Sunday Support Group: What You Really Want

["Sunday Support Group" is an eclectic series of discursive digressions on topics random and sundry, offered in the hope they might help various subsets of our readership in their work and their ambitions, or that they might contribute to our mental, spiritual, psychic or physical contentment. It is meant to appear, as the title suggests, on Sundays; however, Yr. Hmbl. Ed. sometimes meanders, in many senses of that fine old word.]

-

Haven't heard from Ctein in a while. Probably been asleep for a day and a half.  :-)  Thanks again for last week—it sure was fun.

I'd like to mention something briefly this morning that is looming as ever more important in my thinking—something that's easy to say, but that might be profound in the way you approach your photography.

You've got to do what you really want to do.

I can trace the beginning of the time I started working to help other photographers to the summer of '83. Our classmate Sarah was in a motorcycle accident (she recovered), and, on short notice, I took over as the lab (i.e., darkroom) assistant for the Summer. Answered a whole lot of questions, including from people who wandered downstairs from the Gallery! (The school was located in the basement of the Corcoran Gallery, a public museum about three stone's throws from the White House in Washington DC.) The next school year, 1983–84, I did a teaching internship at Northern Virginia Community College under John McIntosh for a Photo 101–102–103 sequence of courses. That led to my first full-time teaching job, and I was on my merry winding way.

Time is short
—spend it doing
what you really
want to do

So it's been 36 1/2 years now. The only time I wasn't working for photographers during that time was a half-year stint as Senior Editor of Model Railroader magazine. While at MR, though, I did help judge the annual photography contest, and made friends with the in-house staff photographers and graphic artists.  Otherwise I've basically never not worked in photography in some capacity or other. Even when unemployed in the early years of the century, I was writing articles for Darkroom User (under the psudonym L.T. Gray—el tigre, the tiger, get it? My dad's idea) and Black & White Photography magazines in the UK.

But this isn't about me. All I wanted to mention is that old-guy refrain—time is short! Spend it doing what you really want to do.

Figuring out what that is might not be the easiest thing in the world. It has a definite psychological component—you've got to listen to your heart of hearts. And I've been always been convinced that it takes a certain fortitude, too. There are all kinds of things that might stop you from doing what you want to. Simple reticence, for example—imagine you're an older guy and you want to shoot nudes, but you're afraid of what your wife will think. I'd say, forge ahead. Work it out with her. Quit if you need to (your marriage is more important than your hobby or even your art!), but don't quit unless you need to. And don't quit without trying first.

A child of the times
Another thing I'm pretty sure affects a lot of people negatively (and not just photographers) are the expectations of others. We're all influenced by our culture in a variety of ways, both close (whether our family members take notice and care) and far (what seems to be the fashion in the culture at large—sharp, brightly colored digital images on screens, for example. That can't be very satisfying for people whose basic gratification comes from crafting durable objects). I think of this often when I come across people arguing passionately online about the corner resolution of lenses or the relative amounts of bokeh of different apertures on different formats. In '83 it might have been the relative graininess of B&W film developers and the efficacy of competing methods of washing fiber-base prints. (Common to both eras? "Leica is best. Discuss.") It doesn't matter, friends. As many of you know. Have fun with it if you find it fun, but it doesn't matter. My point here is that you might have to swim against the tide. The greatest geniuses (think Vincent Van Gogh or Thelonious Monk) do their own thing and let everybody else catch up to them.

I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those posts where the comments are better than the post. (In meetings of my 12-step fellowship, you give up the floor by saying something like "that's all I've got," at which point everyone else says thanks—thanking the speaker for contributing. But some people close by saying "I'll shut up now," to which the rest of the room choruses, "Thanks [blank]!," like they're thanking him for shutting up, which makes me smile.) I'll shut up now.

Mike

P.S. Oh, and an update: My book effort is going to be titled So You Say You Want to Be a Photographer, and I have approximately a hundred more days of work left to do on it. No telling how many weeks that's going to take (could be 100), or whether I'll get it done (I have a miserable track record, remember) but I've been working on it every weekend. Yesterday was a good day. It's basically going to be a really long, well-polished blog post, meant to flow smoothly from front to back. It's turning out pretty nuts-and-boltsy, with lots of concrete practical advice and tuff things to think about, but my main aim is for it to be good fun to read. That, I can do.

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Please help support The Online Photographer through Patreon

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

No featured comments yet—please check back soon!

Comments

[Don McConnell]

I had no idea you wrote for B&W Photography, which is still going strong and my favourite photography magazine. It would be great to see some more of your work there - maybe something along the lines of this very post?!

I’ll buy your book as soon as it’s published...

Cheers from the U.K.

Don

[Kodachromeguy]

"you might have to swim against the tide. Photography isn't in a good period right now". Several years ago, I returned to using film almost exclusively. However, right now film is having a real revival. So maybe I am not swimming against the tide. For once I am on the cusp of a trend? How ironic.

As for your second sentence, just look at the comments on that infamous digital reviewing site. That tells you all you need to know about the state of mass market photography today.

[Joe Holmes]

If you jump out of bed every morning eager to get started on whatever it is you're doing, you're on the right track.

[Kirk Tuck]

A good blog post. Something for me to keep working on all the time. I can hardly wait for you to finish the book. I have a feeling it's going to be really great. Keep writing. We'll read. Thanks again for today's gentle nudge.

[Gary Nylander]

My career as a newspaper photographer started out with no real set plan. Soon after graduating from high school I dropped into the local weekly newspaper with some of my photographs( at the suggestion of my father) and the co-owner of the paper gave me some Kodak Tri-X film to go out and find something to photograph. One roll led to another and I was soon employed at the paper. I went on to work for a couple of other small daily newspapers spanning a 41-year career, only to be cut short with the decline of the newspaper business. I must say that at times I felt like "I was swimming against the tide". It was fun and I have no regrets.

[Timothy Auger]

Looking forward to the book, even though I am a 72-year-old semi-retiree now sorting through some 30,000 files on 4 disks wondering if there are any decent photos among them ... Bit late, maybe.

[JOHN B GILLOOLY]

A very timely post for me. That's all I've got!

[Abraham D Latchin]

To quote a famous Jedi, "Do, or do not. There is no try". Whatever it is, make sure you finish... That is when you can really judge the results!

[Benjamin Wilkes]

The trick isn’t just figuring out what you want to do, it’s getting your boss to ORDER you to do it.

[MICHAEL CYTRYNOWICZ]

Yes. But _what_ do I want to do? Better yet, what should I _not_ be doing... Just one thing (Curly)

[Gerard Geradts]

So deep down you wanted to be a rock&rollstar 😊