Category: Inspirational

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“A Photograph is the Biography of a Moment”

Facebook can be a real time suck for me if I let it, but every once in a while I find out about something that makes a mark on me in some way.  Today, I saw an interesting story posted, about a photographer, Art Shay who was in his nineties.  Art was reflecting upon the photographic legacy he will leave behind, when he dies.

Going through his lifetime of images, it was clear what has been his favorite subject matter – his wife. His wife, Florence, passed away 2 years ago, and as Art picked up a framed photograph of one of his favorite shots of her, he teared up a little and said, “a photograph is the biography of a moment”.

That line hit home and it got me thinking about “the moment” People watching, South Beach, Miami, Floridaand how I have spent a lifetime, capturing them.  That is the power a still photograph has – to capture the moment and preserve it in time.

Think about how your recall your own personal history or the era you grew up in.  How do you remember things?  For me, many of my memories of childhood are drawn from old photographs, when someone who had a camera, snapped a moment in time.  We all remember history through images that have become the icons of their time.

Still photography is a powerful medium.  It captures that one special moment in time and preserves it forever.  It has the power to provoke and to move people to action. It can give you hope or fill you with despair. It can bring a tear to your eye or a smile to your face. “A photograph is the biography of the moment”.

Art Shay has an exhibit of his work: “My Florence: Photographs by Art Shay” at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in Chicago till May 24, 2014.

 

 

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Seeing Opportunities

The interesting thing about getting older is the perspective that one gains in the process.  You realize that all those decisions that you’ve made over the years, ultimately led to pivotal points in your life.  Looking back,

Gail in Window1983
Photograph of me taken in 1983

one either has regrets or is happy with the decisions they’ve made.  It’s usually a mixture of both. Regardless of a decision’s outcome, they all play their part in the life we have.

Some of the decisions I made early on in my “adult life”, charted the course of my future.  Perhaps, one of the biggest was my decision to take a sabbatical from Syracuse University where I was studying architecture.  I was a sophomore and only 19 years old, but I had an insatiable curiosity for the world beyond academia. So, instead of returning to college in September, I took off for Europe.  My plan was to meet up with a friend and travel around Europe and be home by Christmas.  The short story is that when I arrived in Munich and my friend wasn’t there, I made the decision to do what I set out to do – travel around Europe, except now I would be doing it on my own.

The long story is that I eventually met up with my friend a couple months later in Greece and we traveled around together until she went back to the U.S and I stayed.  I ended up traveling (mostly hitch hiking) around the world for a year and when I got home, I knew that I wanted to pursue a lifestyle that centered on travel and exploration.  I decided to become a photographer and use my camera as a means to that end.

I never did return to my studies at Syracuse University.  I headed to California, graduated from Brooks Institute and eventually came back East to make my mark in the editorial world – and I have in a richly rewarding way.  A lot as happened in my life since the day I made that decision to take a “break” from my studies so long ago, and I am grateful for all the opportunities and joy it has brought to my life.

I have just returned from a trip up to Syracuse.  I had been asked to moderate a discussion for an ASMP event, with National Geographic photographer, David Doubilet and Mike Davis, Alexia Chair for Documentary Photography at Newhouse School.  It was a fabulous event and was well attended by students from 9 different colleges in the area – all so eager to learn and make their mark on the world.

After the event was over, I reflected back on my days at SU and the life I’ve had since then. Somehow despite the angst and chaos of the times and the naiveté of youth, I made the “right” decision that changed the course of my life.  Here I was, decades later, at Syracuse University moderating a discussion between a legendary shooter for the “Geographic” and an esteemed editor and educator from the Newhouse School of Journalism. I smiled at how the universe continues to connect the dots in my life  – that is when I tune into it and “see” what it has in store for me.

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Connections

clem and kennedy
Clem Taylor (background) with Ted Kennedy, early in Clem’s career.

I lost a good friend this week, Clem Taylor. The world lost a “good” man and a great storyteller.  Clem was an award-winning producer for 60 Minutes, no doubt his dream job. Clem loved “the news” and he loved “the story” and had a long and rewarding career in broadcast journalism. Looking around the room yesterday, at an overflowing crowd of people, I saw many icons of the industry. It was like the “who’s who in broadcast news”.   Clem’s stories have touched millions of people over the years. He was a connector of people and a curious lover of life. His life threw a large net.

