That, succinctly, was my point with The Internet Needs More Cat Photos. Photography is extremely personal and meaningful to the photographer and her audience. If you ignore what you're really interested in shooting and exploring eventually you're lack of interest is going to show in all your work.

Noah Grey's work seemingly has taken on a decidedly different tone since moving from California to Ireland. Gone are the eminently saleable sweeping landscapes and beach photos with deep colors and tones. They've been replaced with more stark black and white street photography. On the surface the work has gone from light to dark.

the choice, over and over again, really was made that clear for me: there was a kind of photography, a style and a range of subjects, that I loved and wanted to do more of... and there was another style and a range of subjects that I realised I was doing not so much because I wanted to, but because I could — and from there, because it was putting the bread on my table. If a little part of me felt dead inside every time Spectacular Pier/Flower/Sunset #8,675,309 sold a print and the darker, messier portraits and street scenes did not — well, at least it was a print sold. And was that so bad, really? After all, I could still do as much of “the other stuff” as I want — as long as I just tossed one out once in awhile that would keep my printer costs covered or let me go out for a decent dinner, well then...

And that, I slowly came to realise, was exactly the problem — the “other stuff,” the work that I had considered to be my “real” work, was becoming the other stuff to me in my mind, less important and consequential to me than the work that kept cobwebs from forming in my wallet.

I can’t help but think of all this right now, because so many people have been asking me why my work here in Ireland has been so “dark.” To me, though, it’s not dark at all — not in the ways that really matter.

You may not always be able to shoot only what you love. Professionals often shoot corporate shots that they have no interest in beyond getting a paycheck. A hobbyist can get roped in to taking pictures of the neighbor kid's soccer team or his niece's bad dance recital. Those shots may be necessary and important for your career (or happy home life) but they aren't all you do, all you can do or all you're interested in. Don't forget that. If you remember to frequently shoot for yourself your skill, your craft and your art will improve in all the photography you do.