There have been occasions lately when I have questioned whether I was born in the wrong generation. Unlike many of my peers, I am quite comfortable with Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Digg, StumbleOn, Delicious, and many other  social media sites. Now, having time to keep up with it all is another thing. But, what I have found is that I don’t have the inherent distrust or concern about these sites as do some of my 40-something friends, or 60- to 70-something parents.

One thing that has actually made me quite passionate about using Twitter is the community of photographers that I have befriended. The great thing is that many of the photographers are at different stages of their careers. I’ve met beginners, hobbyists, new professionals and seasoned veterans. Each has a different and/or unique perspective of photography.  I’ve come across people who photograph babies, seniors (I keep thinking I’m going to see pictures of AARP members), weddings, food, architecture…you name it.

What’s interesting is that I have only met a couple of the people I’ve “befriended or follow online. Most of my interaction is done online — by way of tweets, @___ replies, direct messages and profile posts. Back in February, Gary Vaynerchuk admonished my wife to “get in the trenches,” as it related to social media and online marketing. Though the advice was not directed to me at the time, it has stuck with me. My goal, at this point, is less about marketing, and more about learning, growing and connecting. Being at the nascent stage of my photography career, I’m humble enough to know that I’ve got a lot to learn.

I admit that I got on a Twitter as a lark. It was really an extension of my Facebook activities. One of the initial perks of Twitter was that I could update my Facebook page with my status updates. Sweet, I thought. I could kill two birds with one stone. Little did I know the power of networking and community lurking right beneath the surface. I am frequently online looking at the work of many photographers. I noticed that an increasing number of photographers had a Twitter icon on their site. Not soon after following two or three photographers, I started to see tweets with links to the works of other photographers, articles on photography, events and exhibits, etc. The beauty of the 140-word updates is that you can quickly scan them, and extract useful information.

Just as with forums, it does take some work to be active on Twitter. If you have more than handful of people you follow, it can take good amount of time to read through updates that trick in throughout the day. In fact, I’m amazed when I see someone following thousands of people. I don’t know how it’s done. At the time of this post, I follow about 160 people. A good number of these people do not update their status with any particular frequency. There are some high-volume tweeters on my list, and I can count on seeing their face easily filling up a page. As the saying goes, you have to separate the wheat from the chafe. Most of the tweets I get are from people sharing incredibly useful information. Many of the people I follow have returned the favor by becoming a follower. It’s like a little gift when I receive a response or direct message with comments, feedback or links to information.

Because of sites like Twitter and Facebook, the paradigm is shifting. Now don’t get me wrong. I am the same person who, several threads back, talked about the reticence to use post-processing software. I also stated that I am not a full-fledged Luddite. It’s selective. I am incredibly excited about the prospect of having my photography career blossom with the assistance of Twitter and Facebook. Clearly, my success or failure will be defined on the quality of my work and the receptivity of people to that work. The networking through Twitter (and other sites) is already paying dividends by expanding my community of friends and colleagues. I’d like to think that I am approaching Twitter with the right spirit. Meet, join and become active in a larger community.  That’s what it’s all about—to me. If I had to guess, those who are on Twitter with rather transparent marketing goals, will wear on people and are really missing the point and power of Twitter and the exponentially-growing community of Twits.

social media, technology

At times, I find that pursuing the road to making photography my “day job” is akin to being a contestant on the CBS reality show Amazing Race. Contestants expend considerable energy–physical, emotional, intellectual–peforming challenges and piecing clues together so they may reach a given destination; only to discover that the reward for all that effort is an envelope revealing the next challenge. I am convinced that I am on the right path, because not once have I been discouraged by the challenges presented. I have a tendency to become bored, particularly once I’ve solved the challenge. Pursuing a career as a photographer, especially in the digital age, is anything but boring because the challenges are new and numerous.

One of the legs on this journey has proven to be quite befuddling. That issue is a question of focus. I don’t mean focus, as in the ability to concentrate. My dilemma is determining or defining the focus of my photography. 

I look at many photographers with some measure of envy because they are so clearly focused. Whether their focus is weddings, portraiture, nature, food, etc., I play this “Man, they’ve got it all figured out” tape in my head. If only I could find one theme, subject matter, or genre to concentrate my photographic energy on, perhaps my path forward would be more clear. 

This tug over whether to have a narrow or wide focus is what has, effectively, ground my website to a standstill. I am pretty settled on the layout, color scheme, and division of pages on the site. Where I can’t seem to get the site in gear is the galleries. What I’ve come to realize is that my subject matter is all over the place. As I move from one image folder to the next, looking to build galleries, I become increasingly frustrated. Just what is my focus? How do I winnow all these images down into cogent, discernable galleries? How do I capture the attention, and make sense of my images to those visiting my site for the first time? I do suspect that my photographic style would become apparent, irrespective of the subject matter, but is that enough to bind the images into a cohesive, pallatable galleries? 

Beyond, and more important than, my concern about the content of my web galleries is the thought of attracting clients. I envision most people having an idea of the type of subject that want in image, and/or will tend to gravitate toward photographers, or other artists, that clearly present work that fits what’s in their mind’s eye. It’s probably an age-old question. Do you adapt your art to fit the appetite of the buyer, or does the buyer adapt to the artist’s work? I would like to think it’s the latter. (Or at least that’s my hope.)

As with many things, I’m inspired by Carla. In this instance, I think about Carla frequently being asked about her catering company. People often ask her, “What’s your culinary specialty?” Her answer, some what tongue-in-cheek, is “Good food.” Her point is that she doesn’t have a singular focus, per se. She adapts and tailors each menu to the clients needs. Carla’s focus and talent is her breadth.

Clearly there’s a place and a role for specialists. Just as there are executive chefs, bakers, pastry chefs, sauciers, garde mangers, etc….there are photographic specialists.  I have to believe there is also a place, or space, for a photographer who covers many fronts. The key for a generalist, if you will, is to be incredibly competent in many different areas, so as to deliver the desire product to a diverse clientele. Of course, this is the musing of a photographer at the nascent stage of his career. The beauty of journaling these thoughts will be that I can revisit them years from now to see where I’ve been and what path traveled.  It’s my hope that a focus will be revealed, or, in the alternative, I display the aptitude and gain acceptance for doing many things well.

career, vision

Ok. I decided that I need to get with it and join the ranks of those using a more powerful post-processing program. After doing some research, (okay “some” may be an understatement) I decided on Nikon’s Capture NX 2. Well, I haven’t actually purchased the program yet.  I’ll knock that out within a few days.  In the interim, I thought it would be helpful to pick up a user guide to get a jump on grasping the program before I start to use it. (So often, the manuals that come with products are not particularly useful.) After poking around this evening, I read a lot of good things about Jason Odell’s NX 2 guide. A few clicks later, I downloaded this handy guide in pdf format.

The sheer size of the guide didn’t really hit home until I started to print it out. What the…? It’s 401 pages!  I mean, come on. Really? This is not ameliorating my feelings toward post-processing. Do I really want to sink my teeth into something that takes 400 pages to explain?

I know that I am being a bit stubborn about this aspect of digital photography, so I intend to look at this as an opportunity to move out of my comfort zone and learn something new.  In fact, learning how to use an image post-processing program will join my attempt to master web design and blogging as challenges I’m tackling this year. I suspect that within a month or so, I will be back here singing the “I don’t know how I lived without this” song. Until then…401 pages.

I want to be clear that I’m not attacking Jason Odell. Based on all that I’ve read, Odell has packed this guide chock full of useful information. Here’s hoping that I  exercise the patience to absorb and utilize Odell’s instruction, and only need one pair of contact lenses to get through it.

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