Road Not Taken

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IX.) My Road – From the Road – A Village Named Unite

Walking across my grandfather’s field into the forest was truly a wonderful place to begin this journey.  I have been traveling alone for a number of days.  So far I have found very suitable places to take water breaks, listen to the birds and other small forest animals, with a bit of sun shining on my face.  It has been very peaceful.  Being alone has given me a chance to realign all of my senses.

Living in the city with all of its activity, friends, family, and responsibilities often overwhelmed me.  All of these things together acted as tiny little voices that slowly drown out the murmur of mine.  As my senses realign they are tuning to the sound of my own voice.  When I wandered into the thick forest without a map it required me to have my senses about me in order to survive even that very first night.

I am now not far from the first village I will encounter on this journey.  I know this because I have been to this place before.  It is a small village I visited almost exactly one year ago.  Of all the places I have traveled to and visited before it has already gained a special place in my heart because the people who live there are so welcoming.  The people who live in this village are very idealistic.  They are also very self motivated and believe in taking responsibility for their own actions.  They are an extraordinarily healthy group of people mainly because they ride bicycles.  In fact, there are no cars, or any other way of getting around besides bicycles in this town.  They are a hardy lot; riding a bike all year is no easy task especially considering the harsh winters.  I’m really excited to visit this place again because I know all of these people will provide me with great encouragement when I explain to them where I am headed to next.

Although it seems like there has been so much bad news over the last few years in the world at large I have heard that this town is doing very well and is in fact growing at a rapid rate.  I can’t wait to see the changes that have taken place in this small corner of the world since I was there last year.

I am also especially excited to garner my cameras and do some portraiture work of the new people I will meet.  I will not be able to stay long in this place because I have some vast distances to cover before winter hits and just today I felt the first real hints of fall.

My supply levels are good and will be just right for the five days of travel I have until I reach this little village of wonderful people – a town with an equally wonderful name, a place called – Unite.

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VIII.) My Road – Bring Something Creative to the Table

As it stands now commercial photographers are almost always hired onto a project after the major creative decisions are already made by the agencies that handle their accounts or the internal marketing departments of the brands themselves.  Or, as is the case in the editorial world, the shooter is brought in after the story has already been assigned or in some cases already written.  Often, photographers are barely creative partners in the development of advertising campaigns.  I’m not a huge fan of this process.  And if there is anything I can do to help change this convention – I’ll certainly try.

Personally, I think too many shooters are treated like disposable commodities.  A successful commercial photographer needs to be fundamentally skilled in the specific and technical aspects of the tools of the trade,– they need to be good at taking pictures and to be able to recreate someone else’s creative ideas.  BUT, they also need to be skilled businessmen – to be their own brands and agencies unto themselves.  Wait a minute – you mean a successful photographer has to be skilled at a trade, run a business, a brand, and be their own ad agency too?  Yep.

Well, if that’s the case you’d think some successful shooters might have legitimate ideas to bring to the creative table while developing campaigns for the end clients.  Granted some shooters might not want to be involved in this process – they’d prefer to be hired after the ideas are already in place and to just shoot the layout.  That makes sense for some, but to me it seems like it’s a lot harder to set yourself apart once the ideas are already locked.  At that point you are the photographic version of a tradesmen – artistry and creativity are not necessary in order to complete the job.  As I move forward in my career I would like to become known as someone that can be brought to the creative table – before the ideas are closed.

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VII.) My Road – Why These Clients?

(Yeah! I could likely go on for days about the super details behind why I want to be hired by these clients, but I’ll give you the short version here.)

The New York Times Magazine:

In the words of a giddy 14-year-old girl – OMG!  I love The New York Times Magazine.  It’s like my 1960’s adolescent-self’s print version of The Beatles.  Way before I ever carried any notion of being a professional photographer I use to pick up copies of ‘T’ lying around at various households I would find myself at… and think, “Man, there is some really great photography in this magazine.”  From a fairly young age I’ve connected on a regular basis with the imagery this publication puts forth.  For me, there is hardly ever ANY imagery in the magazine that feels like a fad-style.  I’ve found copies of the magazine lying around that were five-plus years old and the imagery feels just as strong and present as if it were in last week’s issue.  I think this speaks volumes for the quality of work this publication puts forth.  In some way that is the most important bar to which I hold up to my own work – is it imagery that will matter over time?
What makes this even more impressive is the fact that ‘T’ is a weekly publication.  Talk about short deadlines for quality work.  In my opinion it is nothing short of incredible that The New York Times Magazine can publish such consistent, quality, and timeless imagery on a weekly basis.  I have nothing but total respect for this publication and its staff.

