I am a 73 year-old retired (obsolete are redundant perhaps are better terms) magazine photographer. I have hundreds of personally printed b+w prints in 8x10, 11x14 and 16x20 size. I have 8 four-drawer metal cabinet files with negatives, slides and personal letters attached to the people I photographed. I have many framed photographs from my former gallery shows. Keeping all this in tip top shape has me wondering. Is all this for my two daughters and two granddaughters? Is it legacy? Do I care what people will think of me once I am dead?
My conclusion is that I don’t give a damn about legacy. If you have been a photographer for as many years as I have (I began in 1961 and bought my first SLR in 1959 from Olden Camera in NY) you know if you are good or not. Nobody has to tell me one way or another. This means that I take photographs today and will tomorrow for two reasons:
- If you are a photographer you take photographs.
- I take them to please me and nobody else.
The same criteria applies to my blog writing (every day since January 2009). I write because I like to write. My blog has no allowance for people to write their comments, likes and dislikes. I write because I am a writer and I write for myself.
