At times, though, being recognized for the effort and outcome of this trade, the art and science of photography [it is both for me, the exactness of much of the technical side intertwined with the artistry of composition and production of a specific shot]
Entering a contest, in doing this you are asking for specific feedback, and judgement and critique. And how well do you stand up to others given the confines of the category of the contest you have entered.
Working for a client, being paid for it, and seeing your work used for its intended purpose.
And one of the higher levels is the publication of your work in a media format that is viewed by many, and the larger the audience, the bigger the deal.
Each day we see hundreds if not thousands of published pieces of photography, and most likely none of them are YOURS! [ that includes me...]
Well over time I have had the good fortune to have had one photo make the rounds, it won a place [3rd] in a contest in the prestigious Saint Louis Camera Club a few years ago. It was a commissioned work for a client, so it generated a small income. It was used by the client in all of their media advertising from the day it was presented and is still in use today.
When a local magazine did an article on the company, my photo accompanied the article.
My photo is the one on the bottom row in the center. It was a shot produced at the show room of the location. All the rest of the photos were stock from the makers of the appliances.
Well, I just got another commission from this same company to produce a specific photo for a new product and it will be published [still potentially but highly likely is the chance right now] in a local home magazine. I submitted my photo to the client, they approved it, but still have to await the magazine editor to approve the photo to go along with the article, once it is written. Not sure what month it will show [assuming my photo makes the final cut] but if it does, you just might see random copies of that issue laying about, with bookmarks to a specific page.
I know it would have been better to have waited until it was finalized and confirmed. But life is short. I might die, get run over by a wild groundskeeper cart while walking to/from the vehicle and class. So the excitement of part of the process is gift enough, and if I make it to the actual publication stage, so much the better.
I remain humble knowing there are those hundreds, thousands, millions of photos being shown every day, every hour, every minute, every second, on the web, on the TUBE [old school term for the TV], you name it. But it remains a big deal when it happens to you. Allow me my 15 seconds, will ya! I don't want to spend the entire 15 minutes in one fell swoop.
From a purely photog point of view, the construction of getting this shot is quite interesting. I was doing a location shoot of the entire showroom and was transitioning from one spot to another, my tripod was in hand, but as I walked along the front aisle, I saw this sight. I leaned into a tight corner as I was close to the front of the display, a full ceiling to floor glass front was behind me, but thankfully it was one of those perfectly cloudy days, bright but not too bright. I scrunched up, composed and shot this view. And the rest is history. For all the planned and expected shots, this one stood out, I saw it but did not realize its impact until the client went right to it, they said this was THEM! it screamed out the message they wanted their customers to hear. I counted seven different quality of light sources in this shot, so white balance was tricky. I was not very good at photoshop at that time, so not much post trickery was employed either. The depth of the shot and layers it showed and the rich colors from those layers gave it a surreal look, something you do not get from just walking thru this actual location. So I was able to produce a look and feel from a vision that I as a photog had, just because I took the time and trouble to look up and notice this view while going from assigned point A to the next assigned point B. Lesson to be learned which stays with me, look and see, no matter where you are. Look ahead, to the left, to the right, and behind, look up, look down, all around. That next great shot is out there, just awaiting our capture moment, it is all there for the taking.
Besides I used up a bunch of my 15 minutes [which breaks down to 900 seconds, if my math is right!] back when I was playing softball ...my team was in a national level tournament in Texas and we made it the a round where we played a game in the Houston Astrodome. I started and played...being on a pro baseball field was so cool.....That was exciting!
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