Why do you shoot personal work?
Tony Luong: Well, in short - WHY NOT?!
No, really though - why not? Wasn’t that the whole reason why we started picking up cameras when we were younger? It only seems appropriate to ask ‘why not?’ back, I know for myself - the reason why I shoot personal work is purely because I have something I want to say. All of us who shoot personal work have a specific voice, it takes a while to find that voice but I think that’s why we continue to assign ourselves these personal projects. The idea of being fascinated and interested in specific ideas and topics and exploring them with photographs never gets old, ever. I also think that there is some type of void that develops when we don’t shoot personal projects, it’s ultimately our best and most honest work - right? I think it will continue to be that way.
Why do you shoot personal work?
We Are The Rhoads: Because we can’t imagine NOT shooting personal work… All of the work we create (paid or not) is deeply personal to us. We shoot personal work not because we have to, but because we need to. It helps us stay closely connected to why we create imagery and how we want to evolve and explore as artists. When you aren’t getting paid to do something you are truly shooting it purely for the love of it. Shooting for ourselves helps us stay on our own creative pulses, it helps us refine our visual signature and also document our lives as they unfold. It’s absolutely crucial to our creative process to shoot personal work on a regular if not daily basis.
Why do you shoot personal work?
Shawn Brackbill: I would say that, for me, the lines are blurred regarding personal work. For the most part, much of what I shoot is approached in the same way I would, had it been assigned or not. Some of it is self-assigned and later gets used in a more commercial manner. A good example of that is the cover for last year’s Kurt Vile full length. Also, I’ve been covering New York Fashion Week for 8 seasons for a few different outlets and while it started as an assignment, it has become one of my favorite personal projects as well as an ongoing assignment for Interview Magazine. I work extremely hard to push the boundaries of my work on assignment to bring back something that I’m proud of and continues to further my photography.
Why do you shoot personal work?
Daniel Milnor: Short answer: Because I know with 100% certainty it is the best work I do.
Long answer: I don’t have a choice. From the time I was a boy I felt an incredible need to record things. This curse started with notebooks. I would record overheard conversations, classroom lectures and family discourse. Eventually I began to write my own fictional stories, mostly about action/adventure characters maiming each other with Kung-Fu and Chinese throwing stars. My lead actors would singlehandedly slaughter hundreds of bad guys, my imagination an orgy of destruction and violence. When I was in elementary school I got my hands on my first ‘real’ camera, a Vivitar point-and-shoot with a built in flash. The first time I put the camera to my eye I realized I was at ‘ass’ level with most of the adults around me. So, I began a comprehensive yet informal study of the human ass. No one was immune. I worked on my family members, our dog, strangers and anyone else that happened to walk by. I had the images printed and carefully compiled them in a flip-book that I casually left on our coffee table. The response was favorable, as adult after adult opened the book and began to howl. If I remember correctly, my opening spread was our family dog, from behind of course, with his naughty bits dangling in impressive form. Based on the response, I knew photography, and personal work, were for me. In short, I’ve never stopped with this general theme, although I did move away from the ass as primary subject. Now, when I’m in the field and balancing a modern, complex and stressful life, I find that making pictures is one of the rare times when nothing else matters. I hear nothing, I see nothing outside of what wanders into my path and subsequent framelines. Failure is common. Pain is normal. Mental anguish my constant companion. This work is far too important for there to be a client involved. And when the dust settles, hopefully years from now, and my odd smattering of friends stands over the hole containing my lifeless remains, there will not be tears, but instead there will be rejoicing in the idea of there being a record of my time on this Earth.
Why do you shoot personal work?
Michael Clinard: Back in art school, I was often found exiting a 7/11 with a six-pack in one hand a disposable camera in the other. That “camera” went everywhere I went and kept record to any number of life events and off-moments. In tandem with this practice, I also kept journals and sketchbooks as a means to develop my rather conceptual, non-objective art projects from those days.
That “camera” - and the resulting images from it - seemed more an extension of my journals/sketchbooks and less a picture that asks to be critiqued/judged for it’s subject matter, technical merits, etc.
For me, that personal work represented the entry point by which to explore that which seemed theatrical and grand about the things around me. I’m inspired by the banal and cliche, popular culture and the profundity of everyday life. I always felt like I missed certain things or came late to the table with the images I got in my personal work. That said, I was usually taking those images back into my books and concepting ideas for later exploration in some of my more well-lit, tableaux portraits and scenarios.
The practice that started back in art school continues today with the quirky, conceptual portrait and reportage style images I shoot for a host of commercial and editorial clients. I still keep my journals and sketchbooks; still keep a camera with me all the time to document the things I miss.
Why do you shoot personal work?
Billy Kidd: I shoot personal work because it’s fun.
Why do you shoot personal work?
Brian Ferry: Without personal work, I would not be a photographer. It all feels personal to me… that’s how I approach my photography. Making new personal work is how I figure things out - both photographically and in my life. It’s crucial to me.
Why do you shoot personal work?
Andy J Scott: I shoot personal work because I love taking photographs and the connection I make while making a photograph. Meeting and working with people is as important to me as making the actual photograph, and the camera has allowed me to meet loads of interesting people I probably wouldn’t have met without it.
Being early in my career, self-assignment allows me to hone my craft and build on my style, while creating a body of work to show. I treat my self-assignments like the real thing and try to make everything magazine quality, in hopes that my work will be seen and people will hire me to shoot in my style in the future. Also it keeps me busy and creating, which keeps me sane.
Why do you shoot personal work?
Sacha Lecca: Speaking as a photo editor [at Rolling Stone], when I go to a photographer’s website if there’s a PERSONAL section I usually click on that first. Seeing a photographer’s images when the work is not on someone else’s dime or time and just for the LOVE of doing it can be an important revelation – it’s information that can help show in a much fuller way (than just showing commercial or editorial work) more of what makes you a photographer and what you might bring to any shoot.
