equally random: Steve Jobs quote

from Forbes:

"We did iTunes because we all love music. We made what we thought was the best jukebox in iTunes. Then we all wanted to carry our whole music libraries around with us. The team worked really hard. And the reason that they worked so hard is because we all wanted one. You know? I mean, the first few hundred customers were us.
...
"So you can't go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There's a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, 'If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse." ' "

...interesting.

Here's the thing. I've thought a lot about why this quote struck me, and it's because it's exactly what I decided after a long time shooting freelance. If I asked the client exactly what they wanted, the photograph would look like they took it. They wanted it to be my photograph, my vision... not theirs. That's why they were paying my day rate, to get my work.

The client can only say, "...a faster horse". It's up to me to know what that means. Ford's customers didn't want a faster horse, they wanted to get to where they were going faster... the horse was the only way they knew to do that. When a client tells me they want "a killer image", it's up to me to understand what that means, in terms of what I do.

My advice to many students has been "trust your edit, trust your vision..." Listen to opinions, but, in the end, no one else can do what you do. Your best work you ultimately are doing for yourself.

...not so random after all.

The racing sander, on the other hand... well...