In 1982, I was right on the cusp of turning 18. That was the legal drinking age. Most Friday and Saturday nights were spent driving around with friends in my parents’ Chevy Citation, looking for a house party or if anyone was down by the pavilion at Silver Lake with a spare six-pack (Miller Hi-Life usually, Heineken if we were lucky).
My four pals and I wanted a bigger payoff on this particular night. We were going to try a bar. Not any bar, but a nightclub with live music. Never in my life had I been in a bar, let alone a nightclub.
With adjusted IDs in hand, we entered. There were so many new things to see and explore. This included the protocol of ordering our beers from somebody playing the role of what was called a “cocktail waitress.”
Since we were in a bar, why not order a mixed drink? But, what mixed drink? Something fancy for sure, something we didn’t even know the ingredients of. How about a Tom Collins?! To this day, I don’t know what’s in a Tom Collins, but it sounded grown-up, and we didn’t want to blow our underage cover.
As the server came up to us, I was distracted, taking in all of these new sights while maintaining my cool, playing the adult. My four friends had ordered the agreed-upon Tom Collins (how foolish we must have looked, but wait…).
I turned my head around to hear the server say, “Ok, that will be four Tom Collins.” She looked at me and asked, “What will you have?” Not skipping a beat, I replied, “I’ll have four Tom Collins.”
And so, my four friends received their individual drinks. And me? A tray of four Tom Collins.
As artists, we can be significantly influenced by what we see (and hear) around us. Ideas can come from all quarters, in little bits or big chunks. This is good. We need to absorb, distill and digest (like my cocktails!).
But when we are unduly influenced by others, believing what we see out there is better than what we are making, we can have the tendency to lose sight of our own vision.
There’s less friction when we conform, trying to fit in or emulating what we think will be acceptable out there. Artists with little sense of themselves often make “authorless” work, creating images of subjects in the same way as the person before them and the person before them…
It’s hard to stay true to your vision, going against the grain of popular convention, when you see other artists measuring their own extraordinary success— you’re doing digital prints when alternative processes are all the rage or making street photographs when conceptual photography is being rewarded at the moment.
But that’s what being an artist is all about. How many of your photography heroes were doing just that? Sitting at a table for one, doing work that was against the tide of photography at that moment? Years and sometimes decades later, these are the artists being talked about…
“Ahead of their time.” “Influenced a generation of photographers.” “Pioneers.”
There was friction. This type of friction is good—it leaders to discovery and innovation. If we end up doing what the other person does, there is no growth or evolution.
Don’t worry about where you fit in. You’re doing just fine.
When we listen to another’s voice and not our own, we end up making work for someone else.
Or drinking four Tom Collins.
Classes & Notes
Lucie Foundation Open Call: Carte Blanche
Enrollment deadline: Sunday, January 30th for Perfect Match with Elinor Carucci and Alan Rapp
Coming Soon: Community Crit at The Photo Community and an expanded version of The Photographers Report
Complete Guide to Artist’s Opportunities in 2022
Michael Foley opened his gallery in the fall of 2004 after fourteen years of working with notable photography galleries, including Fraenkel Gallery, Howard Greenberg Gallery, and Yancey Richardson Gallery.
In 2002, Foley continued his interest in educating and working with artists by serving on the School of Visual Arts and International Center of Photography faculty. He currently teaches and lectures on contemporary photography issues at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
In 2020, he founded The Photo Community, which offers classes and commentary on contemporary photography.
Foley lives and works on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with his wife, Maya.
Or a glass of Rice Drink these days😂😂😂. Oh how far we have come...