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Occasionally, I’ll apply for a photo job that piques my interest. A recent submission must’ve caught someone’s attention, and they got back to me right away… with a peculiar question. “Could you provide the total number of hours worked for each position in which you have photography experience?”

I reread the job posting, and it says, “a minimum of six (6) credits of coursework which includes basic photography and/or digital photography. And, two years of photography experience, which has included photo editing using digital software.”

I assumed my resume, lined with photography staff jobs dating back to 2000 would suffice. So I replied that I’ve worked full-time in photography since graduating from college, and trying to come up with the exact number of hours would be tough.

The subtext of her reply: Try. We need the hours.

So, I got out the calculator.

From 2000 to 2005, I was a staff photographer at the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. That’s 5 years of photography x 50 weeks a year (taking off two for entry-level vacation time) x 40 hours a week (definitely not trying to count overtime).

That was roughly 10,000 hours spent working at my first job.

From 2005 to late 2014, I was a staff photographer at the St. Petersburg Times. That’s roughly 10 years x 48 weeks a year (by this point, I had at least 4 weeks off a year) x 40 hours a week (again, not including any overtime because that’s crazy).

That was another 19,200 hours of photography.

I’ve been a freelancer for the last 10 years, which would also be roughly 19,200 hours of work, of which I’d estimate about 25% of running my own business was actually spent making pictures for clients. So 19,200 X .25 is about 4,800 hours.

Then I had a 10-month contract job at the IMF, which was 40 hours a week for about 40 weeks. That is another 1,600 hours.

I wrote all this out in an email and added it up.

10,000 + 19,2000 + 4,800 + 1,600 = 35,600 hours

That’s a wild number to look at. And I’m not quite sure how to put it into context.

Maybe it means I’m overqualified. Or, maybe it means I’m just getting started.

Aside from the nor’easter that threatened the Jersey Shore, and that one guy who waded out to meet it head-on, here are 5 other things I was looking at this week:

Aware of her work with The Aftermath Project and 10(X) Editions, I first met Sara Terry when I moved to LA, and invited her to our #tacosyfotos freelance lunches. I was drawn to her immediately because she was such a force for good in this industry and an advocate for photographers and photography. RIP, Sara.

I’m late in the game in discovering the PhotoWork podcast, but I really love the thoughtful and informed conversations Sasha Wolf has with artists and photographers. Favorite episodes (so far) are: Jamel Shabazz, Daniel Arnold, Dana Lixenberg, Harlan Bozeman, and Baldwin Lee.

Speaking of podcasts, I haven’t laughed this hard in a while. The episode of Amy Poehler’s Good Hang with Kristen Wiig made my cheeks hurt. (Or just listen, here). There was also recently a New Yorker piece on why Good Hang is the ultimate comfort listen.

One thing that went through Lynsey Addario’s head while being held in captivity for 7 days was: “Did I take any photos worth dying for today?”

“One of the ways [AI] is going to destroy humans, long before there’s a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people.”