I’ve known Clem for over 40’s years. There aren’t many people in my life that I’ve known as long as Clem.  Clem was a family friend of Tom’s from Doylestown, PA.  I met him in the early ‘70’s, when was I was living in Santa Barbara, California. Tom’s brother Tim had driven out to the West Coast with Clem and his BC college buddy, Steve Kolbe during spring break one year.  We always stayed in touch with Clem, he made sure of it, and my mind is full of memories of the times that I got to spend with him. He always brought a smile to my face.

In a way, meeting Clem was a huge twist of fate in my life and Tom’s and it led to the “big break” in our careers.  When we moved back to the East Coast after graduating from Brooks, Clem connected us with his father, Adrian Taylor.  Adrian had also just gone “back East” after living in the San Francisco area and working as an art director in advertising.  He had taken a job as art director of Travel & Leisure Magazine in New York City and Clem, knowing that Tom and I wanted to shoot for magazines, made the connection happen. That connection changed the course of our lives in a richly rewarding way.  With Adrian’s encouragement and his willingness to take a chance on two young kids straight out of school, we learned and grew under his mentorship.  That first meeting with Clem was a fateful day.

The thing is, what I remember most about Clem is that I always had a good time with him.  He was fun to be around and incredibly interesting to have a conversation with. I have a lot of memories of Clem that have accumulated over the years but it’s the simple and sometimes silly ones that seem to surface in my head. But isn’t that what life is made of – the everyday moments?  Clem knew that and his stories reflected that.

As I get older, I realize that life is all about our connections with people.  Some of our connections may be short lived and some may last through the years, but I’m sure that each person who enters our lives is meant to play their part.  Yesterday, I saw a lot of old friends who I hadn’t seen in decades.  We all “caught up” on those missing decades and shared regret on letting the years slip by.  But we shared a connection through Clem and always will.

The last line in one of my favorite movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, is a quote by Mark Twain: “No man is a failure who has friends”.  Clem, you’ve got George Bailey beat as the “richest man in town”.

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Commitment

Commitment is everything.  It’s what makes us get things done.  It’s what makes relationships work.

Gail in bamboo hut in hill tribe village, northern Thailand
Gail in bamboo hut in hill tribe village, northern Thailand

It’s what makes us not give up, no matter how bleak it may look at times. It’s what gets us to stay focused on “the story” and be true to ourselves.

To some people, commitment can be frightening.  Their heads are filled with negative “what if” thoughts of failure that hold them back.  So, they plod along through life letting things happen to them instead of going after what they want. Those are the people who let resistance win.

I’ve always been a determined and committed person – if I say I’m going to do something, you can count on me to do it.  It’s tough sometimes though, to stay committed to myself and to what my true purpose is – it’s far too easy to get caught up with the regular flow of work and life.  But every now and then I get an idea for a creative project that just won’t go away.   When I finally decide to stop ignoring the idea and do something, I have a mechanism I use to help me make the commitment – I tell someone about it.  I’m the type of person that feels, once I’ve told someone I’m going to do something, then I have to do it – just to save face.  I call it “forced accountability.”

Seth Godin writes today about commitment: “One way to play in the digital age is to appeal to those that browse, the window shoppers, the mass audience that can’t and won’t commit.  The alternative is to focus on impact, not numbers and impact comes from commitment. “ He says: “ price is more than an exchange of coins. Price is a story.” Essentially, Godin is saying that in our noisy digital world, where ideas and content are free – we’ve got to be better, to make an impact.  In order to connect with the buyers on an emotional level, we’ve got to be “better than free”.

Every commitment that I’ve ever made has come with tremendous personal growth.  When I traveled around the world a couple of years ago making a feature length documentary, Opening Our Eyes, I not only challenged myself physically and creatively, but spiritually as well and I feel that I became a better person because of it.  I would not have been able to endure the hardships of that journey, nor the intense workload of post production had I not been committed to the idea.

What are you willing to commit to?  Commitment may be frightening, but without it, you may be spending your later years wondering, “what if I had”

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How to Sustain a Long Career in Photography

I came across this old “tear sheet” in the process of cleaning out the attic.  Tom and I have dozens of boxes containing over 35 years of printed collateral with our “work” in it.

