Mind your own business

Full disclosure: I am not a superhero impenetrable to fears and insecurities.

This business of photography has a way spurring those feelings in the soft spots and making them bubble over the brim (metaphors anyone?). It also has the ability to fill your head with hubris to the extent you have no choice but to enlarge said head. It's a constant wave of feelings, like being in a glass case of emotion. Having just spent the longest stretch of financially unproductive months since I ventured into this business, things may be looking up. I say "may" because a few opportunities have come up that might translate to...wait for it...work! It's that teasing up and down cycle that really puts the wear and tear on the ol' melon.

What are these opportunities you may ask? Well, let's start with the good news. I recently entered and won "best in show" for the Dallas chapter of the American Society of Media Professionals...or ASMP. Not only did I win, 3 images were selected to be part of the show...a show in which only 30 entries total were selected. Out of the 150+ entries, all of mine were selected! Now, there was no trophy or prize money for the win, but there was the opportunity to get my work in front of people that have the ability to pay me money to photograph people for them. And three of those people (so far) have asked me to come in and show them more work...portfolio showings. Portfolio showings are in themselves "wins" in that it is often difficult to get people to look at your work only because there are so many out there vying for the same opportunity. Art buyers typically are inundated with request and have to be choosy sticking to meeting with those photographers that they believe have potential to do good work with them. So, as it is now, I'm busy refining my portfolio, combing my hair and getting dressed to impress. And when that's over, I'll get ready for another dip :)

Sometimes I think the successful photographers are not necessarily the best, but the ones with the mental capacity to stick out the roller coaster and voluntarily get back on everyday.

Where'd I put my camera?

Some photographers are never caught without a camera. They take the camera everywhere; shooting all the time. I'm not one of those photographers. In fact, I probably don't shoot near enough to even call myself a photographer. Maybe. And while I like having a vision to execute, I also like the visceral approach of taking an interesting subject somewhere interesting and seeing what happens. I think the majority of commercial photographers never take this approach preferring to have a layout in front of them. Which is fine, but I think that I get a lot of happy accidents by letting things 'just flow'.

This is my friend Matt "the Cat" Hillyer of the band 1100 Springs. One day he called me and wanted some pics and I was happy to have a partner that understood the value of seeing what happens when you don't have any preset rules. Perhaps because he's a musician, or maybe he just trusts me? Anyway, we got in the car and started driving until we found a small town square. In this town square we found an old telephone booth and a vintage car restorer that happened to be a fan of Matt's band. He was more than obliging to let us use his cars for the shots. This would have never happened in a million years had we designed the shoot. This is the kind of happy accident that only happens when you let things be and are open to seeing what happens.

These are two shots that I thought were OK but were 2nds when I first looked at them, but I decided to take another look at the set in black and white after spending a morning looking at Jim Marshall. Maybe it's the black and white, maybe it's the time spent since I looked at them last...but they seem to really stick out to me now. Can't explain it, just letting it happen.

Don't get it right.

So I haven't blogged in a while and it's as frustrating to me as it to any of you whom read what I write. The reason? I think I'm a perfectionist to the point that if I can't do it right (read perfect) then I don't want to do it at all. It's great to want to do good work but it's more important to do just that...work. So today, instead of waiting until I have a great new pic to post, I'll just post without a pic to practice what I preach to others. Robert Rodriguez, the movie director, (in regards to getting good at making movies) says that you have to think this way: You have 20 bad movies in you. Go ahead and make those movies and get them out of the way so you can get to making the good stuff. And in film school the motto was, "Don't get it right, get it written!" So it shall be.

Chicago

Just got back from a great job in Chicago. There's a lot to love about Chicago. The "L", Lou's, The Cubs, the Sox, Second City, Millenium Park, etc. The whole town as a certain charm and old soul. There's so much history built on tradition and pride and I wonder if the locals see it like a tourist. Sometimes it's hard to see the great stuff in your own back yard.

Stress?

This is what my dog does when it's going to storm. She gets pretty stressed out and obliterates the toilet paper. Me, I just get a little irritable and obliterate some ice cream. What do you do when you get stressed?

Choices

Lots of competition now days.

Just got back from Hondo, TX. Got to work with Bob Randall, one of my favorite Chicago-an photographers, and above is my new friend, Mark Doddato. He's Bob's first assistant and all around good guy.