Inspiration in this career is everything. It is worthless to argue that all creative is found within the self when even the most obscure campaign finds its life built of particles of life, art and the world around all assembled subconsciously to create our art.
For some it is a stroll through an art gallery that will inspire the mind to relax enough to see into the abstract that is needed to build even the slightest of color pallets. For me, it is photojournalism. I am almost childishly excited to know that there are photographers that are willing to risk their life in order to expose an injustice and to change this world. Over the years my path has crossed with some of these photojournalists (read: Ami Vitale) and I can tell you without a doubt, no one has more incredible work stories than them. While I deal with celebrities that sometimes get fussy, they deal with mortar strikes that sometimes get to close… there is no comparison.
That is why my Christmas list is filled with one item this year, the Time magazine book, “The 100 Photographs: Most Influential of All Time.” For those of you that have followed my social media (first my apologies, because I STILL don’t care for social media) you may remember my obsession with the book, “Capture the Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs.” It is one that I still look at before photoshoots for inspiration and motivation to lift the camera again. The new book from Time will be the next in line that will enjoy a glass of scotch to while reminding myself why I am grateful to be a photographer.
Time is a magazine that is synonymous with “respect” in our culture (photographers). It is one that I was once lucky enough to shoot for and one that lives on my iPad (via Texture) for me to read on flights with screaming children all around. While the pictures are the soul of what I look for, the writing is its metaphorical body. It is real journalism, written by those that spend months and years on stories, not ten minutes and a clickbait headline. With the current situation in America it, along with all our other proper news outlets, will need our support. So this Christmas, go snag the new book from Time here and find the inspiration to create and to be a part of something great than any one photographer.