After learning more about ‘T’ I would firstly argue, that it has published such wonderful, emotional, and timeless imagery over the years revolves around the fact it has had the same senior photo editor for according to my calculations, the last 24 years – since 1985 (when I was 4 years old).  I don’t think you’d last 24 years as senior editor for The New York Times anything if you weren’t damn good…  Seriously, that is epic.

I would be nothing but honored to be able to shoot a cover for my metaphorical ‘Beatles’.

Nike:

Ok, you got me.  I drank the Kool-Aid.  Nike has always had a special place in my heart.  I can honestly say Nike is one of the few brands that I’ve ever been inspired by.  I can even think of a whole bunch of brands I, as a consumer, would never use or buy because their marketing annoys me or I just generally think they are a big bad company.  For example, Walmart – sorry, but I think you’re crap on so many levels.

Anyway, growing up I did what all middle-American middle-class boys in the 1980’s did – I played sports.  I played all of them.  Baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, kick-ball, track, wrestling, fishing, hockey, golf – I mean seriously, I played too many sports for one little guy to handle.  I was ok at most of them, good at a few, and I really sucked at baseball… to the point of still basically hating it (but, that’s a story for another day…).

Being a young guy in the 80’s meant something else: If you liked basketball at all, one of your idols was Michael Jordan.  And as everyone knows, Michael Jordan is just as much Nike as the Swoosh.

At that time in my life I loved playing basketball.  I loved watching basketball on Saturdays and Michael Jordan really was one of my idols.  And I loved wearing the same shoes as my idol.  I was actually inspired by Nike commercials, by Nike print campaigns, and I really liked their shoe and clothing designs at that time.  I thought Nike was so cool.

As I grew older my love for basketball faded into other interests and my love for Nike products faded as their design aesthetic changed with the times.  But, I still connect with the Nike brand, because at its core it’s about inspiring people to be better athletes.

A main part of the reason I would really love to shoot a Nike campaign stems in part from my childhood connection to the brand itself, but also more importantly to the class of creatives Nike has used in the development of their ever-expanding, extensive, and often cutting edge imagery.  Some of the most creative advertising work ever created has been for Nike.  And I want to be a part of it.  Spike Lee had it right; Nike is where it’s at.

Polo – Ralph Lauren:

My thoughts on Polo are a bit different from my other two ‘ideal’ clients.  I don’t have affection for the brand from my childhood and obviously a clothing label is very much a different thing than a national news magazine and its imagery is meant to serve a different purpose.

But, similar to my thoughts on the Nike brand, I like Polo because of what it represents.  I appreciate the fundamental esthetic behind the brand.  Like the images in The New York Times Magazine-, Polo is about a clean and timeless sense of style.

From the very beginning Ralph Lauren had a vision for what he was trying to create for his brand.  In the early 1970’s he said this:

“I’m not a fashion person.  I’m anti-fashion.  I don’t like to be part of that world.  It’s too transient.  I have never been influenced by it.  I’m interested in longevity, timelessness, style – not fashion.”

I connect with this statement.  As a photographer I constantly look at fashion imagery because it makes up such a huge portion of the world I live in.  It’s a huge part of the world we all live in.  Fashion is a big industry; there are lots of players, and obviously a lot of people who care about it.  But personally, I basically hate ‘fashion’.

For me, the world of ‘fashion’ has always represented the shallowest aspects of modern society.  I know we all need to wear clothes and I think what we wear is important in defining who we are individually.  Expressing a personal style via the clothing you wear is a valuable piece of presenting your identity to the world.  But, generally I feel the ‘fashion’ industry is way, way overly self-important.

And it’s not that hard to call the ‘fashion’ industry out on this.  What’s more important – what you are wearing today or what you’re going to eat?  Or how about whether or not you’ve got a place to sleep tonight?  Or if you have good friends? or about a million other things…?  Seriously, I could write a list thousands of pages long of things that are more important than the entire fashion industry (there goes my career as a fashion photographer… oh, well).

Maybe I’m just jaded.  To date the only people who have been rude to me while in any sort of interaction as related to my work – have been people involved in the fashion world.  And really not in isolated instances, but more like almost every time in one-way or another.

Having humility is a part of one’s personal style that transcends their outer fashion.  It’s classy to be humble – even if you are in fact a big shot.  Fashion is about short-term importance… and I’m not interested in that.

