Seems like the more I listen, the more I hear people talking about the gear, the business of photography, the widgets. Let us not forget the simple love of photography.
I understand why there’s so much rhetoric in our industry about the business of photography and the gear and the gadgets. There is the common stereotype that most creative people aren’t good business people. There is fear. Gear is easier to talk about than vision. Exposures are exact, the camera dials have numbers. There is a ‘right’ answer to many of these questions.
But where is your love of pictures? Where are your actions that back this up?
Can you pick up a book of photographs and get lost in it?
Can you walk around with your iPhone or Android or your point and shoot or whatever and take 100 pictures knowing that they’ll never be for a client or a portfolio?
Do you love hunting for pictures?
Will you stay up late or get up early for pictures?
Do you sometimes ‘see’ life as a photograph?
It’s different for all of us, but when you can take a break from all the chatter, remind yourself–as often as you can–why you love photography.
I used to have a colleague who would bring his equipment to the office and put it in a prominent place for everybody to see. Of course I first thought ‘Hey , a kindred spirit ?! ‘ The I had to open my mouth and utter the immortal words ‘Show me the pictures then ‘ He would then get this embarrassing, guilty look across his face and was suddenly ‘very busy’ !
I’m not just a photographer, I’m not just another camera, I’m not just another person lost in a group of others…
I’m an expression of my soul that was given an opportunity to experience something wonderful thought my images
-Steven Paul