Don't Ignore the Obvious

It's going to break. It's about to come through. I can feel it. Down deep next to all the secrets I never share with even the most loved in my life. It's there. Waiting for me to discover it. I think I'll know it when I see it. But right now I'm not quite sure what it looks like.

What is it you ask?

It's me.

Well... it's sorta me.

You see I've been working hard to get my website up and functioning to the point that I can walk away from it for awhile and concentrate on more important things. The images were the easy part. The structure was a pain in the ass due to the fact that I was using a template and pretty much had to figure it out on the fly. But the hardest part -- the part that caused me to stop and think... And think... And think some more -- well that was the About Me Section.

ABout Me...

Hmmm... what the hell was I supposed to put here?

I asked a lot of people. I looked at a lot of photographer's websites. I read some books. I thought long and hard. And I still couldn't figure it out. At least to my own satisfaction.  Should I write about my picture style? Tell my life's story?  Make up something whimsical?

You see it's all a little bit confusing.

Then I came across a video talk in this post on Permission to Suck.  The video is talk given by Mark Bierut, a designer who claims to have no creativity, no ideas of his own.  He claims to be a problem solver.  Like a doctor he needs patients to practice. And the more fucked up the better for him.

The key concept for me came at 5:11 where he says "Don't Ignore the Obvious".

As a creative I was searching for some well constructed analogical statement about my work.  Something intellectual that in it's smooth delivery would convince the reader of my sublime intelligence and apt skill with words and photographs.  But after watching the video I figured out that I should just simply state who I am and what I do and why I do it.  That's about me, isn't it?

I think so.

I think it's important for a very subtle yet very poignant reason:  in order to be able to tell people about me, I need to know a little about who I am.  And the ability to put that into words has escaped me.  I think I've found it.  The method, at least, if not the exact words.

So who am I??  I'm Jeremy. I'm Ogalthorpe.  And I make photographs simply because my nature compels me to do it.

So check out the video.  It's worth the 19 minutes.