Warth Photo: Changes Coming

Hi All,

Without going into great detail of where I started as a photographer, or how my introduction to digital photography was more about working as a retoucher for others, I want to shift gears here a bit.

As you know, it has been a long time since the last post. However, I have been more busy as a photographer than ever. I am a firm believer in following your passion, and as a photographer I think it is critical to find your vision. Not everyone is cut out (or should be) a wedding photographer, senior portrait studio, photojournalist, etc.

Over the past 8 months, I have been very involved with making promotional photos, photos for my new blog (http://www.thethirstymuse.com) and product photos that truly made me sit back and reevaluate what I consider my photographic vision to be. With that said, I always pictured myself as an editorial kind of shooter, following the path of many great concert photographers. Honestly though, I was getting jaded, and the whole thing started to feel like a lot of fluff. I had the most fun shooting bands backstage, meeting them, and making photos. The live gig was, for lack of better phrasing, not as exciting.

I like to share stories, I like to make photos, and above all, I like the lifestyle type of shooting...the environmental portraiture has become the big deal for me. Yes, making the photo is cool, but the production value, meeting the client on their terms, and creating a likeness of them that truly represents who they are and what they do is far more creative for me than going to a concert and making "action" shots look cool for editorial use.

I hope to share a lot with you here on the Warth Photo Blog in the coming months. I know this is not a huge announcement, or a newsworthy post, but I wanted to get this off my chest for a very long time. The change is coming, I am excited, and a little nervous. The photo industry is so saturated, and so difficult to compete with others, that no matter what I do (or the other photographers reading this), the important thing is to do what feels right, comes from my gut, and drives my passion beyond making a living.

- Mike