Some people talk about the Monday morning blues, but after a frank and open discussion with some of Vancouver's best fashion industry insiders; stylists, hair and make-up and a no-holds barred business practices review, I was left with with the Monday evening blues. The evening ended with a couple of bottles of exceptional wine being consumed. But not as satisfying as it should have been. Maybe still a little leg-weary from Sunday's long run that I didn't do nearly slow enough. Doh!
Friday night, PhotoHaus, the commercial photography and photography gallery divisions of Vancouver Photo Workshops had an open house for professional photographers and industry insiders. Let's be honest, my invitation from one of the instructors was an act of kindness and charity because I am certainly no insider and no professional. I met a lot of fascinating people and a few old friends, including several instructors from other courses, seminars and workshops I have taken.
The theme was pretty similar in nearly every conversation. People doing what they love and endlessly scrambling to find ways to do it Vancouver. Doing more than one kind of photography to make ends meet. Shooting and teaching. Shooting and having another job or, in some cases, even another career. Photography can be a cruel mistress.
I bought two amazing Holga fine-art prints from Rachelle Fox because I love her work and because she is moving to Montreal to be close to the East Coast where both Galleries and art buyers value the work she does. That's kind of a depressing statement about Vancouver, a city that squandered billions and billions of dollars on the Winter Olympics so we could be perceived by the rest of the world as a "world-class" city, but we can't even support our own artists. How provincial of us....
I have huge respect for Rachelle, not only for her talent and her critical skills (she pulls no punches) but because in some ways, she helped me win the Rock 101 Olympic Photo Contest. It was immediately after taking her ten night, "Night Photography Course" just prior to the Olympics that I really stepped up my shooting and skill level.
Monday night's class discussion just drove the point home even further. As with anything, the key to being successful as a professional is to be professional. And like horse-shit in the road, or dog crap on the streets of Paris, you just have to learn to walk around the turds.
Panasonic Lumix. Night shots in honour of Rachelle.
-- Vince Hemingson
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Vince,
ReplyDeleteI like the first shot, the others not so much. Lines of light are just that, while the first shot is recognizable as a city with the motion in the foreground.
Wayne