Life As I Express It

This semester, I am taking 'Picture Story.' As one of our first readings, was 'Life/Work' by Bill Jay. Jay talked about how photography, good photography, reflects real life. But not in the 'photograph the banal' but in the 'what's your passion' sense. And it got me thinking: one of the things that I have been wrestling with, since coming to grad school, is listening to and validating my own voice. What I mean is, it's so easy for me to doubt myself, to second-guess myself. And when I think about my future, what I want to do, or what I like to photograph, it all just doesn't seem to be spiffy enough, fancy enough. The word lame comes to mind. But Jay writes, "Stephen Dalton obviously has a passion for, and deep knowledge of, insects. His technically amazing, and aesthetically beautiful, images of insects ooze a love for bugs even to those who have an aversion to the little beasts themselves." and "If the photographer is communicating a personal passion in something, anything, through the pictures then the images are also revealing, incidentally, a great deal about the photographer as well as the subject. His/ her attitude to life is evident." So, maybe it's not so lame, I'm not so lame, after all. Maybe, like Rita said, I'm the only one who can tell the stories that I come across. It seems so elementary, obvious, but it's so easy to feel inconsequential.

I also liked this one: "A unique style emerges in photography by ignoring it, concentrating on the subject, and allowing care, passion and knowledge to bubble to the surface through a lot of hard work over a long period of time.' I like the idea that I don't need to worry so much about distinguishing myself, not being derivative, being original or the best, and just focus on working hard and I'll get there. It's just training my eye to see the unusual...