Posts Tagged ‘Portfolio’
Links for 2009-06-17
Interesting links gathered from all over the Internet
FlashZebra.com: Clamp Style Flash Shoe (Item #0137) Flash coldshoes for speedlights. (tags: photography equipment flash shoe coldshoe)
Links for 2009-02-20
Interesting links gathered from all over the Internet
DELARGE: Flickr finder tool – Find flickr photo owner / user by photo id, url or filename Nifty! Have a direct flickr url or filename and can’t figure out who the photographer really is from that? Just paste it here and the magical flickr elves will figure it out for you. (tags: photography flickr tools search)
Links for 2009-02-18
Interesting links gathered from all over the Internet
Magnum Blog / Wear Good Shoes: Advice to young photographers – the photo blog of Magnum Photos Tips from the pros and things you’d probably only pick up at the bar. (tags: photography inspiration photographers advice)
10 ways to break photographerâs block :: Photocritic photography blog 10 things for inspiration when you are beating your head against the wall creatively. (tags: photography photo tips inspiration motivation creativity)
Links for 2009-01-19
Interesting links gathered from all over the Internet
Flickr: Discussing OT: developing an artistic eye in Strobist.com Wizwow’s notes on developing an artistic eye. (tags: wizwow photography ideas artistic)
Goodbye, 2008.
Goodbye, cruel world
I’m leaving you today
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbyePink Floyd
I can’t believe we’re on the cusp of a new year; 2008 has flown by so, so quickly. Looking back at the last twelve months, I’ve come to the realization that I’ve progressed much farther in this art than I had ever expected. I’ve been working with the Strobist stuff for a year and a half, soaking up everything I could like a beached sea sponge. But, it wasn’t until earlier this year that I really began focusing on photographing people.
And would you believe, before that, I abhorred photographing people. Not because people were uninteresting but because I just sucked at it. I mean, thoroughly sucked at it. I couldn’t capture the essence of a person if my life depended on it. Photos would were mired with half-closed eyelids, the cheesy “do you really have to take my picture?” smile, sometimes even the really bad horror photo that people wish had never been captured. It was bad, bad I tell you.
I made a lot of mistakes. This, mind you, was never a bad thing. I’ve learned from every one of those, no matter how big or small. In fact, one of the problems I see myself experiencing is getting too comfortable in any one style or method. The dark photos, for example. I love dark photos. I love the simplicity and timbre found within. A thief in a pitch black room with only a flashlight and all you get to see is the shape and body I reveal with the beam.
But. Really, that’s not enough. I know it. It’s a mistake to think that I could spend my time creating a body of work where it, eventually, all looks the same. Robert Heinlein’s character Lazaras Long is quoted as saying, “Get a shot off fast. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect.” I’m not looking to make perfect photos, but I do realize I need to keep plugging away at it to continue improving.
In The Secret to Success in Photography, Chase Jarvis talks about two things you need to really make it: be undeniably good and spend 10,000 hours doing it. The second part of this photographic “Pirate’s Code” doesn’t surprise me. I know artisans and craftsmen who’ve spent years perfecting their artform and experience. Heck, I’ve spent years doing the same in my 9-to-5 job. It makes sense. To master something, you need to do it a lot.
But, the first one. Like Chase, it just hit me. “Be undeniably good.” It’s simple and obvious. Be so good that people won’t ignore the work you’re doing. This is the hard part of the whole equation: knowing what works for you and getting so comfortable with it that it becomes an extension of you. Second nature. The art of photographing without photographing, if you will. Show it off, but don’t beat people over the head with it. I’m getting to the point where more people are noticing what I do. And they’re asking if I can do the same for them. It’s an odd feeling to be complimented on your photos … and complimented enough that you begin to believe that they really are good.
It’s validating. And the more I’m reassured, the more I’ve realized my mistakes helped me sculpt an eye for good photography. Not only in my own photos, but in the images taken by other photographers. I know what I like. It’s an amazing feeling to look at a photo and to pick out the details that make that image gel for me. Yeah. Validating.
And it’s all happened so quickly in this last year. I’m somewhat sad to see 2008 flying towards it’s end. But, without question, I am looking forward to what challenges and mistakes I encounter in 2009.
