Win Win Situation. In economics, it's called opportunity cost.
Last night (9/26/13), I had the chance to take photos at the Matt and Kim concert or host a comedy show. I love both: photography and comedy. I couldn't be at both places at the same, so I had to chose between two good things - win win.
I snapped photos and it was a blast. The photo pass helped, but the most exciting moment I captured happened to be in the crowd: Kim crowd-dancing.
A lucky shot? I don't think so. A little bit of ego is talking, but I'm a firm believer that good photographers know where to place themselves and can anticaptate action.
After capturing the moment of the night, my feelings of missing a hosting gig disapated. I would love to have done both, but sometimes you have to make a choice. Do one thing properly or two things at a mediocre level.
I hate when this happens because no matter what choice you make, a part of you, will wish you we're doing the other thing.
It happened to me last year when UAA brought up Hannibal Buress, one of my favorite comedians. On the same night, it happened to be a "competition" open-mic for an opening spot for the road comic. As much as I would have loved seeing Hannibal, I knew that I needed to go up because I still enjoy earning my spots.
Colin Quinn in the commentary for Comedian, the Seinfield documentary, says, "comedy is the closest thing to justice in the arts; either people laugh or they don't."
That could be a paraphrase or completely wrong, but it sounded appropriate to insert a quote at that moment in this entry.
A few months ago, a fellow comedian and myself were playing the odds during the open-mica. 14 people sign-up, three new faces, probably four good sets - we had to get a spot. Nope. After about two open-mics, we decided to stop playing the numbers and focus on the only thing that really matters: getting funny.
As for photography, I still love taking photos. I don't do it as much as I should. When I first learned how to take photos, I brought my camera everywhere, everyday. Snapping hundreds if not thousands of photos. Many unseen because they're bad but that's how I learned.
After reading how other people learned or became successful, that's pretty the formula I taught myself. Produce plenty of bad stuff, eventually it becomes decent, and maybe if you keep at, then it becomes quality. Sure talent helps, but having a work ethic is the true factor that will drive success.