Photography and the
Meaning of Life
Today is a great day because today I get
to shoot what I haven’t shot before!
—Eric Meola
From the beginning of this book we have accepted the fact that everything changes, and that those who acknowledge, accurately assess, plan for, and adapt to change have the ability in a large part to control their destinies and validate their successes. Where we run into trouble is when we ignore, fail to plan, and remain static, thereby guaranteeing that the world will pass us by.
Together we have had the good fortune to read the words of proven professionals who have honestly shared their thoughts with us on where they triumphed and where they fell short of their goals. They gave us their view in the hopes that we might find our own way a little easier. They have generously given us their insights, and we are the wiser for them. I am sure you will agree that vicarious learning beats the tar out of the learning lessons the hard way. In this chapter we will look at things that have changed in our profession and in the world; and we will get a last visit with some of the photographers interviewed as they talk about what photography means to them and their lives to encourage you to continue contributing to our visual literacy. But first a little story (you didn’t think I would let you off that easily, did you?).
Back in 1993 I gave one of my first professional lectures, titled “Photography and the Meaning of Life.” I delivered it to a large group of photographers under the sponsorship of the Advertising Photographers of America/Los Angeles. I talked about building a career in photography, on being mindful of the changing marketplace, and the importance of being involved in the community by using our talents to help at-risk youth so they could understand how to build a creative vision. It was fairly well received, so I was surprised a few days after the event to get a call from the President of APA/LA saying that a couple of people wanted their money back. I was dumbfounded until I realized that apparently those attendees who wanted their money back thought that by the title of the lecture I was going to help them turn their businesses around, and do it while giving the secrets of the meaning of life.
I learned a lot from that experience. First, I learned you can’t please everybody, yada, yada. Second I learned that the title of my lecture was too overreaching and I could never live up to its promise—besides I am still working on that one myself. But, interestingly enough, the third thing has brought me to this particular point in time. What I learned most from this circumstance was that there was a large group of people who did get something out of it, and as long as those people existed I should continue to investigate, to ask questions, to seek answers to questions about how we all evolve and the roles that art and creativity play in that evolution. In other words, as I analyzed how we make effective, meaningful transitions, I was actively reinventing my career.
Life Imitates Art/Art Imitates Life
So why am I telling you this, and why have I gone and titled this last chapter, “Photography and the Meaning of Life”? Well, I have discovered something about the topic in the last decade and especially while writing this book. I have come to appreciate more fully that life in general, and photography in specific, are not the same as they were ten or twelve years ago. The field of photography is more wide-ranging, with more people having more access to more image-capturing and imagemanipulating tools now then ever before in the history of mankind. That accessibility has caused people the world over to see more of the human condition, good and bad, than we have ever had the ability to see. Likewise the audience is hungrier for imagery now than in the past, and they want to see it sooner, and they want to move on to the next big thing quicker than before.
The point is that we who have the capability to represent the world and the way it works have a larger responsibility than ever before. We can use our tools and our talents for good or for misguided purposes, and we must be mindful that more emphasis has to be placed on our ethical foundations in how we execute our form of art. However we reinvent ourselves, we must never forget that our images have the potential of forming lasting impressions that create standards, move societies, and can either reinforce or erode prejudices. One of the great byproducts of working on this book has been meeting and talking with so many great people and finding out how responsible they have been throughout their careers, and how they understand the value of how they assist people in interpreting the world.
In a few short years we have witnessed the mind-boggling proliferation of digital cameras. And technological convergence has opened the doors to cameras in phones, watches, on computers, and places we are not even aware of. The impact of photography is being felt from Baghdad to Boston. The world over, our lives have been modified by megapixels. Because many still believe that the camera doesn’t lie, we who are dedicated to capturing the moment have a monumental responsibility to the viewing public to operate in good faith.
And as the medium changes so does the world around us. Mark Edward Harris added this item on how the events of September 11, 2001 had an impact on his work: “ September 10th, 2001, we had very good meetings with the ad agency for Northwest Airlines, and it looked like almost a definite go that I was going to have a shoot in six countries and three states, or something like that, and they were going to make a decision and said if we can get it done for this number it’s yours. Well, you know, on September 11th I woke up, and I got the call that said don’t get your hopes up, this is going to change things. And so it did.”