Tom Kelly and Gail Mooney
Tom Kelly and Gail Mooney

This brochure cover was from a shoot for I Love NY.  Clearly it was a low budget job, based on the fact that we were also the “talent” in our own photograph.  When this photo was shot, we were just starting out in the business of photography. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 35 years since we started Kelly/Mooney Photography, because it seems like yesterday.   As I sifted through decades of work, I started thinking  – “What is it that sustains a career?”

Some thoughts:

Don’t let age define you.  Let’s face it; we’re a youth obsessed culture. It’s not easy getting older, especially when you’re in a creative business like photography where “fresh” is equated with “young”. But there’s absolutely nothing you can do about your age.  You can’t change it.  It’s like your height – it is what it is.  But you can choose how you think about it. If you tell yourself that you’re old – you will be.

Take more risks – not less. Why not?  What is the worst that could happen?  Am I the only one who thinks this way?  I guess I was lucky that my mom and dad put those types of thoughts in my head a long time ago and they’ve served me well.  Why should I change my outlook now, when I have fewer years on the planet?

You’ll fail more than you succeed.  I sure have.  In the last couple of years I’ve been rejected more times than not, but only because I have been challenging myself more than at any other time in my career.  I have always “been on the move” in my life and my career and I am not one to stay too complacent or static.  There are just too many things left to explore.

Fear comes with the territory.  Fear is what motivated me to start writing.  For me fear would often visit in the wee small hours of the morning.  My mind would bounce from one unfounded worry to another and I couldn’t turn off the chaos in my head. So rather than toss and turn for hours, I got out of bed and started to write down my thoughts. It’s amazing how trivial some of the worries looked in the light of the day, written on a sheet of paper.

Listen to the ideas that don’t go away.  We all have ideas.  But how many of us act on them?  Less than 5%.  When I have an idea that just won’t “quit me”, I take action. The first thing I do is I commit to the idea.  Then I tell someone – someone I respect, because then I have to carry it out – just to save face.  I call it forced accountability.

Don’t take things for granted.  Nothing stays the same or lasts forever.  Be grateful for your loyal clients and show your gratitude.  Business is all about relationships and it is amazing how people seem to pop in and out of your life.  Doors are always closing and windows are eternally opening in a well-lived life.  Recognize those times when they happen.

Always wonder.  My spirit has not aged past 25 years old.  I still have dreams and they are vivid and real in my mind.  My dreams are propelled by my insatiable curiosity about everything. Many years ago I made the choice to become a professional photographer because I knew that my camera would give me access to a rich and rewarding life and to interesting people, places and cultures. My cameras (“my tools”) are still a means to a life of wonderment.

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How the Beatles Influenced Me as a Photographer & Businesswoman

With all the hype happening this week around the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles coming to America, I couldn’t help but reflect how much this band influenced my own career as a photographer and filmmaker.

  1. I was inspired me to “capture” history (and use my camera as a means to that end). Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show - February 9, 1964To start with, the first pictures that I remember taking as a child were photos I snapped of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.  I vividly remember as I anxiously awaited the show to begin, that I needed to document it somehow.  It was just too important not too.  In fact it was so important that I have kept that snapshot in a small box of memorabilia for 50 years! I’ve spent a career documenting some of the most incredible places, people and events of my time.
  2. They inspired me to be a storyteller.  I used to orally tell stories to just about anyone who would listen to me when I was a very young child.  But when the Beatles hit the scene, about the same time I started noticing the opposite sex, I turned my fantasies into my own written stories.  I’m still writing stories and now translating them into ePubs, books and movies.
  3. They expanded my universe.  I began to “see” things differently because of the Beatles.  I became aware of different cultures, countries, music and wit. It was like an awakening for me and I knew then that I wanted to explore as many cultures and experiences as I could. I’ve spent a lifetime exploring the unknown.
  4. They taught me to always learn, grow and challenge myself. I grew up as a child and later a teenager, during one of the most pivotal and changing decades in America. As the Beatles moved beyond the “feel good” and innocent lyrics of songs like “She loves you…..yeah, yeah, yeah”, to the lyrical depths found on the Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, I too was changing.  It was like we were growing together. I remind myself daily to always be learning, exploring, growing and challenging myself and that has helped me stay fresh in my career.
  5. I learned that “The Beatles” were more than the sum of 4 individuals. John, Paul, George and Ringo all brought their own unique talents and personalities to make up the most phenomenal band of all time.  But they were also savvy enough to know they needed expert guidance and collaborated with great people like Brian Epstein and George Martin.  It taught me the importance of collaboration and to surround myself with people who have talents that I don’t possess.
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How This Beatlemanic Became a Photographer

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 50 years since I took these pictures off of our TV screen. Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show - February 9, 1964 I remember that night like it was yesterday, in vivid detail.

