photography is an enigma…

I wanted to give a shout out to a photographer who I think of as a friend even though I’ve only met him twice.  Zack Arias has besides being a world class photographer, taught the one light workshops and he teaches his approach to learning light all over the world.  He was just named Complex magazines top 50 street photographers right now.  I’m really happy for him.  In the announcement on his blog he writes:

Photography is such an ugly bitch and a gorgeous siren all at once. It’s such a moving target. It’s a flux of oasis and mirage. It’s an enigma. Following your heart and your passion seems to grow a perfect storm of joy and fear. I was telling someone this tonight and they aptly replied, “Those are equally strong motivators.” Yes they are. We just came home from a family road trip through West Texas and we watched a lot of storms cross the land. Big Texas storms are gorgeous at a distance and scary as hell in the middle of them. A fitting metaphor about being a full time photographer.

I love that…

Zack was just honored for his street photography and in lovely Zack fashion he is using it as an opportinity to talk about the journey in attempting to do something with photography that is unique, that shows your voice and isn’t trying to swallow someone elses.  No one system can or will create “it”, the individual journey does that.  It’s important to remember that when so much around us says, do it like this to make this and doesn’t always encourage the creativity that makes us all the unique flowers we could be!  Good stuff, thanks Zack for spreading the word and congratulations!