To finally answer the question of this post, the only obligatory shooting I have done is that from which I feel a moral obligation. I feel compelled to tell a story, help a cause or organization with my images. Another obligatory job was a good stint as an aerial photographer, hanging out of a helicopter with a Hasselblad. The subject boring…the job so much fun…

Mostly it has been pro bono work as the people who needed the images were non profit organizations concerned with environmental & conservation issues …I still want to do this, my problem is choosing what to photograph and dedicate a large percentage of my time to it….There are so many issues I feel passionate about but none compare to some of the great documentary work I have seen this year.

Up until this year, for the last 6 years or so, I’ve helped raise 2 stepdaughters…and have basically only taken my camera out when I have been traveling, which has been about 3-4 months out of the year, to some amazing places on this planet. Purely for my own enjoyment, thinking I would do something with all the pixx later.

This year, for several reasons I needed to take things to a higher/deeper level and I am trying to re-educate myself, pushing my own boundaries. The problem is I want to make a living as a photographer, create fine art, and document some very important issues too…A bit out of whack…hopefully I will find the balance…the thing I care least about is the money, although making enough to support my photography addiction is necessary.

ERICA~

I too at a very young age thought I would be in Africa helping orphans…only the furry kind….I still think one day I will be there…

I like your style….You Go Girl!!!!!

Hillary

I’m not kidding .. Look at my face
;-))))
I’m DEAD SERIOUS…

LOL ..

i am exhausted from today’s shoot but feel compelled to do a post…..maybe tonight i hope…

stay tuned….

cheers, david

I just don’t wanna get into all that… “let bygones be bygones”, let’s got back to what this blog’s all about ! Back to a “family” full of love/hate relationships that can manage to just take a step back and breathe. BREATHE people !

I agree with DAVID B about one thing (and to try and follow HERVE’s “short guidelines” to BOB B): let me say this :

LESS TALK, MORE ROCK !!!

So, back to rockin’…

Erica,

Thanks for the links. I especially like Chris Morris’ MM piece that I saw a week ago.

As I couldn’t manage to get my sorry arse there yesterday, I’d like to know why you said that Yuri Kozyrev’s work “isn’t always easy to sit with” ? (A guy I admire for such a consistency in covering Iraq).
Nothing intented, just your point of view…

By the way, here’s another point of view well worth seeing, especially about a country too rarely covered nowadays: Rwanda.

I saw Patricia’ link to M. Bleasdale’s awesome work of my childhood coutry so… here it is – “gift” for PATRICIA : http://mediastorm.org/0024.htm

“Rockin’” out,
Tanguy.

Tokomónono na nsíma !

yess… emotional rollercoaster is a good description. I allready had quite some set backs with “wishes” and everytime this happenes I get more or less into despair.
Not long ago I wrote DAH about it. Unfortunately he was running and out of time, but it helped to read his comforting words telling me that he felt he was in a very similar situation than mine at just that moment …

Yeah… for me it helps to talk about it with someone… then I manage to see it with more distance. There always are some kind of alternatives and solutions. The trick is to find the solution that makes the project even better than it was before.

So… considering this I really hope to find further pitfalls along my way. And I know I will probably not have to go far for the next one.

Some of them … I can smell them already.
:)

Cheers,
Lassal

thank you for the dispatches-links above … !
I am preparing to move over to multimedia here and there, too. Collecting audio now for my “Wishes” project … Seeing what is possible to make by following your links is very valuable to me now.

KARIM

ditto for the link to “the places we live”. I had planned something quite similar for “Wishes” with a navigation around a map showing where I took the portraits … Because it is getting more and more … and there are so many additional infos to the project I would like to share, but my site would just burst. At present the pictures are falling a little behind because I cannot but put them up this small … So I am preparing a separate site for this project – and for “Meaning” too – to serve the project better.

ERICA

I would have never imagined that this project would get so … intense … It is really taking over my life at the moment. So I understand a little of what you mean.

You have to scan and I have to edit. But… have not managed to do much more than some backups. I have weeks of editing still ahead of me …

ERIC

thank you for your kind words. If you only knew how much I struggle for each word! If you only could sense the enourmous differences between what I want to say and what I end up saying… Well …
But it is good to be making some sense at all. Sometimes I doubt I manage that.

That is why I prefer to take pictures. Very simple actually. It is the language I feel most comfortable in.

I read everyone commenting on your latest edit. Could you please post the link again, Eric?! Do you have a separate link for every edit? Or do you have a separate Gallery for the “rejects”. I would love to have another look … I missed a month here now and I fear this means I missed a couple of edits. I remember your photos quite well … I am very curious what became out of it.

And please … Do have someone write me a postcard from your place, I’d love to come to Ohio! I am going all over the place. Will be visiting Gina and Nacho in Washington, will be in NC, Charlotte to visit some old friends, in San Francisco too, will be in NY, will maybe travel around by car, everything is open! And I probably will not manage to do it all in one go anyway. Or I will have to take my hardware to do some bread-job from there for my German clients … Whatever … I’ll figure it out somehow.
But please write!!!

