Mostly True

Chances Are, You Suck

Worse yet, nobody is going to tell you.

In the past, before the internet made us equal, your friends, the ones you had actually met in person, would let you know when your pictures didn't quite cut it. Most of the time they wouldn't even have to say anything.

You'd know it yourself as soon as you showed them.

Of course, plenty of other times they'd publically bust your chops, but that was a different time. Before we all became so polite. Back when respect was something earned and not a right of birth.

Do you know that feeling? The one when you're showing images to someone (perhaps an editor that you were hoping to work with) and you get to that picture, the one that looked perfectly acceptable moments before, but as soon as you show it, you're filled with regret.

Yeah, I hate that feeling.

There are plenty of things photography wise that I'm not very good at. I'm not great at creating images, but I'm pretty good at finding them. I'm terrible at selfpromoting, marketing, and the business stuff makes me squirm. Yet I'm a decent journalist, travel well, and strangers often accept me into their lives (maybe I've got one of those faces).

There's nothing really exceptional or surprising about that evaluation. It's fairly common among photojournalists.

So that's me, those are my strengths and weaknesses. I also publish too many pictures on my websites. I'd look better if I kept the numbers down, but this post isn't about me. It's about you and why you suck.

There's nothing wrong with not being any good at photography. Everybody started out bad and none of us does all aspects of it well. But it's a crying shame to want to be good at it, to spend time and money trying to be good at it, and not getting any better.

This isn't like teaching a child to read. Positive reinforcement is your enemy. Your Facebook friends, your Twitter followers... hate you.  Instead of taking ten seconds to say. "This doesn't work. You need to do better". They readily push that "like" button, because it's easy and they hope to get the same from you, but also because they're cowards.

They're afraid of the internet mob. Nobody wants to get on the wrong side of a mob, so it's easier to play nice. Go along to get along seems to be the secret to a happy online life.

The first night before a shoot, I never sleep. It could be something easy, a situation that I know will produce a good image, but that doesn't help. Fear of failure is a great motivator. The trick is to use it to get as well prepared as you can possibly be, and then ignore it once the shooting starts.

You shouldn't be afraid of risk, just failure. I suppose that's another trick.

So how do you become a better photographer when you're reinforced with so much unearned praise from your interent buddies? What's your motivation, to get a hundred likes instead of just ten? There's an easy recipe for that. Start making pictures of cats. Better yet, kittens... kittens and children. You'll soon be more awesome then you could possibly imagine.

I only bring this up, because I stumble upon (as do you) so many Facebook groups (or other social networking sites) which are just filled with hideous images underscored with meaningless praise. I find it depressing. If nothing is bad, can anything be good?

More depressing, google "great photography", better yet don't. Some things, once seen cannot be unseen (either me or Gandalf said that first).

There are some sites that are doing an amazing job at publishing great photography. If you want to become a better photographer, look at these sites. When looking at the work, ask yourself, "How would I have approached this situation?" and/or "Would I have done better or worse than this photographer?" and also simple technical things, like what shutter speed or aperture was used.

Right off the top of my head, here are three sites that are doing a consistantly excellent job of publishing great photography...

Time's LightBox

The New York Time's Lens Blog

The New Yorker's Photo Booth

For commentary on the editorial world of photography...

A Photo Editor

And two amazing apps...

Once Magazine

The British Journal of Photography

Not sucking is worth the effort. Seek out great photography. Devour it, and be suspicious of any undue praise.

My latest book is available on Amazon here, or iTunes here. Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

eyeQ Press - The First Book!

Let me be the first to introduce you to eyeQ Press, the publishing house I launched yesterday. Well, it's been in the works for over a year, but now it's official.

The first book, something I've wanted to do for a longtime, documents the Nebraska football team, more specifically their last season in the Big 12 conference (the next book, which I start shooting in about a week will document their first season in the Big Ten).

A hardcover at 256 pages, the book is big too.

Click here to purchase the book.

It's interesting to you, the photographer, editor or serious fan of photojournalism because I hope to prove that there's a way for photographers to continue creating their own work, while at the same time earning a living.

Basically we've removed a lot of the middlemen. I think the future agency model, one that I know a lot of people are working towards, will continue to do all the things they're great at... selling, marketing, finding venues for shows and exhibitions, while at the same time expanding their operations with a few people with design and publishing skills.

Resulting in photographers becoming the end-users of their own work by delivering it directly to their customers.

OK, there's something like 1.9 million people in Nebraska, most of whom are Husker fans, so this book has a huge potential market, which isn't always the case with photojournalism. Still, it was also very expensive to produce... I drove something like 20,000 miles to cover these games, motels, gas... all that stuff adds up. Most projects won't be this costly.

I know photographers, you've seen them too, who are producing great work as we speak. Most of their projects don't need a huge budget.

Using the old agency model where you find the cheapest flight and rental car, sleep on couchs...whatever it takes to keep your budget low (because back then people often worked on flat rate guarantees, meaning the less you spend the more you keep), I think there's a way to continue being a PFJ.

It will take a little bit of everything, book and print sales, speaking fees, perhaps something published now and then, and digital distribution for this model to be successful.

But I think if you work hard, more importantly work smart, band together with like minded people of different skills, there's a way to succeed by reaching your fans directly.

At least that's what I hope to prove with Husker Game Day 2010 - Farewell Big 12.

 

The Great DSi Photo Contest

Photo #1

While driving around last Saturday, two of my children got into a little competitive photo-graphing with their Nintendo DSi's. Fair enough, but there's no way I'm going to judge the winner. I'll let all of you do that.

Photo #2 

The photos are numbered, just give us your picks in the comments below. I'll score three points for first, two for second, and one for third.

Photo #3 

There's cash involved, twenty bucks for first, fifteen for second, and ten for third. Yes, I'm a cheap dad, but I'm not going to steal their copyright like so many other contests today.

Photo #4 

The competitors are ages 13 and 11.

Photo #5 

Although I can't readily place their influences, I'll tell you they've been exposed to a lot of quality photography books. I'm not sure what affect I've had on them (photography wise), but they both quickly informed their mother that setting-up images was strictly forbidden (when she made a "helpful" suggestion), because daddy doesn't. Big smile on that one! (I wonder how so many journalists have somehow missed that lesson?)

Photo #6 

The contest will officially end at 4pm MST on Friday the 16th (so they can use their winnings to see a movie or something).

Photo #7 

They did their own edit. They each have five images posted here.

Photo #8 

I did a slight curve adjustment on each frame and a tad bit of sharpening. Besides those two things, these files are pretty close to what the DSi's pump out.

Photo #9

I refrained from coaching. I didn't want to tarnish how they see things.

Photo #10

This is all in good fun. Suggestions and/or criticism is encouraged, but please don't be cruel.

I'm excited to see how this turns out.

I'll post the results on Monday, July 19th.

Thanks!