Well, there was that thunderstormy afternoon back in June 1981. It was in North Carolina, and I was biking around the country. I’d just and just managed to pedal off the road and into a dry spot.

Whew!

There I was, shooting away on the front porch of an abandoned store, and the wind switched directions. My trusty old camera got doused. And that put it out of commission until I got to my parents’ house in Pennsylvania.

They generously spotted me the cost of a train ticket to and from Philadelphia, where I found a guy who did a bang-up job of cleaning and tuning up the camera.

That guy was at Roth Camera Repair, which is still in business.

There’s a great story on the paparazzi in last weekend’s guardian – my favourite bits are when they see Kalpesh Lathigra’s Leica and say “What the fuck’s that?” and why they call Jude Law Celebrity Dave.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,2226725,00.html

i have found teachers that hate their jobs + mothers that love being stay at home moms.

regarding “unskilled workers are the least happy” i would dare to question photo journalists that are Yale or Harvard educated. i would dare to say that many people are educated with backgrounds in fine art and journalism.

yes photographers may be “unhappy” with the direction the industry is going, but overall “unhappy” is a bit too general of a statement.

they need to show better statistical analysis on how they formed this survey.
eh emm lets just say this wasn’t written by a NYtimes editor =)

people may claim to be “happy in a corporate structure” (i base this on the whole skilled worker comment) where they clock in and out, but that is not the nature of an artist. i find most artists that are able to really “produce images” to be some of the most fulfilled individuals, but they have the most difficult path because they write the future for themselves.

For me it requires a balance. I need to make money to continue doing what I love. I need to shoot things that inspire me in order to keep doing what I do. If I don’t have both ingredients, I might as well be doing something else. This career is a lot of work. Here I am working Sunday afternoon, something I would not do for someone else though.

Who’s happy, who’s not happy?

If you wake up you should be happy.

Damn compared to 99% of the world most of us live like Greek Gods.

Sure I work 18 hour days, never stop pushing, never stop thinking about what I need to do, but that doesn’t make me any more important or special than some guy that’s pulling rocks out of a field for $5 a day.

I’ve heard my whole career about the “good ol’ days” and I have a flash for everyone, these are the good ol’ days.

We have less prejudice, more openess, more access to every market than ever and we can produce, shoot and display our images in hours instead of days, days instead of weeks.

I can sit in NY prepro a job for Paris, shoot it and return in 3 days.

I can send out 50 promos a day just by the click of a button and work virutal, real time, with clients all over the world.

Of course we run into uninspired clients, that’s what they usually pay us for . . . our inspiration.

Of course stock photography is dropping to $2 an image, but Stock has been working towards this forever. Then again it’s “Stock” photography.

Of course editorial doesn’t pay worth a damn. It never really did, except for a few talented and forutnate people, but don’t think for a minute that 99.99999% of the photographers in this world wouldn’t shoot a NY Times Magazine Cover for free, because they will and if I know it, the NY Times knows it.

My wife and I have partnered in work for 10 years and work a lot of brutal hours.

Friends and family constantly say “you work too hard, too much”, but I think people that know how to work hard (and enjoy it) are blessed, not cursed.

This is a hard industry, it always has been and few people can do it long term with success.

I find that a good thing.

James Russell

– John

Thanks Kevin! You know I have been looking for a new career after reading that article. Do you need an assistant? How do I get started? ;>)

Cheers!

http://tinyurl.com/264lnl

Your website is one of the few that I actually type into my address bar. Everyone else is a lowly bookmark. All praise aside I’m too effing tired to read all the yammer of the previous comments. I did however read #38 Chad Holders comment and knowing myself best if the stylist assistant was late I’d probably break out a 12 pack and convince everyone to play drink while you think until they arrived rather than becoming upset and pissy faced.

I guess only time will tell. I’ve recently decided to take Photography from Hobby to something I could make a living at. While not quite the Bartender who says he’s a photographer I do let people know that I fully intend on being a Professional Photographer in due time.

No I will not show you my website. Yet.

And you can say fucking. I like fucking.

but making money and being happy are not necessarily connected.

when i assisted i would laugh all the time at photographers because they were always complaining. the client is so conservative, the account exec. doesn’t have the guts to stand up to the client, the stylist assistant showing up 20 minutes late, the agency doesn’t have their stuff together, they don’t have the money to shoot this layout, the AD wants to fill the frame with the product, the agency just wants numbers, we revised the estimate four times and they are going with another shooter…

then i began standing behind the camera and felt the pressure that goes with pulling a shoot off… and guess what, i find myself complaining. would i choose something else to pay the bills? never. but jaded i am. besides the pressure, so many jobs have gone to the wind and the shooter down the street that when one hits it’s actually quite a surprise. then there is the constant reaching to be so much more of a photographer, (but that’s an entire other planet.)

i don’t think anyone would classify me as unhappy, but if asked if i were content i would have to say, no. now, if the poll asked how many photographers would want another job, then i bet the results would be much different.

(love the blog)

Maybe the photographers they polled were Sears Portrait studio employees and those polaroid guys near the passport office on Hudson Street. The only thing believable in that article was that amusement park attendees are miserable. This is true.

I’d say Time Magazine poller must rank pretty low too, unless they are getting the Time Inc employee benefits. Time Inc is so cheap, they’re probably sending out unpaid interns to do the dirty work.

Click on the “personal assistants” category and the bullshit-o-meter goes off the scale. I’ve never met a personal assistant who was genuinely happy. Not a one.

Let’s just see how low “Time Magazine Freelancer” ranks…

Read it http://www.thomaspickard.com/pixelpost/?p=359

One of the perks of the “lifestyle” I mentioned, is I played hockey this morning, and my tired arms and hands are having a tough time with typing. Am I happy, how could I not be?

Personally, I’m beyond needing validation from my work to be happy. Am I more enlightened? Doubtful. Maybe I’m just not as dedicated. Or perhaps I’ve been able to separate the photography I do for me, and only for me, from the work I do that has to please others. I get asked frequently if it’s okay to change something, or crop the image in a certain way. My response is always, “do what you want” (as long as I get paid). The photography I do on assignment is only a piece of the whole, and some of it I simply wouldn’t do if I was independently wealthy. I enjoy it, but I’d rather do more personal work.

The biggest thing about photography for me is being independent, self-employed, and maintaining the lifestyle I envision. As long as I do that, I’m happy.

Michael @20 – good to see you here. Funny thing about the manual labor is that housekeepers are right at the top. What does that say? Perhaps they see on a daily basis how much of a difference there work makes.