The lovely lady pictured above is Morgan. This is from a recent photoshoot with her in the studio. Looking back over my last year’s worth of shoots, this photo is one of the best (if not THE best) portrait I’ve done to date. Yes. Definitely an exciting year for me.
Welcome to the UK: please check your art at the border.
“Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art.”
Pablo Picasso
Over at the Fluffytek Art Blog: Destroyers of Art, Lin writes about a major changing coming to the UK when the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act of 2008 comes into effect in January. The act makes it illegal to own or possess sexually explicit imagery that is defined as “extreme.” So, what’s extreme? Well, based on their reading of the act, “any images involving bondage, BDSM and any images which so much as hint at (pretend) violence.” As a result, they’ve gone through and started deleting significant chunks of their portfolio. That’s … mind blowing.
I mean, think about it. Imagine you’re an artist. You have a large body of work associated with you. Things you’ve created, lines of thought that you’ve explored and turned into something tangible, heck stuff you may never have even published but made for yourself for the sheer enjoyment of doing it. Now imagine that three weeks from now, some of the amazing balloon paintings you’ve worked on, depicting clowns and their big shoes, is deemed unwholesome and disturbing to society. Why? Because there’s a small sect of people out there who lust after hurting balloon-wielding clowns and your art might … might serve as a catalyst for them acting out on their inhibitions. And by creating that art, you enable them to act upon those thoughts, whether or not they are real or imagined by the bureaucracy at large.
Now, go and burn your art depicting any of this because you fear the reprisal that could potentially come. Oh, and all those people you happened to collaborate with or take inspiration from? You might want to distance yourself from them too.
Mind blowing, isn’t it?
This is what they’re dealing with at the moment because they genuinely fear the changes coming in January. I don’t know what I’d do if faced with the very real possibility of having to delete parts of my portfolio because someone in authority thought it was bad.
Leavin’ on a jet plane … err, and now I’m back again.
Whew. What a stressful and crazy week. I’m a few weeks behind on processing photos from various shoots and going off to a conference related to work last week didn’t help the situation at all. I flew out to San Diego Monday afternoon with camera in tow expecting to be able to shoot some while not doing conference activities. Sadly, I didn’t get much done while out there. I showed a few friends some of the photos I’ve been working on recently with Red and Ladybug. Quite a few people were impressed from the sound of it.
One of the things I missed while out there was having access to my light stand and umbrella. It’s amazing how much more difficult it is to shoot people when you don’t have these things to hold up and modify your flash. I did some shooting tethered to the camera with a better bounce card, but my heart just wasn’t into it. On a bright note, I did get some striking photos of palm trees silhouetted against the sunset. I have not yet pulled them off the camera because I’ve been trying to catch up on sleep, work, and other life things.
I came home Saturday night and ended up going out with some friends for the evening. I’m not sure if that was a mistake or not; I was exhausted from the conference-induced lack of sleep, the plane ride home, and some hard-core partying. When I finally got in bed, I zonked out for the next 12 hours. My bed … what an amazing piece of construction. It was good to be in it again.
And I promise, I’ll put up a few posts in the coming days to bring people up to date on the things I’ve really been working on. For now, you’ll just have to “suffer” through another photo of Red. *grin*
Maker Faire Austin
Maker Faire was here in Austin last weekend. It was a pretty October weekend for it. We missed going to it last year because of a series of unfortunate events. Having never been to one before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought it would be a great experience for the boys, so I brought them along.
Overall, I think the event was somewhat overrated. There were quite a few interesting things (the robowars, the tesla coils, some of the fire displays), don’t get me wrong, but there was just not enough to keep the kids entertained. We made it down to the childrens area and it was just overrun. It was like a pack of ravenous feral kids had descended upon a pile of Willie Wonka chocolate looking for the Golden Ticket. The tent that was set up was just entirely too small for the amount of stuff going on underneath and for the sheer number of kids who were attempting to have fun. Because of that, we didn’t really stick around the kid area too long.
