Janet Worne - Thoughtful Photography

Self-Promotion

Self-promotion is the most difficult part of being a freelance photographer for me and for many other freelance photographers I know. If you are not careful to guard against it, your work becomes a part of who you are, your essence--your soul, which in an artistic sense is not always a bad thing. But in the commercial world of freelance photography we all know how hard it is to lay that part of yourself open to the dreaded REJECTION. I'm still struggling with that issue.

In an earlier post I mentioned John Kaplan's book on portfolios; now here is a book I found helpful along the same vein called "Successful Self-Promotion for Photographers" by Elyse Weissberg. It deals with putting together a portfolio but is a little heavier on marketing. John's book touches on marketing but is much heavier on the portfolio side of it. The two books complement each other very well.

Paul Strand Quote

“It has always been my belief that the true artist, like the true scientist, is a researcher using materials and techniques to dig into the truth and meaning of the world in which he himself lives; and what he creates, or better perhaps, brings back, are the objective results of his explorations. The measure of his talent—of his genius, if you will—is the richness he finds in such a life’s voyage of discovery and the effectiveness with which he is able to embody it through his chosen medium.”
                --Paul Strand

Today I Have Hope

 
On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration I am thinking about race relations in our country and what this new president means to America.

I grew up in a small Quaker neighborhood in Delaware in the sixties that consisted of twelve houses.  Three families were African American. Two were Italian, one was Polish, one was German/Chinese and I believe the rest were Caucasian unless my memory is missing something. We were a tight-knit group and it was a wonderful atmosphere for a child to grow up in. When my parents bought the house, they were approached by the neighborhood association and told that if they were prejudiced in any way they were not welcome. This was during a time when most neighborhoods were doing the opposite.

Fast forward to the nineties in Lexington, Kentucky. I was covering race riots that resulted from when a white cop shot and killed a black kid. I inadvertently got caught in the middle of a crowd of angry protestors. I was alone in the projects. They surrounded me, taunted me, tried to steal my cameras, punched me in the head and tried to pull me to the ground. Somehow, I managed to keep my cool, get to my car and drive off, very badly frightened and bruised.

I ended up interviewed on national television and I think the interviewer was a little disappointed that I wasn’t angry and didn’t say anything more divisive. But I honestly believed that I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I could understand their frustration and anger. And there were many blacks there that day that did try to help me.

A year later I worked on a race relations project for the Herald-Leader (see my “Coming Together” post from June). The whole experience left me wondering if we had made any progress at all since Martin Luther King’s time. Of course we have, at least legally, but  on a more subtle, personal level---have we?

Today, I have hope. Today, as I see what very-soon-to-be-president Obama has done for our nation I am more proud of my country than I have ever been.

Today I feel like my country comes a little closer to matching that little neighborhood I grew up in.

The Big Chill

In sympathy for those in the path of the arctic system that has blanketed much of the United States with record cold temperatures...

How To Put Together A Portfolio

This post is for all those young photographers out there who write to me for advice on putting together a portfolio. Come to think of it, photographers at any stage of their careers may have reason to put together a new portfolio, so this is for you too. A good friend of mine, John Kaplan, wrote this book packed with great suggestions. And John would know. He is a Pulitzer winning photographer and is now a professor at the University of Florida and all around great guy. I call him a good friend even though we touch base very infrequently. He's just one of those people I think fondly of. I met him when he worked at the now-defunct Pittsburgh Press. We had both interned at the Wilmington News-Journal, although not at the same time.

If you're looking for good advice on the subject, get this book, you can't go wrong with John Kaplan.

Wynn Bullock Quote

“The urge to create, the urge to photograph, comes in part from the deep desire to live with more integrity, to live more in peace with the world, and possibly to help others do the same…”
        --Wynn Bullock

The Dawning of a New Year

It begins with a gentle lightening of the horizon. No more than a hint of what is to come. So subtle and gradual is the beginning that it is not always recognized for what it is. It could be the lights of a nearby town or the harsh beacons of a highway. It couldn’t be the dawn. Could it?

There is something magical about the moment when night changes to day. That precise moment is calculated and published in newspapers. The longest and shortest days are celebrated as solstices. Even birds become silent in reverence for that moment. 

Then it pounces. Minute by minute the sky evolves and suddenly a new day is born. Each one begins in a different way. Sometimes it’s a symphony of light and shadow blending brush strokes of crimson and pink over a dark, dusky blue. Always changing, never waiting until the camera is in the right place, never hesitating for “just one more picture”.

And sometimes the dawning is cold and dreary. Black drains from the sky to reveal a gray, monochromatic world, as if it were veiled to the eye. Trees float into focus as the minutes silently pass.

When enough of the new light filters through, the day begins in earnest. The wind picks up, birds begin to sing, and people move about. Suddenly, it’s another day.

The dawning of the New Year has always been a time of hope, a new beginning. There is the feeling that no matter how dark and dismal the past has been this day is the first day of the rest of your life. It is a chance to start fresh. Past mistakes don’t count.

But why this day? Why do we not celebrate it on the first day of spring? Or on the day of the first new moon? The fact that different countries and religions celebrate it on different days tells us that it’s not the particular day that is important. It’s the feelings we associate with it. So wouldn’t it be nice if we made a fresh start every morning as the sun slips past the horizon to banish the dark corners of our lives?

Happy New Year. Happy new day.