someone who has no idea how hard it is to write like you. And that most people couldn’t come close. This was a joy to read.
A very interesting commentary. I’ll be happy if I make “coulda been” status someday.
Both my grandfathers were photographers. One stormed the gates at Buchenwald, taking pictures on Gen. Patton’s orders. The other had a dark room in his basement and was self-taught.
Did I want to be a photographer when I was a kid? Naw. I wanted to be a paramedic. So I became one. Oddly enough, I get the same kind of questions. “Boy, I’ll bet you’ve seen some cool stuff?” “Gee, I wish I could do that!”
No you don’t. No one should ever have to see the things I’ve seen.
A photographer I admire one said you don’t have to go to Afghanistan to get good pictures, but oddly enough, that’s where I am. Saving money for gear and school.
I understand it’s not all about the gear. I’d like to show people the world as I see it. Feel it how I felt it, and every once in awhile take someone’s breath away. I’d also like to do what my grandfather did. Record history, show people that there are things in this world that they should be aware of, and should never forget.
Maybe “Coulda been a contendah” is all the further I’ll get, but I’ll go down swinging. I know my grandfather would expect nothing less of me.
I’ve made a difference in this world, albeit a small one in the grand scheme of things. I’m hoping it’s my time to do that in a different way now. I’m not the next Indiana Jones, looking for “Fortune and glory” and I’ve read a couple books by this guy name Joe McNally that inspire me and show me that if you try hard enough and keep at it, it is possible to do this.
I’ve fought what seemed like losing battles at the time, in fact I hardly know anything else. I’m ready to try it again.
I also hope that if some day, I am fortunate enough to meet you, I’m worthy of more than a nod.
Thanks.
Thanks for the pep talk as I stumble out the door to a big shoot. I think you hit it on the head with needing a “healthy dose of anxiety and self-doubt”. All that angst keeps one humble and hopefully open to seeing things with a fresh eye.
Always a great read – thank you.
Really appreciate this article Joe! Your extensive experience is tempered with true humility, and I think that’s what draws people to you as an instructor and source of inspiration. It has definitely made me a big fan!
That’s why picture editors I came up working for wanted to see your contact sheets, not just your greatest hits.
Sheeeeeeesh! That’s like one of my journalism teachers asking to see all my scratched out story drafts. Talk about building courage.
And I don’t ask “What would a really good photographer do?” I just ask “What Would McNally Do?” (Thinking about getting some WWMD? bracelets made up.) But I know that that won’t even give me the answer. You not only know your gear, but you have 30+ years of experience behind you to support and validate every decision behind the lens you make.
The other imaging personality I have spoken with is the “if i only had” dude.
If i only had a ticket to… if i only had a faster… my X is not Y, so i can’t…
Well gee, I believe you run with what you have and see what happens…
Last night I was watching amish contractors putting up vinyl siding in the late day light
I had my pocket P&S and made a few frames
Straw hats & pneumatic hammers on roof silhouetted with a pink/red sky.
Maybe i got something maybe i didn’t
but i tried.
Joe, the first thing that came to mind after I finished reading, (with a smile I might add) was this:
Yoda: “No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.”
Great post Joe. Having been voted off the company island a couple of months ago, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately shooting while trying to decide what to do next. And by trying to decide, I mean putting off making a decision and psyching myself out with dumb amounts of self doubt and anxiety. Thanks for helping with a little push.
Now, where did you say those BA tryouts were? I just kick ass at Flight Simulator X. Might as well get paid for it, right?
Joe, I met you in Italy on a NG workshop in 2007. I was so worried about being an uber novice. I showed up with my manual and my laptop and a whole book on post production. Something you said on the first day kept me up the first night, and now, the words that I wrote down still hang on my board in the office.
“photo editing is not where pictures happen, the camera is..the exerience is….so tap in to your passion for photography. Take risks in ways that you never thought you would when you are out there. Because in the field is where the photos are, not here in the lab…” When you said that, the whole class took a collective breath in, and then the only sound we heard was jerry courvoisier fainting in the back of the room. lol
It was because of you and your insights that I left the manual in the room, and came home without it. It was the push into the pool that I needed to figure out why I love it. Thank you, infinity.
Remy Gervais, CA
Great post, Joe. As gallery owners, we frequently heard from photographers visiting any given exhibition: “I have photos like that!” or “I shot there, let me show you”. As you so eloquently say; “You know how you’re smiling at someone and there’s that moment where your face just kinda gets fixed and slightly immobile, cause it doesn’t know what to do next?”
