Balance life.

In Picture Story today, we watched a documentary on W. Eugene Smith. We also handed in our book reports; I wrote mine on Looking for the Light, a biography on Marion Post Wolcott. Both were monumental contributors in the world of photojournalism, and both were significant historians in America's documentation. However, both lived in almost completely different ways.

W. Eugene Smith is considered the father of picture stories. The very idea of focusing a story to a single subject was a concoction of Smith. This alone is such a grand influence on photojournalism today. Picture stories have become common techniques to portray life in America. Moreover, Smith's photographs were intensely intimate. The pictures captured the emotions of every subject, and the viewer was brought into the frame as if he/she was present in the situation the image presented. Smith's photographs were near perfect. Perhaps this is where Smith was flawed. I perceive Smith as a tragic character. He spent too much time on his work, and not nearly enough time with his family. In fact, his perfectionist attribute led to family neglect. His finances also suffered, for he spent too much time perfecting his prints that he never sold enough to keep a consistent income. There were times when his family would be without money or food. Smith's heart was in his work. He was a lousy family man, but he became a famous photographer.

Marion Post Wolcott had a high career in photojournalism through her work with the Farm Security Administration (FSA), a photo project in the 1930s created to support the New Deal policies. The FSA changed the course of American history and became one of the greatest photo projects ever developed. Wolcott's contribution of images were fantastic in content and composition. In her third year of the high-life in photojournalism, she met Leon Wolcott (she was only known as Marion Post at the time) and fell deeply in love with the man. They married the same year. Several months after, Marion resigned her position as a photographer of the FSA to devote most of her time to her family. Leon had two sons from his previous wife, who passed away before he met Marion, and she was pregnant with another child. She sacrificed her successfully photojournalistic career for her family. To Marion, photography reduced to nothing but a strong hobby.

Which is better, do you think? Marking a historic point in your country and inspiring hundreds of people to take up photojournalism in order to document American life as it happens, or to commit to your loved ones and do your best to impact a much smaller community? I'm sure everyone faces this dilemma in any career field they choose. In my perspective, the family will always come before the job. If I were to marry, my priorities would shift to my wife and family. Fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters - these are the people that make up a country. Our jobs should ultimately impact their lives in one way or another, and this should be the drive that makes us pursue jobs. I guess people would argue to seek happiness for themselves first, and if it's through their job, so be it. I disagree, but that is my opinion.

This was something that got my mind turning a bit; I thought I'd share with you. Of course, all this comes second to God. In fact, our lives should always look to God in the end. He is everything, and the Christian life should reflect on all things that we live through everyday.