I love photographers who produce without fanfare. Stephen Kennedy is one such photographer. His average monthly take puts to shame the Tubers, talkers, and fame seekers, myself included. Not only does he produce the work, he prints it as well. I have been the fortunate recipient of many of his publications, which arrive so frequently that it makes me question my work ethic. His “Cross Country Camera” covered a single artist from all fifty states. His STL 100 project covers all cities, towns, and municipalities comprising St. Louis County. Talk about shooting where you live. Yikes. He also does commercial work to rub salt in the photographic wound. Like many of us of a certain age, Stephen knows that coming full circle as a photographer, or with a shoot, means printing that work, and print he does.
I don’t know how to say this nicely, so I’m just going to say it.
This might hurt, but it’s true and needs to be said. A lot of modern photographers are lazy, as are many of the people making decisions in the photography field. I don’t know how else to say this. I left the business long ago, so I am at no risk putting this in print. Shooting and posting to social media is lazy and predictable and does little to help you improve. It does little more than make you conform, and I see this with the best photographers in the world, many of whom are lesser versions of themselves now than they were a decade ago. Not all, but many.
I don’t need to know Stephen on social media because I know him through his publications. There is another long-time Blurb user famous in the art/design/photography world who has been producing his magazine with Blurb for over a decade. I can say the same for this person. I don’t need to know him outside of his printed work. The printed work tells me Stephen knows how to edit, sequence, work with designers, and encapsulate a body of work with laser focus. And if, for some reason, I need a quick fix between publications, I’ve got his website to investigate.
I’m sure some of you are weary of my writings regarding social media, and this post is about Stephen and not about social media specifically, but you need to put yourself in my shoes. I’ve been an observer of this industry for fifteen years now. I’ve watched photographers throw themselves on the grenade of social media, which has done little more than undermine their entire existence. Photographers have more power than they know, but they must be willing to harness and utilize it. Doing so requires a stand, a commitment to craft, quality and quantity. Yes, quantity.
No photographer is good enough to sustain the volume needed for social success, which is why we now have “content” as a strategy.
Content, sure, can push that junk out all day long. Photography, however, requires a bit more. So, when I receive a MagCloud publication from Stephen, he’s hopefully done a few things for me. He’s illustrated his skill level with photography, editing, sequencing, design, and culling quantity. I get what I need in a matter of minutes, seconds even if the cover does its job.
Several days ago, I gave a talk to a university-level photography and bookmaking class. I pulled Stephen’s piece from my sample bag and watched as eyes bulged and faces became focused. That’s what print does. It eliminates as much as it adds. Holding a book or magazine requires physical touch and attention. Down goes the damn phone, for once, and the viewer must DO something to flip through those pages. Sadly, it’s come down to this, but that’s what I’ve seen over the past decade-plus. Thanks to Stephen for keeping me in his print loop, and hats off to his ongoing projects.
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If a photographer wants to make a path for themselves and doesn’t want to fall into the social media crap or the YT gear reviewer dead end, if you want to make a living you do weddings, family portraits, senior shoots, and events. Then, when you have time to yourself, the last thing you want to do is pick up a camera.
I chose to stay in a fulltime job completely unrelated to photography, picked up the occasional side job of headshots or backyard, four hour second weddings, and what not. Not enough to not want to pick up my camera when I wasn’t working my day job. Now I’m retired, and provided I don’t have to go back to work because the Tariff King has driven my 401K into the dirt, I can devote myself to some of the projects I’ve always wanted to do.
I came to grips with the fact that I wasn’t going to be the next Steve McCurry or Don McCullen years ago, and your focus on zines and small books has changed the way I am now presenting my work. Small scale, done for the love of the work. I’m completely okay with that. I’ve won local and national awards for my work, and that really means very little to me. But the project work lights my fire, and I have a big, big thanks to you for helping me find a way to enjoy my work and be happy in my lane. Ultimately, I shoot and write for myself, and share it with others in the hope they derive some value from it, which they seem to. So thanks Dan!
Great stuff! Other than when I was a teenager, I never truly aspired to be well know at photography. Like you, I am retired and living the good life. Also like you, I am very much enjoying the photographic process and doing it for me…just me. If someone else, like my wife, gets some pleasure from it as well then it’s a bonus…or what I call sprinkles on the top.
I am making my own prints, which I think looks great. I addition, I’m just about to get all the tools and supplies needed to make my own wood picture frames and also be able to mat and mount my photos as well. Oh, I make photo books via Blurb as well.
Yay for us!
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No one path for all. We each muddle our way through the process.
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I think everyone has their own path. I could do your path and be okay, but others might not. I know photographers who aren’t great but they are so all in on being a photographer they don’t care what the jobs are. They are SO excited to shoot anything. Others who are picky or only work when things are right and others who make serious money and shoot three or four times a year.
Thanks for bringing Stephen’s website and work to our attention: Excellent website and a man with absolute dedication to his craft, but with the confidence to sprinkle his books with graphics, something which most photographers are either unaware of, or find their photographs too sacred to soil with graphics and or the written word.
I wondered about the social media thing; I assume photographers saw it as an easy (lazy) way of showcasing their work, instead of doing the miles with a portfolio of prints, which we used to do…. Or just a platform for posting pictures, which led to picture editors (remember those)? and art directors thumbing the screen for talent. I guess one thing led to another. I refuse to have a IG account, probably to my detriment, but always wondered how they, the commissioners, managed to select photographers from their phone. I assume it led them to their websites. In the last ten or so years the quality of commissioners have dumbed down to such a low point that choosing a photographer is as taxing as choosing your lunchtime sandwich. I worked mostly for TV companies and magazines, but I would bet my old Nikon FM that the folks commissioning me for photography work had never owned even one photography book, such was their lack of visual knowledge. Now, any work handed my way is just from admin, with the caveat that I can shoot the job for money I was receiving in the early 90’s. Photography now is essentially a hobby: if photographs were calories, we would all be morbidly obese !
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Yes, he works with a designer. Another smart move. As for social it’s all about addiction. IG is horribly, physically addictive which is why most people use it. The vast majority of people who are on it all day make nothing from it. It does little more than take. Takes and sells their data. But they make excuses, just like other addicts, and yet so few people are willing to admit they are hooked.