Thanks Joe. I’m set to do a shoot in ohhh four hours and just had a major case of the “HOLY CRAP I CAN”T TAKE A PICTURE TO SAVE MY LIFE”-itis. Turned to my blog list to find some inspiration and lo and behold you delivered it. Thanks so much for being there when I needed the confidence to take the baby-steps again.
As my dad’s always told me, you don’t have to have all the answers, you just have to know where to find them.
I’ve been put in any number of situations where I haven’t, exactly, you know, KNOWN what I was doing. And of course that produces some anxiety. You take a breath, and you figure it out. I’ve done photo shoots, overseen commercial productions, taught a class, and all the while I’m waiting for someone to storm the doors and yell “Fraud!” So far, nothing. In fact, most of the time, all I hear is “Great job!”
Since I put black gaffer tape over my Canon logos and over my lens’ red lines, I’ve had fewer of those wannabes approach me while I’m working. They used to recognize “their” 5D in my hands and HAVE to tell me they had one, and proceed to list the rest of their gear.
The inverse of this phenomenon is someone seeing one of your better photos and saying, “Wow… you must have a GREAT camera!”
Yes, and thanks for a wonderful dinner. You must have some great pots and pans.
Another good point.
Trying is all, even if you then fail – at least you tried. Last night my neighbour (who does audio visual stuff that is very clever but cannot use a camera at all) came up with an brilliant suggestion that we do something together commercially. This evening I am looking at some raw files from 2 weeks ago and thinking I should tell him go elsewhere but there is the idea. Push, push, push.
Thanks.
Been there, I hate journos telling me what to shoot, My biggest pet hate whilst working is a gearhead coming up to you who expects you to stop and talk to them. Im working!!!
Or someone that follows you around,
I am working,
the trick is to be a duck, smooth on the surface paddling like mad underneath,
I despise fix it in photoshop magazines, even though I have great respect for Mr Kelby and his band of merry men.
If you want to see an inspirational photographer check out mystic pics.com yes he does use photoshop however his visions are outstanding.
Now for my fifteenth cup of java before the gearfreak spots me, gotta go
Rich
Joe,
Thats an elegant post! I often metaphorically compare photography to golf. Both I consider forms of art. Do professional golfers still get nervous on the first tee? Do professional golfers have bad days? We all golf (or try). We’ve all hit that drive or putt that sends the same feeling of accomplishment up our spines and into the part of our brains that tells us to pull out our wallets and do it again ’cause the next time, I might have that feeling all day! Or I might not. Fancy golf clubs don’t hit the ball straighter! 😉
Great post Joe. It speaks to a humility that all of us should possess.
This is the best thing I’ve read this week.
I really think Brian Strauss hit on another really good point. When I was in the AF I always had a studio to play in, backgrounds and lights galore (and they used to encourage playing). When I got out I went through withdrawals. I had a great camera and flash but almost nuthin’ else. It took me some years to realize that a “studio” (and this is going to sound simplistic and moronic!) consists of; a subject, a light source (could be the sun), a camera, and a photog who knows or is willing to learn what to do with the first three. The rest is gravy.
Pete may be right about the definition of “knots,” but your usage of the word appears to be correct.
Speaking of physics, I recently confirmed the accuracy of one of Newton’s laws. Dropped my Canon 40D. Memo to backpack users: Zip it up before you put it on. Memo to backpack users who didn’t get this message on time: Canon’s Factory Repair Service is actually pretty good. A bit pricy, but no surprise there.
Great words of encouragement… You area absolutely correct about feeling overwhelmed with panic, as well as frustration and the feeling of not being as good as the other guy. That being said, with an artform as subjective as photography, hanging in there and constantly searching for the next level is the key… Your books and blog are some of the best reading around, thanks Joe!
Thanks for that post Joe. I’ve dealt with this type of thing and figure I always will. I have a famous photo school in my area and I have to laugh when they trot out the expensive stuff.
An old newspaper photographer said to me once that while its nice to have the latest, greatest and most expensive gear that if you don’t start learning how to create the photo with the gear you got (I was shooting high school football with a 70-200 zoom) than you’ll never have a full understanding how to create with the big stuff (the college kid had a 400mm 2.8 and a new brand new digital body from the school’s camera pool).
I have always though about that as I’ve slowly built my equipment list this past decade.
I enjoyed the post. It’s like a conversation you have with someone about someone else, and it reminds you of who not to be. Of course, I find that as long as I don’t give up the merry-go-round, I take my turn on every carousel horse.
There is only one problem: You are Joe “De-facto/via the mechanism of . . .” McNally, and each of us is . . . one of millions.
