What separates a bad photographer from a good photographer? Technical skill. What separates a good photographer from a great photographer? Vision. This is what I tell my students. Nearly anyone who is motivated enough and willing to put in the time and energy can become a good photographer. There are millions of them running around, taking perfectly good pictures. And most of them never aspire to be anything more than good, and to make a good living while doing something they love.
Touching the void. Berlin 2007. © Damaso Reyes
I’ve never felt that way. I’ve always been driven by passion.
In some ways it’s great to know what you want from a very early age. I was never a confused young adult trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life while shifting from one dead end job to another. I’ve always had a laser like focus on photography and telling the stories of those who are rarely heard from and nearly always ignored. For a long time that certainty gave me comfort as I discovered fewer and fewer people, at least those in a position of power or influence, shared my perspective.
I think in order to be great in whatever you do you have to dare to be great. You have to believe enough in yourself, your talent and your vision to say that you will shape the world, rather than simply be shaped by it. It takes a certain amount of arrogance as well as faith to feel this way.
Over the past few years as I’ve worked longer and longer on The Europeans I’ve become increasingly comfortable with the idea that my work may never receive the level of recognition I feel it deserves. So be it. Separating action from result purifies the action. I know why I take the photos I do but the impact, the result of those images, are not fully in my control. So I have to be content with the aspect I do control: the creation of my work.
As I celebrate another year of life my passion is as strong as ever…
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