I bet Ralph Lauren is a motivated, classy, fairly humble, and stylish guy.  I think we’d get along well and that’s a big part of why I’d like to shoot a Polo campaign.

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VI.) My Road – My Top 3 Clients

If I only had the opportunity to shoot for 3 clients for the rest of my career, but was allowed to pick any brand, company, magazine, agency, any person, – any clients – what/who would they be?  Easy question.

The New York Times Magazine – (multiple covers with multi-page spreads)
Nike – (full scale national/international campaign)
Ralph Lauren – Polo (catalog and national/international campaign)

Why? — Better question, but also easy.

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V.) My Road – My Plan

If you follow conventions you will certainly be conventional.  In that vein I often ask these questions of myself:

How can I use a camera to produce images that are truly original?  Can I create images that are actually new?  Will my images be timeless — or will they look as if they were a part of a passing fad?  Do my images evoke an emotional response from the viewer?  Do my images have a point?  And now more than ever — are my images beyond what a prosumer shooter can create.  In short, am I creating images that are actually unique and powerful?

The business of photography obviously revolves around the images themselves – but the business also requires creativity in business itself to get ahead.  And this is where I feel some of the top 10% of commercial shooters are also able to set themselves apart from the rest.

So – what is my plan?

Determine my top 3 most wanted clients and why.  Learn everything I can about them and the history of their advertising campaigns and/or use of images.  Think about these clients/brands and bring something creative to the table (crucial element – more on this later).  Reach out to them in a unique way.  Continue to reach out to them in unique ways until they hire me — for as long as it takes.

Huh, doesn’t sound particularly revolutionary does it?  Well, as they the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.”

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IV.) My Road – Start With A Better Plan

Now you know even more.  I’ve got a big dream.  And I’m building a road into the wild woods – but I’ve got a plan.  A dramatic, laborious, and long-term plan.  A plan that breaks conventions.

Before I go into the details of my specific plan.  I want to take a moment to expound some of my thoughts on the way many commercial shooters market themselves now.

Firstly, let me remind you that commercial photography is insanely competitive. – I have heard before that there is 1 commercial photo assignment available for every 12 commercial shooters. And that the top 10% of commercial shooters get 90% of the available assignments or dollars associated with those assignments – And that the volume of assignments is down by as much as 70% this year, with pricing for usage off by over 30%.  My statistics are based mostly on hearsay, but even if they are only half right – the point remains, if you are not one of the top tier global commercial shooters the preverbal deck is stacked against you – by a lot.

As far as I see it, here is the way most commercial shooters try to get paid assignments:  They create a portfolio of a certain type of work, with a specific style, print up some portfolios, get a portfolio website up – maybe a blog too, send out postcard mailers and e-mail campaigns a few times a year, and if they’re more in the middle and not so much at the bottom, they’ll take out an ad in Workbook or Blackbook – And if they’re really lucky they’ll also have a decent rep working on their behalf.  And hopefully they are smart enough to stay in touch with previous clients to get some multi-year work.  Sounds like a good plan right?  Sure, if you don’t mind being just another name in a pool of thousands of other commercial shooters who are doing exactly the same thing – in the same style, with same gear, etc.  Now, don’t get me wrong following the steps above will get you work – but what kind of work?  I wonder how many commercial photographers have the ability to choose their clients?

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III.) My Road – Looking Forward

Now you know a few things about me.  I dream big.  I grew up in an environment that allowed me to do so.  I’ve lived a windy and interesting road thus far in my life.  I’m deeply committed to photography as my career.  And now I stand upon ‘A Road Not Taken’.

I am excited.

Really excited.

Since you’re not here – you’re on the internet somewhere.  Here is what it looks like to me.

It’s summer and I’m standing on the edge of an amazingly beautiful wheat field.  The sun has just broke for the day.  My grandfather’s farm is on the other side of this vast field and here I stand looking deeply into the mystic and thick woods in front of me.  The air smells clean, fresh – and new.  I am alone.  I am aware.  This is it.  This is where I create a new road.  I am not scared, but I know it would be easier to take a road that already exists.  But, deep down I’ve always known I needed to be here.  I feel ready.  I have prepared myself for this and I am ready for everything that will follow.  I am going to travel light.  I have some basic supplies.  I have a plan.  I have skills.  And I have a camera (ok, I have a few cameras…).  One more deep breath.  Now I’m running into the forest towards my big dream.

