Is photography still cool?
I guess I'm finally experiencing what normal people live with all the time. That there are limits to our time and attention spans. That we run out of enthusiasm for writing exactly what readers want to read all the time (mostly about gear while protesting that no one writes about actual photographs -- you are welcome to comment on any image I post here, honest). I read other blogs just like the rest of my photographer friends and lately I'm struck with just how much (un)nuanced duplication there is on all the photography sites and how little of it is relevant to anything other than the sale of new cameras.
It's getting to the point where I'm even excited if MJ at TheOnlinePhotographer.com writes about playing pool or trimming his trees. Anything but another article about how much better Fuji's AF has gotten or how people almost are ready to like the color coming out of Sony cameras. Then there is the pervasive "Oh My God, Only One Slot" drama. And the "Is Every Format But Full Frame Doomed?" threads....
I'm guessing some of my current ennui for writing about photography is a result of life burnout. My mom passed away in late December last and I've been taking care of her estate, and my father, ever since. Couple that with the lingering expenses of my kid's last semester of college and I have to be honest, the first half of this year just sucked. It sucked a lot. If you are a reader of VSL I would ask that you cut me some slack and skip over some of the stuff you don't like.
I'm not bitter but might become so if people keep telling me that something I write sounds bitter (it's probably just a bit of truthfulness that no one wants to hear). I've never yelled at kids to get off my lawn. I don't pine for the "golden days" of photography. I am not a Canon, Sony, Pentax, etc. hater. I am not a (fill in the brand blank) fan boy. I'm just a photographer trying to make a living in an ever changing market while using my off time to play around with photos and written material, and to share my observations on a blog.
I'm not making money here and have nothing to sell besides the (very) occasional workshop or a (rare) link to a product I think is really cool, even if I didn't invent it.
I like Chelsea and Tony Northrup's content even if I think their well done YouTube site is more like a shopping mall than a photo school. I like TheOnlinePhotography blog even when Michael Johnston goes way off subject and shares too much. I like Tom Hogan's byThom.com and Sansmirror.com sites because ---- well, he's smart, writes well and writes about things that interest me. I think most of DPReview is a messy waste of time driven largely by ill-informed poseurs and a greedy parent company. I am probably a lot (a lot!!!) more liberal than most of you thought, even though we don't discuss politics here.
But the bottom line is that we're probably going to disagree about things like the usefulness of GPS from time to time, and I might be snarky about it but.....but you have to take into consideration that the snark that tweaks you is likely only in three or four blog posts out of 3,807 other posts. So, dial back the vituperative sense of umbrage and try to take my few and mostly minor rants in stride. Or just shove off and read something else. I'm sure there's someone out there who will write exactly what you want to hear all the time. But what fun would that be?
26 comments:
Kirk
Haven't posted for awhile. Not because I wasn't reading and enjoying your posts. I just didn't haven't anything useful to say.
You just keep doing what you've doing. Nowadays I mostly just go to this place and Hogan's place. And Ming's for Robin Wong. There are some YouTube sites, like David Thorpe, I'll check but new posts are rare. Hogan has been in rare form lately with his commentary about various mounts and format viability. His conclusion that he's probably going to carry 2 rx100s is well interesting.
Jay
PS
Actually, what's going to be interesting is if you try the rx10 mk4. You know you want to.
I’m a lousy swimmer, never going to be a pro photographer, don’t shoot video, and can’t get my wife’s OK to buy another camera, ever, but VSL gets a daily visit because it’s so well written. Whether the topic is the virtues of an obsolescent lens or the challenges of a failing parent, you always produce superior prose. Couple that with your exceptional images, and it’s hard to understand why anyone DOESN’T read VSL.
Hvem har tisset på din sukkermad?
Litterally translates into “Who has pi*ed on your sugar food?” Sukkermad is pronounced with soft “d” in the end (as in loathing, not as in loading, there’s no madness involved; at least not in the pronunciation). Typically describes a loaf of white bread liberally topped with butter and an ample layer of white or brown sugar. As unhealthy as it gets, but still... it’s not nice to p... on yours, so: “whodunnit?” and why did you leave it out in the open?
Keep on writing as you have always done Kirk, the main reason I visit here regularly is for the quality and genuineness of your writing, I don't always agree with your opinions and sometimes I don't even bother to read some of the pieces on cameras and equipment but every now and again you produce pure gold or share something from your personal journey through this life and that's why I and I suspect many of your followers return on such a regular basis, keep it going Kirk and thank you for what you have shared with us over the years.
