Awaiting a Nibble

Good Advice

©David Alan Harvey

What advice would you give young photographers?

You must have something to "say". You must be brutally honest with yourself about this. Think about history , politics, science, literature, music, film, and anthropology. What affects does one discipline have over another? What makes "man" tick? Today , with everyone being able to easily make technically perfect photographs with a cell phone, you need to be an "author". It is all about authorship, authorship and authorship. Many young photographers come to me and tell me their motivation for being a photographer is to "travel the world" or to "make a name" for themselves. Wrong answers in my opinion. Those are collateral incidentals or perhaps even the disadvantages of being a photographer. Without having tangible ideas , thoughts, feelings, and something almost "literary" to contribute to "the discussion", today's photographer will become lost in the sea of mediocrity. Photography is now clearly a language. As with any language, knowing how to spell and write a gramatically correct "sentence" is , of course, necessary. But, more importantly, today's emerging photographers now must be "visual wordsmiths" with either a clear didactic or an esoteric imperitive. Be a poet, not a technical "writer". Perhaps more simply put, find a heartfelt personal project. Give yourself the "assignment" you might dream someone would give you. Please remember, you and only you will control your destiny. Believe it, know it, say it.


David Alan Harvey
Magnum Photos (This is the blog where I found the quote. There are many other great words of advice that can be found here as well.) 

Winter Grass

Winter Details #3

Winter Details #2

Winter Details #1

Icy Shore

Broken Lake

Sunday Afternoon on the Ice

Hitching Post

I Wanna be Where the People Are

Sunday Break

A Walk on the Lake

Fresh Fish...wait

Now for something a little different from Utah Lake. I was parking my car to go photograph and while pulling out my camera I looked down and there was a little fish. Since the topic of fish is so relevant to the current state of Utah Lake I decided to give this little guy (or at least whats left of him) his five minutes of fame.

..first sheer ice, black, then white