Matthew,
Yes you are right. These would be good conversations to have face to face. Maybe one of these days. Like you I am driven to create things. I always have been. The nice thing about photography is that it can be a medium for personal expression and also a means to earn a living. I always had a need to do both with the camera. It seems a lot of my personal work came as a result of commercial work. Jobs took me places and I was able to see things I probably wouldn’t have if not for the job. And doing assignment work I am sure sharpened my skills. But also I mostly enjoyed my assignments. I learned things, met interesting people and earned a certain satisfaction in seeing my work published. Not to mention interesting places like the White House and the Kremlin and the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. All memorable assignments. Now that the assignments are going away I am realizing just how important that work was to me, and that my personal work doesn’t quite fill all my needs. That maybe I need my work to have a purpose and not just a personal one. But those days are coming to an end and that’s ok. It was a nice ride.
