Accounting for time.
It’s ironic I write this blog post after a month of not posting, but I still feel these words are important, need to be said, need to be understood.
I recently spent some time with a good friend who mentioned that even though he was in a good summer internship, was in a great city and having a good time, he had not taken a single photo that summer. He just wasn’t doing it, even though it was his major in college, even though it’s what he claimed to love, even though it’s what he said he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
It reminded me of a lesson I learned a while back, which seems notable to share here.
As photographers, or musicians, or painters, or anything creative, we are accountable for the passing of time through our work. We need and must have work to show for seasons, months and years.
It is too easy to call yourself a photographer and not take photos. We must prove our passion and commitment to our trade through consistently producing work. We must be able to say, “in the spring of 2007, I produced this, in June of 2009, I produced this.”
Through this process, our work improves, we train ourselves to be consistent, we have a record of our actions, our portfolio grows and potential employers are shown a track record of skill.
If we are not able to do this, if we go through long slumps of not producing, then we are unnecessarily labeling ourselves something we are not. It hurts the industry, discourages people, and drags your own name through the mud.
This has been my thought for the day. Go take some photos.