Going Into Creative Isolation: Some Parting Thoughts

I look out on a vast landscape of boundless opportunity.
To take a single step in any direction will cause ripples across the ocean of time with results I can not fathom.
Dare I ask, “Which step should I take?”

This will be the last blog post for a while as I’ll be taking a much needed break to focus on other creative endeavors. I think as artists it’s important to step away so you can assess your current direction and make any necessary and/or desired changes. I’ve been so busy with client work as of late, I haven’t had adequate free time to catch up on things I’ve been putting off. Things that will improve my work, grow my business, and leave me with more free time for whatever opportunities interest me. I’ve decided to be deliberate about a break and have blocked off the time on my calendar for the next few months.

So no more posts till end of summer.

I will update my portfolio periodically as well as post occasionally on Instagram, but this summer, I’ll be mostly off the grid. It’s time to focus on the work.

But before I go, here are some parting thoughts I’d like to share:

Gear Talk

• Panasonic Announces the GH7

  • Panasonic announced the upcoming release of their GH7, micro four thirds camera. From the specs it is a tour de force of video features. Probably the most interesting of it’s features is ARRI LogC3 which gives Panasonic users the ability to record in the ARRI Log profile to better match their footage with cinema cameras such as the ARRI ALEXA Mini. Outside of that it’s usual video related fair. Faster frame rates, 32-bit float audio, ProRes Internal RAW. At $2,197 it’s decently priced for what it offers, but why would anyone buy this? Today, I mean. If you’re already invested in micro four thirds sure. But there’s nothing about this release that will spur new customers to invest when the other manufacturers have a bevy of full-frame options that are similarly priced. It’s an incremental release, not a “WOW take my money!” release. And Panasonic needs that. From the abysmal Panasonic S9 reveal and now this, the company is currently circling the drain.

• Giving Sony Its Flowers

  • I was on a job the other day with a client who had some very spontaneous ideas. They wanted a few different set ups for portraits, but in a small window of time and in various areas around their building. I know Sony gets a lot of praise by its rabid fanboys, but many of them are just hobbyists. For a working professional like myself, I must say it’s been one of the best systems to work with in my entire career. It just handles any situation I throw at it with aplomb. The confidence I have when going into unpredictable situations like the aforementioned job is amazing. I never have a doubt that the tools at my disaposal will be up for the task. And it does it all with an ease and smoothness that makes jobs fun. The combination of size, speed, image quality, and versatility make it probably the best system on the market today for the professional photographer. It just does it all and then some. My A7RV has paid for itself 10x over by now and it’s as fun to use today as it was the first time. Kudos to you Sony, take a bow. Your cameras and entire ecosystem is so good, I highly doubt I’ll ever switch to anything else. It doesn’t get better than this.

Appreciate Your Good Clients

I’ve had an interesting past few months working with clients. At the beginning of the year, I admittedly was a feeling a bit drained. Unappreciated even. Having a difficult client here and there is normal business fair, but for a while there it seemed unrelenting. Recent events have been a breath of fresh air with clients being positive, friendly, eager to collaborate, fun, and just pleasant to be around. And the feedback from them has been heart warming and really motivates me to keep doing what I do. A client said to me yesterday, “Man these are the best photos I’ve ever had of myself. Thank you so much. I mean that. Thank you!” That sort of response is always great to hear. You’re in the service business to serve and anyone who takes pride in their work will appreciate a response like that. You want to feel the work you’re doing is being valued and appreciated while at the same time clients are genuinely happy because they got what they wanted. The standup creative wants to “earn” their money. They don’t feel entitled to it. They want to do a great job for their clients and hope that clients are satisfied. That’s what it’s about. Making clients happy with your service. I’ll take their positive feedback over any random comment about my work on social media any day.

It’s Easier to Destroy than Create

I’ve been thinking of this popular axiom a lot recently. There’s so much apathy surrounding films and the entertainment industry that it can just turn you off to the entire thing. But I would also like to add to the quote.

“It’s easier to destroy than create. And easier still to critique.”

Don’t get me wrong, I believe critique is good. Healthy even. Especially when it comes to creative work. However, I didn’t sign up to become a critic. You know, the person sitting on the sidelines watching the players and making judgements. “I would have done it this way.” “If it were me….” I’m not interested in that. I’m actually in the arena not on the sidelines. And if you want to see better work out there, the best thing you can do is create it.

With that in mind, I want to spend more of my free time creating, hence my need for my upcoming retreat of sorts. My focus now is more on making things, more experimenting, more study, more shooting, less blah blah blah as one of my mentors used to say.

That’s all for now.

Au revoir.