Another thing we must keep in mind is that our responsibilities do not end when the image itself is captured. With the advent of image-editing software, we can make a Buick out of a cube of butter. A car-shooter friend of mine told me that he is losing advertising work to artists who create computer-generated artwork. Once they create the algorithms and put a metal skin over the wire frame, they are set to make a new car model do anything they want. Now, hold on, don’t get panicked. If there is one thing that was stated many times in this book, it is that nothing remains the same, and we have to be smart enough to move effectively with the times.
Because he has been at the vanguard of image enhancement for so many years, I asked Jerry Uelsmann where he sees photography heading:
I knew I could trust him to talk about values and vision. Like so many of the people I talked with, he found that the more he heeded the call of his passion, the more authentic his work became. The relationship between who you are and what you do becomes clearer if you are willing to keep an open mind and an open heart.
Today is a Great Day Because . . .
I wanted to close this book on a positive note, and I can’t think of a better way than to share with you some of the responses I received from the people I interviewed to the question I asked each of them as I wound up their interviews. The question may not rank up there with the litany of questions James Lipton asks of his guests on Inside the Actors Studio, but the responses from people whose work we have long admired are upbeat and hopeful, and we can now reflect upon their words. So here’s the question:
“Today is a great day because today I get to ___________.”
Eric Meola: Shoot what I haven’t shot before!
Jay Maisel: Shoot whatever I want.
Dean Cundey: [Do] anything that would allow me to be creative. My life is about creativity.
Douglas Kirkland: Funny you mention this because I was in Milan and I had a friend sitting there who is in his early thirties who realized he did not like what he was doing. He totally revised his life. He quit his job and changed everything. So what I like to do is think of the possibilities. Possibilities come from all of these things that I have mentioned. I have a shoot coming up, a big one, but I am looking forward to the one next week because it is going to be quite interesting. It is going to have a lot of people around and have a lot going on. I have to focus on each job. Don’t half-prepare; have everything you need available. And at the same time be adaptable and be able to, when necessary, make changes.
Barbara Bordnick: Shoot something that will surprise me.
Bob Krist: [Go] someplace I’ve never seen before. That’s the lure of travel photography.
Pete Turner: Shoot something I really want to shoot. You should always have a couple of projects you are in love with, or because I’m going some place I want to go, someplace I’ve never been before.
Mark Edward Harris: That’s a very good question. This brings up something I’ve thought about and had a discussion with a friend the other day: An expression that I hate is, “Thank God it’s Friday,” or “hump day.” Or when people start getting anxious on Sunday because the next day is Monday. I look forward to Monday. Or when people are looking forward to their retirement. I mean how sad to have to think in those terms. I know it’s a cliché but there’s no time like the present. People really need to find things that they can enjoy on some level. I would say that regardless of what I am shooting I do wake up pretty much every day feeling fortunate that I am able to do what I do. I also use the word “fortunate” as opposed to “lucky” because luck is pure chance, and fortunate is that you put in some effort and there are other things that have conspired in a positive way. Definitely, freelance for all these years is not easy, but I am very fortunate to be doing this.
Phil Marco: First of all, because I am alive, and because I have another opportunity to express myself, to be inspired and possibly to create a memorable image or make an important statement or contribution. Those are the things that lift me off the bed in the morning and I look forward to them. And I realize how very fortunate I am to feel that way.
Ken Merfeld: Shoot something interesting, probably unusual, more than likely an intriguing personality, and the collaboration will have the possibility of resulting in some kind of magic that was not in my life before. Always magic.
Ryszard Horowitz: Shoot myself in the foot. [He chuckles.] It is interesting that you ask because when I work on a project, when I have an idea that is kind of evolving. And sometimes I work for several days or even weeks on a picture, I very often go to bed with it. Sometimes I have good dreams, good thoughts, sometimes I remember them, sometimes I don’t remember, but then frequently I wake up with something fresh that I can bring into what I am working on. In other words, when an image resides in my head it never leaves me. It evolves and I may be sitting in a movie theater, or reading a book, or going to a concert, or napping, the thing is constantly with me, it’s not something that is passing. That is important to me. When I wake up and get up and feel really engaged in something it makes me so much more “up,” or happy, as opposed to when I scratch my head and worry about what is going to happen next, how will I pay my bills? [He laughs.]
