Creative: Honesty

Daniel Milnor

February 2

That may or may not be my laundry in the background. This is, after all, a film about honesty. After a brief introspection, I realized that the ONLY thing I might be offering of value is that of being honest. Online culture, and not just online photography culture, is in great part about the facade. How do we craft the most palatable version of our work or our message, so that we can build the largest following possible. That's the driving force and methodology.

It is entirely possible to make a living shooting average to below-average photographs.

I've seen this happen my entire career. I believe there are far more average photographers making a living than excellent photographers. With excellence comes risk. More time, more money, more exposure, more cutting-edge imagery which might require more contemplation, as opposed to the safe, the standard, the easy, the expected.

When it comes to my consumption of photography, something like the National Geographic Pictures of the Year Special Issue has resonance, while the bulk of what I see online doesn't. It's quite that simple. The magazine is edited, curated, and designed to a high level, by people who know what they are doing. The photographic contributors are skilled and have many years if not decades of experience under their belt, otherwise they would not have been chosen for assignments in the first place.

An issue like this is a goldmine of expandable exploration of what is being done at the highest level of the business while most of the work I see being featured online is about everything except the final product photography. The list of contributors here will keep you busy for weeks if not months. Each of the images represented is but ONE image of a much larger, much more in-depth essay reflecting some of the most important issues of our time. This my friends, is where I spend my time ingesting photography.