Wow, it definitely has been a dreary few days here in Southern California, anyone starting to go stir crazy yet? So it would appear that dream job #2 is not going to happen at this time. Disappointing, but at the same time it was always a long shot.
The photo above is from Mulholland Drive where it overlooks Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles. The W Hotel and the Knickerbocker are visible in the foreground, along with the Capital Records building, as traffic flies by on the 101. The skyscrapers of Downtown Los Angeles are visible off in the background. The camera was not necessarily behaving on this day (a few days later I ended up having to take it in to the service center when the mirror fell off)…so most shots came off kind of soft.
Our journey via Mulholland started outside of the Skirball Center after our initial trip to Santa Monica and Photo LA. Having never been to Photo LA I was unsure of what to expect. Whenver I visit a photography exhibit such as this I always come away with mixed feelings. On one hand I get blown away by some of the work exhibited. This exhibit included images from the likes of Susan Burnstine, Roman Loranc, and Nick Brandt. All amazing photographers in their own right, and for very different reasons. Susan Burnstine creates haunting black and white images from self made cameras that are interpretations of her dreams, while Roman Loranc focuses on black and white imagery from Northern California and his homelands of Poland and Lithiuania. And Nick Brandt has captured some of the most amazing wildlife photography I think I have ever seen.
So part of these exhibits is the feeling of intimidation, if you are witnessing the complete mastery of our craft. But then you see other work and you think to yourself, how is this any different than what I do? It isn’t, if anything my work (in my view), is strong than these images being sold for hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars.
And then there’s the, you have to be shitting me category. The category where you realize these people deserve whatever money they can make simply for the chutzpah it takes to put a price tag on their images/photos. It’s as if the process of declaring a blank canvas art is the art in and of itself. Ah, so much to learn…so much to learn.
Stay dry
Sean Scanlon is a travel and landscape photographer based in Southern California, home to an amazing array of photographic wonders. He has traveled the world, journeyed on long and desolate desert roads, and spent many cold and shivering mornings waiting for the sun to rise while his partner in life, Andree, wonders what in the world she is doing up at 4am in the morning. His photographs have been presented on museum walls in Melbourne, Australia and countless numbers of family and friends.
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All content © 2010 by Sean Scanlon | redinkphotography | landscape, urban, and travel photography | fine art and stock sales