i am sitting now in a business meeting….i am even a member of our board…yet still, like an errant schoolboy , i am restless, shifting in my chair, fighting sleep and having trouble paying attention to the graphs, charts, and numbers being thrown around…i have now been in Paris for two days and only know that it is freezing cold outside…i will not savor the delights of the city….
all of this is very important business for Magnum….we have survived for 60 years because SOMEONE was paying attention to all of this…and even i am much better at understanding the business side of our craft than previous…..but , i am very grateful for all of the other members who are much better suited than i for "balancing the books" at Magnum…i can barely balance my personal accounts…
i am only on the board, in fact, because of my activities with the Magnum Cultural Foundation and our education initiative….but, i did my presentation hours ago and so now i am writing to you instead of making suggestions for a better four office coordination program…i am, in effect, "scribbling" on my laptop in the "back of the class"…but i am still, sort of, listening too…
balancing a creative life with a business life has always been difficult for me…how about you?? does business acumen help you with your photocraft, or are you like me…more interested in photographs than in flow charts??
i am hopeless when the word business is mentioned as i know nothing about it. Perhaps i should and maybe i would have more belongings than would fit literally in my 1989 nissan compact car. the interesting point for me is that my parents are all about business and have made a good solid profession from being business savy.
my infliction is that i’m a dreamer and for the most part live in my head often times these dreams manifest themselves through photography. Since i was a boy literally i lived vicariously through National Geographics color photos and later on through the articles.
all of my heroes in life have been maverick artists whom think in the all or nothing category for better or worse. Vincent Van Gogh and the writer/painter Henry Miller come to mind. These two artists were so serious about their freedoms that they lived in poverty for most of their lives. Also they had a dream and were adamant about not making compromises for anyone. My mother thinks that they are little boys who never grew up ?
yeah; so the other day i was speaking to my mom about my art and what i want out of Life. Honestly I’m perfectly content with nothing except my cameras a meager place to sleep and the gift of communication. She thinks this is childish and egocentric ie. selfish.
anyway my family and i are always debating about the realities of life and how one should LIVE. Nonsense; i don’t want to be preoccupied or tied down by anyone or anything. I just want to be free like the wind. oh; the life of a dreamer or perhaps the fool on the hill ?
Since you started this up, i have some questions…
What is the best selling part of photography for you: commissioned editorial work, fine art print sales, books, annual reports for companies, advertising?
I’m not asking you the numbers or details, but the percentage.
What are the trends regarding this things inside Magnum?
Thank’s
ALL…
i just returned to new york an hour ago…i have a bit of scrambling to do around my office this afternoon, but i will read all of your comments soonest and reply…
cheers, david
following up on the Celan poem:
“He is rich who is content with the least; for contentment is the wealth of nature.”–
Socrates
“Dad, why do you let shit bother you. It’s not that important…”-Dima Black
I think it is maybe less about having money or not and perhaps more about how important it feels for a person to have it.
In other words: would a person REALLY change their art in order to sell more or just go for it regardless if it sells or not?
By the way: even van Gogh tried (pretty hard) to adjust in order to sell. He just did not manage to do so…
Does the expectation of money corrupt a soul or not?
It is an idividual thing, and it depends on so many aspects … Like the specific situation someone is in and how much really he/she believes in what he/she is doing… Sometimes great people do lack selfconfidence.
Some of those, who just go for it regardless of the outcome, might get lucky and actually sell what they stand for and earn their living through it (or more even). Maybe they are at the right place at the right time? And maybe not. van Gogh was too early. But others were not. It is not necessarily so that you have to be poor just because you do not go for compromises. And it is not necessarily so that you get rich because you compromise.
You might sell yourself and end up with nothing or the other way around. There are examples for everything.
So we might still get lucky ;-)
It is just over when it is over. Until then: the game is on!
I think this is a very comforting thought. Don’t you?
Lassal : Just the thought of making it financially is enticing especially doing what you love. Being paid to execute your own vision would be a RUSH !! Also being able to afford a leica and two lenses would be nice; almost there. Also i don’t think that $$ necessarily corrupts people i think it’s an individual’s character that determines that. Money probably just brings to the surface more readily what was always there in the first place. Money itself is not evil as it’s an inanimate object.
If we really wanted to make money at photography, we probably wouldn’t take the pictures we are taking. The market for editorial and street photography may be large, but the payout is tiny. You would be better off shooting pictures of cats and selling them to a greeting card company than stalking the streets looking for a decisive moment. Or staking out Britney Spear’s (now pregnant at 16) sister. Now that’s money.
