Clay Lewis (Music Notes)

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."

—Mark Twain

A little plug from the TOP community: regular readers know Gordon Lewis, whose picture Precipitation (AKA "the umbrella woman)" was one of our best-selling prints.

Gordon's son Clay wrote and produced the song "Stranger" by the band Mice on Mercury, just out.

I'm only an old dad, but I think the song's a beauty. Its only problem is that it ends too soon. Check it out on the streaming or download service of your choice.

Nice going, especially for a 16-year-old. Big congratulations to Clay.

Cruel luck
Over the years I've known many creative people, and one underlying generality I've come to believe in is this. If you talk to anyone with an interest in anything creative—I even think this extends to other aspirational categories too—you'll hear some account of a setback of some sort that ended up causing the dream to fizzle. It can be something gentle or minor in absolute terms—a failure to capitalize on an early toehold, gains lost, a turn of bad luck, bad treatment from another individual or institution—loss of nerve, or a closed door—something like that.

Of course, it can be major, too, like my friend Kevin, the standout athlete at my small high school, who was a top college baseball player, got drafted into the majors, and then blew his knee out playing a casual game of pickup basketball a week before he was to report for training camp. A mutual friend notes that to this day—we're in our sixties now—any random stranger is likely to hear that story within fifteen minutes of first meeting Kevin.

That couldn't be helped. It wasn't Kevin's fault. Bad luck of the bitterest kind. He went on to make a good life for himself.

And in other cases it seems like the goal was wrong or the ability ran too thin or the Force just wasn't with the person somehow. Luck was too cruel. Or they didn't have enough flexibility to adapt or change. What all these stories have in common is that the circumstances of the setback are remembered. The person might not have a clear idea of what happened or why, but they'll tell you about that early bittersweet dream and how they brushed up to it so tantalizingly. They'll tell you about what happened and assign the blame as to why their careers sidestepped in a different direction. I've heard a detectable variation of that kind of story many, many dozens of times over many years, from all sorts of people. All perfectly understandable. And common, is what I'm saying.

Here's what I've noticed, though. It's that, in the biographies of many successful people, you'll often read of the exact same sorts of early discouragement—bad luck, bad treatment, opportunities lost, breakthroughs that weren't—whatever; but the successful person managed somehow to regroup, maybe reappraise, and move forward anyway.

The OG
For example, we were just talking yesterday about David Douglas Duncan (who, by the way, was once considered to be one of the three great brand ambassadors, as they're now called, of Leica, along with Alfred Eisenstadt of LIFE and Henri Cartier-Bresson of Magnum. I forgot to mention that the other day.) Well, DDD had a early setback too. He was a college student studying archaeology in Arizona when he photographed a hotel fire in Tucson. He concentrated on one man who made repeated attempts to get back into the burning hotel to rescue a suitcase. The man turned out to be the notorious 1930s gangster John Dillinger, and the suitcase contained the cash from a recent bank robbery during which Dillinger had killed a man. Young Duncan's great lucky scoop was turned over to the Tucson Citizen newspaper. But somewhere along the way the newspaper lost or destroyed the film, and the college student's pictures never appeared in the newspaper and were never returned to him. Golden opportunity lost, through no fault of his own.

[UPDATE: More likely it was some of Dillinger's gang—see B.J.'s Featured Comment below. In any event, the identifications led to Dillinger's capture. —Ed.]

That's the sort of thing that might have become the sort of setback I'm talking about. DDD might have gone on to become an archaeology professor, say, who repeated to people the story of how he wanted to be a photojournalist when he was young (and some might need to be reminded now how much status that profession had in the broad middle swath of the 20th century). He would lovingly tell of his great encounter with Dillinger, speaking quietly and with a sad smile of the perfidy of the newspaper that betrayed him, and of his dead and buried dream, clutching his calcified resentment next to his heart like a pearl.

Of course, that's not what happened. David Douglas Duncan went on to become a major photographer of three American wars, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, and those were only the peaks of his peripatetic accomplishment. The Dillinger story is only a footnote, albeit an entertaining one. Duncan was neither stunted nor stymied by that early bit of bad luck. He picked himself up off the ground, dusted himself off, and kept on going.

All this is just a digression, of course! Forgive me. Although I do hope that Clay Lewis eventually forgets this success. Which is to say, I hope it becomes merely the first of many for him.

Mike
(Photo by Wildhartlivie, CC by 3.0)

*It reminds me of something I heard in a lecture to the faculty at a school where I taught, given by the head of psychiatry at a children's hospital: he said, "If you want your children to succeed, let them fail early and often."

Gordon Lewis replies: Thanks for the promo, Mike. This is still all new to Clay. Fortunately, his focus is on the music, so everything else is icing on the cake.

As for your main topic, a similar example comes to mind: Bill "Superfoot" Wallace was a judo champion until an opponent fell on his right knee, causing permanent damage. He could have given up martial arts or exercise entirely. Instead, he became a kickboxer whose unique sideways stance used his right leg only for support. His left roundhouse kick was so fast and accurate that even though everyone knew he would use it, they could do little to stop it.

The way I'd express your point is, if you're looking for an excuse to quit, you can find one. The same applies if you're determined to find a pathway to success.

Original contents copyright 2020 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.

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

HiMY SYeD: "I simply want to say, 'Thank You' for writing this. It's important, and I needed to hear it."

Fred Tuman: "The life of a pro photographer in my case can be similar to a professional athlete. I struggled from when I came out of art school till my mid-thirties, when a fashion stylist I knew introduced me to the Head Art Director of a major beauty catalogue. Now I'm shooting soft goods in the morning and complex fashion sets in the evening and everything else in between...and making the money you're supposed to get.