Sure, you’ve been where a lot of us are – learning and failing – but weren’t times different? Were there as many cameras as there are today? Did you look at a massive Red Sea of aspiring photographers and think, “Is it even possible for me to distinguish myself?”
You have doubts, and it’s great that you share them. Please continue to do so. I’m done. I feel better.
Thanks Joe!
Thank you for being so candid about everything. If you have issues, where does that leave the rest of us then 😉 Photography exposes the human condition more than most other activities. Many live in fear, but hope for the future.
It’s amazing how even the most experienced and talented of artists (photographers, musicians, writers, filmmakers etc) often feel like they’re not expert at all. I think it’s partly what defines a real artist. The knowledge that inspiration comes from somewhere we can neither understand nor completely control. Looking forward to many more of your forays into the unknown 🙂
Knowing that at times even great photographers feel overwhelmed and need to search for their next inspiration is the most honest proclamation I have heard this week. It gives me hope that when I feel these same emotions their is still light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks Joe and give Nigel a scratch for me!
Great article. I’m a amateur and have lots of respect for the pro’s out there. However I enjoy photography a lot, I think I’ll keep it as a passion, exactly as it is now. My job was also a passion one day, and it’s my job now. I don’t want that to happen to photography. If I can make someone happy by shooting and even get paid for it, I only do it when I will love it to, and take the monny as a bonus making up my cost funding my passion. That’s it.
But reading the article and the post’s I got a thought…
If there are talented people out there, who only let them hold back by the bussiness side of the jump into the adventure of being a photog, wouldn’t it be great to have the next book of McNally, him telling abbout the bissiness side of the job, and teach us what you have exerienced in your 30 years? It might clean up people minds and take their passion to the next level… making it a Life Style.
It is reassuring to know that someone that has been in the business as long as you still gets ‘stage fright’. I have a possible (extended) gig shooting a local band and I am feeling the pangs. Thanks to you, they have subsided some.
Just awesome. BTW, I could probably write something this good too if…okay, so I can’t.
Great post, Joe! And lots of great comments afterward. I couldn’t agree more. I have only started the working for magazines gig in the last year or so, but already I have had those same wingnuts tell me how they coulda been a photographer “if only. . .” AND the person who recently told me (after I told her that I’d heard Downeast Magazine was actively seeking new talent)that she would NEVER work for a magazine–she wants to be “inspired” by photography, not “assigned.” She had just finished getting a whole 2nd bachelor’s in photography at the local art school and put her kids through hell while she wasn’t around, and she’s still not working on any photography a year later and has no plans to. sheesh!
I love that you are a great photographer and a great teacher. I’m a wanna be. Your writing takes me into the world of photography and for a moment in time, while I read your blog, I’m a photographer.
Today’s blog reminded me of another great teacher, Robert Halper. I had to show him my best shot during a workshop. After I showed him my favorite, he said, “Show me another.” I did. This went on for about 10 frames as he patiently asked me to show him another of my “best” shots, which I thought
peculiar because my “best” shot was right in front of his grim face. FINALLY, it hit me what he wanted to scream at me–“I see nothing good.” I had taken every photo in a 20-min. session from the same point of view and changed nothing other than the model’s pose–had same camera angle, lens, etc. It was like my tripod was on super glue.
Hats off to wonderful photographers who shake up our thinking and squeeze better photos out of us. You’re like little gremlins in our minds when we turn on the camera. You make it memorable!!
Woulda, shoda, coulda- I’ve had 38 years as a financial services guy after a few years of failure in the Electronics business who picked up a P&S a few years ago, moved up by stages to a Nikon D300. I study the books, read the blogs, take the courses on the net, almost but not etc. Why not? Ain’t got the guts to take a workshop because someone might find out that I don’t know nothin. How to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. One thing I learned in business is that every one feels they can do what you do only better. Anxiety? Try talking to an actor or an artist, they lay it all out there, too, with less opportunities to make money. I’m lucky, I got the “calling” when I had the time and money to follow the path. It would be interesting to parse the the word “focus” Its what we do in our heads as well as our eqipment. Thanks Joe, for the insights; knots, by the way, are a measure of speed to the fly boys as well as us poor devils that went on and below the waves. I got scared at 30 kts.es.
That’s why I love ya, man…great sense of humor, incredible honesty, and a willingness to share. Thanks so much for doing whatcha you do, Joe.
Love this post! The part about feeling like the last human in a horror movie hit it right on the head. It’s comforting to know that someone as amazing as you still secondguesses himself sometimes. Funny and inspiring- thanks for letting us peek into your world.
