I’ve gotten into a few habits lately that have been very “un-dude” of me. For instance, I’ve been doing a lot of writing and very little sharing. Growing up is weird. Sometimes I feel it doesn’t fit well, then I write a post about it.
Boring.
I don’t want to write it, you don’t want to read it, we are all satisfied.
Trying to decide what this blog means to me, or who my flickr account is for, and why I have both a Facebook profile and a Myspace profile, has been an ongoing struggle for me for a while. But, in the end they don’t add up to anything. One day I will die and all my harddrives will be broken and photos erased, films forgotten, and facebook profile deleted.
Lately I have had the pleasure of seeing the inner workings of two creative companies located in the middle of New York City. I feel like saying New York City proves they survive in a very competitive market…so…they don’t suck. Anyways, I have learned a few things there and the number one thing is, people don’t really care about what you can do. Demo reels, portfolios, how much you can bench press, these things mean nothing.
Speaking generally about employment and not about where I work, I feel the issue of job security is the root of this problem. The “grown up” world is a myth. It’s pretty much a bunch of old kids scared they won’t make enough money to pay their morgages. So, they protect their incomes and fall in love with themselves. So, the Rule of Thumb would conclude, they are the best at what they do, thats why they have this job. Right?
So who really is the best? Is it the kid with the top video on YouTube? Is it the girl with 200,000 views on flickr? Or is it the guy who has a job and makes money?
My mind has been blown at work so many times. Turns out you don’t need to shoot digital to be a photographer. You don’t need to know Photoshop. You don’t need to follow rules or know who Ansel Adams was for that matter. All you have to do is keep doing whatever it is your doing and find your place. (Or wait for your place to find you.)
You have two categories, techies and artists. Photographers who are really really excited about the Mark-III, guitarists who can’t wait to get their mits on the new XKR-22 pedal with delay, and cinematographers who will only color correct if it’s in 4:4:4.
Then you have artists, using old equipment, breaking rules, and work for themselves. I dig it.
Ok, I’m done. Now I can start writing about all the things that make me feel good again.