I have had so many people from the blog announcing postcards, but none have arrived until now. Even if we still have plenty of time for whatever, I am really hoping to hear from all of you soon. Things can change very fast and … sometimes windows of opportunities just close in front of us. So I prefer to plan tight and keep things going as fast as possible.
Even so I feel all is going much too slow …

Sounds melodramatic, but … I’d like to get a couple of things done before I die. And as I do not know when this will be I keep running as fast as possible. Because… at the end it could be … tomorrow. Or next month. Or next year.
That is what keeps me going. That is the way I tick. And even if it sounds strange, I actually like it. I like it because I now know what I am doing and why. This was not the case until recently, so I felt awful running for “nothing”. “Wishes” was not really in the plan, only the other project (“Meaning”) was. Amongst some other things that do not belong here. So now I have to really hurry to get it all done in time!! :))

HERVE

sorry to hear about OCTOBER …

PANOS
thanks amigo!!! :)))
Same for me.

BOB

can you imagine… The Giacomelli book has not arrived. It had an absurdly long delivery time. And apparently now it got lost in translation… in transition… whatever.
And they do not have a second one so now they are refunding the money.
Guess I will try the less expensive approach over amazon UK now. I hope they still have a copy.
My oh my … it is sure hard for me to get to this book. :)

Thanks for your mail ….
It helped me a lot, you know? It gave me some answers I needed.
I owe you.
Thanks again and all my love to Marina.

Will write as soon as I can. Have to finish some deadline work now again. As it goes …

Love to all of you!
Lassal

I was referring to each individuals emotional roller coaster as the process of artistic progress ….not the blog itself.

It was mostly in reference to Erica’s post about feeling momentarily lost and evident in others comments that we all go through it, and well…. it helps to know we aren’t going through it alone… especially if someone reaches out.

To me it has reference to photography as that it is what we have chosen as our art and form of expression. It is my feeling that through this process that great art is created and I do see it here rising to the surface.

Peace,
Hillary

Hillary, frankly, we need to be honest with ourselves. None of the blog’s emotional roller coasters has anything to do with artitic angst rising to the surface.

I’d hope that anyone thinking this about themselves would quickly realize the ridicule in such pretense and give it a good laugh.

I am just one individual searching for something deeper, it is personal as well as professional. Emotional roller coasters seem to come with the territory….Through the Blog Smog I pick and choose what is pertinent to me and empathy is felt for those struggling. In some ways it is a comfort to know I am not alone in my self imposed angst. Geographically isolated, I don’t know many photographers and all of your personal experiences and photographic work have enlightened me these past couple of months.

Most of all I appreciate the links to other sites and photographers.
One thing leads to another….

I learn so much from seeing and reading the honest critiques of your work, mostly from David’s perspective, but others as well. It takes a lot of courage to put your work out there whether there is a response or not….

DAH, ERICA, LASSAL, BOB B., DAVID B., CHRIS B. & PATRICIA~
Thank you for putting so eloquently into words the things I feel and do not have the ability to say. Your projects, processes and perspectives are deeply inspiring to me…

Hillary

Cheers,

Martin

answered you 7 posts up..

Have to write everyone else soon..busy..xo

I was very touched by your comment to Erica. You are Erica are so articulate! I like your writing as much as your photographs… Two very fine ladies!!!! It was great to hear from you and to continue to follow your journey with this fascinating project of yours!! I would love to send you a postcard but doubt that you will come all the way to Ohio…

Please keep us in the loop often.

Cheers,

Eric

Last night I attended the launch party at vii for the new dispatches magazine;

“Each quarter, dispatches examines a crucial topic in its full context, with seasoned writers whose experience is firsthand and with photographers who have shown an exceptional ability to capture human reality. Its bold design in a book-sized format is meant for people who savor the printed word and the long form photo essay.”

Founders are Mort Rosenblum, Simba Gill and Gary Knight; while some of the work presented is by vii photographers, this is not a vii affiliated magazine. The magazine is commissioning semi-longterm new work, and to that end I would especially encourage you to subscribe if it is in your budget; it is well printed and hopefully will continue to impress. Gary spoke about more than anything, wanting to work with photographers that have authorship, and an individuated perspective. The initial issue was In America, the second Beyond Iraq, and the third will be on Russia..

Several MM pieces were shown, including

The Dear Leader, by Christopher Morris
http://www.rethink-dispatches.com/visuals/the-dear-leader/

ирак by Yuri Kozyrev
http://www.rethink-dispatches.com/beyond-iraq/photo-essay/

Godville by Antonin Kratochvil
http://www.rethink-dispatches.com/issue/in-america/godville/

I had a chance to speak with Yuri for the second time, and both he the person on his work have had a strong effect on me. His work isn’t always easy to sit with, but for me, his willingness to persevere and tell a story that is difficult to tell with diligence and heart makes me able to digest that which he reveals.

The founders plan to supplement the physical magazine with online content, which is already rich and filled with both written and visual essays..here is a link to the first issue http://www.rethink-dispatches.com/in-america/

enjoy!

This i s a link VII agency Ron Haviv

http://www.viiphoto.com/showstory.php?nID=761

Saludos