I enjoy reading David Alan Harvey’s blog “Roadtrip” and especially his thoughtful and caring comments in response to many thoughtful and caring comments. (Gosh, after all my recent sarcasm, that sounds sarcastic, but it’s not) Buried in a recent post about something completely different, a student, friend, compatriot brings up the subject of what to put in a portfolio, what will sell vs. what is true to the heart, and David has this to say, I hope he does not mind that I quote him outside of his blog:
read on…
all of us have this conflict…pictures for sale or pictures for love….go with the love…go with what you feel is important..yes, yes we must all earn a living….i have sold many pictures or done assignments to take care of my children, get them through university and keep a roof over their head..and i have to keep a roof over my own head all the time…so, i do understand this reality…but, on your website and in any arena where you have control over what is seen, just show the work most representative of the specialness you have to offer..all of the master photographers i know have sold pictures that were not their iconic work or done assignments that did not live up to their “image”….robert frank did advertising and gary winogrand too and henri cartier-bresson did an annual report…elliott erwitt has always done commercial work …none of this is a problem…BUT, when they showed their work it was NOT the commercial work..in your mind, you must keep the “sold” work separate from the personal work…then the personal work will start to sell or you will start to get assignments based on your personal work…or start to sell your art prints….you must stick with this…through rain and snow and sleet and thunder and lightning and whatever comes along…besides, it just feels better to live your life as close to exactly what you want to do and what you are capable of doing…live with less material possessions…do whatever it takes..
I think amidst all of this talk about editorial this is what gets me most, we are all beautiful losers doing it for love mostly, which is why betrayal hurts, which links back to the post I quoted, and also brings my current thinking full circle.
Recommendations for inspiration: in addition to reading DAH, get the HCB video The Decisive Moment which is hissoner taking about photography, but you hear his love of life and his love of attending to life through the camera. If you don’t get a little misty at the end I’ll eat my HEGR*
Promises: I will lose the white on black soon, but I have to customize another theme to take these pics I am posting, so get sunglasses in the meantime. Promise two: my website will reflect the above sentiment more.
*highly expensive german rangefinder…
robert – nice post and am enjoying your blog. one thing i have to say though, is that one of erwitt’s most iconic images, the two dogs with the lady’s legs in high heels, was shot for an advertising campaign. so that’s another thing, i guess i would put on that list, is never stop hoping that someone will actually hire you to do the work that you love and defines your vision. granted, not all to common these days, since i don’t like doing high-key celebrity portraits.
@ susana
I really like the work on your site, the way that you connect work to statements is something I need to learn.
Maybe you are not old enough to remember past photo-shite fads like; hosemaster, turbofilter, wonky-lens-shift, cross-processing, etc. We have so many now, HDR, desaturated colour+shadow highlight tool freakout with grizzled old man/worker, hi-key celeb look with waxy model, lens babies, and on and on. I tell myself, this too shall pass.
Thank you for promising to change the white on black. I see spots when I’m done reading your posts.
Good post though. I’ve been having the discussions with myself about why I do what I do. This was good to read today.