Recently, I commented on Jake Ricker's trials and tribulations concerning his most famous body of work; and while I still deplore how his particular project ended, in retrospect, I think those copy cat jerks may have just done him the favor of his life. That is, after amassing his considerable body of work from years of persistent, daily commitment... it may just have been the right stimulus, at the right time, to make the right decision to call it a day and move on to other creative subjects of interest.
Agreed, it's not my call to make, and our particulars vastly different, but last year after about a dozen years of covering the Folsom St. Leather Fairs I finally decided to close shop. And even though it was only twice a year, it just began to feel routine, more like work, and less like challenge- and yes, the law of diminishing returns also began to take its toll. More and more, I would approach a possible photo-op and realize- no, I already had a better one of those. It began happening with increasing regularity, and I couldn't pretend any longer- time to call it a day! Actually, while the subject matter itself was never easy for me, but it was always easy to convince oneself that you could always squeeze out one more keeper because... well, you were practically guaranteed you could do just that!
This past weekend was the biggest of the biannual fairs, and while tempted, I'm happy I held firm- even managed a couple of keepers elsewhere in the city!
Now, to make the final edit and final book, after making the work in progress some eight years ago (thought it was three or four)...
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