So many good questions, so little time. Here is the link to the upcoming workshop I mentioned. https://santafeworkshops.com/workshop/self-publishing-for-photographers-books-to-zines/ Thank you to all those who sent in their questions and if I did not answer what you sent just know I’m getting through quite a backlog. We’ll get there. Today is a good day, remember that. Easy to get sidetracked in the modern world but as creatives, we have a job to stay up and stay alert. Be what we can be and fluff our creative feathers.
1. Politics
2. 5:50, What have I learned from C19?
3. 9:35, Do I use Apple computers?
4. 16:12, How do I find an affordable book designer?
5. 17:44, How do I choose a format when I start a project?
6. 20:18, What do you think about a hyper-local project?
7. 24:08, How to find funding for a project?
8. 29:30, How do I go from being a novice to being slightly better?
Comments 4
Hi Daniel, Thank you for another of these Q&A’s, really enjoy them.
The last question, about being a novice and getting slightly better, I found refreshing. (As you also said.) It seems in the online-world, that everybody becomes ‘an expert’ or ‘senior’ in some creative field in a matter of seconds. Or at least, and this is more important, portrays it as such. Sometimes in the professional field (in my case graphic design & illustration, but I think this goes for most creative fields such as photography), it seems as if one has to be ridiculously good at something from the start of a career, and we have forgotten that experience and putting time into something, longer than a few years, is much more likely to lead to effectively good work.
The reality in my own experience is a constant, experimental, persistent exercise in what you do. And then hopefully every now and then making something that makes you think, ‘ah, that’s not bad!’. But of course, you know this and just said this in your video.
I do have a question, do you feel that before social media & ‘the internet’ it was much more accepted that you needed at least five years to practice or assist in photography? Instead of: “Everybody makes good professional photos instantly.” (‘Instantly’ as in on instagram for example… Not to say there isn’t good work on there, there is, but not many original things…’)
Anyway, thank you for the video and have a great day!
Greetings from Antwerp,
Margo
Author
Margo,
100%. You had to assist or spend time improving before you could get assignments. Now, add water and social media and you can make money because few are looking at the work that closely. If the metrics look good that’s all that matters. I’ve seen people asking for serious money, people who haven’t made a single unique image in their life and they can still get the money. And I see true greats leaving the industry because their work takes time to produce and is often too sophisticated for an audience being dumbed down more and more each day.
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for your reply. It is a sad turn of events in that regard… Especially when you consider the fact that when people go to really good photography exhibitions of one of the true greats, they often (not always) take a selfie to let their following know that they have been there… Instead of looking, really looking, at the work. Anyway that’s just an afterthought.
Funny times, in some ways you can see that social media apps like instagram have opened a world of photography & images (illustrations, paintings,…) for many people who would’t otherwise have come in contact with it. Maybe even let them to a path of creativity, started with their phone camera’s, to try something out and see where it leads. making people enthusiastic about photography. But that’s when I have a ‘positive’ hat on.
When in other moods, I look at it and see the same images over and over… Every now and again something will pop up and you think ‘that’s good’, but most of the time I feel it’s the same thing that leads to more followers or a ‘happy algorithm’…
Anyway, just some thoughts, I’m typing away here… haha!
Thank you for your posts, always some new food for thought.
Greetings,
Margo
Author
Margo,
Yep, there are positive things, at least to some degree. And remember what is being done while they are being exposed to new photography. Data tracking, etc.