NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

Man this is gold. Thank you for making this. Unlike a lot of the other people commenting on this, I find your outlook quite positive, almost a relief, as it takes off the pressures of the popularity contest that a lot of find ourselves in.

I actually only became a photographer to do photo projects for friends and family. That's it. I know the world doesn't care about my photos. But the people in my life do.

The world definitely doesn't need any more Vloggers 😉

I live Asia in a poor country where the minimum wage is $8 per day. They cannot afford a decent camera, let alone to get them printed. When I photograph orphans or children or old people and go and give them the print, it matters so I disagree with you. Oftentimes that is the only photo they will have of a loved one. Are they the most amazing images? No but they would not understand the difference between and amazing image and a snapshot that someone was willing to have printed for them. They do not care about composition rules -- they just want memories of people who may die soon.

Hi Ted... Thank you. This video really hit home for me. As a photographer for over 20 years your comments make a great deal of sense. I am of the mind that people do actually care - it's our job to find them & make work that sticks - like you said. "Make work that matters, it's not a popularity contest, push yourself to go further, make the time to invest in a project. What is the intelligence behind the project? What is it saying? We need work that makes difference." All of the afore mentioned really resonated with me. Keep it coming!

Yes the world does not need more photographers, hell it does not need more teachers,cops ,doctors. What the world needs are better photographers, better teachers, better cops and yes, better doctors. Great video !

Enjoying what you do is all that matters. Do it for yourself. If someone else enjoys it, that's good too.

I just came to your video through Alex Kilbee's channel and I find this video VERY inspirational! I'm an amateur photographer, digital artist, sculptor and guitarist (I retired a long time ago, from a very technical field in aviation and am enjoying discovering some creative bones) and feel even more emboldened by your comments. So, kudos to you and many thanks!

I love wildlife photography. It's my hobby and I spend many hours photographing and editing. I even pay allot of money to travel to different places around the world to photograph exotic wildlife and my attitude has always been... "I do it for me." I never go round asking people is they want to see my photos. Very occasionally someone will ask if they can see them.

In a round about way I came to grips with this, years ago and it's true, Nobody Cares About My Work. Nobody but me. In the past I made photos for textbooks that have helped others learn to save lives and that matters, to me. Will any of that work ever win an award, no. Will any of that work ever hang in a gallery, no. I imagine that it's work that people learning from those textbooks don't even care about. For the vast majority of those photos no one will ever say "Wow, that's an amazing photo." I agree, Nobody Cares About My Work. But that has never stopped me and it should not stop anyone else. You are absolutely right, our culture depends on work that matters. How will we know our work matters, we won't. That's not for us to decide. That is up to someone else. You will never get to create the work that matters if you don't produce work that you think doesn't matter. Create what you want, follow the path that means something to you and one day, to someone, your work will mean something.

I know this video was posted back in 2016, but it is outstanding. Thank you for doing it. Yes, people have probably seen my style of photography (portraits & weddings) a million of times, but when my clients/friends see their photos it means so much to them. They do not care about the camera settings etc. but they will remember that moment forever. Thanks again.

THANKS Ted. I had recently contemplated putting up a website, promoting my work, etc. and had a conversation with a guy who was extremely knowledgeable about photography. He'd been associated with a number of Magnum photographers and had even worked with Penn and Avedon. I asked him about my own work and how much I should be charging for it. He looked at me as though I didn't yet know that there was no Santa Claus and said, "No one is going to "buy" images anymore" "Not today." His clarification and your video took the blindfold off of me and made me aware that I'd been in a kind of trance (I'm a baby boomer in my late 60's) about photography and was only deluding myself. THANK YOU for your straightforward piece. I find photography personally rewarding. I meet a lot of people with it and it's a wonderful form of therapy in this insane world. Thank God for it. Living without it would be way too harsh. It's like TDCatTech stated below: Enjoying what you do is all that matters. If someone else likes it, that's good too.

As a hobby, I don't care what people say about my photos, as long as I'm happy with what I do..

I think if a person gets satisfaction and enjoyment from their own work, then that's good enough.

Ever since I hit upon your channel l am convinced that I had stroked gold and you have been proving that since then. Thanks that you come up with a video that tells the right direction which is gonna be the best way to make one's photography stand the test of time. Like a short story you are so marvelous and pithy in this particular video, yet there's so much remains and we really proceed to touch you and say hey, you must lengthen your insights on this matter and we are so eager to know more as to what kinda work and in what direction. But you you know these and many more questions a photographer must be asking and analysing within himself to get to the point of becoming timeless. All the same one mustn't put his love for photography off thinking that no one will rack the brain about what he has been doing for the sake of his love for photography. God keep you in good shape all the time and give you all the strength to deliver the stellar shows one after another another.

So true! I have such a passion for photography but it hit me also...when I die all my photos/memories will go in the trash. I switched my passion into volunteering my photography at a local animal shelter in a small town. The most rewarding and self fulfilling thing I have ever done🐶❤️

It's much worse. Nobody cares about anything.

'Art' - Many have struggled to define it. For me, 'Art' is the portrayal of the ordinary as extraordinary, the stripping away of all that is accessory, capturing the 'essence'. In short, 'Truth'.

Thanks, Ted, for this video! My takeaway is to produce the work, enjoy the craft! I find great joy knowing that somewhere, someone will see our work and be moved, and to them, it matters.

I saw this video again after such a long time and the line "create work that matters" had kind of been a motto for me. I would say that so often that I started hating my work and it took me a while to get over it. But now after watching this again and reading the comments, I feel like this statement can also be take with a different perspective that creating work that mattered to you or the client or someone. We don't need people pleasing, pretentious, people who call themselves photographers who click "snapshots" for Instagram and cheapen the meaning of the art. I agree with you, the world does not need more photographers.