Just to share some of my thoughts on the current blogging trend... ... entirely personal... ... please don't take it personally... ... like some of you out there who read my earlier posts here and here and here
I have just been deeply thinking, this current blogging style of presenting our works as artists online, a NEW photo/s per day/per week, just kind of make us feel that our old works are being replaced by new ones, that the old aren't good anymore, that the old are "out-of-trend", that the old deserves to be forgotten, deserves to be chucked aside, even trashed(sometimes archived is almost the same as trashed since no one looks at them anymore, that we probably have to dig for hours for that one great shot we suddenly remembered).
Digital = Instant Gratification. Digital photographer who has never shot film will never understand the excitement, the anticipation and the fulfillment from shooting film. New images replaces the old. Digital shooters shoot thousands. The fear of missing shots. 9 frames per second? The lack of confidence. I thought digital shooters should have more confidence since they can preview on-the-spot??? No, obviously not. Digital makes us lazy, dependent on the latest technology, lose confidence (if you are that confident in your competency, DON'T PREVIEW!), and even losing the pride of an artist! The pride of an artist does not rely on "CHANCE SHOTS"! He relies almost entirely on his INTUITION. He treasures every frame he shoots, and remembers them by heart.
Haven't you realize that even as you set your latest digital SLR on multiple-shot mode, you end up getting the best shot on your first frame many-a-times? That is if you are already an Intuitive Shooter. If you think you are still not one, I shall invite you for a personal session with me to "open up" your senses.
So, do we really update our photo-blog because we have something genuine to share? Or do we just update it because we want Google to send some crawlers to our site and help us gain some traffic. Is all that extra traffic really that necessary? How many of your audience really appreciate your works? Are we doing ARTS just for money OR are we enjoying ourselves CREATING WORKS (NOT COPYING) while earning an income from it? Are we more concerned about outdoing our competitors OR are we more concerned of whether we are truly enjoying ourselves, freely expressing ourselves and getting real fulfillment from genuine lovers of our works?
Hey! That's what money can't buy! Money buy you advertisements, publicity, fame but never TRUE JOY IN THE REAL CRAFT OF PHOTOGRAPHY AS ART! That explains why many FLICKR enthusiasts shoot better than PROS! Even some of my students shoot better than some wedding pros I know. That simply is because they really enjoy what they do, not just bragging about it. In my life as an earning photographer, I learn more from people who really enjoy what they do than some who call themselves PRO. And most of them are just photo-enthusiasts! You shoot from your heart NOT your mind or somewhere else for those who are so bloody dependent on high-tech instruments! Use your equipments NOT the other way round.
NO IMAGINATION, NO ARTS!
I don't know about you but I don't need that extra "Back-scratching" from someone in the industry(anyway, I'm glad I'm OUT!) just to remind me that I better scratch his back in return in future. I'd rather have a small pool of people who genuinely appreciates my works than a whole lot of traffic to my site. And well, I still include one picture in this post just hoping it won't get archived and forgotten.
