“Stop calling it work” – Cedric Raguenaud

Cedric Raguenaud argues that..

“When we label our photographic pursuits as “work,” we unconsciously impose constraints and expectations that belong in the professional world. Suddenly, we feel pressured to maintain visibility, chase originality, and demonstrate creativity, not for our own satisfaction, but for an imagined audience or abstract standard of success.”

Many people, myself included, call some of our hobby projects “work” when we want them to be thought of as serious attempts at the medium. A quick sketch (or, study) of the human form is usually labeled such compared to, say, a meticulous oil painting that hangs in a museum.

For me, it is how I categorize my photography. I have the photos I take on my phone to remember a coffee I’ve had, or of a niece playing in our backyard, or maybe of a trip. I call these snaps. But I also have portraits that I’ve spent a long time thinking through, developing, processing, darkroom printing, editing, matting and framing.

Hobby? Yes. Work? Also yes.

But I hear Cedric. I wouldn’t want to put any undue pressure on myself with my hobby photography projects the same as I would if it were my vocation. But for many, many artists throughout time art wasn’t their primary means of making a living. In fact, most artists never make a living on their art.

So I disagree. Some art is work (the verb, perhaps) and it is ok to call it so.

/via Florian Ziegler.