Archive for October, 2007

I must be doing something wrong.  Really.  I must be because I can’t seem to get the same recognition that others get.

Yes, I’m talking about my photography.  Again.  I know.  I’m a broken record, aren’t I?  I’m sorry.  I work so hard at it, though, and put a lot of time and energy and, yes, love, into it and I’d just like to know that others out there enjoy it (or don’t) and if I’m wasting my time sharing it with others.  I mean, I could just keep it to myself and that would be ok – and save a lot of effort – but I post it online because I think others will enjoy it, too.

Ok, what am I complaining about, you may ask.  I get comments on my blog and on my Flickr pages.  And those comments are nice.  They are.  I appreciate them.  I know that the people who take the time to comment wouldn’t keep coming back if they didn’t enjoy my work.  But it’s more, I guess.

None of the people that I know in my offline life comment on my photography.  They don’t.  I don’t know if they like it or not.  I work with incredibly gifted people and I don’t know if what I’m doing is crap or if it resembles something remotely good.  My family has never commented on my photos online.  In fact, I’m not sure if they really like my photography at all.

This all started today when I went to see the  2007 ModFab Gallery finalists. As I began looking through them, I noticed one thing that is similar between them all.  Do you see it?

Yep.  They all have a human component.  In one form or another, humans are present in all of the photographs.

What does this have to do with me?  Oh, yes.  I can photograph people.  See these images?  Yeah, those are my images of people.  In fact, the one directly to the left of the couple holding hands was taking with my camera at my hip — and yet people love it. However, photographing people isn’t what I enjoy doing.  These shots were too easy. I didn’t really have to work at them.  They just came as I clicked on the shutter button.

Getting the right light on a stalk of grass, with the water the right color and the sky at the right tones, that’s stuff I crave.  I want to get the earth, decay, and lighting.  That’s not easy.  It’s not easy to make it seem to pop.  And, frankly, I’m not sure I do it correctly.  If I did, maybe people would like it more.

That’s not all, though.  I don’t discount that the photographers in the ModFab finalist gallery are good.  They are.  They are quite gifted.  I admire all of them and think that they all have the knack.  It’s more than that.

Today I found out that Flagstaff Daily Photo photographer, Dustin Blodgett, is being featured on two different local sites.  I’m thrilled for him.  I am.  But I’m a little jealous, too.  When I was running the Flagstaff Daily Photo blog (http://girl-inchoate.com/dailyphoto/), I practically begged people around town to pay attention to it.  I sent it in to the local newspaper and didn’t even rank a “no thank you” email (even though they claim to want to feature local bloggers).  I have shared it with the visitor’s bureau and others.  No one bit.

Maybe I don’t photograph the right things.  Maybe my photography really isn’t that good.  I don’t know.  I’ve lost all sense of objectivity at this point and I’m about ready to throw in the towel.

Sometimes it’s nice to hear that you’re doing something right — instead of always hearing about the things that you’re doing wrong.