Capturing Moments: The Art of Photostories by Brian Cleary on BCPIXcom
- bcpix3
- Sep 1
- 2 min read
Photography and my life as a freelance photographer
Since I picked up my first camera, a little plastic 127 roll film camera gifted to me by my dad back in the 1960's, I knew photography would be a part of my life.
I've thought about it a lot over the years and I think it all comes down to the fact that I like the idea of capturing a moment in time and freezing it to be examined and revisited over and over again by myself or anyone else who is interested.
After studying journalism and communications in college in the 1970's, earning degrees in both, I did a reset and and went back to school for two additional years to earn an Associate degree in photography in 1981. At some point I realized that, while I enjoyed writing and expressing my self in words, I was more suited for a career as a visual artist.
Building on contacts I made in college and following leads I picked up along the way, I've been able to earn a living with a camera for most of my adult life.
This blog takes a look at some of the things I've learned, the stories behind some of the images I've produced as well as some of the mistakes I've made as I've progressed through a career I'd trade for no other.
Having grown up playing baseball and reading every baseball book I could get my hands on, including the great Ball Four, by Jim Bouton, there is a passage in that book that struck a chord with me way back and has stuck with me ever since.
Bouton talks about his love for baseball and how, after many years of gripping a baseball as a big league pitcher, he came to realize that all along, it was they other way around: it was he who had a grip on a baseball, it was baseball that had a grip on him.
This is how I feel about photography. After more than 40 years of holding a camera, I now understand that is actually the camera that has a firm grip on me and will never let me go!
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