Gail Mooney, commercial and documentary photographer and filmmaker, continues to inspire with her honest, insightful writing in her blog, “Journeys of a Hybrid.” The last paragraph of her February 22 post, “Standing on a 10 Foot Frozen Wave,” reads:
“So I looked out over the endless view of frozen waves and into the orange glow of the setting sun. For an instant I became fearful of where I was when I looked behind me and saw a deep crevice that I could easily fall into if I lost my footing. But then I looked ahead to the orange glow on the horizon and I felt hope and with that a sense of security because I knew where I came from and I have the heart and spirit to survive.”
Mooney is finishing up a tale of recently photographing on frozen lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a personal documentary movie project. She likens her experience on the ice to some of the issues she and other photographers has been facing professionally:
“Certainly my business has changed – due to technology and the lousy economy. Because of technology, I am able to do more things than I could ten years ago. Because of the poor economy, I’ve had to do more things. Most other photographers I have talked to this past year have diversified their businesses – some shooting weddings, some shooting video and some working in other retail markets. I suppose we’re all just doing what we can to get through these changing times.”
When Mooney says “we’re all just doing what we can,” she’s not just referring to image makers alone, nor even just creative professionals in general. Mooney notes how she is touched by (and clearly identifying with) the stories she listens to from the hardworking, blue collar people she encounters in Michigan.
When Mooney first started blogging she told me she was more than bit nervous about doing so. For one thing, “I’m not a writer,” she told me. For another, she was wary of losing the privacy she holds dear — of being too much “in the spotlight.”
Well, it’s a good thing for image makers that Mooney keeps on keeping it real with her “Journeys of a Hybrid.”
Mooney has been forging her own success in image making over the past four decades, and in many ways she is just warming up. Her constant embracing of new technologies and business strategies are imprssive, and it’s easy to think of her as one of those untouchable “greats” in the industry who simply have some skill set that most of never will. But as we see clearly in her blog writing, Mooney is entirely human, and she is not afraid to share that standing on ice (literally and metaphorically) is a nerve-racking experience.
Mooney says that she feels a sense of security on the metaphoric ice of her evolving business because she knows where she comes and that “I have the heart and spirit to survive.”
Having talked to Mooney over the past few years for a number of articles, I have come to see that this spirit that she mentions truly is her greatest asset in business. She is the first to admit that clearly defining what comprises her unique spirit is impossible.
“I don’t know,” she has often replied to one of my questions about why she did something particular in her career. “I guess that’s just who I am.”
If you are a photographer — successful, struggling, aspiring — I suggest you read Mooney’s blog. And don’t just enjoy the stories and industry insights. Do your best to read between the lines. Consider that Mooney is not preaching nor offering advice but truly sharing — her fears, her motivations, her moments of euphoria, her moments of feeling lost. Sure, Mooney gives us plenty of professional insights through her blog. But, more than anything else, she shows that what has fueled her successes is her passion for staying true to her passions.
In short, Mooney continues to succeed because she refuses to fail. However, her aversion to failure (which is very real) is not as strong as her desire to succeed. And her desire to succeed is based on her notion of success — what matters to her, not anybody else.
All of this might sound corny and cliché, but that doesn’t keep the lessons that Mooney offers by example from being valuable. With all of us struggling to make ends meet — whether making images or waiting tables — it is impossible not to seek out easy answers. But it seems the only real answer is to continue to engage in the difficult, difficult task of staying true to our own, unique journey, just as Mooney has.
March 6th, 2010 2:56 pm
What you said is so profound:
“..her aversion to failure (which is very real) is not as strong as her desire to succeed. And her desire to succeed is based on her notion of success — what matters to her, not anybody else.:
This is so unlike most people I know who “do what they must to survive” so early on in their careers that they often never stop to define their own “notion of success.”
I know Gail, and she has not succumbed to the fear of failure that many have by comprising her goals.
It is inspiring and “difficult, difficult.”
March 14th, 2010 1:43 pm
Thanks, Geri.
I think a lot about what it means to be a “successful” photographer (or creative professional of any manner, for that matter). I have come to believe that, more than anything, the definition must come from the individual themselves.
Who am I to define the success of another — or for them to define mine?
Perhaps the first step in reaching success is defining it.
-Ethan
September 24th, 2011 9:42 pm
I’m impressed by your writing. Are you a professional or just very knolwegdebale?