While many aspiring photographers work for a long time to reach their goals, it's often the journey to get there that is the most interesting story of all. This short video from Vertical Online reveals a thoughtful and inspirational tale of one landscape photographer's experiences from going broke to making amazing images.
Marty Knapp reveals in the narration, "I maxed out my credit cards. I spent all my money on buying either a lens, a camera, photographic paper chemicals. When I got married I was immensely in debt, but my work was starting to sell."
What do you think of this choice? His work is fantastic, and clearly his immersion into creating his art is shown in his work... but would you spend all your money on gear to self start your career? Was this choice more appropriate for the decade in which Marty made it? Share your thoughts below!
[via The Adventure Blog]
intriguing! good dose of inspiration which is exactly what i need right now!
The part that truly spoke to me was the explanation on why he shoots black and white. "We start paying attention to he lines, the shapes, the texture of things. It was the bones, it was the structure , the sculpture. As if color was the clothing on the human body; black and white was the structure the shapes of things." -Marty Knapp
Completely agree. I know people who have criticized black and white photography ever since digital post processing due to the ability to flip flop your images between color and black and white but the reality is some shots just shine in black and white and I think he nailed exactly why.
Yeahp, I think the reason why most street photographers also shoot B&W or convert to B&W later on is because It really exaggerates the emotion that is contained within the photograph. :)
Insightful.
I saw a lot of myself in his love of photography... minus the drugs and drinking :P He makes some great photos. Really enjoyed that video!
Thanks for putting this up Mike! Great stuff!
Spending all your money on gear to self start a career is still an amazing idea and motivator. You have to want it and this will make you hungry.
Nice!!!
I have spent all my money in the past year on gear. I have purchased a d600, Lowepro backpack battery grip, Tamron 70 to 300mm ( soon to be replaced with the new tamrom 70 to 200 f2.8), nikon f.14 50mm, and a tamrom f2.8 24 to 70mm. Today i am actually going out to buy a 910 speedlight and then next month will be some Alienbees and tripods and then a 14 part series on how to get into the wedding business from this site and then a 85mm f1.4 prime nikon lens.
I did photography as a kid in high school i was able to see the world of black and white as well as we did not develop color prints in school. I am 30 now so i totally understand how this guy is thinking.
If you're ever traveling through Point Reyes Station, stop by Marty's shop and have a chat. I always have very inspiring conversations with him.
nice work and brings back memories of Point Reyes, it was one lovely trip indeed....
www.akhilmenon.com