Oh, The Times They Are A Changin'

Bob Dylan penned and sang this song when I was a much younger man. The times were changing in the 60's and 70's. The Vietnam War and the the deaths of Jack Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King changed everything as we new it. A huge cultural revolution forced everyone to think about who they were and where America was going. It happened again in the 80's with the oil and gas bust, overwhelming numbers of mid-management jobs being lost and the beginning of American jobs going overseas to a growing global economy. Just as we are starting to get in touch with one another again, war, housing and oil have done it to us again. We'll tighten our belts and overcome this too.

Photography is changing too. At the SWPPA conference being held in Arlington this week accomplished speakers and photographers are all trying to grasp what these changing times hold for the professional photographer. One of the messages I heard from nationally ranked photographers was a call back to the basics. The principles of professional portraiture have not only remained the same but have become a more important part of separating the professional photographer from the flood of digital camera owners. I clearly remember that the 35mm camera of the 80's was in every home and created quite a stir among professional who used view cameras and medium format cameras exclusively. I got my start in photography school with a 35mm camera. It wasn't long before I owned a medium format camera too. The basic principles of portraiture that separated the professionals from the avid hobbyist were the artistic principles drawn from masters artists such as da Vinci and Rembrandt.

So, one more time the call for the 21st century professional photographer is toward artistic education, training and creative growth. The tools are different in some ways but the message is always the same. Professional growth is a process pricked by the ever inward desire to have made a small difference in the beauty of eternity.