Hiatus
When I decided to pursue photography as an artistic outlet, I had no visions of taking photos to make a living. I never wanted my style, my eye, to be a slave to the dollar. When you take money from someone, there is always compromise. I have been paid to take photos for people who are way into themselves to care about how good a photo looks. They complain to me that they are too fat, too this or too that and when I give them what I think represents my style, they just come back at me with “I don’t like it”. I have become very jaded about this craft and ended up hating everything about it. I have done more for others than I have done for myself and like I mentioned in the first sentence, I went into this for myself and as a way to express myself, not give people what they think they want. I don’t make a living at this and the money I do get from it does not even come close to covering all my expenses.
There are soo many people trying to make a business of photography that just plain suck. There I said it. All they focus on is the money and the easiest way to make a picture that will give them more bang for the buck. I hate being associated with this group and even get to a point where I am embarrassed to even say I am a photographer. I feel the growing crop of “shooters” look for shortcuts, plugins, and easy tutorials to make their work better rather than take the time and energy to actually learn anything of value.
(I totally wrote a giant rant here, but decided to delete it. It was not the driving force of this post)
I acknowledge the fact that there are amazing photographers and I appreciate them and respect them. I don’t feel the world is 100% point and shooters. I am not bashing everyone nor do I care anymore. My point here is I am stepping out of the Thunderdome and taking my name out of the hat. When someone is looking for a photographer to enhance their model mayhem profile, they will no longer have me as an option. I don’t want to shoot another band where they all line up with their hands in their pockets. Finally, I no longer want to spend hour on hours thinking of sets and colors and locations and working on blemishes only to have some shallow stuck up, worst-model-ever-but-thinks-she-is-one-because-her-boyfriend-is-kissing-her-ass say she is too fat in a photo and if I could spend even more time shrinking down a half ounce of normal healthy skin.
I’m out. I may change my mind later, who knows, but the little money I make is soo not worth it and is not fulfilling the needs I have as an artist and the reason I picked up a camera in the first place. I will pay people if I must to be in my work so I am no longer a slave to their opinions and thoughts. I will do what I want and perhaps heal my soul from what this path has damaged.
With all that said, I still have amazing and talented friends that I am sure I will still help and collaborate with. I have met some great people through this craft and will continue to work with them as I still get a joy out of helping them visualize their ideas. If I get a call or an email from someone who still wishes to work with me even after reading this, I will hear them out. Perhaps there are still people out there who would like to get what I have to offer, but to those people who visit my work and think Im going to give them something that doesn’t represent me, I will just politely send them off to the pool of other talent out there.
2 Responses to Hiatus
Wait, you have friends?
Fuck. Yes. This post is awesome. ” I don’t want to shoot another band where they all line up with their hands in their pockets.” This is exactly why I stopped bothering with the music industry. Even though the publications I was working for were great, dealing with the chaos of it all was just not worth it. Then you get punk bands calling you asking for shoots and expecting to do free work and yada yada yada. POINT IS! I totally get you. So yeah. Sweet rant.