Digital BW, The Print

I don't feel ego should be any part of photography for self-expression. 
It's the complete loss of ego that enables one to express their true 
feelings (self expression) for the moment of revelation that happens on 
rare instances that the photographer is compelled to attempt to express 
it via a photograph. Visual accomplishment doesn't equal self 
achievement; the moment of realizing that this image is important 
because it portrays the equivalent of my feelings at the time. An 
example I'll offer is while photographing at Atalaya (the summer home 
of Archie Huntington) at Huntington Beach in South Carolina, I came 
across a large room that had a single bench that was lit by the sun 
streaming through a large side window. The rest of the room was in ive 
darkness. I had recently gone through the death of my wife and when I 
saw this image, I knew I had to make it. The lonely bench in the large 
room and lit by the light spoke to me just as certainly as if a voice 
had said it. What it said was "Lonely, but never alone" and thankfully 
I had enough technical ability to capture it as I felt it and the 
resulting print also spoke to me. I had to work on the print to enable 
its voice, but the result was good. I feel that most photographers who 
do this as a serious hobby have self-expression as the underlying 
reason. 

Your friend in Photography,

Johnny



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Djon" 
<westsidemaurice@y...> wrote:
> 
> One especially nice thing about commercial work is that one doesn't
> need to involve his ego, he can just do the discipline and make
> pictures. As a result a person can sometimes accomplish a lot 
visually. 
> 
> I'm not convinced that most people (or I myself) have enough
> "internal" stuff to make "self expression" worthwhile.