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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2003-10-15
2003 Luau: 'Getting a Life: or, Remembering to Live Yours' with Rod Mar
By Robert Hanashiro, Sports Shooter
Photo by Ginger Chan
Rod Mar with his wife Mia, daughter Evyn (4 1/2) and son Damon (3).
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(Note: One in a series of stories on breakout leaders at the upcoming Sports Shooter Workshop & Luau.)
Rod Mar has done just about everything in sports photography: the NBA, NFL, NCAA football and hoops, Major League Baseball's post season, covered Tiger Woods and even the Olympic Games.
The Seattle Times sports shooter is one of the top newspaper photographers in his field ... but what's he think about while roaming the arenas and stadiums of the country? How he can squeeze in a little bit more time for his two young children and wife Mia.
Rod outlined his thoughts about balancing the hectic career as a photojournalist with the life of a "family man" in the April 2000 Sports Shooter Newsletter story "Family Man: Mixing work & family".
(http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/310)
In a departure from lecturing on how he covers sports and makes those story-telling images used so well in The Times, Rod will conduct a give and take session he has titled: "Getting a Life: Or, Remembering to Live Yours". He'll stop short of donning a cardigan sweater and playing "Dr. Phil" (though he prefers Dr. Drew to Dr. Phil), and promises to present a lively and challenging breakout session.
Describing the breakout for the registration site, Rod wrote: "Is it really okay to talk about "My Baby" and be referring to your infant daughter and not your new 400mm/2.8 lens? "
Famous for his proclamation during his presentation at the 2000 Workshop & Luau "Make the Big Time Where You Are" ... Rod spent a few minutes "iChatting" with The Big Kahuna about the upcoming Workshop & Luau.
Photo by Rod Mar
Evyn Mar
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Kahuna: This is a little different session. It's not about running around a stadium or whether to shoot with a 400mm or a 300mm.
Dr. Rod: It's still taking shape. Mostly the class is an open discussion about how to balance a life in photography with a "life". We'll talk about assigning priorities --- realizing that priorities shift. Also learning that you can't be everything to everybody. I promise there won't be essay tests, but we might include a little writing exercise just to break things up. I was a teacher, once, after all.
Kahuna: How to say no. When to say yes?
Dr. Rod: It's a little about karma ... did you read the Sports Shooter Message Board thread about the student who wanted to publish a photo he shot of a Muslim praying who decided later he didn't want to be published? It was a real ethical dilemma for the student photographer. So we'll discuss things like when to say yes, when to say no -- and you're right -- how to say no or yes.
Kahuna: What about reinvigorating your photography ... is it just about revitalizing your mind and body?
Dr. Rod: No, that's the other part --- taking risks, putting the camera down, doing the Robin Williams thing from "Dead Poets Society" and standing on the desk and seeing the room from a different perspective ... shooting with a 50 for while, a Holga, a pinhole. We'll talk a lot about ideas and how to overcome what we think are those dull - nothing assignments --- and find ways to treat those assignments like our World Series games.
Photo by Rod Mar
Damon Mar
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Kahuna: I think too often, especially with students and guys just in their first jobs, that they look ONLY at the photograph...
Dr. Rod: Yes, that's sometimes true about the beginners. I think a lot of young people feel like they have to burn the candle at both ends to find success and that's just not true in our profession. LOTS of people are talented shooters, but some are self-centered folks, who can't get along with people, and are never satisfied -- and that's the point where you have to define "success".
Kahuna: I think that young photographers and students would get more out of your session than they think.
Dr. Rod: I hope so. I've made every mistake there is, and lived to tell about it. I think I also have a lot of good advice to offer in discussion. I'd like it to be a 'bring your questions/challenges' type of thing too --- be nice if people had thought about specific things they wanted to discuss.
Kahuna: I hate to use the cliche "setting priorities" but ...
Dr. Rod: Priorities are a big part of this. A lot of photographers don't read, won't travel without a camera, think their world is nothing but photographs --- someone posted in the Message Board a while ago asking what and where should he shoot in Hawaii on his HONEYMOON, and another member set up a remote camera to shoot himself proposing. I think the "main idea" of both those events -- honeymoon and marriage proposal -- got lost in the name of shooting pictures.
I read that (Sports Illustrated columnist) Rick Reilly passed up golf with Michael Jordan to go to his son's birthday party. How many shooters would pass up a World Series game or Super Bowl to go to their kid's birthday party --- much less an afternoon with MJ?
Photo by Mia Mar
Rod reads to his daughter Evyn.
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Kahuna: Some people ... especially young photogs ...think that's the only way to get ahead in this business is to shoot for and win contests...
Dr. Rod: I'm sure there are examples of those who advance through contests, but there are many who find other ways. Like Mia Hamm said, at the end of the day, those trophies will not tell you they love you.
I'm hoping that people will bring their ideas, their challenges, to this breakout, and that we can find new ways to face them. I don't know all the answers -- but I love searching for them!
Reference links:
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=20
http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/310
http://www.sportsshooter.com/news_story.html?id=937
http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=4494
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