With the advent of cell phone cameras everyone is sharing their snaps. Instagram (check out my lunch!) for the iPhone, TwitPics or the good ol’ text message picture (sorry no link for that). Many people are sharing a quick glimpse of their everyday lives to others. Some friends, some complete strangers. Some a mix of the two. Maybe I’m partial to visual stimulation, but I believe the future of our world is being revealed to us before our very eyes. It’s important to make a conscious effort to actually pay attention.
Photography is still a baby but has grown exponentially since it’s birth. We’re still understanding it in drips and drabs and many argue that photography is not taken as seriously as some of the “finer arts,” such as painting. Photographers are the new kids on the block, so to speak. We’re no less creative or valuable than any other artist. We pretty much just do, what we are compelled to do.
Practice directly in the field teaches you what you cannot learn by instruction. This of course is true for many, many disciplines. You do not HAVE to go to school to learn what you love. Of course it would help you in your endeavors, no doubt. If you want to learn surf photography, for example, from a legendary surf photographer, you have that opportunity. But photographers will never be intimidated to the relative newness of their medium.
Photographers are some of the first people to adapt to the rapidly changing technological breakthroughs in this industry of the digital age. Wheather its that 25 megapixel camera you have to have, the new Thunderbolt technology that’s not even compatible with everything yet, or maybe you’re just cutting edge fashion wise (I wear the same clothes everday). A workshop in location lighting. We are always self-educating and we’ll bring you along for the ride, real time. Follow me on Twitter! Like us on Facebook!
So, marketing? Do you really need to keep up with the Jarvises… err, Joneses? Should you be “checking in” on Facebook, cross networking, sharing Tweets and re-Tweeting appropriately via Twitter? Showing the world a different side of you visually on Tumblr? Blogging and reblogging? As a photographer is it important that you project a certain image of yourself and build a brand? To all of that I think: probably a lil’ yes and a lil’ no. But I’m no expert, and to quote another photographer, “I go by feel.”
Don’t get too spun out on that last quote; I’m using it wayyy out of context. We were actually talking about cooking.
Ryan Struck Photography 