I’ve always felt that it’s important to seek out the works of others to help keep my own inspirational fire burning. A couple times a week I’ll make a point to do something as simple as a Google search to help find new artists (new to me anyway), and of course read through the industry blog A Photo Editor (which by the way, if you don’t have this in your RSS feed… you should!)
In a recent post on A Photo Editor, I came across an article about photojournalist Christopher Churchill. Christopher Churchill is best known for his most recent project “American Faith”. “American Faith” is a project he started out of a simple curiosity about religion that exploded into a 7-year journey to discover some fundamental commonality and understanding of faith.
The most important piece I took from the article was a comment Christopher made when posed with the question, “Any words of wisdom for the up and coming photographers?” He states, “I would challenge the younger generation to make work with some meaning, work that is hyper authentic, raw and imaginative. Use the camera as a way to wander through whatever world you feel drawn to and do it with integrity, conviction and total disregard for money. Make it pure and the other things will happen.”
Some pretty powerful stuff there! As part of the younger generation of photographers, this statement really hits home for me. This is something that I’m already making an attempt to do; create images that evoke a raw, authentic feel… images that I myself feel drawn to.
The part where I think most up and coming photographers will take issue with is the “total disregard for money” comment. I think it’s safe to say that most young photographers would love to be able to quit their day jobs, run off and spend summers in New York and winters in Paris. However, the reality is, taking that leap of faith (no pun intended) is something most people simply cannot afford to do. I do however, believe that there is a happy medium here. I believe that you can create images that maintain the integrity of your vision, while at the same time taking the jobs that pay the bills. There is a personal understanding that goes along with this. The understanding that when just starting out, dipping one foot in the waters (keeping your day job) as opposed to jumping in with both feet (quitting your day job) means that things will undoubtedly take quite a bit longer.
The long and short of it? Understand that the decision to keep or quit your regular paying gig is a decision not to be made lightly. However, regardless of your decision, create images that you feel drawn to and above all else maintain your personal vision and integrity. No matter what you decide… good luck!
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