Union squared

A good as I feel about last week's NYC trip, and as much fun as it was to hang out and drink beers with friends old and new (Andrew, great to meet you and I'm buying the next round), it was even better to be back home in Miami. Home, sweet home... with the amazing girlfriend, in the already humid and 85+ degree weather, dodging the maniac drivers, still without Internet, packing for a quick trip for ESPN in St. Pete, and in bad need of a shave... life (& home) is grand.

Professionally speaking this quasi-annual gauntlet through the NYC editorial world (my small little piece of it anyway) went pretty damn well. Of the 14 meetings I managed to nail down, only one of them was un-productive and most of them were extremely positive experience and potential-filled experiences. Because I personally believe that a lot of the talk you exchange in a typical meeting is pretty much low-grade bullshit, filled with empty summaries by the photographer and even emptier promises from the editor, I was also really struck and encouraged by several editors who were very honest, open, and engaging with me. Many, many thanks to everyone who made time in their busy weeks to see me and view my work!

Though I've been waxing poetic about the energy of the NYC streets for a couple of posts straight, romanticizing the big editors trip as a coming of age experience, there was an entirely different energy in the air at many of the magazines that I visited (some of which have recently been derailed by a series of cutbacks and firings. My industry, our passion, photography... its all changing and everyone who knows anything is pretty scared. The signs are all there, and even the road to salvation (the Great Online) is also strangely apparent, but how we get from wherever we are now to what must come next is extremely confusing. I certainly don't have a clue.

On the short flight today out of Miami I kept thinking about this idea that if I'm interviewed in 20 years about my early experiences in magazines, that I'll then really know that I was starting just when it was all completely changing gears. To steal a phrase from the beginning of the industrial revolution and the creation of the assembly line... "it is the beginning and end of imagination all at once."

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Comments (1)

thanks for the shout out - i think we are all square on the drinks - u put the most in the pot @ the Heartland

are u staying @ the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Pete - sounds like ESPN are treating u well, I don't think they would mind a massage or even a pina colada or two on the tab

keep in touch

cheers

ah

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