EGO

Lets face it…..to be a good photographer you need an ego.

I suppose, technically, every single person has one of those,
an ego. But to be in a profession where the name of the game
is to slice a bit of time and space from the whole wide world
and claim it as your own, well, that takes some ego.

And you know what? I’ve got no problem with that. After all,
consider the ego involved for me to write this blog, especially
a blog post about ego.

No, I think that problems arise when the photographer falls
in love with their ego. At that point perspective is lost. And,
without perspective bad things can (and do) happen. At that
point you say to yourself: “It’s good because I did it”.

Photography is, in one way, deceptively easy. Buy a digital
camera, aim it at stuff, press the button and, voila, you’ve got
something. It’s probably in focus and properly exposed, too,
what with the technology packed into every camera these days.
But, as in the David Letterman segments: “Is This Anything”,
sometimes it’s just nothing.

And that “nothing” falls into 3 categories.

1/ Failed images: These are fotos that kind of work but, in
the end, fall short.

Here’s one from my trip to New jersey last year:

Rosalita, Passaic, New Jersey, 2008

When I met Rosalita I fell in love with her face and that
shape-hugging knit outfit she’s wearing. But I remember
feeling pressured and scattered that morning, I remember
that I didn’t use the time and the energy to figure out what
and how to shoot this person in that situation. All I’m left
with are those memories and this photo that’s of no use to
anyone but Rosalita and me. It just doesn’t communicate.

2/ Okay pix that don’t fit: Fotos that I like alright but don’t
fit into what I’m working towards.

Below is one from the first year I was shooting crack addicts.

Gary and May, crack addicts, Ottawa, 2007

I really like this shot, and it’s a pretty accurate depiction
of the relationship these two have. But it just looks too
“documentary” to fit into what I was doing on that corner
that year.

I’ve never been a “singles” kind of shooter. I like my fotos
to fit and work together, I like to sequence shots so that
they add up. One of the funny things about working this
way is that, occasionally, it’s necessary to insert a kind
of weak shot, one that would never be interesting on it’s
own, into the sequence because of the way it modulates
the sequence.

Sometimes it takes more guts to do that than to just pick
your 20 greatest hits, put ‘em in a portfolio, and call it a day.

3/ Bad fotos: Yes, things don’t always work out. Sometimes
you go out and shoot/work away and, in the end, everything
really, really sucks. Sucks bad.

(I’m not posting any of my shots that suck right here, right
now, because they mostly occur during commercial shoots
and I don’t really want to point my finger at any one specific
subject or publication. Plus, if you are a regular drool reader
you’ll know that I do often post whole series of frames that
I believe are failures, from my personal projects. Lord knows
I’ve got enough of them.)

(Sh)it happens. You’re not in tune, your head is somewhere else,
the subject isn’t capable and the way you work with them just
seems to make it worse.

In the profoto game, failure is not an option. But everyone
who’s worked as a pro knows that you can have a bad day.

But that’s okay. Everyone fails from time to time. In fact, if
you don’t fail every so often, you’re just not trying hard
enough. Sure, you come away with an image, maybe the
client even loves what you’ve done, but you know in your
heart that the thing just bites the big one.

Anyway……

Ego. It’s important to know that not every shot can be your
“best” shot. Just as it’s important to be able to control your
ego enough so you know the difference between an image
that’s righteous, one that’s just a shot and a thing you did
that totally sucks.

And, finally, I say screw the ego anyway…..the id is where
it’s at. (Look it up.)

________________________________________________________________________________

TANYTH BERKELEY

New York City photographer Tanyth Berkeley knows beauty
when she sees it. Not for her, though, the synthetic, standard
concepts of beauty. No, she sees with her own eyes and brain.

photo by Tanyth Berkeley ©

Tanyth finds her subjects on the trains and streets of NYC. She
talks with them and, if they’re willing, takes their picture.

Her work reminds me that if you have persistence of vision, and
a certain amount of desire, it’s possible to compile a body of work
that defines an aesthetic and your intelligence. Things need not be
complicated.

________________________________________________________________________________

DAVID BAILEY