I must admit that I am both surprised and disappointed by the lack of participation from the many talented photographers who are prominently listed as “Contributors” on the NPN home page. I also can’t help but wonder why they have chosen to remain [mostly] aloof and not be more engaged with the community.
How do others feel about this?
They are primarily contributors for articles, the future symposium, and some other future ideas. Since they are professional photographers they have to use their time wisely and many of them do not have time to give critiques, etc. I would love to see them participate more and will continue to nudge them to do so.
First, let me say that I’m aware that @David_Kingham answer created a negative response. I’m not sure I understand why, but that’s not important. I would like to add the following perspective on the issue.
@Anil_Rao, I too wish the contributors would add more to the site. I think the word professional when used in the photographic context often has a connotation of superiority. I don’t think of it like that, I think of it as their profession, the way they put food on the table for their families. It is their full time job. As a result, like any full time job, people have to figure out where they can spend their free time and where they need to focus their energies on their full time jobs. My assumption (and only my assumption) is that for many full time photographers when their full time job is done for the day, they don’t have the energy or desire to come to a place like NPN and spend more time on photographic related topics, hence a lack of participation here.
I feel blessed to have found this amazing venue called photography to help me enjoy life. I feel even more blessed to not have to rely on it to put food on the table. I had a full time career in the software industry and am now retired. For the past 15 years or so, I also had the opportunity to be a part time photographer in the sense of making some money to pay for trips and toys, but not have to rely on it as an income source.
I certainly won’t target the contributors as aloof without fully understanding the lives of each, which is of course impossible. I’ll simply continue to enjoy the benefits of NPN and the passion of photography.
Thank you Keith for stating what was not obvious to me. I did not realize that the label professional would have such connotations as I’m too deep into this world. Many of my friends are ‘professionals’ because as Keith stated they make their living from photography, they are hustling all the time to make a living from a profession that is incredibly hard to make a living from. They are awesome people who give back all the time, but at the end of the day they only have so much energy to put towards photography. I know many of them feel burnt out from focusing on photography 24/7, when I brought NPN back they were already burning the candle at both ends and are not quite prepared to burn it in the middle too. Hopefully over time they will move away from social media and free up some time to spend here, but this shift will take time.