facelift

i finally 86'd the horrendous flash job i did on my site (that's what i get for skipping half the quarter!).

yooners

there's some stuff there i haven't had up before and i kind of feel like the "life" section needs some work. please feel free to comment or e-mail me.

it's funny looking through your own work. i remember one time someone in a fairly prestigious position told me that the only reason i'd ever get hired somewhere was because i was a minority - "and newsrooms are looking for diversity," they'd add, trying to cheer me up. i feel like that's haunted me for years with everything i've done...almost to the point where when people tell me they like my work, i almost don't believe them, and think they're trying to humor me.

after pouring through my work. i realized, jeez, he's right. i really have a long, long, way to go. but here's what i appreciate about that:

almost all the photographers i really look up to have been at this for decades. for some, half of their life. i remember talking to bill tiernan (great example) about feeling like this profession was like a marathon. it's really not about sprinting to the finish line, but about all the challenges you face along the way and the stamina you have to stick with it. i struggle, my friends struggle, and my colleagues struggle. but if you were enjoying every single day of your life, not a care in the world, "just" making pictures, all you are is a shooter. and i hate that word. when you're a shooter, your job's just your job. and i think none of us who chose this profession chose it b/c it's "just" a job. i always felt that dedicating a passion for something meant there's no middle ground, you've almost agreed to experience the most extreme highs and lows in life because you really care. i remember seeing one of my favorite artists, ani difranco one night and she was talking about coming out of a period of personal melancholy and she said she realized, "the deeper your saddness, the deeper the beauty."

that said, i'm super excited about something i'm working on right now that really goes along with an epiphany i had early this year in my little photographic journey. i'm hoping to share it with you soon. until then, back to my regularly scheduled silly pics in life i see along the way.