Photography and Luck

It just occurred to me that it was 5 years ago this week that I officially started my first staff job at a newspaper, the News & Messenger.  In fact, my first job as a 10 year old, was as a paperboy for the Potomac News (what it was called back in ‘85).

"The man who said, "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose."

From the movie, Match Point

It seems like a long time ago.  So many things have changed. I was full of optimism then, and

in the time since it’s become more apparent how distinctly the role of luck and circumstance has played in shaping my career.  It’s funny to think back and how easy I thought it would be if I just put the work in.  And to an extent, hard work does pay off, but I’m realizing more and more these days that it’s almost as important to get a little lucky.  I won’t deny that I’ve worked hard to get to this point.  Working as a photographer these days is insanely hard to do, but without a little bit of luck, it’s hard to imagine making a go of it these days.

While covering the DOMA and Prop 8 protests at the Supreme Court, in March, 2013, I decided to make a picture of the podium while we waited for people to speak.  After a quick exposure check and a recomposition, I started to make another picture, and this person reached in to make an adjustment to the remarks taped to the podium.  

I can still remember early 2006 and sending as many emails and making as many phone calls as I could looking for internships or anything from newspapers in the area.  No one usually responded. Dylan Moore, then the DP at the Potomac News, gave me a shot and thus started my informal internship.  I would come down there on Thursdays and Saturdays and after a few weeks I started shooting assignments. Getting a chance to shoot on a semi-regular basis at a newspaper with lots of help (staff of 7), was a huge stroke of luck.  By the time I was hired in ’08, the staff had been cut to 2.  I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility to say that I wouldn’t be where I am if I didn’t get that chance, at that time.  That chance led to an internship in York, PA from Jan-July 2007.   

The York Dispatch was the last paper to respond to my internship application.  I had been turned down by the other 3 or 4, until Randy Flaum called late that December in 2006.  On the 21^st they offered me the spot, and would start Jan. 1. 

Would I be doing this if my dad didn’t give me his Pentax Spotmatic so I could be a yearbook photographer as a senior in high school?  What if he never took pictures at all, and they never had National Geographic in the house for me to gaze at as young child. 

This was shot during "Snow-zilla" on Feb 10, 2010.  By chance I drove by the Manassas Nat'l Battlefield Park at the moment Jamie and her dad were getting their sno-kite assembled.  Driving that day was laborious, to say the least.  No chance I come across this if I drive by 5 minutes too soon, or 20 minutes too late.  The sno-kite broke in the wind 20 minutes after they started.

I was hired as a staff photographer without showing anyone my portfolio.  I still think that's amazing. However, this was the paper I had interned at (informally) from June-December 2006. Getting hired as a staffer was probably due to the fact that the managing editor knew me and the other photographer recommended me.  So without the opportunity to work with The Potomac News in '06, I wouldn't have been hired.  I'm sure of that.  

There are so many lucky turns and fortunate events that it’s hard to think about them all. In an industry that’s defined by moments that can either be captured just right or not, perhaps I’m more likely to view the world through this lens.

I captured this by chance.  There was so much happening during the evacuation of this mobile home park after a devastating flood, I just turned and shot when I saw this boy carrying stuff out of his home.  When I got home I realized saw what he was carrying.  Of course, it's not lost on me that while this photograph was a bit lucky for me, the boy's circumstance was decidedly unlucky.

We photographers are always trying to put ourselves in the best spot to catch that one unpredictable moment when everything lines up just right.  A gesture, a movement or when the layers of people, background and light align just so and click, you get it.  Too often you don’t get it.  It’s only looking back (at the back of the camera or sitting at the computer) that you realize you didn’t get it.  And sometimes, just sometimes, you look back and you realize you did get it. Sometimes in spite of yourself.  I’ve always said that luck is where hard work and opportunity meet.  I didn’t make the quote up, but once I heard it, I thought it just about summed up photography perfectly.

I left the staff job in March 2012.  My wife was going back to work and we had a new baby girl.  Three plus years seemed about right for me, so I went freelance…again.  This time, with a little luck, it seems like it’s for good.