I'm trying to decide how to lead my life for the next few years. I'm coming to terms with the fact that it is difficult to make a living here in Montreal and that all the work I would like to be doing asks that I be more qualified. Some of that comes in the form of a degree, some of it pure work experience. So the age old question arises: is it time to dedicate myself to finding a photography job and less private work? While there seems to be no end to the things I can shoot here in Montreal, the need for me to shoot things seems limited. I made the decision to pursue humanitarian and NGOs efforts and lend them my skills, but the question of how to go about that remains just beyond my grasp right now.
More importantly, I just want to shoot more so I can get better at what I do. So I can see people better. I don't mean to sound self-deprecating; I know I am getting better at what I do with each new experience (yes, this is a race with myself, fuck). If anything, I want to sound positive here: there are a never ending stream of talented photographers and photojournalists in the world that inspire me to be better. One such person is Evelyn Hofer, who passed away on November 2nd.
I won't attempt to paraphrase the commentary I've read after her passing, nor will I try to deny becoming most familiar with her in the the time following her death (funny, that). The portrait photos she achieves are so much more inside her subject then anything I've ever attempted or anything I've seen in a long time. Apparently she favored very composed images (many of her images border on still life) and it says to me that her character must have been something to encounter if she was able to achieve the work she did. Was she boisterous and convincing? Was she quiet and commanding? Was she shy and did her subjects mold themselves in sympathy? Was she something else entirely?
Here is an exercise: browse her portraits and imagine being around her as she conversed with her subjects and went to work. What sort a person do you imagine? Do that before you read anything written or said about her and see what your imagination drafts and how close or near to the real thing you are.
And for some of her scene work, look here to New York Proclaimed.
