This is a tale of two photographers who resided in the same body as a professional photographer and how one photographer held
the other back.
One photographer made pictures based on what he thought others wanted to see.
The other photographer made pictures based on how he thought about what he was seeing.
One photographer produced mundane, boring, common work, aka visual Muzak, that anyone could have made.
The other photographer created unique compositions that were visually interesting, engaging, and nothing like anyone else could've made.
I know these photographers because they were me when I began working as a photojournalist.
And because of this conflict, I can't tell you how often I've created mundane pictures when working as a photojournalist, all in the hopes of pleasing my clients.
The results were pictures that fulfilled the assignment but lacked that visual uniqueness that would get editors wanting to work with me.
The work was visually "good enough" but not outstanding, so the editors would call me only "when needed."
I was making "good enough" work instead of the unique outstanding work I knew I could do.
And the irony is that what got me working with this particular client was the unique outstanding work I created while working with other newspapers being displayed in my portfolio.
But because of my fear of being perceived as too "out there" visually by the different editors I found myself working with within this publication, I kept myself visually stifled.
I became disinterested in being a professional photographer/photojournalist.
I felt removed from the spark that allowed me to create the unique pictures I'd made while working as a photojournalist for other publications.
One day, while working on an assignment for this client, as usual, I made "good enough" pictures based on what I thought others (the editors) wanted to see.
But then I decided to make a few pictures for "myself" to keep myself connected to the spark I mentioned in a previous paragraph.
In other words, within the context and ethics of being a photojournalist, I decided to make a few pictures based on my way of seeing and thinking about what I saw while also creating photographs based on what I thought others (the editors) wanted to see.
What happened next changed the way I worked.
I mixed the mundane with the unique on the same roll of film, and when the editor looked at the work, she questioned if I was the only one who used my camera to complete the assignment.
I answered, "Of course, it was only me."
She
proceeded to say that, on the one hand, she saw the usual "good enough" stuff she was used to seeing from me.
But on the other hand, she saw the
type of unique work she'd never seen before.
So she insisted that another photographer she wasn't aware of must have made
it.
I assured her it wasn't another photographer and explained to her what caused the visual variance.
And then, in her particular kind yet angry way, she admonished me for producing mundane, crappy work and praised the "other photographer" that, until that day, was hiding out of fear that their
work was "too weird" for publication in their well-respected newspaper.
She then warned me if I ever wasted her time again by producing "good enough work"
instead of the visually outstanding, unique work she saw that day, she'd request not to work with me again.
After that little chat, I never again
made photographs based on what I thought people wanted to see.
After word about what transpired between the editor and me got around, and my work
began to get played more often and prominently in the paper, I went from being a photographer who was called only when needed to a preferred photographer to work with.
The moral of the story is if you want to stand out from the rest of the rule-following pack of photographers who produce visual Muzak, stop making pictures based on what you think people want to see.
Instead, make pictures showing how you uniquely think about what you see.
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