My dream is simple really.  I want to create.  I want to survive.  I want to survive being allowed creative freedom.  I want to not only survive – I want to thrive.  I want to create truly original images.  I want to be a leader in my industry.  I want to surprise people and take photos that evoke emotion.  I want people to see my images and stop – and think.  I want to break conventions.  I want to challenge the way people think about photography.  And I want to be paid – highly paid.  I want to learn, to teach, and to inspire.  I want to end my career on top.  I want to work towards becoming the most successful and recognizable photographer of my generation.  I want to accomplish my big dream.

The best part of my new road is that I know exactly where I hope it all ends.  I know myself.  And I know exactly what I want.

This is a great place to start.

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II.) My Road – Looking Back

A road is a wonderful metaphor for life.  We all walk our own path of time from birth to death.  Much of where we go in our lives is along roads, some are already paved for us, and some we have to pave for ourselves.  We often come to crossroads – we have to make choices and try to pick the right direction –  to make the right steps forward.  Things outside of our control happen on roads that change our lives from that point on – we get in accidents, we make fast friends, we lose friends, and sometimes we even find a lucky dollar on our way.  Our whole life happens on the road: ‘the road of life’.  I try to keep this thought present in my mind as I walk along and create my own road.

Since you don’t know me personally yet you don’t know my back-story.  You don’t know about my upbringing, my childhood, sports I’ve played, jobs I’ve had, or about my family, my education, places I’ve lived or traveled through, hardships I’ve experiences or my lucky days.  You don’t know anything about me, but that’s ok because from this point on this journal is not going to be about where I’ve been – it will be about where I’m going.

But, as I’m sure some wise person once said, “you can’t know where you are going unless you know (understand and have thought about) where you have been.”  I definitely know where I have been and think about it often.  My life so far has certainly shaped my ideas of where I want to be going.

Like almost any other human on earth my family has played a central role in my life.  My parents divorced when I was seven and for a good chunk of my youth this was a very difficult thing to deal with on many different levels.  But, out of these difficulties came lots of positive things.  Both of my parents eventually remarried and my one younger sister and I had the opportunity to grow up with four unique and wonderful parents.  And four sets of wonderful grandparents.  We had a lot of love, support, and encouragement.  Both of my parents were teachers so perhaps support and encouragement was built into my early ‘road’.  All of my parents preached the idea that anything is possible and that my sister, Claire, and I could be whatever we wanted, if we wanted it bad enough, and worked hard enough to get it.

All four of my grandfathers owned their own businesses – a carpenter, an electrician, a farmer, and a fuel supplier.  My mom’s dad use to tell me all the time, “You create your own luck.”  And my dad’s dad has told me that he always knew there were smarter guys out there than him but, “he could out-work anyone.”  And he did – and still does.

I was born and raised of German and Irish heritage in the Midwest and that means something – on my road.  I could go deeply into my history and the importance that my family has played in my life thus far, but instead I’ll share a couple personal notes from my mom.

I don’t remember the Christmas of 1992 really at all.  Maybe I would if I saw a home video or some photos of it, but I do know of two gifts I got that year.  One is a book of Robert Frost’s Select Poems from which I read the poem I posted below for the first time.  I know that because my mom wrote on the inside cover, “Dear Clark, may you find time each day to breath deep and look at nature around you!” Love, Mom Christmas 1992.  The other gift was another book called 3-Dimensional Illustrations, which I found in a small bookstore the summer before and really wanted, but didn’t get because it was really expensive.  Inside that book jacket my mom wrote, “To Clark, Never Stop Dreaming! Love Mom and Jim Christmas 1992.”

No one in my life ever told me I wasn’t capable of accomplishing anything I could dream – and if there is one thing I’m good at – it’s dreaming big.

However, dreaming big comes with its own pitfalls.  If you fast-forward through my life from 1992 up to now it means a few things – my road thus far has been really, really zig-zaggy with some wonderful and interesting successes, and many, many personally crushing failures – all of which I feel I have learned something from and that I am ultimately grateful for.

After a series of personal failures and for a number of other personal reasons a few years ago I made a dramatic and abrupt commitment to myself that photography would become my career.  My portfolio site http://www.clarkpatrick.com is where I stand today.  I am happy with what I’ve accomplished so far in the relatively short amount of time that I have had.  However, I am very far away from the career I ‘dream’ for myself.  But, I do believe I am on the right track and feel more secure now than I ever have in spite of – or despite of, the current doom of our modern world.

If I may, here is one more letter from my mom – I guess she thinks I’m finally on the right track as well.

I.) There Has Only Ever Been One Road For Me

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

– Robert Frost (1874–1963).  Mountain Interval.  1920.