Life Beyond the Camera

So,after almost two years of forgetting about my Blog,I return to it. A lot has happened in those two years and still much has remained the same. Anna is still a huge part of my life and the most inspiring reason to carry on. I have become more involved with my horses and somewhat less with my photography and yet the driving force in my life is still the creation of imagery. Now however,I find it is imagery that is relevant to me,rather than clients, that motivates me. In the two years since I started this blog,I have undergone eye surgeries to both save and enhance my vision,while finding myself falling further and further away from my old client base and the photography that drove me for so many years. Today,as I look at the world of image creation,I see,not the traditional life of a photojournalist before me,but perhaps more that of a social documentarian. With the onslaught of digital capture and the need to be more of a computer tech than a craftsman,the markets for old style photography and photojournalism are rapidly changing and diminishing. Most clients no longer want to deal with film and want everything yesterday,despite the reality that most of them do not need it anywhere near that quickly. A magazine,with a six month lead time,has no need of images yesterday. Nevertheless,they want them,because they can have them and that is the reality of the world today.Unfortunately,they do not wish to pay either as quickly,or as well as such speed of delivery deserves. Still, we as photographers have only ourselves to blame for that situation and we may as well rail at the wind as hope to change it now. All of which,has lead me to search for other outlets for my work.

To document the human condition has been a calling for photography since it's earliest days,however,that calling has,in the past,relied on the photo essay and the pages of books for it's expression but, both those mediums may soon be gone replaced perhaps by the web,or some new communicator. Noble as it may be, recording the human condition has never attracted large sums of money for it's recorders and today is no exception. Still, it resonates within a few in society, who still see the relevance and feel the hope,or the hope for change that it can bring. Perhaps,I am just old enough to remember the great documentaries of the 30's and the intervening years and still young enough to feel the inspiration they could invoke. Regardless, I still believe there is a place for such work and not only in the dark places of this world but in the bright ones as well. The human condition is not merely turmoil and strife,agony and angst. There are a host of bright moments in every life and they are equally as inspiring and revealing.

There are other avenues,from stock imagery to prepackaged essays,ready to deliver at a moments notice,but exempt from the dark shadow of WFH and copyright demands and there is,that bastion of the left,Fine Art. The latter comprising large amounts of the nude and the avant garde amidst the landscapes and the nature and the work of many of the Old Masters of photography. All have a single common denominator,they do not demand digital capture. Digital printing or delivery,perhaps but film is still more than accepted as the medium of choice. I have no idea where my search will lead me,but I do know that I can no more forsake my photography than I can forgo breathing. Photography is not what I do,it is who I am and where it will take me is who I will become.