I just finished reading Chris Jordan's latest post on the frustrations of a professional photographer (Ahhhhh, all the failures inbetween the "keepers"!), and I'd like to share my thoughts.
I'm doing my medical residency in San Francisco and unfortunately don't have the time to shoot as much as I would like. After using 35mm and MF during medical school, I moved over to large format and have been doing color landscapes in 4x5 for a few years on and off (mostly off). Though I have almost no experience with B&W, let along in contact printing, I'm fortunate to have squeaked into the October contact printing workshop with Michael Smith and Paula Chamlee. I'm extremely excited about the workshop, but I'm suddenly faced with having to learn B&W photograpic technique and generate a portfolio of B&W images over the next few months to show at the workshop so they can help me further my photographic vision. Vision? To be honest, I never really thought about it. I never had to until now.
This will be my first critique by experienced photographers, and I'm a bit anxious about it. I guess the only possible negative (pun intended) about the upcoming experience will be a humbling of my ego, and that's actually a good thing. All in all, I'm very excited about the workshop (just ask my friends--I won't shut up about it!).
What's the point of my blathering? Coming back to Chris' post, I'm beginning to realize how much artistic sense, technical skill, and perseverance it takes to be an excellent photographer, and how much of a risk it can be. Though photography means very much to me, my photos don't matter in a pragmatic sense. My food and rent come from medicine. I'm getting bent out of shape at the prospect of a little constructive criticism from those who are truly there to help me. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for many of you, especially those of you who have left financially rewarding careers like Chris Jordan and Rodney Lough, to have the frustrations and financial insecurity of being an artist.
Your photographs and this forum have really enriched my photography. See you in the field...
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