President’s Message: Something Old, Something New

I’m old. At 66, I realize PPA has far more members who are younger than me than ones who are older. I remember when I passed the point where I had been a photographer longer than most of them. And I remember the trap I almost fell into.

Looking over the speaker lineup for Imaging USA (probably some 20 years ago), I remember thinking, Who are these people? How dare someone who’s been in business less than 10 years tell me how to run a business. Most of them were in diapers when I started! The copy promoting these programs talked about how much their businesses had grown. I thought, Of course they have. Any reasonably intelligent person will see growth over the first years in business because they started from zero.

I also remember sitting down in one of those classes for the express purpose of proving my point. Instead, during that presentation, I was stopped dead in my tracks by more than one sound idea I had never thought of myself. That session made me realize that great ideas aren’t always born of years of experience. Sometimes great ideas come from people looking at a situation with fresh eyes.

PPA’s membership comprises a diverse array of ages, races, genders, backgrounds, and photographic specialties. Each member has their own unique perspective and experiences, and as such, each has something different to offer. To ignore that is to limit your own potential for growth and learning. While I wouldn’t necessarily agree with people who say their lack of knowledge frees them from “rules” and allows them to create better images, I would say that sometimes breaking rules can lead to something more creative and artistic. However, I would also say that doing so without knowing those rules first might be more of a happy accident.

There are PPA members of all experience levels creating truly astonishing work and/or running incredibly successful businesses. We can and should be learning from all of them. If you’ve been around as long as I have, seeking out those with fresh ideas can help refresh work that has become stale. If you’re new to image making, learning from those who’ve “been there, done that”—and done it well—can be a faster track to success.

We humans sometimes become set in our ways and therefore resist change. Yet change is inevitable. Author J. Marie Novak once wrote about signs that you may be too stubborn for your own good, which include: being judgmental or dismissive of others’ suggestions, clinging to routines, having a rigid mindset, arguing a lot, holding grudges, not being able to admit when you’re wrong, and always wanting the last word.

Of course, being too open to risk can be just as detrimental. Studies conducted at the National Institutes of Health confirm that younger people tend to be more adventurous, hoping to avoid following in the footsteps of those before them. In 1990, one such person was 22-year-old Christopher McCandless, the subject of Jon Krakaur’s book “Into the Wild,” who left everything behind to hitchhike across the country. He ended up in the Alaska wilderness where he survived for four months before starving to death. He had thought his self-study had prepared him but ignored cautions from locals and an offer to buy him better supplies and clothing.

The bottom line is that embracing knowledge in any form will serve you better than going it alone and thinking you have all the answers. PPA members have over 35,000 stories to tell you if you’re willing to listen.  

Mark Campbell owns Prestige Photography in Wheeling, West Virginia.