Love the point of view. Reminds me of a comment Rick Sammons always makes, ‘When you aim the camera, it’s pointing both ways.’ When it points back at me, if I have nothing to say, the shot will have no content, no matter how good the subject is.
Read both your books. Watched your videos on Kelbytraining. Know all your tricks. I understand your anxiety.
Thanks, Joe, for making me better friends with that little gnome in my head that screams “You don’t know what the f… you’re doing, do you?” at almost every shoot.
Why don’t they make films like “On the Waterfront” anymore?
BTW, Pismo Beach is on the coast near the PRW (where I met you); and it is a lovely place. So stick w/ knocking Toledo (:<)
Best.
Chris
Great post! I enjoy taking photos a lot, but have no dreams of being a professional photographer. I just want to take photos that provide us great memories, and know how to take photos that will make people go, “WOW!” I only have a nice point-and-shoot because I need to get better and understand what I’m doing before spending all that money on the really nice equipment. I mean if I gave you my camera you could take some really awesome photos. So while equipment does matter, HOW it is used that matters a lot too. I’ve known many people who have the really nice DSLR’s and glass but have no clue how to use it and take so-so photos. One of these days I will upgrade my equipment, but until then, I’ll just keep reading blogs like yours to better my skills, and get some fun insight and laughs. Thanks for allowing all of us to learn from you! 🙂
Timing is everything. I just sat through a group session I attend with 7 photographers. I saw one body of incredible work, 21 images culled down from 18,000 and spot on. I sheepishly put my 12 images up with little more than this part of what is what I shot this summer. No keepers among them, and I knew it.
The challenge is not in capture or the equipment, but in the work. You choose to make an image of something for a reason. Finding that reason, and making it a body of work, or a top image is the hard part.
I think that rating, self examination, and culling out the project is the toughest thing to do, and the least taught or done. I go to the critique to try to do this better. As Joe says, sometimes you have it and you can see the work. Other times in your head you wonder what you are doing.
The other issue is after you find something, and it is a great body of work, and perhaps your finest work, where do you go from there?
Sorry for the questions. Still struggling.
Bill Bogle, Jr.
It’s incredibly hard and challenging to run a photography business. Not only that we need to shoot well, we need to sell our services/brand/artistry well too. There is so much about the photography business that is not about f-stop, shutter speed and that newly released kick-ass camera.
Great post.
I think that this hubris can be seen in almost any profession where pros engage with hobbyists. Average citizens who like to cook at home will naively decide they should open a restaurant. Those who make cookies or breads on weekends start an “artisan bakery” — though they have never baked professionally. In their own minds, they must be thinking, “How hard could it be?”
Pretty hard, as it turns out. I get no joy from seeing them fail at it, but it’s annoying when hobbyists don’t respect the commitment necessary to excel as a pro in your craft.
i think you could be a blue angels pilot. all you need to do is get yourself a plane and some fancy flying attire…. then you should be all set. driving a car/flying a plane wingtip to wingtip… i mean, it’s essentially the same thing, right? ((choke)) ((choke))
I could’ve been a photographer.
Oh hang on …. I am :oD
CW
Patiently listening to the gear-heavy ‘content’ photographer:
3 Karma points
Sharing your thoughts and experiences with us in such an entertaining way:
4 Levels of Appreciation
“I had someone once, swear to God, say to me that they could be a photographer, but they just didn’t have the time”:
Priceless
Sorry, I generally hate the blog comments that people leave…no offense….but Joe’s blog reminded me of the time a friend of my wife (so, some of you might recognize the implications..) said,” You’re a photographer, you know about nudity…!
Where do people get the idea that this is an easy job that anyone can do,if they’re not busy doing something important? (“Money for nothing, chicks…” taking there clothes off)
I don’t EVER get hit full force by 300 pound linemen, but sometimes at the end of the day I feel like I have been…..oh, never mind….
This is the part I hate…Thanks Joe, for your books…etc.
I also hate typos and I mispelled ‘there’. Please insert ‘THEIR’
I’ll never be a pro, but I’m just as happy where I’m at. I have a real job that I love, and a passion for photography that keeps me sane.
By the way Chris, whats wrong with Toledo. I like it here.
Haven’t we all met people like this along the way! This ought to be required reading for any aspiring photographer.
LOL. Got a big grin at “my problem is content”. Sigh…what’s the point of all that gear then? It’s reassuring to me that you still get overwhelmed in the field 🙂
As I used this very distinctive catch-phrase of a movie quote while blogging recently, I just had to stop by and throw a few cents in (where of course, pennies are meaningless) the mix.
