Starting From Scratch.
That title is a little scary. The trepidation I feel comes from not just starting at the bottom of the social media ladder, but also in becoming a photographer focusing on craft, not profession.
Above: Starting from near social media zeros.
In a word, terrified is how I feel about starting down this path. I have always enjoyed using various social media platforms, but for the most part, I didn’t find a lot of traction in my content. A few hits, consistent views/likes, and whatnot, but it never really took off for me as it did for many of my contemporaries.
Truthfully there is no guarantee in any kind of social media following. With so many variables out-of-ones control, algorithm change, niche size, audiences changing taste, platform-based variations, and on and on and on.
The only choices fully in my control are the content I share and how I share it.
The content I share, regardless of platform, is street photography. Color and black and white. I love to work in both formats, I love the challenges each present, and I love sharpening both sides of my visual literacy.
How I share those images is most exciting(despite the learning curve). Between this blog, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Discord, and Twitter I will share my process from image pre-visualization to shooting on the Tokyo streets to the editing and printing process. Not just the success, but the failures as well. The what, where, why, and how of each step along the creative process.
All of that may not yield a grand audience, but it will provide a grand satisfaction in that I created all I could. That I shared the culmination of knowledge earned in that pursuit. If those two ideas are held true, then my endeavors shall be successful.
Above: Weddings, Landscape, Tourism, and Street.
I have been lucky to land in such a beautiful country. One that has such a rich and vibrant history as Japan. Starting my professional career here has truly been a blessing and greatly influenced my work.
Starting with portraits I quickly moved to weddings and some editorial work. From there some larger contracts to shoot architecture than tourism and workshops began to fill my time more and more. Personal projects began to fall by wayside, unrealized ideas filled up notebooks, that eventually became old notebooks.
The feeling of satisfaction my peers would talk of after a big job seemed to elude me. As we do, I kept pushing forward. Life was pretty good, no need to complain. Right? That feeling of dissatisfaction grew larger and I began to take fewer jobs and at one point almost gave up photography altogether. I had fallen deep into a rut. What kept me going were side trips into Tokyo. Side trips purely for street photography. The time spent on the streets would provide the experiences necessary for the concept of Tokyo Forgeries
Those trips yielded some of my all-time favorite images. They are my favorite images because I took the time to craft them. I was seeing an idea in my mind and then putting myself in a position to make that idea into an image. Once captured new possibilities would branch off the original idea.
As time passed I did less and less commercial work, focusing more on the craft of street photography. The challenge that lays ahead is to become a full-time street photographer. To make a living from it, but more importantly to grow as an artist and become the best street photographer I can be.
