u n b i d d e n

Sometimes I find comfort in making cliché photographs.

These same photos have been taken numerous times and the one of the mill exists on a postcard available for purchase inside. These photos are not new. They are not different. They are not bold. They are expected.

While I have to admit these images are pretty to look at they are not about the scene or the photography. They are about me going through the motions of being a photographer. Being a photographer is something I’ve not done much lately.

You see, just as I find myself invigorated, creatively, by making a picture of something new, I also find rest in photographing something the same way everyone else has. It’s nice to make pictures with out pressure, external or internal. It’s nice to just be.

Rest is a good thing. We are wired to rest. We need it. Our bodies need it. Our minds need it. I think people who work in creative endeavors need it most.

We watched the 1986 file “The Mission” a couple of days ago with some friends. A pretty powerful film for sure. Towards the end of the movie there was a part where two of the characters, Gabriel and Rodrigo, choose different paths. One chose love and non-violence and the other selected resistance and violence. When they began to struggle with these choices there was a quote that really stopped me in my tracks.

Gabriel: If might is right, then love has no place in the world. It may be so, it may be so. But I don’t have the strength to live in a world like that, Rodrigo.

I don’t have the strength to live in a world like that. What a powerful statement. And a true one at that. Living in a world of gossip, pride, anger and conflict takes way to much energy. It’s so easy to get sucked in to that mindset. I guess for me I’d rather use my strength not to live in a world of “might” but to struggle to live in a world of love.

I watched this video of Malcolm Gladwell twice this morning. I found it very interesting to take what he was saying and applying it to newspaper journalism.

Lots of things stood out for me. Like, people don’t know what they want and even if they did know they wouldn’t be able to explain it. And it’s useless trying to please everyone one way, universally, but more affective to please clusters of people.

I always thought that it would be a good thing to allow every person to customize their news. But I also thought that would be bad because people would miss out on important issues. After watching this I think that clustering content and serving it to readers might be a better way.

His final statement also hits home.

That is the final, and I think most beautiful lesson, of Howard Moskowitz. That in embracing the diversity of human beings, we will find a surer way to true happiness.

So instead of the newspaper industry looking for the perfect way to get people the news I wonder if they should look at how to cluster groups of readers together and finding they best way to serve their wants and needs in the best way. In some ways I think newspapers do this, but they don’t do a great job at it.

PDN recently published their 30 Under 30 special. “Our choice of new and emerging photographers to watch.”

That’s all well and good and useful. However, I find myself getting closer to 40 and further away from 30. And while I love to see the young talent out there I would love a new feature from PDN. How about 10 over 50? Or maybe 60? I want to see experienced photographers who keep reincarnating their photography. Photographers who continue to be fresh and emerging. You don’t have to be young to do that.

Evidence of My Exisistence is a synopsis of a new memoir by US News & World Report photojournalist Jim Lo Scalzo.