Damien Franco dot Com » New Horizons

New Horizons

Posted on June 23, 2008
Filed Under Personal, photography |

Good things have come amazingly fast for me as of late. We’ll get to that later as things develop further. I am having to restructure my online profile as a photographer and undo some of the work I’ve already done, but I think my blueprints are in better order.

The decision to change my photography profession from portrait and wedding photographer to fine art photographer wasn’t easy. I’ve studied art my whole life and I knew how hard the road would be.

In truth, being a wedding and portrait photographer was easy. Not to downplay all the work I did, but technically, insofar as photography goes, it was easy. My whole life I’ve studied color, design, concept, aesthetics, composition, contrast, light in relation to dark, shadow play, form and function, and every other technical skill associated with art there is. Because I had a propensity to hop from college to college and only take art classes (all of this without any paper to show for it) I was able to learn from many different art professors with varying backgrounds and views.

Because I studied all mediums of art I feel I have a huge advantage when looking through a camera than most other people. I don’t see the scenery as the optics tell me. I see the image before me shape and shift as I compose and create. There is no snap to my process.

So the photography part came easy. It was the business part that was tough. Selling, selling, selling…

Marketing, marketing, marketing…

I was good at it though. No big deal, I have a way with people and am able to earn trust easily enough because I’m honest and like-able (I do have a great smile after all).

But I didn’t study art my whole life to push packages and take pictures of babies. I didn’t. Plain and simple.

The truth is that the “best” portrait and wedding photographers out there aren’t the ones who are the “best” behind the camera. They are the “best” behind their product and they are the “best” salespeople and marketers. Plain and simple.

So I’m done with that industry and into a new one. With the exposure of the online profile I was able to create I have some advantages that I’m willing to exploit to further this rediscovered direction. I had drifted, but not without a better understanding of where I truly needed to head. The horizon is far off and there is much work to be done, but I am no longer afraid of failure. I’ve been there and done that.