Went to the press preview last night at the Peabody Essex Museum(PEM)in Salem, MA with photographer friend John Rizzo to see the Sally Mann show that opens this weekend and is up through September 23.

Curator Sara Kennel took about 25 of us through each section of this large exhibition, defining and explaining Mann's motivation, inspiration, impetus and the final result. Sara was instrumental in orchestrating the show to come to PEM and shared her mastery of Mann's oeuvre with us. I am so very thankful for the invitation.

This is a major show, with superb examples of many of Mann's series since 1981. Incidentally, though this is a traveling show, it is not going to New York. After PEM it heads to the Getty in LA, then the MFA in Houston, to Paris in  2019 and ends at the High Museum in Atlanta in 2020.

Although Sally Mann has used other formats, the 8 x 10 camera resides at the core of her career. As I worked with the same camera for 25 years I can relate to its sheer difficulty and the beauty of its imagery. Many of the prints in the show are breathtakingly beautiful.

So many shows these days come with large amounts of hype and little substance. Sally Mann is simply enough the real deal. Over now a long career she has confronted life's core issues with eyes wide open, refusing to flinch or change. She is concerned with family, loved ones, racial prejudice, aging and the American South. Through her need to probe deep into our human condition and by looking at all things close to her, she makes the personal relatable on a universal scale.

See this exhibition.

I am writing this at a time when the news recently broke about the photographer Nick Nixon's early retirement from his professorship at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in early March, amid accusations of "inappropriate behavior". An investigation is underway.

I am going to weigh in here as my teaching career at the college level spans over 40 years teaching photography, just like Nixon's did.

Anyone with a long teaching career such as Nick's, whose time was spent teaching photography at undergraduate and graduate levels, has to ask  "was I ever inappropriate in the classroom, am I getting too close to my students, am I misinterpreting their praise for me, did I behave well, is my behavior beyond reproach?". Once I was a tenured professor (1988) this was really one of the only ways I could be fired, inappropriate activity with a student. I know I was acutely aware that anything at all off could put my career in jeopardy. For instance, I had a rule, that when students came to my office for advising, if my door had been closed, it stayed open while we met. I would tell new teachers this same rule when I hired them. Are there students who are manipulative and use sex as a way to get someplace in their studies? Yes. Negotiating this potential minefield is part of the responsibility inherent in teaching, I believe.

Of course, I am disturbed by accusations serving as a presumption of guilt in this "me too" time. And yet, imagine being the victim of inappropriate behavior from a professor? My heart goes out to those that were abused, either emotionally or physically.

So, we now have our own "photo scandal", the first in my knowledge in the New England community. (Update: there now seems to be another one, the case of Thomas Roma in NYC, with many accusations of teacher-student sexual contact.) So much pain and misery in so many ways. Was I still a professor teaching art in a college or university I would be on high alert, particularly if I was a man. Time to think over your curriculum, what you say and don't say in class, your behavior on campus and off, your attitude towards women. And remembering who the adult in the room is meant to be.

When being in a school and a longtime teacher, when a leader in the discipline in your university, where you are highly respected by peers and students alike it is somehow easy to see how this could migrate to a sense of power and autonomy that could promote an  "I can do anything I want" syndrome. 

Finally, what remains an issue is what will happen to Nixon's career as an artist. (Another update: the ICA in Boston announced first that it would keep Nixon's large somewhat retrospective show up through its run to April 22, then changed that and took it down four days early, at Nixon's request.) Will he still be showing, collected and held in high levels of esteem as a contemporary master of photography? Will the value of his work stay the same, dip lower or perhaps even go higher? Does this recent scandal condemn him? Remains to be seen. Time will tell.

Creative People. Different? Just like anyone else? Gross generalizations are always dangerous and unfair too. But by and large I think creative people do have a few things that make them different.

And no, I am, for once, not writing about myself. I have spent my life teaching many many highly creative people, both young and in college but also adults in various workshops and classes. 

Of course, everyone's creative in some way or another. Creativity can evidence itself at work or in a hobby or in a parent being creative in bringing up a child. I always  think of the office worker, slaving away in their cubicle, day after day, coming up with a new way to manage something or direct something to make for better efficiency or less cost or more quality in: whatever. That's creativity too. But being an artist places creativity at the top of the stack and being a professional artist makes being creative practically an all consuming activity. This gets us into thinking about talent, a word I don't have much use for. Talent presumes it all flows out on its own, as in "she was so talented". Talent also implies that there isn't much effort needed, that work isn't necessary. Bullshit.

I tend to think of creativity as being an asset that needs nurturing and hard work too. Writers must write, musicians must play, artists must make their pieces. I also believe ideas beget ideas. As a teacher this was an almost constant refrain: "go shoot", I would say. The student would reply they didn't know what to shoot. I would say it didn't matter. Doing is better than not doing. Acting is better than just thinking. I would say: "Pictures make pictures."

Creative: Inventive? Curious? Innocent? Driven? All of the above and much more. Artists of all kinds need these in their arsenal along with drive, motivation, a big work ethic, determination, little fear of failure, thick skins, wearing blinders (focus), joy in the making, self sufficiency,  single mindedness, passion, love, humor, ability to borrow, steal, assimilate, emulate, plagiarize (learn from others) and the ability to be sensitive to others' reactions to their works, to be able to hang in there in the face of criticism, bad reviews, or lack of public support, to be okay being alone. In my experience most artists are introverts, although this isn't universal. Also, most seem to be observers, standing on the edge of the circle, looking in. 

