inspiration

“When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.”– Robert Frank

“The one thing you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can. The moment that you feel that just possibly you are walking down the street naked… that’s the moment you may be starting to get it right.” ― Neil Gaiman, Make Good Art

I once knew a photographer, Richard Barrett (not his real name) whose work was absolutely perfect. Every single image was perfectly composed and sharp as a tack. Every pixel was exposed precisely and the post production was flawless. Technically, I could not fault his work. He was also a nice guy and yet his photography struggled to get noticed. Why? I believe it had to do with the way he ordered his wine…

An Artist and a Scientist walk into a bar. The Scientist carefully studies the wine list and chooses a wine based on all the data he is given, including the region the grapes are grown in, the history of the wineries and the reviews of each bottle.

The Artist orders the same bottle the people on a nearby table are drinking because that’s exactly what he feels like.

I believe the way a photographer orders wine, or chooses anything in life, is directly related to how they approach their photography, and the way a photographer works, influences the way their work is perceived.

The photographer that orders like a Scientist is guaranteed to always take consistently good photos. There is very little risk in ordering wine based . . .