15,889 photos.

That’s the number of photos I shot, captioned, and submitted for publication as a staff photographer at my former newspaper before going freelance. Why does this matter? Because it is an insane amount of photos which represent a lot of time spent shooting for the proverbial “Man.” It’s not a bad thing. In fact, shooting for The Man gave me ample time to learn, develop my vision, and figure out what didn’t matter to me and what did in my photography.

The newspaper was my first full-time newspaper gig, which I left last year to pursue my freelance career. In the matter of 8 years I made a lot of bad photos at bad assignments. I also made some great photos at great assignments. Making great photos from bad assignments? It was a challenge to myself. It’s not the newspaper’s fault that bad assignments exist, it’s just the nature of the grind at a daily newspaper – especially this day and age with dwindled staff and depleted resources. Most of your time is spent feeding the beast, churning out 2-4 assignments a day for prominent display in next morning’s recycle bin. It’s making Chicken Salad out of Chicken Sh*t. I’ve made my fair share of Chicken Salad.

Working as a staff photojournalist has its challenges. How do you stay inspired, happy, and passionate about photographing a white guy in a suit standing in front of a building? How can you make compelling images that give your photo subjects a voice in their own community when you can only stay for only 10 minutes? Why am I photographing this plate of food that barely resembles food? How do you make a picture that says “ribbon-cutting” without literally shooting the ribbon being cut?

You just do. Here’s how:

Shoot for yourself.