3 Day weekends
For the past month I have been “enjoying” 3-day weekends, courtesy of mandatory furloughs. So just as I was getting comfortable with a routine, and a paycheck, anxiety has reared it’s ugly head. Freelancing is something to do when you are ready. I wasn’t ready after my internship at the York Dispatch. While I feel more prepared now to handle the freelance life (with many thanks to the every day work of a newspaper), I find the prospect of venturing into the naked freelance world less than inviting.
Nevertheless, freelancing can be an overwhelming prospect. This is why I spent my furlough day at the National Press Photographer’s Association’s Northern Short Course. A three day seminar, lecture, convention-type thing where we learn about business, photoshop and anything related to photojournalism.
The last discussion I attended Friday was actually entitled “Layoffs and Buyouts and Closings, Oh My! Surviving the Experience and Charting Your New Course”. Since this is my first NSC, I can’t necessarily speak with any sort of reference about years past, but I don’t figure that lecture appeared in the 2000 NSC program.
“Oh My!”, indeed. Times have changed. Think of attending your industry’s comparable workshop or conference and seeing a lecture about what to do when (not if) you lose your job. I mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again. I feel often as if I’d jumped on a sinking ship. But, against the prevailing winds of layoffs and plummeting profits, I got a job.
Not everyone is so lucky. But I know what’s on the horizon, and meeting and listening to all the professionals on a three-day weekend like the NSC, was perfect timing.
So I have to put some links up for everyone to look at if/when they get a chance. These were the Saturday Lecture series speakers I attended on the last day of the conference:
Jason Reed really has had a tremendous year of making pictures. The campaign, the Olympics. I can’t figure on when he slept or ate.
http://blogs.reuters.com/jason-reed/
Melissa Lyttle: the story she and The St. Petersburg Times did on that little girl was astonishing. Just heartbreaking, great journalism..
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2008/reports/danielle/
Gail Fisher. National Geographic. Do I need to say more? I can’t think of a more photo-oriented publication that repeatedly puts out compelling stories.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/photography
Brenda Anne Kenneally. Astonishing. What she’s done is unbelievable. I sat and watched and listened to what she has done over the past several years, and I can’t figure out how a photographer can put out this type of honest work, without having a mental breakdown.
http://www.brendakenneally.com/
And finally, Stephen Crowley, showed me what it is to be a working photographer. He shoots tremendous photojournalistic work on Capitol Hill, but he’s always working on something different. Whether it’s a series of different looks at the Washington Monument, or the myriad of things embedded in the patchwork asphalt in DC, he’s able to maintain a fresh look at anything and everything. Very cool stuff.
http://www.crowleygraphs.com/
Nevertheless, freelancing can be an overwhelming prospect. This is why I spent my furlough day at the National Press Photographer’s Association’s Northern Short Course. A three day seminar, lecture, convention-type thing where we learn about business, photoshop and anything related to photojournalism.
The last discussion I attended Friday was actually entitled “Layoffs and Buyouts and Closings, Oh My! Surviving the Experience and Charting Your New Course”. Since this is my first NSC, I can’t necessarily speak with any sort of reference about years past, but I don’t figure that lecture appeared in the 2000 NSC program.
“Oh My!”, indeed. Times have changed. Think of attending your industry’s comparable workshop or conference and seeing a lecture about what to do when (not if) you lose your job. I mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again. I feel often as if I’d jumped on a sinking ship. But, against the prevailing winds of layoffs and plummeting profits, I got a job.
Not everyone is so lucky. But I know what’s on the horizon, and meeting and listening to all the professionals on a three-day weekend like the NSC, was perfect timing.
So I have to put some links up for everyone to look at if/when they get a chance. These were the Saturday Lecture series speakers I attended on the last day of the conference:
Jason Reed really has had a tremendous year of making pictures. The campaign, the Olympics. I can’t figure on when he slept or ate.
http://blogs.reuters.com/jason-reed/
Melissa Lyttle: the story she and The St. Petersburg Times did on that little girl was astonishing. Just heartbreaking, great journalism..
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2008/reports/danielle/
Gail Fisher. National Geographic. Do I need to say more? I can’t think of a more photo-oriented publication that repeatedly puts out compelling stories.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/photography
Brenda Anne Kenneally. Astonishing. What she’s done is unbelievable. I sat and watched and listened to what she has done over the past several years, and I can’t figure out how a photographer can put out this type of honest work, without having a mental breakdown.
http://www.brendakenneally.com/
And finally, Stephen Crowley, showed me what it is to be a working photographer. He shoots tremendous photojournalistic work on Capitol Hill, but he’s always working on something different. Whether it’s a series of different looks at the Washington Monument, or the myriad of things embedded in the patchwork asphalt in DC, he’s able to maintain a fresh look at anything and everything. Very cool stuff.
http://www.crowleygraphs.com/
Really nice portraits John!!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you have overcome your fear.
ha. thanks, man.
ReplyDelete