The Beatles had just come to America for the first time, and I was counting down the days until they were scheduled to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.  I had been soaking up every bit of news about the Beatles all week. In those days that meant listening to the radio as DJ’s gave a blow-by-blow account of what those “crazy lads from Liverpool” were doing.

My family and I were living in Rochester, NY at the time.  I was not quite a teenager, and it was the very first time I fell in love. First with Paul, because he was the cutest and non-threatening.  Later with John, because he was a bit rebellious and he appealed to the adventurous part of me that was emerging.

The day the Beatles were to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show just dragged by.  Dinner was particularly excruciating and each minute seemed like an hour.  My sister and I had commandeered the TV set and no one was getting near it to change the channel.  It was a black & white set – a color TV was prohibitively expensive in those days. I don’t remember who had the idea to take pictures that night but luckily we had some film in the Instamatic. I took just four shots that night.  It was the end of the roll and each click was precious and I remember waiting for the right moments.

I can see by the date stamps on the prints (March 1964), that it took us a month to get the film developed.  That was record speed for my family.  We usually had a year’s worth of holiday pictures on one roll of film when we dropped it off at the drug store for processing.  Luckily the film in the camera was at the end of the roll that evening – otherwise it may have taken months to see photos.

I pasted those photos into my scrapbookBeatlesTicket4 copy almost 50 years ago and they’ve been there ever since, along with my other Beatle memorabilia including my ticket for their performance at Shea Stadium in 1966.  We had moved to the NYC area about a year after I shot these photos, and I actually got to see the Beatles perform twice at Shea – ’65 and ’66.

As I look back at that night on February 9, 1964, I can see where my passion for recording moments in history came from and I’ve been photographing them ever since.

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Letting Go

This past weekend our film, Opening Our Eyes, Kathmandu, Nepalhad its premiere in New York City. We have been in dozens of film festivals and events all over the world but for whatever insignificant reasons, we had never screened in New York.  I think of NYC as my “hometown”, even though I have never lived inside “the city”. It’s where many of our friends, clients and colleagues are and it has been our “home base” for over 35 years.

Despite the fact that the temperatures were in the single digits and there had been a major snowstorm the night before, so many of our oldest and dearest friends, along with some new ones, showed up. Even Nisha, a young Nepalese girl who is in the movie – came out on that cold night. I have been in front of many audiences over the years and have enjoyed it immensely, but I can honestly say that this was the most meaningful experience I’ve ever had. To be able to share my film – a body of work that I put a lot of hard work, heart and soul into – with my peers and people I’ve known since my beginnings, was pure joy.

In a way, the night brought things full circle in regards to the film.  A lot of filmmakers “open” or premiere in their hometowns.  Once again, I did things a little backwards, by “closing” in my home turf, as this may be the film’s last festival screening. I don’t have plans to pursue more festivals – but I never know what’s lies ahead, in the way of opportunities, and am open to possibilities.  This project and this journey have rewarded me in hundreds of ways and no doubt will continue to enrich my life. The film will still be available for screenings at educational venues and community events.  It’s also available on DVD and streaming.  My daughter, Erin and I made this film to inspire and motivate others to create positive change in our world, and we hope that message continues to spread globally.

A young filmmaker I met at one of the festivals I attended told me, “a filmmaker never finishes a film – he(she) just knows when to let go.”  I am able to “let go”,  because I know that this experience has set the stage for the next events in my life.

“Everyone has Oceans to fly, if they have the Heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries?”
 
