Finding Satisfaction While Overloaded, Plus Another Take on Collages

I'm still in the middle of a crazy busy period doing a lot of photography (14 rolls of film and a couple of gigs of digital images) and trying to make various clients happy in the short term. Despite numerous technical snafus that always seem cruelly timed (including scanners, printers, enlargers etc all malfunctioning within days of each other near a big deadline), I somehow got a dozen black and white prints up on Saturday at the ballet studio, followed by four more color ones on Sunday from early weekend dress rehearsals and shows, and thankfully they were very well received. A lot more printing and developing to be done, but thank goodness it seems under control in the short term.

The currency of praise in photography is sadly worth little, given how easily it is dispensed by loved ones and colleagues, and it can be even dangerous for photographers, as it correlates too infrequently with financial rewards or personal growth and spiritual rewards for that matter (as shooting strictly to please others rarely produces personal work). But in reading Kevin's latest post, I'm reminded that sometimes the simplest praise is the most rewarding; in his case, it came from a small gesture from his father, in my case it came from the dancers themselves as I posted the prints right after they finished their pre-show rehearsal...as they saw themselves in candid poses during past classes, in performance, or simply sharing a laugh during a break, they couldn't stop looking at the prints, and one woman just yelled (to no one in particular) "These [pictures] make me so happy, I just want to cry".

It sounds hokey, I'm sure, but I don't sell a single print, I'll still feel fulfilled for having engaged in this project.

Emily and I had a good email exchange regarding the merits (or lack thereof) of Guillem Ramos-Poquí's work in my recent post on photomontage. I've expressed my reservations about a lot of digital photomontage, which too often looks cheesy or merely clever, which made it a pleasure to view Em's own collages from years ago before she even had a camera. Her modest and engaging work was assembled using a scanner and photographs from various sources, and has the depth and personality that so many collages lack, in my opinion. Once again, proof that personality and sound artistic motivation trump equipment and lofty jargon anytime...

More posts and links to come as I extricate myself gradually from my workload...