I have those shipping cases. That’s how I transported my portfolio to you all those years ago. They are covered with stickers from various airports. Crazy how that all worked and how expensive it was to send stuff all around the country. But that is how it worked. My portfolios only included a few printed samples and tear sheets. Often because I hated the design, or I thought they ruin my photos. My portfolios usually had original prints, stuff I was working on. I tried to say here’s how I think, not how some art director told me how to think. I guess that is what I hated most about assignment work. Working with Ads and designers I was always told your photo goes here and pretty much told how the image should look. I felt more like a technician than a creative. I could never quite do things my way. And often I was hired for my look and told to apply it to someone else’s idea. Rarely was I given free rein to tackle a concept and shoot it entirely my way. And when I was given freedom, it was often by a non-profit with little or no budget who were just grateful I would even do the job. It wasn’t until I did stock seriously that I totally ran the show. I could make whatever images I wanted, the way I wanted to make them and then throw then out in the world and see who bought them. And a lot of folks did, I saw them everywhere. It was particularly gratifying to pick up an annual report or see a full-page newspaper ad that used my images used the way I shot them and often use them in a very prominent way. The stock work led to assignments too, but by that time I was bold enough to say I would take the job only if they let me do things my way. Most agreed. After all they wanted that Mel Curtis warm and fuzzy feel
