I’ve been working for Jay Maisel for about a week and a half, and already he’s starting to rub off on me. His famous motto is “always carry a camera,” and I’ve started doing that. My formal training was very commercially focused, and so I never felt the need to take photos while I was just waking around. But working with Jay, and seeing the brilliance he’s able to find/create when he “just walks around”, I’ve decided I want a piece of that action.
Looking at midtown Manhattan from Sunnyside in Queens.
It’s been a big month for me. I’ve been in New York, graciously staying with my good friends Chris and Leigh Anna Thompson. I had originally planned to move here in January, but something big came up, and I had to get here early.
I came home from Birmingham to a 40-foot bonfire today. It was a nice welcome home, except that there was no party, no beer, no music, nothing. Just a giant fire burning bright and crackly all by itself in the field between my house and the train tracks. Shane and I were heading out to grab some food, and we were the first people to go scope it out. Eventually a few other neighbors showed up, but that was about it. The fire department came and watched it burn with us.
CNN posted an article today entitled “15 Stressful Jobs That Pay Badly.” Number 8 on the list? Commercial photographer.
They fail to explain in any detail what makes it so stressful, and offer an anecdotal story about a photographer who found herself dangling off of a catwalk under a New York bridge to get the right shot. I see those moments as stress relief, rather than stress-inducing.
They also failed to mention the inherent stress that comes with being a freelance professional. The running joke is that we, as photographers, wake up every morning unemployed, and have to always be seeking the next job, following up on leads, showing our books, etc. Most commercial photographers are a one-person business, having to deal with marketing, accounting, and production ourselves. So when business is handled for the week and the shoot’s been organized (or orchestrated), there is nothing more relaxing than when we finally get to pick up the camera, contort our bodies into goofy positions or dangle from a bridge and just make the images.
I spent some time in downtown Philadelphia yesterday, just walking around. The lady-friend had never been, so we went on an abbreviated tour of the city. Of course, no tour would be complete without a trip to city hall and a ride to the top of the clock tower to catch the view.