Freelance photographer Ken Jarekce with Contact Press Images says he pretends on every assignment that he's shooting for a mythical "Best Magazine in the World," so he can get into the right mindset to make the best photographs he can. And I've talked often (just last week in-fact) about how it's not what's in front of the lens that makes the best pictures - but behind it, inside the head of the photographer. So what happens when your head is working against you?
It has been years since I've covered society news. For a long time our newspaper didn't even have a "society page" and when it returned, we used handout photos from the various parties, weddings, birthdays, and other events. In the past week, I've shot three different benefits, and they've caused me more angst and worry than any recent news or sports assignment. I have been wrestling all week to understand where my demons are coming from in this. Maybe it's the insecurities of my own socioeconomic background, or recent focus problems with my 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens (since I'd dropped it a few weeks ago), or maybe because like wedding photography, where you don't want a mother of the bride unhappy with your pictures (or in this case, friends of the guy who signs my paycheck), but I had a difficult time. I did okay with the scenery.
That's cocktail hour leftovers, and an art auction at the Union League above, the Four Seasons Hotel below, and a portrait of my former paycheck signer and his wife at left. That's Bob Hall, who retired five years ago as publisher and chairman of Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News and his wife Ronna of Penn Valley on Friday at the Independence Seaport Museum where they received the Main Line Health HeartCenter’s 2008 Distinguished Leadership Award. They were recognized for their years of work - like so many other community leaders - supporting civic, cultural, and educational and other non-profits which rely on the charitable work of volunteers.
While trying to focus my "impact-damaged" wide angle lens in the newly-remodeled, but darkened Swann Lounge at the Four Seasons, I ran into photographer Cliff Mautner. He is "One of the top ten wedding photographers in the world," according to American Photo Magazine, and his studio is right here in Haddonfield, NJ. He was there as a guest, because he photographs so many couples there. He is also among the few wedding photographers sponsored by Nikon, and a self-proclaimed "technogeek," so I grabbed him both for advice and and to commiserate about stand 'em up and shoot 'em party photos. He did help with the lens, but mostly he allowed me to settle down. Still, it's good to get outside your comfort zone every now and again. I was able to finish shooting most of the people on my list, and then concentrate on photographing the hanging ice sculpture in the lobby - the kind of thing I enjoy. Cool photos. And even a pretty good metaphor for Cliff's career.
When the economy ends up wherever the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 takes us, and our $700 billion is spent buying up bad mortgages, there will probably be fewer photographers employed on staffs at newspapers. In a similar time in the 90's, even before he and a few other part-time photographers were let go from the Inquirer's suburban staff, Cliff was "struggling for survival week in and week out." He was more concerned about where his next check was coming from. He shot whatever "Grip and Grin" photos he had to "to eat and feed my family." It was when he began to shoot weddings that he was able to shoot pictures he liked. "If I can make a couple of pictures that I really like in a given year," Cliff told me in an email, "that's all I can possible ask as a photographer." He says that's how he gets through 55-60 weddings per year.
Now, he says his wedding clients, "for the most part, let me do my thing as long as I'm taking care of the compulsory aspects of the day. I shoot for ME. My motivation is to make pictures that really please ME. The byproduct is that they like it too."
I look at other photographer's photos, read their blogs, and listen to them speak. So thanks to Ken and Cliff, I'm psyched now too. Society event? Just let me at it. I'll show you what happened to my insecurities!
