We’re Only Living Today, So Today Is The Time To Make It

I was thinking about art and artists and I've come to the conclusion that we are only our output. Whether we "make it" in some definition of success is out of our control, we have no ability to take our work anywhere, we only have the ability to make the work. And make more work....

What Made Photography Valuable?

Helen Levitt and Walter Rosenblum made street photographs in New York in the 1930s through the 1950s. Vivian Maier made street photographs in the 1950s through the 1970s. What made them relevant, what made their work valuable? It took a special person, a real photographic artist to go out in public and shoot film photographs...

Mr. Rogers, Mary Ellen Mark and Me

I was listening to a really good podcast today called Finding Fred, which is about the way Fred Rogers made his show back in the 1960s. And on The Candid Frame podcast, Mary Ellen Mark was interviewed by Ibarionex Perello. Both are people I can relate to because both did things the way they did...

How Has Instant Results Affected Creativity?

We all wear two hats, one as a creative and one as a marketer. In days of old, we would create a body of work, photographers would be able to work on a project and keep the creative hat on until completion. They wouldn't be stepping back and forth between worlds because they couldn't get...

A Little Art from My World

A lot of photographers have been struggling to find things to photograph in this pandemic-laden world, but I've been keeping busy with a lot of photos for my Roy Stryker photo project, now over five years old and publishing three times a week. The need for creating photos makes the photographic opportunities happen. The muse...

Happy Holidays: Buy Film, Make Art!

Happy Holidays to all my friends and family who let me photograph them (it's not an unusual occurrence!), sometimes in good light and sometimes in good shadows. To all my readers, viewers, listeners and subscribers on my various channels--here, YouTube, and my podcast--I'm thankful for all of you. Cheers to a great 2021 and as...

Do The Work For The Art, Not For Fame Or Likes

Do the work. Make your art. Not for likes. Or thumbs up. Or fame. But because you have to do it, you have no choice in the matter, the work has to exist. It's the kind of work that if you put it out and didn't get a "Like", you'd still do it. That's how...

Why Do You Make a Photograph?

I have an either/or question: Why do you make a photograph? Is it to make a photograph that people will like? Hit the heart button on Instagram? The Like Thumbs Up on Facebook? Is that your delivery medium? Is it to make a photograph that needs to exist in the world? That hangs on a...

Gifted Art Film Portraits

[www.gofundme.com/f/buy-4x5-film-to-gift-art-portraits-of-people - You can help this project with a contribution to buy more film.] "I PHOTOGRAPH THEIR LIGHT, AND THERE'S NOTHING MORE SPECIAL!" As I hold up the old wooden camera by its thin leather handle, a camera that feels like a step out of time, a throwback to the early days of photography, their...

Likes and Votes for the Win is a Lose!

Ok, I know there are gatekeepers to the creative world, the gallery curator, the magazine editor, etc. but I have a real problem with any award being given out for who can generate the most votes for their work. Any kind of work. Years ago, I was at a film festival and the "audience award"...