The test

I've found that a good test of what qualifies as "personal work" for me is if it makes me laugh.

Not the sort of laugh reserved for jokes or Tracy Morgan or Wonder Showzen. It's the sort of laugh that comes from disbelief that this sort of moment is just sitting there, and that the forms, the light, and the subtlety all converge into an image that just works. Oh, and that I happen to be there with my camera.