THE PHRASE "WORK HARD", re: MAKING PICTURES, SEEMS TO ME TO be a rather ridiculous misnomer when mentioned / written in that context. However, that is exactly how it is being used in a 3-part entry on T.O.P.
Let me begin on this topic with one of my favorite quotes from Bill Jay ....
"...photographers who carry 60 pounds of equipment up a hill to photograph a view are not suffering enough, although their whining causes enough suffering among their listeners. No, if they really expect us to respect their search for enlightenment and artistic expression, in [the] future they will drag the equipment up the hill by their genitals and take the view with a tripod leg stuck through their foot."
Now, to be fair, Mike Johnston does begin his series with writing that "no one cares how hard you worked", to which I would add, that is cuz it is all about the pictures you make, stupid. However, my point, re: working hard while making a picture, is that, if one is working hard at it, then that's cuz: a) he/she does not have their own unique vision, and/ or, b) he/she does not have a firm, yet relaxed, grip on the mechanics / technicals of making a picture.
Re: a) he/she does not have their own unique vision - assuming that one understands the concept of vision as knowing how one sees, literally and figuratively, the world and how that knowledge is the basis upon which you make pictures, then making pictures is as easy as just about anything gets. That's cuz, all you are doing is making pictures of what you see.
You only have to work hard when making pictures when you are making pictures of what you have been told is a "good" picture. As in, picturing a "good" referent using "proper" techniques. Or, in other words, when you are working to someone else's standards rather than your own. To which I write, "Screw that."
Re: he/she does not have a firm, yet relaxed, grip on the mechanics / technicals of making a picture - if you are "hauling around 60 pounds of equipment", you are burdening yourself, literally and figuratively, with too much crap which will only get in the way of picturing what you see. If you understand and have idenitified your own unique vision and use that knowledge as the basis upon which you make pictures, then it should be understood that, at this point, you should have narrowed your equipment list down to 1 camera / 1 lens.
Essentially, what that-1 camera / 1 lens-means is that for every unique vision there is a single unique lens. Really. Trust me-and the overwhelming majority of unique-vision driven pictures makers-on this one. It is as simple as that when it comes to making it easy, no working hard required, when making pictures. Or, in other words, when the picture making device in your hands becomes invisible, no thinking required, then all of your other senses can be focused upon the seeing.
All of that witten, I have never, in my picture making life (personal and professional), associated the phrase "working hard" with picture making. Applying my efforts with diligence, focus and determination? Sure. However, that written, the phrase I associate with my picture making is "having fun".
Or, in other words, it's never "working hard" when you are whistling while you work.
