Rushing to every latest thing.

As the title suggests,this is an effort to probe why,as photographers, we seem to always be rushing after every new thing that comes along,rather than concentrating on what we know is successful. Not, that I am against having an open mind and trying new things, far from it, but lately it seems that a large number of us appear to have lost our focus and are drifting,so to speak, on an ocean of unproven and often unlikely ideas and business approaches. Take for example, the posting of images on such sites as Flicker, or Facebook. These sites are totally unsecure and they are notorious for image theft and other forms of plagiarism and abuse. Most recently, a family in the United States found that their family Christmas photo was being used in Europe as an in-store advertisement! When contacted about it, the shop owner did agree to remove it and apologized,but claimed that as it was on the internet,it was free to use. It is hard enough to protect one's images, on a secure web site,let alone on a public one. How any sane photographer could consider placing valuable images in the public domain, simply baffles me. In their defence, of doing so, most of them claim that it drives business to their own sites and so is worth the risk and even the loss of some images,which to me is bizarre. These same photographers will rant on about copyright infringement and yet will turn a blind eye to leaving the door wide open to just that, why? Even watermarking or applying copyright notices to your photos is of no avail really, as these things mean little to the thieves and even less to most people who,quite often, have seldom if ever, heard of either one. In fact, most people look at them as seriously annoying obstructions to their viewing of the photos. Even worse, some believe that they have a right to use anything they like,however they like, as shown by a recent article I read about someone who stole several images from a photographer's site and was using them to advertise their business,on the web. When the photographer discovered this and blocked the use of the images,prior, I hope, to suing the idiot, the business owner threatened to sue the photographer if they did not immediately return access to the images! Clearly, the entire internet thing is getting out of hand.

But apart from things of this sort, there are now, amongst us, those who are jumping on another new trend, video imaging. Now as the printed newspaper fades into the internet version, more and more photojournalists are being asked to shoot digital video instead of stills,so that the web version of the paper can be animated while the print version will use a frame grab instead of a still image. This may make some sense for this application,although the result will not have the same quality,it will be good enough for a newspaper. A term, by the way,that drives me crazy. Nothing should ever be just,"good enough"! But getting back to my point,professional video is a field unto itself and justifiable so. It takes years to become an accomplished videographer and it is a field that has little in common with stills. Several camera manufacturers, have started to bring out models that have a video capability. A video capability is not a video camera. Professional video equipment is far more sophisticated than still cameras and hugely expensive,just ask any true videographer. The editing equipment and all the subsequent support equipment is also pricey and the learning curve is steep.

So,why, would a still photographer ever need to venture into another professionals realm? Well, if you are a wedding photographer, video is very important these days. However, in most cases, it is not the video quality of television and Hollywood we are seeing here,but rather something between that and uncle Joe's home video camera. But more importantly, the still images sold to the happy couple are not frame grabs as far as I understand, but regular DSLR or even FSLR prints. As mentioned, if you are a newspaper shooter, they want video images, but otherwise, I see no reason to deal in video.

I still believe that there is a very strong market for and a very prominent role, for the still photograph in todays world. I even believe that there is a strong role still to be played by film today. There is an old adage, "Jack of all trades master of none", it is as true today as when it was first coined. Do what you do, to the very best of your ability and remain focused. By all means stay abreast of your changing world,but you can only wear one hat at a time and still be taken seriously. There is a place for innovation and diversification and there is a place for solid expertise and acknowledged excellence. Don't confuse the two.

What about the Photography?

There is a new movement within the photography world that I believe has absolutely nothing to do with being a photographer. It is called "Social Media" and it's advocates would have you believe that you can not be a success without it. In fact, they go so far as to say that your photography should occupy only 10 or 20% of your time and SM and other forms of marketing should take the other 80 to 90%. Social media, is things like Twitter and Facebook and Linkedin and Myspace. It is your web site and your blog and anything else you care to do, in the public domain, on the internet. The new buzz word is Web 2.0 and if you aren't part of it you are bound to fail. It is all about "branding yourself and your business and not so much about your ability to create outstanding photography. It most certainly is not why I became a photographer!

As you can read, I have a Blog and I even have a Twitter profile, but that is about as far as I go. I do not have a web site and I have no intention of learning how to create one either. I will eventually get one, but someone else,someone whose job it is to weave such things, will be creating it for me. If that makes me a dinosaur and destined for the oblivion of the tar pits, I guess I am as good as gone. Frankly, I find Twitter to be a huge waste of time, except for it's ability to bring me numerous news sites from which to glean knowledge of my changing world, as well as story ideas. The site is cluttered with ready made and self proclaimed SM Gurus,who promise to bring you thousands of followers and tons of cash and an equal number of assorted snake oil sales people. Most of the day and night, the site is interminably slow and customer service is pathetic at best. On top of everything else, otherwise intelligent people,when not on Twitter,totally forget how to compose and express a thought.They write the most horrific abuses of the English language imaginable,simply because they can not think in 140 character segments. You see, the limit of your correspondence is a mere 140 characters,including punctuation.If you can not write a sentence with 140 characters,you should go back to grade school! Using accepted abbreviations is one thing,abusing the English language is something altogether different. There is no such word as "u" in the dictionary, nor will you find "ur" or "ppl"or for that matter,"pls". I do not object to a bit of poor grammar in the name of required brevity,but inventing words is childish drivel and perpetuating it, one of the many problems with education today.

Now I understand the need to be a business person if one is self employed, or, at least, the need to hire one to help run your affairs. I also believe in advertising and marketing,however,so did General Motors and Chrysler. What they most certainly forgot, was how to build automobiles that people wanted to own, at a price they could afford. I believe, that, that, was supposedly,their primary business.Mine, as a photojournalist or photographer,is to produce photographs that people want to publish,or to own and if I do not, I will end up exactly where GM is today,minus the government assistance. I can not do that by spending several hours a day reading inane Twitter posts and playing on the internet. In case no one has noticed, I tend to update this Blog rather infrequently. there is a reason for that and it has nothing to do with my internet marketing initiatives.

Unlike many of my peers,it seems, I have never been motivated by money. As long as I had enough to get by,I was content. I did not want to be the world's foremost advertising shooter or fashion photography wizard,making $10,000 a day and all the accolades I could amass. If I was driven by anything, it was the deep seated need to be creating images. I became a photographer to shoot,not to be a financial wunderkind. I still prefer to shoot over eating. At times,I shoot images that will never be published,or sold, in any way, whatsoever.Which I suppose, is a failing of sorts,but I shoot. It is all I have ever really wanted to do and the only thing that I am really good at. I have referenced the fact that photography is not what I do,but is who I am,before, but it is very true. To me, the sole purpose of being a photographer,is to create images,everything else is secondary,not the other way around.One of my most favourite photographers is Brit,Don McCullin. To me, he is the epitome of what a photojournalist should be. To this day, Don works in film and prints all his own stuff in his own darkroom. Admittedly, he rarely works as a photojournalist anymore, but he is still a working photographer,who steadfastly refuses to succumb to the world of the computer. Don and I will probably meet at the bottom of the same tar pit. At least we will be in good company.