We ended up walking out to the big craft area and around the fairgrounds, looking at the various art displays. By lunch time, we sat down and ate our $18 worth of hamburgers and fries (RIDICULOUSLY overpriced). While we sat, I picked off a few photos of people surrounding the area, including the kids playing their steel drums for the crowd. They were pretty decent.
Ultimately, we only spent about three hours at the event on Saturday. The boys had seen enough and weren’t really interested in looking at the various maker things (and I didn’t have any serious amounts of cash on hand to purchase anything fun) so we ended up calling it a day and going home. I think next year, I’ll purchase a full weekend ticket for myself and only bring the boys to one day, that way I can spend some time doing the seminars and meandering through all of the faire at my leisure.
A few more photos. Next year, I’ll make sure to take my time and get more interesting photos. This was definitely the best part of the day, the people watching I mean. These two guys were watching the steel drummers while the boys and I ate our lunch.
Life Updates.
Woo! What a long week. Exciting, but long. One of the local photographers, James, runs a coop studio on South Congress. He’s been looking for a few people to buy-in and help spread the cost out a bit more. I talked it over with my wife and she agreed to it, so I paid my first month’s portion of the rent and picked up my keys on Thursday. WOOT! I’ve already got half a dozen friends and such lined up to do some shoots.
I’m really excited about this. I’m finding that I work a lot better when I have some place more controlled to move around in. I like the Strobist shoots, but those can get overly hectic, so this will give me a much better ability to refine my skills even more.
The studio isn’t big. But it’s big enough. I think it’s about 15′x25′ or so. Certainly deep enough for portraiture. They have it set up with some seamless paper backgrounds and a few lights. My friend Scarlett has offered to give me a trunk of stuff useful for props, so I’ll have something fun to play with in the studio with my subjects. In fact, Scarlet will be my first subject next Tuesday.
As I mentioned, I’ve gotten a few other folks to let me take their photos too. I’m still working on ideas, but I know that I’ll be able to do a few fetish shoots like I want.
Yesterday, I shot another wedding. Like the last one, this one was for a friend. Sort of my gift to them for their marriage. I’ll be posting more about it later, once I’ve gotten a better handle on the photos. What I have so far is looking pretty good. I still don’t think I could do wedding photography as a mainstay of my photographic career. It’s definitely A LOT of work.
I need to work on a website. I’m realizing this more and more as I get farther along this photographic track. I’m going to figure out some designs in the coming weeks. It’s going to be a busy time.
The photo above is of my friend Greg playing with fire one evening out at practice. He wanted to know what a particular move looked like on film to see which version was more aesthetically pleasing. The half-time version you see above (where the flaming poi are moving a half-step out of sync) was the better looking flower.
Welcome Back Cotter …. err, Coyote
So, yeah, it’s been a few months since I last posted anything. Life has been hectic with my daytime job, the family, projects for some of my social groups, and just various bumps in the road. It got to the point where I wasn’t sure if I needed to go left or turn right, so something had to give. I shed a few responsibilities (sadly, but needed) and refocused on a few things that I had been neglecting. Photography was the main one. At one point, it had been about a month since I had actually pulled the camera out of the bag and shot something. Anything at all. It was then that I realized that I couldn’t let this drop by the wayside or I’d never pick it back up again.
Anyway, I was reading A Photo Editor’s post Here’s what I think of your pictures today and it struck home a bit. Rob talks about a scene from Walk the Line where Johnny Cash is trying to make his first record and the record producer doesn’t want anything to do with it.
Bring… bring it home? All right, let’s bring it home. If you was hit by a truck and you were lying out in that gutter dying… and you had time to sing one song, huh, one song… people would remember before you’re dirt… one song that would let God know what you felt about your time here on earth… one song that would sum you up…
you telling me that’s the song you’d sing?
That same Jimmie Davis tune we hear on the radio all day? About your peace within and how it’s real and how you’re gonna shout it?
Or would you sing something different? Something real, something you felt?
Because I’m telling you right now… that’s the kind of song people want to hear.
That’s the kind of song that truly saves people. It ain’t got nothing to do with believing in God, Mr. Cash.It has to do with believing in yourself.