Yes Michael we are on the same page, I don’t necessarily like the word “pure” myself, I was really using it to pose a question. In fact I personally don’t believe pure truly exists outside of an ideal or concept.
Panos, absolutely I agree with you as well. The truly great artists will always make significant work and will force the movements to bend towards them, they create the color pallet that people try to emulate, they move the market place. Those artists are rare, but they are alive and well – see Paul Thomas Anderson, Julian Schnabel (his new film not his paintings), Gus Van Sant, Bob Dylan….
Also agree with Panos when he says…stop talking and go out and SHOOT – touche’.
First I post, and then I see that Natan has already said most of what I said, which makes me redundant, and then Typepad says that I am spam. Given that I’ve always thought of myself as more of a roast beef type than in any way spammish, this comes as a significant blow to my ego. Apropos nothing at all, did you know that here in the USA the people of Hawaii eat more spam than anyone else in the country? Another fun fact from Akaky’s Believe it or else!
just left a long post…..typepad thinks im spammer..so, we’ll see if it makes it ;))…
running
bob
just left a long post…..typepad thinks im spammer..so, we’ll see if it makes it ;))…
running
bob
Hey David,
Sorry to hear that you have to sit in the board room and listen to talks and look at graphs and charts. Too bad it is chilly in Paris. I just returned from a week in Paris, (my first time there) and really loved the place. Despite the more or less continuous rain, I was able to shot and explore lots. The Barbes market is a real gem for shooting, and ppl observing. Enjoy the last days in Paris, and wish you a wonderful and peaceful Xmas, and a prosperous new year.
Peace,
Jarle
Hi running Bob,
welcome in the spammer group.
I’m in there, too…
Best
Lassal
I think we wrote too much. The short comments work out fine …
;)
Nathan and Panos: I really agree.
Cannot comment, becaus it will turn me into spam!
;)
so long
Lassal
lassal :)))…that’ll be good company :)))
the Good Man Harvey will have to release the posts in order for them to appear….
just a hint about my post (that was turn-keyed as a “spam”)
it concerned (at least at the end) eugene richards ;)))
running
b
Yeah, good to be running with you, Bob!!!
I think I copy&pasted my comment several times… Even rebooting the system to get a new IP. Then trying it again. So if David releases all of my tentatives, then trully I would have caused SPAM!
;-)
Signing off now. Got to get going.
Stay safe and happy everyone. Until soon, I hope,
Lassal
ALL….
i just read all of your posts….as usual , very very interesting stuff….this is so much fun for me (and i hope for you too) to discuss these little everyday nuances…it should be pretty obvious by now that i have zero editorial “plan”..i have no clue from day to day what i will post…it is basically just based on whatever direction i happen to be looking at the time or at whatever bus is about to run over me….and you!!
now you probably also have figured out that my recent travel schedule would leave even the toughest among us just a bit fatigued…such is the case with me tonight….so i will not comment to each of you as i often try to do…i have to make sure i catch the flight early tomorrow morning to go see my mother and the rest of my family in colorado….so, off to bed i go…
again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you for paying attention and contributing so thoughtfully…
cheers, david
DAvid et al,
Maybe this is more about how said I am than anything else, but I would *love* to see more Magnum “business meeting” photos.
Believe it or not, I often run a search on the Magnum website for “Magnum AGM” just to look (yet again!) at the many pictures of the mythical creatures…scratching their heads or yawning or photographing each other or dozing-off or — in some cases! — paying raptor-like attention to some procedural point that they want to go their way… Endlessly fascinating, for some reason.
Just out of interest, David, does anyone ever say, “For God’s sake, put the camera down and listen!” or “Enough, already, you photographed me every meeting we have!”
regards–
alun
I JUST WANT TO TAKE PICTURES! I frankly hate the business side of photography which is probably why I am poor. I was told recently by a very succesful photographer if I wanted to make money in this business, shoot what I am passionate about. He said, “if you woke up tommorow and couldn’t make money in this, what would you do”? This bit of advice has turned my world upside down.
Did they even notice the nice and quit M8 shutter sound;) And taking photos is much nicer than so many other things…
ALUN…
the very nature of Magnum would prevent any Magnum photographer from telling any other Magnum photographer to “put the camera down” for any reason whatsoever…by the way, i really DID listen for most of the meeting!!!
cheers, david