Advice

 I've been trading messages with a street photographer from New York City who has been suffering from anxiety and depression over stagnant print sales, exhibition opportunities and a city that's become boring and homogenized at the speed of light. He's wondering how he'll survive and if it's even worth creating new bodies of work since it will most likely end up in the trash after he's gone. Any interest is for his "safe" photography while his grittier prints sit in boxes or on hard drives. He's wondering if he continues should he switch to color which is something he's hardly done since the end of Kodachrome because he just doesn't see the city the same way. He's even given thought to giving up on the city all together and begin photographing in the suburbs. After his first email I told him that I was laughing for a good ten minutes. A little confused he asked why. I told him that everything he said sounded like it came out of me. The sames things I discuss with my wife everyday. After the laughter stopped I felt no solace that I was not the only one currently going through this and my symptoms have worsened. We have both achieved somewhat moderate success with a few exhibitions, articles written, print sales, self publications, etc. Neither of us has been awarded grants or fellowships, been included in museum exhibitions, or have published beyond self-publication. In the end I had no advice to either help or easy the suffering.