AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Today on the front of this site I saw a message from a member who wants to collect black and white photos to sell to a client. People have often asked me if I've ever considered a career in photography. I think most people think of photographers as people who take photos on top of mountains and live as free and unchained as the wind that rustles though their hair. The reality of it is, people who make a living off of photography spend more time editing their photos, making phone calls and meeitng up with clients than they actually do taking photos. Futhermore, walking around all day carrying heavy and bulky professional equiptment makes taking photos more of a burden than anything else. For instance, I wanted to take a good photo that symbolized the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. knowing full well that every possible angle from every possible location would have already been photographed to death. I brought my best camera, lenses and tripod along with me and a few days into it I noticed I wasn't able to enjoy the cherry blossoms at all because I was worried about getting "the shot" and exhausted from lugging around all my gear. When I started examining my photographs, I noticed they represented my situation perfectly - tierd photographs from a tierd photographer. I needed to return to the true basics of photography and on the last day I chose to use only a rangefinder, a normal 50mm lens and black and white film. I wanted to create a honest, well-composed photograph without using wide-angle perspectives and saturated colors - if I had to make a living on photography I would never have this opportunity and the photograph below would never exist.