Very sad but true post – and as with anything – content is always king. You can know the crap outta mechanics, but without the creativity, the mechanics become meaningless. Like a brush without a painter, a camera in the hands of one who lacks fundamental concepts on creativity is utterly useless.
Catching up on my blogs on a Sunday morning when the paperboy must have slept in . Comforted to hear that you can still be overwhelmed in the field – Thanks for the straight-up and humble encouragement to working photogs.
And hey, you gotta problem wit Pismo?
Joe, you inspire all of us wannabe “numbnuts” out here. An aspiring enthusiast myself, will never get paid for my photography, but truly love the adventure of trying. Thanks for your humility and down to earth approach to photography and……..life. That is why I keep going to Kelby training and rerunning the same videos over and over and over again…….
Thanks for the honesty. I would imagine that the niggling doubt in your mind when you wonder how the pros would shoot something is exactly what makes your work so good.
I dreamed of being a photographer for a while, but I soon snapped out of it.
Sorry guys…..
I guess a lot of it is people being gearheads and totally forgetting/not realising that ‘photography’ is about telling a story and communicating ideas.
In the age of ever cheaper more-wizzy digital light-tight-boxes everyone is an expert because they know the spec sheet.. but i guess they forgot it was still just a light-tight-box with a hole in.
I’ve done a few wedding gigs now, something I got into as a favour to a friend but people seem to really like my photos and i guess i’m looking at it as something to persue part time, but i know i’ve gotta keep pushing myself and trying new things, thanks to you Joe and others like David Hobby theres plently of inspiration out there.
Joe, you are a treasure. I’ve lost count of the times I have laughed out loud reading your brainwaves. When your funny bone hits the reality nerve, I crack up, and when I stop laughing I realize you’ve illuminated something worthwhile, behind the lens.
Thanks
Hey there Joe!
Another great article here as not only am I a new photographer, but I am also a new professional photographer. I think I am one that put lots of dedication, time, and money and was able to move from the amateur realm to the professional realm at a pretty advanced pace due to all the information on the internet and your books.
I am almost complete with my degree in college and I was lost in what I wanted to do for a living before I discovered your writings last Feb. and now I shoot for the Orange County Register!
The professionals I work with say my best quality is my confidence and enthusiasm, but many misinterpret that for arrogance. In the end, I am doing what I love and you have helped me indirectly, immensely along the way.
Your observations of the industry and world in general really lend perspective. Thanks Joe!
I am going to buy a D3X, and all new fast glass. Then I can be as good as you……. Sorry, fell of my chair.
Thanks for the good laugh, I needed it.
Later,
The Slow Learner
Hi Joel, thanks for the article. Very helpful. I have a shoot today that makes me feel like I am totally out of my depth. Have been questioning myself and my sanity in accepting this job. Really thought that ‘real photographers’ never felt like that! Good to know that you do – and reading the responses here, many of us do.
Content is not the problem. I’ve got the same equipment you do Joe. I shoot alot and love it. It’s just….the damn color management!
Thanks for this. Totally get insecure when someone not trying to do this full time totally has better equipment then I do, and then I feel like a hack, esp since I’m still in my first year of doing this for moolah. But hey, if they have to talk that much equipment with you, they probably are feeling inadequate themselves 😛
Gee Joe, I might as well throw in the towel then. I guess I’ll never be as great as you. For that matter, I guess it would be a waste of my money to buy any more of your books and go to your workshops because well… I’m just a wannabe.
With one broad stroke of your cynical brush, it seems that you have alienated anyone who aspires to be a paid professional. I admit I am a gear head too, and I have a lot of great gear. Expensive gear. Does it make me better? No, I realize that to be good at anything (I’m a paramedic, a black belt, I have WORKED HARD for all of it) it’s a constant learning process. I don’t expect you to even read this, as I am sure it will get filtered out by your moderators. But I’ve said what I wanted to say.
The tone of your comment frankly offends me. If I never achieve your stature, and only make a decent living at this gig, I’ll be a happy man. Fame it seems, distorts ones outlook and maybe I don’t want that after all. There are a lot of great photographers out there that I look up to and get inspiration from, and try to learn from. I’m having a hard time even thinking of opening your book now. But maybe I shouldn’t anyway because after all, what’s the use, right?
Thanks, This gives me motivation that we are all human and have the same feelings no matter what the career discipline. So many careers look killer easy from the outsider looking in. But it is not till you sit down and say “I want to make a living only doing this” that you get that reality check of “oh shit what did I get my self into”.
I read your blog. That was fantastic. I like your blog.
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Thanks.