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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2008-12-30
Gray Matters: New Years Resolutions
Jim Merithew plans to take his camera with him everywhere he goes in 2009.
By Jim Merithew, Wired.com
Photo by Brad Mangin
Jim Merithew shoots pictures with the camera he brought with him during lunch at Joe's Cable Car in San Francisco as the waitress takes orders on December 29, 2008.
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The New Year is here and as usual I'm looking back and preparing a plan for the future.
I know I'm not the only one who fell short on my 2008 plans for better fitness, more amazing photographs, and world domination. I would have settled for a couple more snappies. But apparently you need to shoot pictures in order to make the good ones.
So my plan this year is to follow through, especially with photography. And it all starts with actually carrying my camera. I never used to leave the house without it. But over the past year I found too many reasons to leave it behind.
Excuses like: long work hours, the gym after work, guitar practice, exhaustion, and the fact that I'm old and haven't pressed the shutter in weeks.
Plus, photography is an evil mistress. You have to prepare and be prepared for photographic opportunities. I guess this would explain why I took up playing guitar so late in life. You don't have to go anywhere special to play guitar. You don't have to go out in the rain. You don't have to tolerate people yelling at you about taking their picture. You don't have to look at file after file of bad photographs, realizing you "wasted" your entire afternoon running around photographing a set of craptastic frames. You can just sit in your room, noodling the hours away on the minor pentatonic blues scale.
When it comes to slinging the camera over my shoulder in the morning too often I find myself asking, "what's the point?"
Then I pull out a stack of proof prints from a couple of years ago and realize the point is I love making pictures. I love wandering aimlessly with my camera. I love stumbling on a picture that would have gotten away if someone (me) had not been there to record it. I love the act of creating photographs.
Therefore my first resolution is to actually carry my camera again. I will prepare and be prepared for photography to happen in the New Year. I will carry it not only to make picture for work, but to also make pictures for myself.
Secondly, I know I am often accused of being too critical when it comes to photography. The problem is, I've been around for a long time. I've worked with a lot of photographers and I've looked at a lot of photographs. I have an educated palette when it comes to photography. Often times too much knowledge can make it difficult to be a fan.
But this year I promise to remember how hard it is to make good photographs and what a brainteaser it is to choose subject matter. I am going to appreciate the commitment it takes to make real pictures of real people doing real things. And I am going to remember we are not trying to make perfect pictures or be perfect photographers. We are just trying to record the world around us with youthful enthusiasm.
And finally, I want to be a better communicator.
To some this might seem odd. If you have spent any time hanging out with me you know I always have something to say. But then think back about that time I never responded to your e-mail about that picture. Or return your call. Don't get me wrong. I think about a reply, but never take the time to actually respond. I mean to be thoughtful and helpful, but so many times I am not.
So many things go unsaid, especially the hard things. Whether it be praise or constructive criticism we could all do to be a little more open and honest.
So to all you crazy readers of this column mark my words and hold me to them. Here's to a new year with more and better snaps. Here's to appreciating what we do have like our families and our health. Here's to following through with our resolutions and here's to a great New Year for everyone.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and the author alone. They do not represent the views of his employer, co-workers, friends or family.
(Jim Merithew is a picture editor at Wired.com. Jim invites you to direct your questions and comments about this column and other issues involving photojournalism ethics to him through his member page: http://www.sportsshooter.com/merithew.)
Related Links:
Merithew's member page
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