Blog #125 Photography is about…

October 05, 2018 • Leave a Comment

How would you finish this sentence? Is photography about the camera? gear? personal growth? personal expression? capturing personal moments? freezing time? the moment? the subject? The story? Clearly there is no right answer here. If you ask 10 photographers this question, you will get 10 different answers and that is OK.

Your answer to this question will define your relationship to this art form.

Why should you care about that? Well, I suggest that you the way that you define your relationship to photography will inform how much time and effort you spend on it each week.

What is photography to you, a hobby, an interest, or are you an aspiring professional aiming to make people happy (and some money perhaps) making and sharing your images?

We all have the same 168 hours per week. We must sleep, eat, earn money to live, take care of ourselves, maintain relationships, relax and enjoy life, and somewhere in all of that, we are trying to be an artist. Maybe you’re trying to be a full time artist? That’s terrific! I cant do photography full time since I have other responsibilities as a father and educator but that works for me.

Each of us has our own time constraints and allocation of resources to photography. The percentage of time that each of us spends on improving our work each week ought to be proportional to our career and creative goals. We might be spending too much or too little time doing photography and we should might need an adjustment to align the time with our relationship to the art form in terms of priorities and goals. Gauge your progress using annual goals. This approach works for many. Use this as food for thought for your creative work and keep on keepin’ on!

The light is always right.

jhg

*Images: © Jeremy H. Greenberg

Where: Hong Kong

Subject: Family & Street Photography

Gear: Olympus 35RD Rangefinder [1971] + Yellow #8 Filter + Ilford Delta 400 35mm Black and White Film