- You were a photo journalist and you quit it to become… a chef? It’s not that there’s something wrong with the being a chef – I don’t cook so I have a lot of respect to the one who can and want to do it. It’s a difficult and demanding job, but… being a photo journalist in times when everyone thinks they can take photos – you really need to be excellent in order to stand out and to make photos magazines are willing to pay you for.
– I suppose the life of a freelancer was exhausting for you.
– I wasn’t a freelancer, I had permanent job in several newspapers.
– So.. to much competition?
– No, I specialized in sports photography and there weren’t many people doing that.
– So you no longer liked taking photos?
– Not at all! I still like it and I take photos often.
– So WHAT HAPPENED?
– I realized that I’m unable to handle responsibility related to my job.. They were sending me to Paralympics and after the first day they told me that the pictures I took weren’t what they were expected… That there were too many happy people, that happiness ….doesn’t sell as well (I can confirm that – the most popular texts on my blog are those about my tragedy like how I lost my vision or how I was almost killed in brasil). They dement I took more pictures of those who failed, those who cry and suffer, because that’s what makes a good story.
During Paralympics there is a very happy atmosphere, because PROCESS is more important than result. Fact that they can participate in competitions is already a success. Obviously everyone wants to win, but they still support each other very sincerely. And that was what I wanted to show. But editors told me they don’t care what the atmosphere is like. Happines doesn’t sell. They cared about the sales. And it’s the misery that sells!
So I made a coverage that was so full of misery that I wanted to cry myself. Mainly because all of this was a lie.
You see, a photograph lies even without using the Photoshop. People trust photographs more than they trust words because they think that the lens of my camera shows the reality. But that’s not true – the lens shows THE KIND OF REALITY THAT I WANT TO SHOW. The lens shows MY reality. There are no bigger reality manipulators than photo journalists, because they want to tell THEIR story, which can have nothing to do with the truth. That is why I decided to go to a cooking school. I wanted something real,
I went to Italy without knowing Italian, but I managed. I only had one objective in mind – I wanted to live the truth. You can’t cheat with a food. It’s either good or not. It’s either fresh or not. You either like it or not.
However, when I started working in a restaurant I was told that you not o nly can but you should cheat with food as well. So I dropped it. When my parents heard that, they almost have heart attack.
– You’re 36! What the hell are you doing? You switch jobs like gloves. You live on the verge of poverty (which, in Brazilian conditions, means only an 80 square metre flat and a cleaning lady coming only once a week instead of every day), you have no savings and you have no future!
“But I actually had some small savings, so together with my friend we decided to establish our own catering company. We’ve been running it for 2 years now. We still don’t earn enough to “leave poverty” and have “normal respectful life”, at least the way my parents understand it, but I have what I wanted – I live true life. I’m not ashamed of what I do. I do what I believe in. I meet people who eat my food and tell me that it was delicious so I feel I did something good for the world. That I didn’t cheat.
Yeah, my parents still think that I am stupid tend that the purpose of work is earning money, not philosophizing. But it is important to me. I’m not one of the great minds, I’m not going to change the fate of my country or even my city. But I work honestly, I make real food and this is my contribution to changing the world for the better. Meanwhile, I still go to the Paralympics and take photos of happy people.”
– But it’s also someone’s reality – your reality.
– Yes, it’s only my reality. Maybe happiness don’t sell, but at least it gives hope and I think that we lack it more than we lack money.
That’s the conversation that I had at the beautiful Brazilian wedding of Bea. People often ask me for a definition of a dream job and how to find one?
Unfortunately there is magic pill. The only way is the one everyone knows and not everyone is willing to try. Why? Because it takes an effort, it requires changes. there are no shortcuts fo things that are important in life.
- Figure out what you like and what you don’t like doing
- Discard everything you don’t like doing
- Start doing the things you like doing and atchive greatness in it – so people will pay you for it
Some people, when they ask me how to start liking Mondays. They wait for a trick that doesn’t require making changes or choices. One that will keep the wife content, that will keep the loan paying itself and that will involve no risk. But it can’t be done like that. Like I said during my TED, in order to love you have to be brave. It’s the same with work.
When I was taking my exams on Psychology University, people warned me that I would have to spend my life in poverty because there is no such thing as a rich psychologist (they didn’t know about Zimbardo or Eichelberger back then J). But my friend, who was a psychologist and persuaded me to change my field of studies from biology (my God, did I really want to study that?) to psychology said:
– If you’re very good at something – you will ALWAYS be earning money.
And that’s the rule that I decided to stick to. I stuck to it also when I had open door to the career in an advertising agency. I used this door to leave beautiful office and great people to establish Izmałkowa Consulting. I wasn’t sure how everything would play out and what exactly I had to do, but I knew one thing: I didn’t want to write meaningless PowerPoint presentations. I wanted to give my Clients knowledge and solutions. Many people were telling me that people don’t want knowledge. I don’t believe that I’m so unique – if I need knowledge, there must be other people who need it too. And if someone asked me: “How are you going to earn money?” I answered honestly: “I will be so good that I’ll finally start earning it.”
So, you have to answer yourself a question – do you prefer sitting in a golden cage or being whoever you want to be? There are no magical solutions in love. Even when it’s about the love of work. You just need to love. You need to take risks. You need to work hard. You need to be the best you can be. And finally, you have to trust that you’ll finally start earning money, because you are do good that people cannot ingnore you!
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