While my DSLR gently weeps

[ennuipoet]

I interviewed today for a job shooting on a tour boat that circles Manhattan. I want to say right up front that no matter what, if they offer it I will take the job. (I am betting they will because I made sales on my orientation ride) What I discovered was I have artistic credibility, and this job will kill it!

My god…they do green screen shots and and photoshop the tourists with fake backgrounds of NYC! You have to shoot JPEG at f8 for everything, no bokeh, all posed shots and then you go around with the prints and get people to buy them. The part of me that wants to make good photos HATED it…the part of me that wants to get paid, didn’t. It’s utterly soulless work.

But, if I am gonna sell my soul at least I would selling it for something besides dog food, or polyester pants.

I never realized I thought about myself as an artist until today.

Later on this week, I am doing the same thing at Yankee Stadium…and I will take that one too!

[chupathingie]

Now that we have your confession, we won’t hold against you. Not until you’re wealthy enough to make it worthwhile, at any rate 😉

Bottom line is you have to eat and house yourself, so I say good for you, and try to keep your soul alive.

[orionid]

We’ll still love you.

[CauseISaidSo]

Sounds like you’ve got the right attitude for it. Ya gotta do what you gotta do and the work side will help pay the bills until the creative/fun side is able to take its place. Just don’t let the work side bleed into or take away from the creative side. Like chupa said, keep that creative fire/desire alive.

Any chance they’ll let you hand out business cards for your creative stuff as part of your other duties?

[Yugoboy]

I totally understand. If it wasn’t that I have a mortgage and the dogs and cats gotta eat, I’d have quit this year. My job is a soul-less slog as well, but I do hope next year I’ll be able to get back to the parts I love (like not spending 50% of my time on class control and having students that actually give a shit.)

I do hope you get either/both jobs, as you will find a way to make good art out of boring templates. You’re too creative not to. Look at the ‘shopped backgrounds… what can you do with them? How can you turn a green-screen shoot into something at least slightly more interesting? Can you pose for specific backdrops?
Just curious (not Curious)… best of luck!

(I’d take a paying job behind the lens over food stamps any day… even if it was shooting school pictures.)

[ennuipoet]

I fully intend to side market myself, even if they don’t condone it. I will just be discrete.

Actually, I am mostly joking. A lot of artists do commercial work to pay the bills and then spend their own time on personal projects. That is what I will do. But, I am not kidding the work has no soul 🙂

[nobigdeal]

Shooting Yankee fans sounds fun. What kind of gun?

[ennuipoet]

Shooting Yankee fans sounds fun. What kind of gun?

It’s odd how that reaction seems to be universal. I suppose Yankee fans are the Texans (state not team) of the baseball world. Loud, undeservingly proud of something they had nothing to do with and cannot wait to talk to you about something you don’t care in the least about.

[nobigdeal]

Shooting Yankee fans sounds fun. What kind of gun?

It’s odd how that reaction seems to be universal. I suppose Yankee fans are the Texans (state not team) of the baseball world. Loud, undeservingly proud of something they had nothing to do with and cannot wait to talk to you about something you don’t care in the least about.

Being a born and bred MassHole I can tell you without a doubt the most obnoxious Yankee fans live in Ma & RI. Because they live in the heart of Red Sox Nation they feel they have something to prove. The Yank fans I know who are actually from the NY area are usually pretty cool.

[chupathingie]

Being a born and bred MassHole

I’ve not heard that word in over 20 years… was almost regular as either a slur or props. Pretty sure you fit into the latter…

[chupathingie]

I suppose Yankee fans are the Texans (state not team) of the baseball world. Loud, undeservingly proud of something they had nothing to do with and cannot wait to talk to you about something you don’t care in the least about.

*ahem* I’m not a Texan, but I’m getting close to a quarter century here (half my life, God help this mountain boy). There are pros and cons.

[fluffybunny]

I suppose Yankee fans are the Texans (state not team) of the baseball world. Loud, undeservingly proud of something they had nothing to do with and cannot wait to talk to you about something you don’t care in the least about.

*ahem* I’m not a Texan, but I’m getting close to a quarter century here (half my life, God help this mountain boy). There are pros and cons.

Also mostly Texan. We certainly have no monopoly on loud, overbearing types,.. a few of my best friends are very “Texan”. OTOH they’d also give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. Just as I’m sure New Yorkers would do,.. did do during Sandy and 911 to name a couple. On balance I’m glad I’m here. Not much of a City Boy, although it’s nice to visit one now and again.

[ennuipoet]

I suppose Yankee fans are the Texans (state not team) of the baseball world. Loud, undeservingly proud of something they had nothing to do with and cannot wait to talk to you about something you don’t care in the least about.

*ahem* I’m not a Texan, but I’m getting close to a quarter century here (half my life, God help this mountain boy). There are pros and cons.

Also mostly Texan. We certainly have no monopoly on loud, overbearing types,.. a few of my best friends are very “Texan”. OTOH they’d also give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. Just as I’m sure New Yorkers would do,.. did do during Sandy and 911 to name a couple. On balance I’m glad I’m here. Not much of a City Boy, although it’s nice to visit one now and again.

I have nothing against Texans per se, just using them as an allegory for folks who loudly proclaim their pride in their home state. New Yorkers, at least those of us who came here for reasons other than an HBO comedy centered around three women who talk about sex, tend to throw that fact up a lot. The only difference is, most of us moved here from somewhere else, thereby choosing to be New Yorkers…most Texan’s are from Texas because their parents had sex there. 😛

[Yoyo]

Congratulations on your possible entry into the world of professional photography. Not everyone can be a bitchy mom trying to run a portrait studio shooting graduating high-school seniors while complaining about the costs of doing business.

[CauseISaidSo]

…most Texan’s are from Texas because their parents had sex there. 😛

Like me. As we say around here, I’m a Texan by birth but an Oklahoman by the grace of God! 😆

Of course, that’s mostly said by Oklahomans to Texans. Usually replied to by the Texans with, “Man, what’d you do to piss off God so badly?” 😉

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