"So much of it is having faith in your work and your vision," says photographer Catherine Hall. "If you believe in yourself, and you believe in what you’re doing, and you illustrate your vision, then the money will come, and everything will fall into place." Adobe evangelist George Jardine writes,
This podcast was recorded on Wednesday November 21st, 2007 at Catherine’s family home in Lafayette, Calfornia. Catherine sits down with George to have a conversation about how her personal work inspires her wedding photography, about her personal approach to working with people, and how having the opportunity to work with people from many different socio-economic backgrounds makes it all worthwhile.
The 32:18 podcast, labeled "20071121 Podcast – Catherine Hall," is in George’s iDisk. It can also be found on iTunes by searching under Podcasts for "Lightroom," or via the Lightroom podcasts RSS feed.
I’d edit this just a bit:
“If you believe in yourself, and you believe in what you’re doing, and you illustrate your vision, then the money will come, and everything will fall into place.”.. if you’re lucky.
There’s no question in my mind that there is at least one photographer out there (and I certainly don’t mean me:) who a) believed in themselves; b) believed in what they were doing and c) illustrated their vision and still got no money.
I realize this quote by Catherine Hall was geared to those in business, but to me it seems to head in the wrong direction. Why not do all those “ifs,” with the result that personal satisfaction, harmony, peace, fulfillment will fall into place. Why is it we all seem these days to equate “success” in life with money? If we reversed the quote, then we would be saying that if we did get money, then that means we believe in ourselves and what we’re doing and we are indeed illustrating our vision. And that, I feel, isn’t right. Many can end up with money by kissing up, caving in, illustrating not their own vision but the vision of the one with the money.
I think Catherine is simply trying to point out that staying true to your vision WILL pay for itself, in time. I agree that success and money are not the same thing, however; if you don’t have the funds to keep creating imagery that communicates what you want to say, you will not sustain artistically, emotionally, or financially. Unless a photographer is independantly wealthy (lucky bastards) money has to come in to play somewhere along the line. Photographers can solve this issue in a variety of ways. Catherine seems to have found the path that allows her to keep exlporing her artistic vision. Congrats to her!
I think Catherine is simply trying to point out that staying true to your vision WILL pay for itself, in time. I agree that success and money are not the same thing, however; if you don’t have the funds to keep creating imagery that communicates what you want to say, you will not sustain artistically, emotionally, or financially. Unless a photographer is independantly wealthy (lucky bastards) money has to come in to play somewhere along the line. Photographers can solve this issue in a variety of ways. Catherine seems to have found the path that allows her to keep exlporing her artistic vision. Congrats to her!
Haven’t seen a new podcast in a while. Please don’t say that number 47 is the end.
[Funny you should mention it: I’m going to blog news of #48 momentarily. Glad to hear that you’re on the lookout for more. –J.]