Michael.
Truthfully, I read your and MCJ's posts mainly because of the POV, and the life/work experiences both of you write about. And Roger Cicala because I always have liked to take stuff apart, though unlike Roger I'm not always successful in the process. As for all the others, I have cameras and lenses to last me for the rest of my life.
Exactly. You keep writing what you do about the things you do and those who want to judge and bitch, well they can fuck off!
You thinking and writing is most likely doing more than the complainers are doing. Its easy to sit in front of a screen and write a screed when you don't actually put yourself out there and actually DO something.
I find this guy funny and refreshing. https://youtu.be/Qsc69-vhyP0
I love your writing and photography, especially your portraits. If I can only find time in the day to visit a couple of sites it's yours first and then Photrio. I'm just getting into video in a big way and your blogs have been a valuable resource!
Hey Kirk,
On the internet, in general I don't like it much anymore for much more than reference, and even then... I have found myself stuck in a loop, visiting the same sites over and over, and as a result I have bought a few books to read, a new lamp in the corner of my living room and I just started a novel. It is wonderful.
On your year with your family, I do understand, there are three lines in movies that have resonated with me over the years, and they have been haunting me as my parents have been getting older. Funnily enough, the moves are not masterpieces, but these are nuggets of gold.
The first is from Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (a terrible film) but the line is in response to the two characters remembering Marcus (the original guy who ran the museum), and in reply it is said:
"We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away."
The other is in Rocky 6 (can you believe it), which is a better film than people give credit. Rocky is asking for his boxing license which they have refused, and he finishes his response with:
"You know, the older I get the more things I gotta leave behind, that's life. The only thing I'm asking you guys to leave on the table... is what's right."
And the last is Al Pacino, in a fairly good film "Stand Up Guys", where an old friend has died and Al Pacino is burying him and says:
"They say we die twice. Once when the breath leaves our body, and once when the last person we know says our name."
What is my point, not much, just that they spoke to me as deep truths when I heard them.
Your picture posted on this article, it has a timeless feel, I asked myself if I could work out when it was taken, the only clue is the bottle on the ground, aside from that it could have been shot at any time in the last 60-70 years.
Everything changes, and yet everything stays the same. Keep well!
As a long time reader I can assure you that I haven't been snarked by any of your posts. I think the recent spurt of camera fanboyism is simply a reflection that this year has been the first in about ten years where something truly new and exciting has been released to the digital photography world.
And don't think it's just photography I come to read about. Your posts about swimming were a catalyst to me learning to swim properly. I'll never be great swimmer but I went from 25 yards to half a mile, which I was very pleased with :)
Hi Kirk
I don't want to read what I want to hear, I want to read what I didn't know I wanted to hear. Keep up the thoughts on all aspects of your life and if it gets a little onerous, take a bit of time off, I'm sure we can wait.
Thank you for everything
Ian Hunter
keep on writing Kirk... please! love most of your "content". Love you 'realness'. Down to earth, helpful, instructive, human, practical, ...
Bravo
FWIW, yours is the only photography site I still visit regularly, down from maybe half a dozen a few years ago. Far as I'm concerned, just keep doing what you do and I'll keep reading.
I admit to tuning out a bit on some of the gear posts, but I also get some good ideas -- bought the Olympus 12-100 about a week ago and it is as good as you say. And as for the new mirroless cameras, I don't plan to buy any of them but it is an interesting time and I am following some of the news. Your views and your link to Mike J. (who I almost never read anymore) have been among the most interesting.
Referring to posts above: I'll have to go see what Hogan says about the rx100. I've been using 4/3 and m4/3 for more than a decade. I've tried full frame and it didn't work for me. Now I'm thinking my future may be with 1-inch chips and small cameras. And my old mother here in Texas used to serve white bread topped with butter, sugar and a little cinnamon and toasted. Our favorite quick breakfast treat -- but nobody even peed on mine, at least not literally.
The nice thing about self-publishing is that you can pretty much have whatever opinion you choose, talk about whatever the hell you wish, and decide for yourself how much you care about what everyone else thinks about it.
For me, personally, you're blog remains one of the few relevant ones in the world of photography, and your opinions, even on the rare occasion I might find myself in disagreement, are always welcomed and respected.
Your photographic posts, though I don't always have the time to comment on them, are enjoyed and very often inspirational.