– Amelia Earhart

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The Advantages of a Disadvantage

My gang of friends. I'm on the top step.
One of my early childhood tribes, Rochester, NY  (I’m on top step)

I re-connected with an old friend last week.  We hadn’t seen each other in 43 years!  Other than my family members, I have known this friend longer than anyone else in my life, except for one other.  But we hadn’t been in contact with each other, until a few months ago.  We’ve had  a wonderful exchange of emails and a bit of serendipity that led to an in person reunion. It’s been a cathartic experience for both of us.

We were teenagers, who used to “hang out” together. We went to different schools and we lived in different neighborhoods but for a couple of quick years, he, I and a few other friends, hung out together, on the warm spring and summer evenings of our youth. Until I moved…..again.  It was probably the tenth time that I had moved and changed schools, and I was only 16 years old and mid-way through my junior year of high school.   I suppose you could say that I had lived the life of a rolling stone. But it was what I knew.  In one of our dialogs, I reminded him about that move, and he looked at it, as tragic.

In a way, I suppose growing up in a transient lifestyle was a bit tragic.  Just when I would make friends, and feel like I was part of my “new school”, we would move again, to a new community. My dad was climbing the “corporate ladder” and with each promotion came a series of moves. I was the perpetual “new kid” and I guess I was always in search of a “new tribe”.  I grew up, a product of change.

I recently finished reading Malcom Gladwell’s new book, “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants”.  He talks about people who have turned the disadvantages  that they’ve had in their lives, into advantages.  Each chapter unfolds into a story about a highly successful person who had to overcome obstacles or disadvantages in their lives – everything from losing a parent to being dyslexic.  One example Gladwell cites is about a high profile Hollywood producer who had worked his way from his impoverished beginnings to fame and fortune.  His children had everything, but he was worried about their future.  He knew that if they didn’t have to “work” for something, they wouldn’t know the feeling of accomplishment and success.  They would not have the “advantage” that he had growing up, the advantage of being poor.

I realized after reading Gladwell’s book that what I might have looked at as a disadvantage, my nomadic life, was probably the biggest advantage I had.  It has made me take chances in my life and not be afraid to initiate an interaction.  If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have made friends.  It made me love school because I knew that was where I would connect to people in my new community. I learned to adapt to change.  If I didn’t I would have been miserable all the time or afraid – or both. Instead, I have lived my life, continually exploring my curiosities, whether it is visiting a foreign country, embarking on a new creative project or expanding my craft.

Would I have wished my nomadic life on my daughter?  Probably not, it wasn’t easy. But it certainly had its rewards.

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Being Thankful

Next week is Thanksgiving.Hands of man in homeless shelter, New York City Call me corny but I’m one of those people that like to think about the real meaning behind the holidays that we celebrate. So today I’m taking pause to think about all the things that I’m thankful for this year. Sure there’s plenty of angst, jobs are less and money is tight but I have a lot to give thanks for.

• My health – for this I am most grateful.
• My family – both my immediate family and my far-flung relatives who I don’t get to see often but are always in my thoughts and I know are always there for me.
• My freedom – I think about this a lot. No matter how many times I feel that things have gotten off track in my country – I have the freedom to speak my mind, pursue my dreams and to change the things that I don’t like.
• My home – I’m lucky to have a home where I feel safe because I know there are so many who aren’t as fortunate these days. I never take this for granted.
• My passion – Sure I have my down days, but I’m thankful that I have an inner spirit that won’t let me give up on my pursuits.
• My friends and my peers – Because of my career and my collaborations with others, I have good friends – some I’ve recently gotten to know and others I’ve known for a long time. And some who I’ve recently reconnected with.
• My sharing of knowledge and making a difference. My husband and I trained a small army of volunteers in our town to shoot our town meetings and get them broadcast on our public access station. And I can see it has made a difference – people have become more civic minded and taken more of an interest in their community.
• I’m thankful that I am able to use my craft and create awareness through my personal projects in both stills and video.  I’m thankful they can be seen globally, via the Internet and the power that has.
• I’m thankful for the many volunteers everywhere who give their time generously to others who are in need.
• I’m thankful for all the little things that are so precious – the sun that warms me on a cold day, the rain that nourishes the land, the colors and calm of a beautiful dawn and the thousands of stars on a clear night.

I’d love to hear what others are thankful for. I have found many times that those who seem to be less fortunate are also the ones who are the most thankful for what they have.