Community

The Blue Hour in Sedona, from the Sky Ranch Lodge

When I was a rock climber, I was consistently impressed by the cooperation among climbers.  Strangers and buddies alike were supportive and kind.  The competition was intense, but only within ourselves.  With each other there was really only thoughtful encouragement.

Last weekend, I asked questions of two photographers whom I respect.  For Justin Black, I had a technical question about a part of an article in Outdoor Photographer on white balance and RAW files (hang in there; that’s as geeky as this post will get) and I asked Tony Sweet to help me find an iPhone app to solve a particular problem I’m working on.  I’ve never met Tony, but he invited the audience (which I was in) at Sedona Photofest to contact him with questions, and apparently he meant it, because he answered my email very quickly.  As for Justin, he’s been the recipient of my technical questions for years because he knows his stuff and is gracious about helping.  He’s a generous mentor.  He had to read the article to answer me and even so he got back to me within a few hours.

What a blessing.

Sunset at Red Rock Crossing, Sedona

Speaking of Sedona Photofest , there’s another delightful phenomenon that I notice more and more.  I got connected with several Facebook photo friends, there in the analog world. That part of my photography community is gracious and generous as well.  They become real friends.  

From folks I meet in workshops to photographers I’ve run into on location, I’m impressed that we all seem to be on the same team.

Now, I won’t say that there aren’t exceptions.  There are credible stories about landscape photographers destroying rock formations so that no one else can photograph them.  Sometimes folks decline to help for competitive reasons or are less than enthusiastic about the success of others.  Their remarks might even be disguised as a joke.  You know; “just kidding!”  It’s an aspect of human nature I guess, but it does seem to be rather rare.  Mostly we help each other, and so it’s easy enough to build my community with the right people.

Perhaps I’m a bit of a Pollyanna on this, but cooperation is so much more rewarding than competition, and in photography as in rock climbing, I’m grateful for it.

Thanks for being part of the community!