No, you probably will never be one of those blogs with 10 million of readership and retirement level profit potential. To that all I can say is Thank You for your valuable time in authoring these interesting, challenging, and never boring posts.
Kirk, your other readers are far more eloquent than I can manage, so my only comment will be: more swimming posts, please!
I still love this photo you took, Kirk. Just a reminder that your blog influences and delights us all in different way. Thank you. ZT-COLONUS--06081.jpg (I don't think I can post a photo) Yours is the only photography blog I read. Because it really isn't a photography blog. It's a blog about you getting through your life while taking photos. And the photos (I know they are not yours) to verify that I'm not a robot really suck! Tiny, grainy little fuckers.
DPReview is mainly pointless arguments, but the adapted lens forum is quite polite, and interesting if you enjoy playing with old glass.
Always enjoyable reading your stuff.
Did I miss something? I'm not into swimming pools or pool tables, although I own one of the latter and almost never use it (it was for the "kids"). So if you or MJ go off on a tangent once in a while I don't begrudge you that. It's your blog and you can write what you want. More often than not those off-topic posts are interesting, help the reader identify with you, say something about you that reinforces our good opinion of you, and, thus, lend credence to what you say about photography. I would imagine the "trust factor" is quite high with your readers because of some of those off-topic posts.
Well, I haven't seen any indication that you are a member of the very active Austin DSA (I'm a member of a local Duluth branch. Keeps me sane and happy).
I agree. Sometimes spending too much time on the never-ending doesn't-matter changes in gear is a real downer. I don't even get too worked up about DPR any more. But I did cancel my account so I wouldn't be tempted to comment. In my time I likely wrote a very bad book or two worth of comments.
Sorry about your bad year (half year?). I've had a few rough ones now and then, but kept on trudging ahead. What the hell else can you do?
I already know you'll do this, but keep writing about whatever you want to write about. I'm sure folks will keep reading. It ain't broke and doesn't need fixing.
I personally hope you keep changing systems every year or so, as I get a vicarious kick out of learning about them and avoid the financial hit.
I'll keep coming back until I get bored, which I don't actually think will ever happen here.
Cheers
Jack
We are both old enough to remember the thrill of opening the mailbox, the one outside, and finding a letter from a friend. Today, opening that mailbox mostly yields only a bunch of requests to send money to some hopefully good and sometimes not so good causes, most of which only find the recycle bin. Sometimes there might be a magazine or catalog too. I can't remember the last time I got a letter from a friend. Instead, today, the letters we look forward to reading come in the form of blog posts from friends we have gotten to know on the internet. Friends who we may never actually meet in person. You, MJ, and Thom are friends who I look forward to hearing from regularly. We all have common interests in cameras and photography and that larger thing called life, including family issues, swimming, billiards, and so one. We might not all agree always, because that is how friends are. So, my distant friend, keep those letters, 'er posts, coming. And thanks again for all the different color of memories you have shared.
As you know, Kirk, I have been reading your blog just about from day one. I am probably more conservative than you think (a lot !!!), but if my views do not keep you from being my friend, your views will not keep me from being your friend. We all have much more in common in the human condition than the things that divide us. I appreciate that you have not used your blog as a vehicle for those things that would divide us. There are enough of those already.
I’m still convinced that there is a much better book about a life in photography in your blog posts than any you have published.
Thanks Dave, That's a wonderful thought and one of the reasons why I'm delighted to count you among my readers (and friends...). I have many conservative friends and value all the things about them that I like. Since none of my friends are politicians we're all relatively safe from the splatter of heated rhetoric....at least when it comes to politics. Thanks for sharing here, it always makes the blog better.
Kirk:
It’s clear that thoughtful readers have coalesced around the same few thoughtful writers in the photography space: you, MJ, Thom and perhaps occasional samples of some others. As I’ve written before, don’t let the trolls get you down. We value your opinion on whatever you choose to write about: cameras, photography business, swimming, homeless people, theater, carding for parents, the joy of a good coffee, whatever.
Keep up the great work. We need you.
Well I always knew you were a liberal right from the beginning. I won't say how I knew because I don't want to get into any political nonsense. Growing old sucks. For you, for me, for our parents. Keep moving, that's the only advice I have today. I'll keep reading.
Love your blog as it is. Your photos, your writing, your thoughts.
robert
Since I have pared down my photo blog consumption to Mike Johnston’s and yours and my photo YouTube viewing to an equally small number of people who have nothing to sell or promote, my quality of life has improved markedly. Keep it up!
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