Very often artists will have a rich variety to their upbringing. Quirky parents, being moved around a lot, an important grand parent or relative. Almost always there is someone in their past that "gave them permission" to be themselves, to follow their own path. Late bloomers are also frequent: those that took awhile to find their art, perhaps trying many things first. But then, of course, there are the prodigies, the naturals who just seem to have been artists from day one. I always sought those out in the classes I taught because a prodigy could show the way for others new to making art. Very often someone so comfortable in their role as an artist could demonstrate that there really were no obstacles in the way. 

It's hard for artists to have bosses, I believe. Mentors, maybe. Those that they can see have placed creativity as key. But someone telling them how to do something, how to behave, what to do? Difficult. Creative people tend to want to be self directed.

Work. I would often tell students to work. That artists work. Talent's got nothing to do with it. I had no room for laziness in my classes, particular when our classes were often wait listed. For artists really do work. Visit an art school, a dance studio, a rehearsal hall, or a place like Penland in North Carolina and you'll see welders, potters, painters, glass blowers and yes, photographers, working away at all hours. 

Selfish. That's a hard one and something creative people need to look at. For, yes, artists can be selfish, in their own heads, not as aware of others' needs around them as they are of their own. Narcissists are really a pain, the need to be in the spotlight.The worst. Big egos can run rampant here. For many the concept of empathy and sympathy will need to be a constant refrain. I spent my whole career being around people that were artists and teachers. One one hand: a life involved in one's self, one's sensitivities and creative output making to create art work shown in galleries and museums. On the other hand a career where the teacher is really the least important. One a "take"vocation and the other a "giving" one. My teaching colleague Andrea Raynor would often say: "Teaching isn't about you, it is about them".  So very true. For me, as someone who tends to be in his own head and thoughts, teaching is a wonderful balance between the "me me me" side and the "all about them " side.

Lastly. What about fulfillment? Is making art a meaningful and fulfilling way to go through your life? Absolutely! But also frustrating, challenging, for most not a path to wealth, a career that can be lonely, and so on. 

It can be helpful to think of what the desired outcome is if you're an artist.  More on that later. As always, thank you for reading I can be reached at my email: here.

If you've read this blog for a while you know that I am essentially apolitical, certainly here in this forum. But the recent killings in Florida make me so mad I am reaching out to you to try to effect change.

If you agree that AR-15 rifles should not be legally purchased and that the NRA needs to be cut off from directly funding politician's campaigns please do this: tell your representatives to stop this crazy situation of allowing these mass murders, tell them to make the necessary changes or you will vote them out of office.

Easy. Go to "Everytown.org" to  find and call your representative directly and tell them what you think.

Thank you.

This must stop.

Commit to your work. Simple, really.

Work Hard.

Accept Discipline.

Practice.

Learn.

Talent is for novices.

Don't equivocate.

Sure, there are those that complacently muddle along, look through their camera occasionally, take pictures on a whim, bring their camera on vacation and accept the pictures that it makes. But not experts and masters. They work hard, often daily, to get results. 

Look, photography is both exceptionally easy and overwhelmingly difficult. It is easy to get very good results, especially in these times when cameras are very smart (this includes smartphones). But as a beginner improves, learns perhaps Lightroom and Photoshop (or analog) and starts to make prints, the bar is raised. This is a sliding scale. Improve and the stakes are raised and the degree of subtlety increases.  Get better and as you improve your eyes are opened to just how high the stakes are and how very difficult it is to become truly accomplished.

Hypothetical young student of photography named Jackie. She starts out, is tickled at the results from the first class or workshop, displays the work, gets praise, is encouraged to submit to contests, wins prizes or awards etc. Moving on, she decides to submit to portfolio reviews, applies, gets in, goes and is crushed, ground to a fine powder with scathing reviews of work that she is told is seriously flawed, returns home discouraged and despondent. Eventually, she reassembles (or not), dusts shoulders off and approaches again with perhaps some humility in the mix, some sense that there are levels and then there are levels. Crucial stage here: our student of the medium starts to look at other work, starts to become informed from the masters, in books and in exhibitions. She goes to presentations, lectures in her community and show openings.  She approaches people who work she admires and seeks to learn first hand from them. She looks at the work of the masters of the print and the true geniuses with unbelievable powers of intellect, sensitivity, premonition and perception. She slowly gets better, through hard work and photographing now far more frequently but with far less "star" pictures the result. Slowly Jackie understands the need to make more pictures but to raise the standards on if they are successful of not. Through practice and acceptance there is a discipline here where she is developing a perspective, an approach that she can begin to own. To make her own photographs, not to emulate others. This takes time and really hard work to get to.  She can begin to see her own approach as a characteristic of who she is, photographs that tell a story of her history and upbringing, with her own sensibilities and proclivities. Smaller parts of her pictures will take on more importance here; the figure in the back of the frame, the moment caught unbelievably in a fraction of a second, light causing the magic of highlighting and delineating, the softness and nuance of the framing making something heartrendingly poignant, the beauty of the scene found among the horror of a natural disaster. She has moved from that first success of something flashy, colorful and surface to photographs that convey meaning and depth, have a point of view and share that sensibility with increasing scrutiny and perspective. She receives growing praise on her work from those that matter, the professional critics such as gallery owners, museum curators and journalists, as well as her peers that she respects. This then boosts her to take risk, to go with her gut more for she now knows what her contribution can be rather than simply emulating within someone else's territory.

Committing is a first step to the realization that this is a discipline just like any other that needs hard work, intelligence, training, practice, determination, innovation, a sense of humor, humility and uncompromising standards of quality.