Tag: professional

A big, what is the meaning of life, kind of a question

A former student/intern wrote me with a big, “what is the meaning of life” kind of a question. The process of answering her ended up becoming something of a dialogue within myself about photography and “meaning” for me. After I sorted things out in my own thinking, I wrote her an answer I could also use as a blog posting. Read More

A poignant reminder of the brevity of our lives

In my last blog post, I was responding to an aspiring photographer’s query on how to advance his career. That got me to thinking about the career paths of photographers, including, but not limited to my own. I went on to update my knowledge of the career path of another photographer that I started out working along side of a couple decades ago. Reading about him, I was poignantly reminded of life’s brevity…. Read More

An aspiring photographer wrote me…

An aspiring photographer wrote me: “What advice might you give me on how to find opportunities (no matter how small), where I might find some interest in my work, or how to best focus my efforts.” Such a question leaves me wary because answering it takes away from what little time I have left between earning a living as a photographer and nurturing this site. As I pondered how to answer him, I realized the answer was really another blog post in the making. Read More

Outsourcing and Cost-Benefit Analysis

Before you skip this entry or fall asleep trying to read it because those two economics terms, please read on. Both of these are things all of us do every day in our ordinary routines. When it comes to their businesses, serious photographers, whether established or aspiring professionals, definitely need to think clearly about outsourcing and cost-benefit analysis. Read More

Frequent Flyer (Part Two:) Commuting for personal and creative purposes

I fly a lot for work, like most photographers. I initially commuted for personal reasons like most people do. I wanted to be with my family as much as possible, while I was working on projects that seemed to always be “somewhere else.” Eventually commuting became an integral part of my creative process as a photographer. This blog post is an argument for the idea that most photographers who work on long-term projects should consider building commuting into their creative processes. Read More

Frequent Flyer (Part One:) Before and After Digital

Like most photojournalists, I fly a lot for work. My experiences flying (both good and bad) can be divided into two periods, pre-digital and post digital. “Going digital” has had obvious benefits technologically, but also unanticipated benefits socially, especially when I am traveling. Read More

Photographer’s Daily To Do List

I wish I could say I wrote the following photographer’s daily to do list, but I did NOT. The Ohio photographer, George Remington, whose work is at: www.georgeremington.com wrote this. Read the list carefully, to begin to get a better sense of all the things involved in being a professional photographer. Read More

Thoughts on web sites for photographers

A friend asked me about web sites and I got to thinking about my own web site. I considered how it evolved from a coding disaster, to a nice try, and finally to the real thing. My path, with all its ups and downs, may be instructive for other photographers thinking about their existing (or) future web sites. Read More

My “brief stint” as a fashion photographer

I was reading an interesting article in The New York Times about the Presidential dress code.  Barack Obama’s recent choice to be photographed without his suit jacket in the Oval Office was front-page news. It rang a bell and then I remembered how another President’s fashion choices changed my life as a photographer. Read More