"Two years into this the AD gets a stroke and passes on set. The advertising agency now gives me the cold shoulder like I never existed. I was out with no chance of returning.

"That was the 1990s. Thirty years later I've had a number of commercial hits, but nothing like that. Unlike most in that field, I didn't blow my money by sinking it into a big studio. I invested it and gave myself enough of a cushion to turn down assignments that will end up killing you. Now with COVID-19, you hope you'll get a chance again, if you can last it out and see if any work returns.

"Looking back at everything...when you are busy doing that high-end stuff, you are not enjoying it...the pressure is too great."

William Lewis: "Nice track, I've passed it on to some others I think might enjoy it. I'll have to burn it to CD and see if the local independent radio will play it."

Bryan Geyer: "DDD certainly was one of the 'great brand ambassadors,' but it was Nikon's notable lenses that he preferred to mate to his Leica rangefinder bodies when he covered the bulk of the Korean action.

He later switched to Nikon F reflex bodies (and lenses) for Vietnam.

"Reference here."

Mike replies: That's according to Nikon, and it's partly right—DDD was long revered at Nikon for bringing the company to the attention of the world by using its lenses in Korea and spreading the word—but it's still not exactly right. He writes in War Without Heroes: "I depended upon two Leicas (custom-built M3Ds) crossed bandolier-style on my chest. One Leica was fitted with a Leitz 50mm f1.4 Summilux, the other with a Nikkor 28mm f2.8 lens; both lenses with medium yellow filters. In addition—hanging down the center of my chest—I carried a Nikon F with a Nikkor 200mm f4 lens, also with a medium yellow filter."

The film was Kodak Tri-X developed in Kodak D-76.

And by the way, the "D" in M3D stood for his name in a funny way—the pun of "3D" referred to Duncan's nickname "DDD." One of DDD's customized M3's (he had four of them) sold in May 2012 for 1.68 million euros (about $2.13m) at WestLicht.

B.J.: "Mike, the DDD/Dillinger story may be apocryphal. The Hotel Congress still stands in Tucson and is a popular (pre-COVID) hangout for shows, food, and drink. Every year they have a 'Dillinger Days' celebration, so the story of Dillinger's capture is frequently retold. During the January 1934 fire at the hotel, several members of Dillinger's gang were staying there, but Dillinger was staying elsewhere. The gang members escaped from the burning hotel, but offered a cash reward if the firemen would retrieve their luggage from their room. The firemen did so, and later one said that he thought the suitcases were exceptionally heavy. Later, back at the fire station (and this I find a bit difficult to believe) a fireman was reading True Detective magazine and came upon an illustrated article about the Dillinger gang. He recognized several of the men pictured as the ones who asked him to rescue the suitcases. The police were notified, a surveillance operation was set up and, two days later, in several raids, Dillinger and his gang were captured. The heavy suitcases turned out to have been full of firearms.

"Whatever actually happened, I think it is generally accepted that Dillinger himself was not at the hotel during the fire. If so, then DDD did not get any pictures of Dillinger, although he might have gotten pictures of some of Dillinger's gang. Also, the presence of the Dillinger gang in Tucson was not generally known till their capture a few days later.

Mike replies: Thanks for the deeper dive, B.J.—I added an Update to the post. Even if that particular example is not as good as it seemed, though, the principle still holds IMO.

Comments

[William Lewis]

Nice track, I've passed it on to some others I think might enjoy it. I'll have to burn it out to cd and see if the local independent radio will play it.

[Richard Parkin]

"... in the biographies of many successful people, you'll often read of the exact same sorts of early discouragement—bad luck, bad treatment, opportunities lost, breakthroughs that weren't—whatever; but the successful person managed somehow to regroup, maybe reappraise, and move on."
C'mon Mike, you don't really believe those stories do you?

[JOHN B GILLOOLY]

Not talking about fate necessarily, but I do sort of believe that we end up being what we are supposed to be? If you were really meant to be a certain thing, something tells me that whatever setbacks occur, would be overcome. If the setbacks are insurmountable, it's probably a good sign to pivot, to yield.

[Patrick Dodds]

Maybe not an 'accident' that the paper lost the pictures given the person in them?

[Zack S]

DDD was friends with Picasso from 1956 until his death and did several books on him. I have this one and love to see my favorite artist at work being shot by one of the great photographers.

https://amzn.to/2CXvhBn

He did about 6 more books on Picasso.

[Michael J. Perini]

Congrats to the Lewis' Dad & Son alike.

Re Set backs, I don't think we could find a person who has not experienced set backs and disappointments in their life ---creative endeavors or not. People who experience them most are often the folks who 'give up' least. The ones with perseverance. It is not how many times you fall down, but how many time you get up.
The advice you got was spot on, overcoming failure as a way of life forms us and primes us to succeed.
That is not to say that set backs are evenly distributed, they're not, some clearly get more than others, they also get more chances to prove that can get back up, and provide chances for the rest of us to lend a helping hand.

[Gary Merken]

Your friend Kevin was, unfortunately, coming up too early. Nowadays, (1) his contract with the baseball team would have prevented his playing pickup basketball in the first place, or (2) had he injured his knee falling down a flight of stairs at the ballpark, the team's surgeon would have had him patched up in a day, in rehab for a month, and good as new in 60 days.

[V.I. Voltz]

I tell my graduate students what George Patton said: “I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom” - as both motivation and a classic linguistic example of 20th century latent sexism.

Voltz

[Rob de Loe]

Coincidentally I just finished Steven Pressfield's book, "The War of Art", a few minutes ago and then opened this post.

There's lots to think about in that book, and more mysticism than works for me. Nonetheless, the overarching message is clear: Do the work. Every day, show up, and do the work. Another place you can read this message, minus the mysticism, is "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland.