doctoral candidate in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication
wrong, wrong, wrong
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.
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Along these lines, I had a funny thing happen to me yesterday. I had taken a candid photo of someone’s child at an event, and many days later when I was sorting through my photos of the event, I came across this shot and loved it. I cropped it and enhanced it. I thought it was a gorgeous shot, so I emailed it off to the parents.
I never heard anything back from them. I was disappointed, and I decided that it probably wasn’t as good a photo as I thought. But I liked it and was happy with the work.
Yesterday we were all together again having lunch, and the parents began talking to somone else about the amazing photo I took of their child. They sent it out to all of their family and friends, and everybody went nuts about it. The photo had literally taken on a celebrity of its own. People were asking for prints and wanted the parents to frame it and give it as holiday gifts.
Mind you, I was not part of this conversation. I was sitting some distance away and just overheard what was being said. No one has ever said anything to me about this photo. I know many of the people who are going nuts about it, but none of them ever commented.
I thought about it for a while, and I’ve come to the conclusion that, in the minds of non-photographers, there is a real disconnect between the photos and the person taking the photos. People rarely consider the emotion and work that goes in to what a photographer does. It’s almost as if they think what we do is luck, and that we just stumble across gorgeous shots every now and then.
I say all of that to say this; It is very possble that the people in your life LOVE your photos. They may not appreciate the amount of work that goes into them, but they love the end result.
I’ll say this also; You post so many beautiful photos, sometimes every day, that I wonder if people begin to think what you do is easy. If you are capable of doing this every day, how hard could it be?
I know how hard it is, but I’m a photographer. They aren’t.
Just keep doing what makes you happy. Forget about everybody else.
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#4 written by Curtis 4 years ago
I think you have to do it because you enjoy it. Unless you are trying to make a living off of it, does any other reason matter?
I tend not to comment on things I see on the internet because I often feel like I’m talking to an dark room full of people who aren’t listening.
Nice to see you making real entries again, instead of those tweet-tweet things…
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Yeah the comment above about promotion is very cogent. Right now the supply curve of good photos is shifting flat because of the proliferation of cheaper equipment and online photosharing–it takes an incredible amount of access and/or work to get noticed–but that doesn’t mean good quality photos won’t be recognized in time.
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Dawn, for what it’s worth, you should know that I and the other evaluators for Modern Fabulousity’s gallery think the world of you. That’s why we started linking to your work in the first place, and why we continue to do so. I personally think that photoblogs are a dime a dozen, but your work regularly exceeds the field. I’d put you in the top 5% of photoblogs today.
As for the Photo of the Year contest…that’s exactly what it is. A contest. Voted by our readers who, for the most part, are not especially sophisticated when it comes to visual art or photography. And that’s by design, of course…we WANT people to think of photography as a populist art form, and for it to reach people it otherwise wouldn’t reach.
The downside of that, of course, is that the photos they select each week exhibit what I’ll kindly call “trends”. Generalizing wildly, they love oddball shots. They love bright color. And they love “action” shots, which usually includes people as subjects.
Is this bad? Not really. But it does mean that many of the readers aren’t sophisticated enough to deeply evaluate composition, color texture, processing, etc.
This is all meant to tell you…I believe in your photography, your skill, and your artistry. Many people do. Recognition will come, provided you remain true to yourself and show the world as you see it as strongly and as clearly as possible.
Chin up (and thanks for your great photos!),
Gabriel @ ModFab -
Dawn, first time comment to your site.
I have always enjoyed your photoblog, I really like the moody quality of your pictures.
I am wondering if your family/friends think they are too “dark” for their taste? Why not ask them for a quick feedback?
Keep up the good work, from what I can see, you have a very active following.
Just for laughs, you have to read this:
http://theonlinephotographer.blogspot.com/2006/06/great-photographers-on-internet.html -
Dawn,
I just wanted to pipe in with my own two cents here and say that your photography is what has always kept me coming back to your site. I’m amazed by the beauty in your photos every time I see them. In fact, my first few visits, I thought your pictures were so good that I assumed they were a “professionals” that you had borrowed to compliment your posts. When I realized that professional was you, I was amazed! You see beauty in things, and capture it, in a way that most people can’t or won’t understand. It’s pure and passionate and wonderful. Don’t give up. You have a great gift and whether others acknowledge it or not, know that your art touches people.
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i think your work is spectacular, artistic, brilliant even. i take photographs because it feeds my soul and i suspect you do as well … in the end, that is all that matters i think :) recognition is lovely but its not everything … you need to work full time on the promotion end of things to get that kind of recognition, me, i’d rather be taking photos ;-)
and honey, i think you get more recognition than you think you do … hugs!
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Dawn, a lot of the “famous” photography out there is famous because of one thing: promotion. Either the photographers themselves are great at promoting their “art” (and I use quotes there for a very good reason) or they have good agents on their side.
I looked at those finalists, and it’s the photography that sells these days: edgy, different angles, frozen action. If that’s your thing, fine, go with it. It’s not really my thing, and I doubt it’s yours, either. My take on it is that I’m going to stick with what I like. I take photographs because I love it, not because I want to join the “in” crowd. If at some point I get popular because of my photography, I know I’ll have done it my way, and it’s going to feel a whole lot more rewarding.
Don’t get discouraged, and keep doing what you love. Sooner or later, the world will catch up with you. Or it won’t. Who cares either way, if you’re doing what you love?
And oh yeah, I like your photographs. :-)