Looking towards the Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, India. Photographed in January 1998 and recently scanned.

I’ve regularly mentioned Photoshelter on this blog, being as it is the place where I store my online archive, deliver images to clients and am able to take advantage of the e-commerce and licensing abilities that are included with a Photoshelter account. A lot of other photographers feel the same way and more than likely for the same reasons. There is however one additional benefit of a Photoshleter membership and that is access to their fantastic webinars. Due to timezone differences, these are usually held at 7am my time, which makes for an inspiring start to the day. This week was no different, with photographer Tim Mantoani giving us a program titled Focus On Your Passion. For anyone who doesn’t recognize Tim’s name, you’ll certainly be familiar with his photographs.

My biggest passion as a photographer is in the field of travel and culture. As long as I can remember, it’s been an essential part of my photography, with the desire to explore new places and bring back photographic memories and documentation always present. The image that opens this post is but one example of this. It was shot in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Hampi, in southern India. I was there during my first visit to India and the photograph was shot in early 1998 on black and white film. At the time, I’d been on the road for about 10 months. Photography of this nature is what drives me to create and explore.

Allen Murabayashi of Photoshelter describes Tim Mantaoni as

a case study on photographing for the love of it.

During the almost 90 minutes that the webinar ran for, Tim talks more about passion, inspiration and the value of personal projects than he does about gear or technique. This, to me, is what it’s all about. We do it because we love it. We do it because we have a personal need to make photographs. Grab a beer or a coffee, sit back and watch the video below. Anyone from any creative field can relate to this. Enjoy.

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Boats on the edge of the Ganges, Varanasi

Great artists, whether they’re photographers, painters, musicians or anything else, have one thing in common. Passion. Van Gogh didn’t choose to paint because it made him rich, Jimi Hendrix didn’t spend five years of the chitlin circuit for the fame. What drove them was passion for their art.

Before we continue, professional photographers as well as those who aspire to be shouldn’t miss out on portfolio consultant Selina Maitreya and her audio series The View From Here. It’s available at a 50% discount using the code FOSCFI.

As a photographer this is what can push you to new heights. As Chase Jarvis described it “Create, Share, Sustain”. Create work that you love, work that inspires you. Share that with the world. It’s not just images you are sharing, it’s also your passion. Finally, find some way to sustain that process. That may be possible within the field of photography or it may mean working a day job and devoting all your free time to your passion.

Consider two similar images, one created by a passion-driven photographer, the other by a photographer who’s heart is not in it and who has shot the photo solely for the money. While they might be the same technically, which one do you think will be better overall?

As you progress in your photography career, learn to say no to work that doesn’t excite you. I know the global economic situation is still a bit shaky and many photographers are feeling the tough times, but saying no to work that doesn’t inspire you can be very liberating. It frees you up to shoot the images that you want to shoot and to pursue the clients that you want to work for. If you can, don’t just say no but say no while offering a solution to the buyer. Recommend another photographer that you know does shoot the kind of work that’s on offer.

I’m sure that almost all working photographers have, at one time or another, taken a job solely for the money. You may have found yourself just going through the motions and doing the minimum possible to get the job done. Why? Probably because you’re not allowing your passion to guide you. When you look at the resulting images, you know that your heart wasn’t in it. Guess what. So does the client. If it happens too often you’re going to find that nobody approaches you with any work at all which will leave you in a much worse place financially than if you’d said no in the first place. If your heart is not in it, if it doesn’t excite you, say no. It will ultimately benefit your career as well as your creative drive as you free up time to focus on what you’re passionate about, and also can help the career of other photographers as you’re freeing up jobs that don’t excite you and leaving them for those who are excited by them. Aim to become a passion-driven photographer.

That was the 161st Daily PhotoTip. If this post was useful to you, why don’t you subscribe to my feed, leave a comment and share it with your friends. You can also get access to exclusive content and special offers by subscribing to my newsletter. Sign up today. Thank you.

A view of one of the mountains in the Annapurna Range, Himalayas, Nepal. 1997

Back in 1990, guitarist and composer Steve Vai released an instrumental rock album with the title “Passion and Warfare”. I don’t know why he decided on Passion and Warfare for the title, but to me, this is an album born out of his passion. It’s this passion that causes him to – in his own words – become obsessed with playing the guitar, as well as to put in the hours and hours of necessary work so as to master it. I get the feeling that creating the album he wanted was more important to him than creating an album that would sell. So what’s all that got to do with photography?

Well, in some ways, a similar thing could be said about photography, or any creative endeavor for that matter. It’s our passion, our obsession that leads us to spend hours learning all the technical aspects. Hours learning either darkroom techniques or digital workflow and post-processing. Hours pouring over books and websites, studying other photographers work, aping them in order to learn, and hoping to move past that mimicry as we develop our own style. It’s a well-trodden path that millions of photographers have taken and millions more probably will take. We become obsessed about our art to the point where it takes up all our thoughts. Richard Avedon famously said

If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up

I’m sure a lot of us can relate to that and, with the exception of the few who need to produce particular work to satisfy art directors and corporate executives, we always have complete freedom to shoot what we want, when we want. For those of you who never plan to try and make a living off photography, that is one of the greatest freedoms you have – the ability to create works of art simply for their own sake. For those making a living from photography, you may need to work a little more to achieve this but by no means is it out of your grasp.

When we follow our passion we are truly alive. Are you alive?