As a photojournalist you should look at all things as a student. You should never stop studying and being attentive to the life around you.
   You don't read the newspaper; you study it. You don't mind your own business; you mind that of other people. You are better at your job if you know the trends so well that you be- come something of a prophet so you predict what people will do next so you may be ready for them when they do it. You must be aware of what is going on in the world. You should read TIME, NEWSWEEK, LIFE, as well as PLAYBOY, etc. Study the newspapers because in doing so you are studying society. Watch television; go to films, study trends to find out what people do and why they do it.
   You, as the able photojournalist, are a kind of historian, reporting the contemporary scene. But this is reported from the front view, not the back. In most things the camera must be there first. It is a leader, showing the way, informing, and interpreting. It goes to the moon first, it shows the new things in science. Even in commercial advertising art, it opens doors to new luxuries and new uses of products, thus selling and motivating.
   Life is never the same two minutes in a row. Look at the perplexities of this decade, such as changing morals, concern over big government, fear of war, crime and violence, population explosion, economy, ecology, etc.
   Each new machine, change in our social system or lifestyle brings new complexities. The public learns to adapt to these changes through a "trial and error" method. However each new step forward and each new problem arising out of a new product or new thinking is regarded with a degree of fear or doubt For example, when Orville and Wilbur started playing with the airplane no one would even imagine that they would be used to transport masses around the world. Or closer to home, how many of us resisted the cameras with built-in exposure meters? Why?
    Progress is always one step ahead of man's acceptance. Man is always a little behind in the full use and approval of the new structures. The "cultural" lag signifies the gap in man's immaterial and spiritual life, as separated by the material and physical; in other words, our dreams versus reality.
    It is in this sector that the camera helps as an explainer. Each new invention and each action of a man that pioneers is regarded as news or a "first." This is subject matter for the newspapers, magazines, TV, or the commercial photo that sells or helps with a meeting
of minds. In its way the photo helps integrate and explain.
    As a master photographer, you maintain a position just ahead of the MASS MIND in this march of progress. Since the reader's eyes are directed to the future rather than the past, your photography must be contemporary. Since the public is interested in the new, the photos that deal with the new tend to be interesting.
    You are a student in these matters. To become proficient you become an amateur psychologist, sociologist, stage director, beauty expert, confidante, sprinter, pack horse, lover of people, and things.
    You're a person with big ears and a small mouth. You have very special eyes
that look with a minimum of biasing. Your biggest talent is in seeing, not the surface, but the immanent quality in life around you.
   Unless you're this kind of student, gathering new experiences and new sights, you may get in a rut. You may lack a sense of direction, which in turn will affect your creativity and enthusiasm. Every time you discover a new meaning or a new thing you will experience a feeling of elation, which in turn will make you more creative.
   Bear this in mind. Like the morning exercise, creativity and imagination are made strong by exercise in seeing and feeling. The athlete, musician, surgeon, and ail specialists who excel, do it through undivided attention and constant practice. For your creativity and imagination to remain active you are going to have to exercise it.
   Remember; creativity is the reduction of a dream or hope into reality. It is taking these dreams and hopes and putting them into a form for others to use and enjoy - in short, to communicate with them.
   I repeat, you are a habitual student. Your problem is to keep up, be aware of what is going on in our society. Keep abreast, perhaps even ahead of things. If you are good you become a leader through the medium of good penetrating photographic work.
   No true learning of creativity takes place unless you sincerely want to do better and to make a change. Many students study and do not fully intend to let the study change their lives. Learning maturity, or creativity may not be forced on you. It is the product of a deep desire and a willingness to work for it.

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