Shawn Duffy, Professional in the Making
May 29, 2008 – 2:30 amThough we may be at different points along the journey, photographers do share a common path. The magic of photography has hooked us all. This is the third and final installment of a look at three different photographers, all at very different points along their personal journey. The first in our series was Colin Summers, UK Photojournalist. Entirely self-funded for years, Colin is now receiving widespread recognition for his gripping documentary work. Last week we met Brian J. Krummel, Fine Art Photographer. Brian shared his story of struggling to make a living in photography, eventually finding greater fulfillment with photography as a hobby instead of a career. This week we meet Shawn Duffy, an aspiring professional photographer I met through his blog, SDuffy Photography Blog.
Shawn Duffy, Professional in the Making
Shawn Duffy is a man with a camera and a dream, a photojournalist in the making. While many amateurs entertain the thought of turning full-time professional, this photographer is well past that point and in full pursuit of his new occupation. While there are no particularly easy paths to follow, Shawn possesses both the passion and inventiveness necessary to meet his goals. He speaks openly and honestly about his pursuits:
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| link to Shawn Duffy’s flickr photostream |
I honestly don’t know what sparked my first interest in photography, probably a natural curiosity and desire to learn. I don’t know if there was any one thing that did it. I think I always had an appreciation for a great image but just never thought I could produce anything worthwhile. Then, one day, maybe because I was bored, I started really trying to learn everything about my little Canon Powershot A520. Within a week, I was hooked. I was really loving the images I was coming up with and within a month I bought my first DSLR. That was in December, 2006, and I bought a Canon Digital Rebel XTi.
With his eye on a career in photojournalism, Shawn’s sincere motivation goes deeper than the surface of a two-dimensional photograph. He views photography as his chance to make a difference. Currently traveling the globe, Shawn is collecting observations (both personal and photographic) on the world.
The area of photography I most want to pursue is photojournalism. I don’t think there was any one moment that turned me on to this field. I think it was just a natural combination of my newfound love of photography and a long-standing passionate interest in the world around me. For years, I’ve been very socially aware and politically active. Combining this passion and activism with my photography just
seemed like a natural progression.
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| link to Shawn Duffy’s flickr photostream |
Desire to succeed is necessary but provides no guarantees for success. Having already created one career for himself, Shawn appears to possess the inventiveness and wile necessary to make it in a competitive, creative field.
I’m currently a security engineer for a large internet company. One of my primary responsibilities is to hack our company’s websites and tell the developers how I did it so that they can fix it. That’s the easiest way to explain it. I got into it in a very similar way to how I got into photography. While I was going to school, I started messing around with the computer more and more. I started to Linux for something to do and fell in love with it. Next thing I knew, I wanted to know how to “hack” because I thought it’d be cool. So I began teaching myself. Before I knew, for better or for worse, it was a career. I can’t say it’s been a bad one, really. It’s been fun and interesting, it’s paid pretty well and it helped bring me to DC, but I think the love affair is over. Time for something new.
Right now all of my attention is on photography. I’m still learning a great deal about photojournalism as a career and eagerly devour any information I can find on breaking into the field. Luckily, this year I’ve had the opportunity to travel to places of particular interest to an aspiring photojournalist. I’m actually writing this from India (see Shawn’s blog for photo updates on his travels) where I am spending two weeks on a business trip.
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| link to Shawn Duffy’s flickr photostream |
Then, within a week of returning from India, I’m making my second trip to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, specifically the West Bank. I can’t wait to re-explore the photo opportunities there now that I have a real camera. It’s an amazing place and a completely different world. My plan is to take some of my best images from my travels and put them into a portfolio for submission to various photo agencies and publications. I’m lucky enough to live in Washington, DC, where there are no shortage of events to cover, as well. I have a few “projects” in mind that I’m very excited about working on once I am back in the States for more than a week.
In addition to taking full advantage of current opportunities to build a portfolio, Shawn also realizes success depends on doing whatever may be necessary.
I also plan on approaching some wedding photographers in the area to see if I can assist and work with them. I’ve turned down too many wedding jobs because I wasn’t comfortable enough to take the pressure of a wedding. So even though it’s not part of the long-term plan, it may help pay some of the bills while I look for that big AP or Time Magazine contract. 
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2 Responses to “Shawn Duffy, Professional in the Making”
Thank you Jim for this post. Like Shawn, I’m from DC area and work in the IT field. It’s been quite a balancing act, trying to switch carriers from IT to photography and still be able to pay the bills.
By Mike C on May 29, 2008