Travel & Humanitarian Photos
There must be something in the air. Or perhaps it’s a phase of the moon. Either way, a cascade of inspiring interviews and quotes have hit my Inbox over the last few days and knowing, as I do, the joy of sharing, I thought I’d do just that.
Firstly, a list of “advice for young photographers” has been posted on the Magnum Blog
I’m not sure why it’s specifically “young” photographers. I’d be stretching the definition of the word if I called myself “young” but there was much that I found interesting. You can download the full PDF from the Magnum blog but I’ve picked out a few of my favourite pieces of advice.
“Get a good pair of walking shoes and…fall in love” Abbas
“Photograph because you love doing it, because you absolutely have to do it, because the chief reward is going to be the process of doing it.” Alex Webb
“…learn as many languages as possible, go to movies, read books visit museums, broaden your mind” Martine Franck
“Be yourself, get up early, and don‘t try too hard” Peter Marlow
“Follow your heart and never give up.” Stuart Franklin
The full article is eight pages long and what I found most interesting was the similarity in what was said. There’s little, if any, talk of how to run a business or how to present a portfolio or how to set up a web site, important though these things clearly are.
Almost all of these highly successful photographers talk about following your passion, about photographing the things that delight and move you.
I think that, as photographers, we all find ourselves occasionally photographing subjects that don’t really inspire us. Whether by the necessity of having to pay the rent or perhaps through an uncertainty that what we really want to photographs will be considered “valid” by those around us.
I guess all artists have a tendency to seek approval, whether in the form of acknowledgment from our peers or through photo competitions or online forums or any of the many other means by which photographic work is judged. The approval of people we respect can be very reassuring. It probably takes a quite determined, perhaps bloody-minded, character to completely dismiss others’ opinions and to be content with their own opinion of the work they’ve produced.
But if the Magnum quotes prove anything, it is that successful photographers share a passion for their art and for their chosen subjects, whatever that may be.
Talking of producing something that you can be truly proud of, Ami Vitale is a photographer who seems to be very much on top of her game. I don’t need to say more about her as Matt Brandon has done the job for me with a terrific interview with Ami over at the Digital Trekker blog.
[...] have linked to this, but in case you limit your blog time and haven’t seen it – check out THIS POST at Gavin’s place about the Magnum blog’s list of advice for young photographers. While [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by gavingough. gavingough said: From the blog archive: Inspiration for young (and not so young) photographers – There must be something in… http://bit.ly/ecTXrW #photog [...]