In a very similar vein to my earlier post, “The Benefits of Blogging While Nobody is Watching,” British photographer Alex Kilbee takes the time to apply a very similar conversation to the process of photography.
The reality is that with the advent of social media, the concept of what good photography is—as well as what it means to be a good photographer—has managed to evolve over time. These days, instead of focusing on enrichment, honing skills, or developing a specialization, many in the photo (and dare I say, AV world) tend to believe that likes skew with talent. Kilbee takes this industry-wide point of view by challenging it with some pretty interesting examples.
To build his point, Kilbee uses formerly-unknown street photographer Vivian Maier, as his example. Maier was a woman who simply walked around and took pictures whenever she was out running errands and handling household business during her life in the 1950’s and 1960’s—and while her body of work was large, extensive, and even considered prolific by many within the field, she was completely unknown until after her death. It wouldn’t be until 2009 when people would finally become aware of who she was.
Kilbee’s point is that Maier had about as much skill as other famous photographers of her time, but chose not to promote her work, because it didn’t matter to her. Perhaps that is the case, but I think it should also never be forgotten that Vivian Maier was a woman in the 1950s and 60’s where those types of opportunities were much harder to come by. While Kilbee suggests in his video that she didn’t care about being famous, I think it is just as likely that she simply didn’t want to break her own heart by engaging in the pursuit of fame itself.
Nonetheless, Alex Kilbee brings some great points to his 9 minute, 12 second video with the greatest one being that photographers should consider finding another reason for taking pictures—and to find personal enrichment from the process. If you take pictures, or have a career as a photographer, Alex Kilbee’s video on why no one needs to see your photography is a great watch. (via PetaPixel)
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