Commitment to Vision Acquisition

It takes a lot of commitment to be among the best at what one does. One might even go as far as saying that one would have to make their life revolve entirely around that one thing, and sacrifice immeasurable amounts of time that could be spent on other things. In terms of photography, it could be said that Annie Leibovitz and James Natchwey have accomplished this. Although there are many differences between the two when concerned with the specific methods each professional uses to achieve their results, there are also many similarities. It is apparent that the two, for one, fully commit their lives to finding the most efficient way to produce the best photography they possibly can.

Specifically dealing with photography, the differences the two have to face to achieve their results are quite apparent. Natchwey must face life or death situations to achieve his results, while Leibovitz must completely temporarily immerse herself in the lives of real people, or in a fictional vision. Concerning personality, the two also seem to heavily contrast (according to what was conveyed by the films, anyway). Regardless of these differences, the two have so much in common. Above all else, they both treat their profession like art, and seek to tell stories.

photo by James Natchwey; source: http://www.jokerartgallery.com/

 What is truly astounding is how neither artist inherently treats their photography like a job. When a poet writes a poem, they do not sit down and decide “I need my salary. I’m going to write a poem.” Likewise, a (“good”) musician will not sit down and decide “Time to get paid; time to write a song.” And likewise with films, and basically any form of art. The best of the best always starts with a vision (unlike, for example, Air Bud 7). Leibovitz and Natchwey also approach their photography with such an artistic philosophy. Both artists, before they take a photo, always have a story or a message they hope to convey. They use photography to shape this story or message into something their artistic medium can represent.

source: http://www.artknowledgenews.com/

The unfortunate fact seems to be that in order to become truly good at something as Leibovitz and Natchwey are at photography, proportional sacrifices must be made. Consider that Leibovitz, while photographing for Rolling Stones Magazine, had to literally devote her life to immersing herself into the touring lifestyle. Consider that Natchwey is considered by some to be unnaturally sheltered, always putting photography before perhaps even his own life. What these artists do is truly inspirational for anyone in artistic career field, however the cost of becoming this good at a particular form of art comes at the cost of absurd amounts of dedication, which only the truly, truly devoted could even begin to conceive.

Beneath Dissimilarities

On the outside, it is apparent that there are many things different about Japanese and North American culture. And by saying that these differences reside ‘on the outside’ is not to say that they are not real. It is just that before coming to Japan, I figured that the more and more I would get to know about it, the more and more I would learn about what is different about it, when in fact, it was just the opposite. I came with the preconceptions of knowing things would be different, and they are, however the more I got to know about it, interestingly enough, the more I got to know about what commonalities our countries share.

Gen-chan, The Wise

This is Gen-chan. Gen-chan is an average Japanese male student of my generation who attends Kansai Gaidai. Getting to know Gen-chan was very interesting. He was interested in learning of North American culture, while I was interested in learning of Japanese culture. I would try to get to know cultural standards by getting to know how he acts, and he would do the same with me. And we did. It’s just that these so-called cultural standards were more universal that we at first thought. While trying to get to know each other, we in fact found out that essentially the only difference between us is the language we grew up learning to speak.

Sophistication

It never occurred to me that the most interesting thing I would learn about the Japanese while studying abroad is that on the inside, there are in fact relatively no differences between us at all. I made friends with the same kinds of people here that I would have at home, be them native speakers of English or Japanese. My friends here enjoy having fun in much the same ways as we do at home. I don’t need to sensor myself to accommodate any cultural differences, and I don’t need to do be weary of anything they would do that might be culturally taboo in North America. Behind the language barrier, we are all the same kinds of individuals.