Jerry Uelsmann: At this age, every day is a gift, so I try to utilize my days and appreciate my friends. I have little quotes in my darkroom and all around, but one of them is “The only death you die is the death you die every day by not living.” It’s a simple statement but that’s the point, it’s up to you. You have to use your time effectively. I’ve said many times, there’s no uninteresting things, there’s just uninterested people. You have to generate your own interest and this is something that takes some time to do. When I was teaching I had to be at certain places at certain times. I just completed a book project that took a lot of time. And some days I go in the darkroom, some days I just spend the day looking at contact sheets and try to figure out things to try and then go in the darkroom the next day. In a way the nice part of it is I don’t have any pressure. I don’t have to have the images done by a certain time, or sent off or anything like that. I don’t have a lot of [shows], but three or four times a year I have plenty of time to prepare for that, so I just keep trying to generate new images.
Nick Ut: You know a photographer like me is always ready in case something happens, you just shoot. That’s all I need. Very often I tell the news photographers, sometimes you have a good story and good pictures. Sometimes in two days you get nothing. Not everyday. Some pictures end up inside the paper and it’s so boring. I covered Robert Blake; my picture was on the front page everywhere. You enjoy it when your picture is on the front page. You say, “Hey, that’s my picture!” And you enjoy it.
David Fahey: I spend ten hours in my gallery and it seems like an hour, and I am not going to be bored, and I am going to have an interesting conversation with an interesting person. And I am going to learn something I didn’t know yesterday. And I will feel better about it at the end of the day when I am going home. I literally walk in, blink twice, and it’s time to leave. And as I was telling you, I usually stay after 6:00 sometimes till 10:00, and I am just sort of cleaning up. I can’t do that in the middle of the day because there is so much going on. That’s very exciting. I’ve had people who I think lead exciting lives tell me they think my life is the most exciting thing they’ve ever seen. I’d say I am one of the luckiest people out there simply because it’s really been about enriching my spectrum of experience, and that happens here every day. Not only are the artists pioneers, innovators, fresh thinkers, but the collectors can be the same. You are dealing with successful, affluent, engaging people that have arrived at a point in their life where they want more, they want a spiritual experience, or an aesthetic experience. Or they want to interact with a world they are not a part of. Consequently you get to meet these people, you get to benefit from their world, and that’s equally exciting. So you get the best of both.
Well, there you have it. At least one meaning of life, if you are a photographer, is to look forward to the magic that waits for you every day when you pick up your camera. Don’t let anyone get you down; don’t give them the satisfaction. Continually challenge yourself; you may as well do it before the world sneaks up on you and forces you into action. The people we have read about were as varied as you can imagine, but they were all creative, intelligent, thoughtful, perseverant, aware, consistent, opportunistic, enthusiastic, informed, irreverent and yet respectful, humorous, technically astute, inquisitive, open, evolving individuals who had seen the world from all kinds of different points of view and still managed to remain overwhelmingly optimistic.
So, after reading about them, how do you feel about yourself and your capabilities; how do you measure up? Are you ready to make the move or is there still something missing? As you have seen you will embrace change only when you prepare yourself, and when you are ready to accept it. Remember the lessons of the cycle of Transition Analysis. First you have to recognize that something has to be done, then you must assess your talents, follow that with creating a calculated plan the world from all kinds of different points of view and still managed to remain overwhelmingly optimistic.
So, after reading about them, how do you feel about yourself and your capabilities; how do you measure up? Are you ready to make the move or is there still something missing? As you have seen you will embrace change only when you prepare yourself, and when you are ready to accept it. Remember the lessons of the cycle of Transition Analysis. First you have to recognize that something has to be done, then you must assess your talents, follow that with creating a calculated plan for success, and then put that plan into action. When all that has been done, then you can evaluate your plan by acknowledging the milestones you have accomplished. You can share the success with others so they might be encouraged to find the greatness in themselves.
My job is not over with the ending of this work. My job continues to be to make sense out of what we normally take for granted and put it in a context that helps people find out who they can truly be. My vision statement is to help good-hearted people fill in the blank to the statement, “Today is a great day because today I get to _______________________________” in their own unique and responsible way. I execute my mission through my lectures, writings and consulting. You can reach me at tonyluna@aol.com.
Oh, and by the way, stay in touch.