One Job
Could I do one photographic job as a career now?
One sport, one genre, one style or one operational process?
I had not tried panning in a while, but gave it a go at the Penny Farthing bikes. It worked ok, so it seemed logical to do it with the cars.
To be honest, once you have a few basic styles knocked, a sport like this just becomes a matter of planning, patience and a little luck, because you can’t be everywhere at once. I only spent a few hours at the track this weekend, unlike the pro racing shooters who spent three full days behind the lens. In that time I got the required pan, corner and pit lane shots of every car and had to ask myself “what else is there?” apart from catching an accident or other drama.
We worked out that to guarantee at least a chance of catching all the action at even our small Symmons Plains race track, you would need a minimum of four shooters working together.
I got really lucky with this one, ironically a product of a working photographer who had several other jobs to do that day. It was taken during an early practice lap, so the driver was only warming up and I was the only one at this corner. During racing I stuck with this corner, because I did not have time to go too far and the pits were close, but then I had lots of company.
I cannot honestly think of a single sport I would like to cover at the exclusion of all others, let alone a career shooting just sports only. I simply do not have a great enough passion for any one sport and enjoy too many other types of photography.
At a paper at least we get daily variety and plenty of opportunities within that, even if they are often limited. My plan to drop off a couple of editorial days in favour of weekends will hopefully balance my load better.
The truth is, after the first few encounters with a new sport or photographic style, I tend to either get obsessed (which leads to over working it), or bored. I love shooting some sports, but can still get too much very easily. Some sports, often ones I actually like to watch or play can be bland to shoot and all come with compromises*.
The paper and school have reinforced my preference for candid, take as you see shooting with plenty of scope for variety.
My ideal. A person comfortable in their space, respectfully captured without intrusion allowing us an insight into their world.
Maybe, if I had the means to achieve it, a working portraitists career could work, but with lots of other forms of photography as hobbies. I am aware that over time, even that would start to become tedious.
Travel and street, similar and mutually supporting interests I had before I found employment, seem to be the ones I will go back to easily. It does not hurt that Japan is the lure for both.
In a nutshell, I guess my “one job” needs to be the “all job” that free lancing, hobbyist or news photography provides, I just need to find a balance within that spread.
*Motor sport, red ball Cricket etc, where the action happens fleetingly and sometimes rarely.