THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY!

There is so much to be thankful for. I am surrounded by people that are so talented that it’s almost unbelievable. On a daily basis I get to be inspired by my peers. This week was no exception. The inspiration, support, and strength I get from my friends, family, and peers is invaluable and keeps me going day to day. We don’t really need to talk about the “bad,” do we? Late payments, scraping by, rejection, blah blah blah blah blah. I get tired of talking about it. You get it. It’s not as rosy and glamorous as people who are NOT in-the-know would think.

Let’s talk about the “ugly,” shall we? This career can be hard enough as we briefly covered in the bad section. What makes it worse is ugly behavior. There is back stabbing, drama, jealousy, rumor starting, deceit, unhealthy competitiveness, downright vindictiveness, and the worst… bad-mouthing a peer to a fellow professional. It’s the underbelly of the photographic community and it’s frankly gross. I have from one time or another been a victim of all of that behavior and so have most the people I know. It’s just not conducive to anyone.

Now we ALL TALK. That’s a given. And of course we’re going to bitch about each other from time to time to friends and lovers. Everyone in ANY career field does that about their co-workers. I would just like to request that we try to stay positive, that we try to be happy for each other’s successes even if it’s hard sometimes, and that under no circumstances do we attempt to hurt someone else’s career. We already have so many strikes against us just for the mere fact that we want to be a photographer. Why make it harder for ourselves than it has to be? And if none of that works just think about a little thing called karma. I strongly believe in karma and what goes around comes around. So let’s look out for each other!

I’ll leave you with a quote that was going around FB a couple of days ago:

We live in an era of enormous cynicism. Do not be fooled. Don’t act for money. You’ll start to feel dead and bitter.

Don’t act for glory. You’ll start to feel dead, fat and fearful. We live in an era of enormous cynicism. Do not be fooled.

You can’t avoid all the pitfalls. There are lies you must tell. But experience the lie. See it as something dead and unconnected you clutch. And let it go.

Act from the depth of your feeling imagination. Act for celebration, for search, for grieving, for worship, to express that desolate sensation of wandering through the howling wilderness.

Don’t worry about Art. Do these things and it will be Art.