Hello internet! Where did we leave off? Ah, yes, yesterday was Saturday, which mean that today would be Sunday. The weekend has flown by, and what a weekend it was. MY WORD!!! First and foremost, if you were at SUPA's birthday last night, THANK YOU for the best night I've had in ages! I danced, I sweated, I smiled, I loved, I walked home with the biggest shit-eating grin on my face. (although this could have been partly due to my company on the afore mentioned walk.)
Back to work tomorrow, two weeks in Porsgrunn. (South of Oslo) Should be cool for a change to not be offshore, staying in a sweet hotel, working with cool people, and for a change, no 12 - 16 hour working days. Im actually looking forward to it, heard a lot of good things about Porsgrunn.
Something that has been on my mind lately is the balancing act. The juggling of trying to cut it as a legit photographer and having a full time day job. Although, as most of you know my day job isn't exactly normal. Working offshore for roughly half the month means that remainder is basically mine for whatever I choose. I chose to take pictures. Somewhere along the way it struck me that I could make money taking pictures, although the money in the oil and gas business is great, I know you can make a very respectable income from shooting pictures. Im going to get this right out now, money is not the issue here. I live very comfortably on what I earn now, and I would have to work extremely hard at photography to be making the same amount a month. Somewhere further along we will have to factor in some kids to support, a wife and all the things that come with these turns in life. I always thought it funny when people said: "Money doesn't count for anything." Probably because it was people that didn't have any. I was one of them. Now that I actually can afford the habit's I indulge in, I have realised that this is actually so true. It's one thing to say something and pretend to mean it, but its a different thing to actually understand it. Its one thing to sit and write blogposts on philosophy and the inner workings of an industry that I'm fairly new to, but its a completely different thing to believe in what you're saying and write about it anyway.
I love taking pictures, I love being creative, I love getting recognition for what I'm doing, I love exploring, I love making something that inspires people. I inspired my cousin and dear friend to start a blog, and she did! You can check her out at:
http://syk-findingmenow.blogspot.no/
What I'm getting at is at which point do I go from being full time Field Engineer/ Safety Leader, part time photographer to vice versa? I think I already know the answer, but I thought it would be interesting to raise this discussion here as there are a lot of you reading this that are in somewhat similar positions. When do you drop the well payed job for what your heart really beats for? Its a tough one. For me, I have had to be very careful with regards to treading on other people's toes in the small town I'm based out of. I'll explain this better. I don't shoot weddings, or have any intention of shooting weddings, reason being that I have assisted on a wedding shoot once before and I could not think of anything more stressful. White Balancing a white guy in black tux next to a black woman in a white dress against a white background? You try it with one light and let me know how it goes. I could easily do it on my free weekends and make a bit of extra cash, but the point is this, and this has been a raging discussion for a long time. Cheap photographers not only kill themselves, but they kill the industry around them too. If you do your research, you will see that wedding photographers that charge 25000 for a wedding usually deliver 25000 worth of images, you hire someone for 2500 and you're looking at 2500 worth of images. This depends on what you can afford as well. But generally speaking in the wedding business, you get what you pay for. The guy who is charging 25000 hasn't lost a job because of the couple choosing a cheaper photographer, he simply maintains his exclusivity and keeps a high standard of work. Am I contradicting myself? Yes. Read on.
My side of this argument has always been, that if you can afford the photographer you WANT, you will get the result you WANT. I have always declined to shoot a job for free when I know there is someone living nearby that is trying to make a living from whatever the job might be. I guess its a respect thing, because I would like to maintain and build up a good standard of business ethic in the area I operate. Its basic professionalism, you should never insult your competition, at the end of the day its your name and reputation that are on the line. Its much of the same when I work with female models, I dont touch! And I cannot emphasise this enough, as a guy and a professional, your job is not to perv, flirt, or make your subject feel anything else but comfortable. I have met so many girls that have had bad experiences with this type of shit. If taking pictures is an excuse to get a little fresh, you will come short very quickly, when you do something great the word will spread, when you dont know where the boundaries are word will spread even quicker. Do your job, don't be an asshole.
As general rule as well, I do not work for free. My work has value and unless its something extremely beneficial to my portfolio, I expect to be paid. Having said that I have done a lot of test shooting lately as I'm trying to build up a new book that is quite conceptual and experimental. This means that everyone I have been involved with on shoot's has not been getting paid. Make up artist's, hair stylists, fashion stylists, give their time for free, and in return they get images for their respective books. I cannot speak on behalf of the other parties involved here, but only for myself. You have to have a good understanding with your team. Communicate clearly. Its all nice to be fabulous and used big artistic words you hear thrown around on set but don't understand, but are you getting what you want? People have faith in you, and they are expecting a result. If you botch it, colouring it Black+White and calling it "fine art" will not save your name. This is a whole other post waiting to be written. We will get there another day.
In short, adding value to your work will help you get where you want to go, be reasonable, be creative and don't be scared to jump in and learn. At the end of the day, the product or service you deliver will speak for itself. Make sure you are meeting the requirements of whoever is paying you. Good things will come back on you time and time again.
Oh snap! I almost forgot, there will be pictures up tomorrow, featuring a mix of shit. Skating, cute girls, a naked boy, street photography and of course some more unrefined banter. Sleep tight ya'll. N.
