The last 48 hours have been really inspiring in my life. I’ve been listening to a lot of creative people say a lot of amazing and impacting things. It all begins with the following video from Zack Arias titled Transform.

The video opens up like most professionals would (with a catchy line and a hip beat), but quickly leads into much more deeper thought. Arias opens up to his audience asking the hard questions that amateurs and professionals alike are asking themselves. What is my purpose, and what do i bring to the table that countless others have not already served up on this massive platter of visual polution we create each and every day?

Can you honestly answer that question? I don’t know if I can. Am I adding to the world, or just cluttering it up? Do I really have purpose with what I am doing, or am I just biding my time to make a buck? Tough questions.

For myself, I think it was near the end of the video that I was truly moved. You can say whatever you want to say right now, so what are you saying? What are you doing with the time you have right now? When you’re pushing 80 and you’re lying flat on your back with no way to speak a single word what will be going through your mind? Shutter speeds? Cool locations? That portrait series that was printed into some magazine that no one remember the name of? So why is all of that so damn important now?

Is it really important? Well we can swing the pendulum for sure and say no, but I would argue that it does matter to some extent. But I think those things are only a means to an end. People talk shit all day long about their gear, post-production tips and shutter speeds. But in the end it’s the work that speaks for itself, not your 70-200mm F/2.8 IS EF lens. Not your ability to light a subject properly. It’s the photograph itself that counts. So what are we saying?

This leads me to another excerpt i read recently from Doug Menuez saying this:

…If you create a book [portfolio] that you think will get you work based on your perception of what sells, or on the advice of anyone who steers you away from your core, you have a complex problem ahead. Yes, you may find some work that way, which is really tempting short term, while you tell yourself you’ll do the real stuff on the side or in the future. “Show the work you want to get” is a lasting truism and if you have chosen to show work other than the purist version of your creative vision then whatever jobs do come in will be based on that work. There are many shooters who do this exact thing and end up with a middling level of success, stuck on a financial and creative plateau, slowly starting to run out of gas. After a few years they hate their their work and life in general. They are getting divorced or leaving the business or pursuing whatever diversion eases the pain. They are not living the dream. They are not challenging themselves creatively because they did not give themselves permission to be who they are as photographers in the first place. This is the road to being a burned out, bitter hack. Boring. But by defining what you show based on what you truly are and what you want to do, you create a self-selection process: you are not for everyone. You are different. Be courageous enough to show that you see in a way no one else does…

I was sent the preceding quote from a friend who said he thought of me and my work when he read this for himself. I was almost apologetic and felt i didn’t deserve such high praise. I felt like I was one of those people who does something just for the sell. I have added grungy layers to my photos to make them look cooler, not because it gave them added meaning or purpose, but just to make them more “likable”. I got really down on myself.

However I began to think more about it. I don’t think i’m quite there, but I’m on my way to being there. This transformation takes time i’m told. I’ve learned that it’s important to make people care about a photograph, and to bring a connection between the photograph and the viewer. If you’re going to add texture, ask yourself why you’re adding it to the photo. Does it add to the photo? Does it help it say something? Does it help you connect? If not, then why add it in the first place? So I began to look through my work again. I think I see some of what I want to be. I think I am growing as a photographer. As an artist. As a human being.

Menuez’s words are something I want to live up to. I want to build a body of work based on who I am, and what I want to say to the world. I want to be able to say to someone, “I don’t think i’m the photographer for you.” I want to be creative. Then I came upon this last bit of inspiration this evening from the New York Times titled: Great Performers (without hair and makeup - almost!)

I viewed the images while listening to the commentary on each subject. I thought to myself, this is the type of work I want to be doing. I have fallen in love with the photo-journalistic style. Stripped bare, minimal lighting (aside from natural light sources), and so full of depth and meaning.

I looked at my work again, and felt I saw a glimpse of where I want to be. I felt enlightened. I had found a goal to pursue. I felt like I had found new purpose. I wanted to take my work into a deeper style of photo-journalism. To capture those raw moments, as they happen, instead of composing people like mannequins and taking extended time to make sure the lighting is just right. There is a time and place for all of that, yet there is something that draws me into those candid moments.

I am on my way to being more of what I want to be, and who I want to be. I guess only time will tell where I end up. Who knows, maybe I’ll be photographing Brad Pitt in 10 years time.