That last line caught me. Sometimes I put the camera down for days, even weeks, because I’m not sure if what I’m doing is good. It’s a struggle, a genuine struggle some days to find something that I think will pan out photographically. I shoot a lot of (what I think is) crap. It drives me nuts. I can see my progression over the last year and a half and can tell that I’m doing better in quite a few areas.
Last month, I went to the big Strobist meetup we had in Austin and came away with four photos that I absolutely loved. We shot at Siena, a restaurant here in Austin. I had no idea what I was going to do when I walked in and found my group. I just knew that I wasn’t feeling particularly happy about shooting. Just not up to it or in the right head space for it. But I’m glad I did it because, by the end of the day, I was feeling confident about what I was doing. And it just comes down to being confident in what my abilities are. Eight months ago I didn’t understand how to create photos like these. Hell, I hated taking photos of people. I just didn’t get it.
What I’m getting at is that, like that moment in the movie, you’ve got to believe in what you can do in order to pull something out of your ass that works, works well, and works when you need it to.
On top is Mira and Kaitlin, followed by Valerie and Kimmie on the bottom.
Take the damn photo!
Some months back, a some of the Austin Flickrites were talking about old and abandoned places to go shooting at. It was an interesting discussion, bringing to light some of the seedier and forgotten places within Austin and surrounding areas. One of the places that was brought up was an old City of Austin sewage lift pump station. These stations are placed around the city to help move waste towards East Austin where the big sewage treatment plants are located at. Smelly, dirty work, mind you.
Why was this so interesting, though? Long abandoned, the building had been gutted and all the moving parts removed and abatement done to clean it up. But, over time, the building was overtaken by the lives of random taggers and graffiti artists. A huge, empty, white canvas of brick and concrete, out in the middle of nowhere. 
It was secluded and “easy” to access. Sitting on the old, abandoned Grove Drive in East Austin, no one paid much attention to it. It was surrounded by park land and overgrown with weeds, trees, and mustang grape vines.
There are two ways to access the area. The first one goes through Roy Guerrero Colorado River Park. Grove Drive runs right through it; if you look closely you can see the main path is a narrow pavement road, cracked and potholed. Ragweed runs high along both sides of the dead roadway. A half mile trek from the parking area will lead you to a deep creek bed, covered with a one lane bridge. A short hop, skip, and a jump over the bridge (watch out for the troll!) and you would come upon the lift pump station.
Well, when this originally came up, I took a short hike out there to figure out where exactly this thing was. It was late summer and there were signs of cleanup in the park and impending construction. The first time I came out, it was nearing sun down and having never been out there before, I opted to leave my camera equipment back at the car. I wasn’t sure how far I would have to walk, who I’d run into, or how long I’d be out there thanks to the setting sun. I vowed to come back “soon”.
When I got home that night, I started searching for info on the lift pump station. My Google-fu didn’t fail me; I discovered that it was the Montopolis Lift Station and it was scheduled for demolition sometime in the 2007/2008 time frame. With it being an interesting place to photograph, I knew I wanted to go back to it and do it before it was torn down. Sadly, I never made it back in time.
Tonight, feeling a bit out of sorts with my latest photography, I made the realization that I hadn’t really taken any photos just for me. I remember reading a recent blog posting about this very thing and felt that I really needed to re-center and just go out by myself and shoot for the fun of it. I remembered this old lift station and thought, “Bingo!” I’ll go back and poke around that. I have all my lighting gear, it’s getting later in the evening so I’ll have more control over the light. Off I went.
Arriving, again, about 30 minutes before sunset I hoofed it over to the bridge only to see my one lusted-for subject gone. In it’s place was fence, landscape mats, and fresh growing grass. I wanted to kick myself for being so incredibly lazy. Procrastinating baaaaaad!
Being the intrepid explorer (feeling bummed and stupid is more like it), I started trudging back along Grove and photographing the path as I went. Once you round the curve near the bridge, Grove is a fairly straight run, right into the orange glow of the setting sun. You can see how overgrown the area is. Piles of dead trees and scrub brush from a big cleanup still litter the roadside. The mounds are 8-10 feet high and go on for 40-50 yards at a time. They’ve been there awhile, at least since my first visit to the pump last year.
As I was walking back, I saw this semi-clear path shoot off towards the river. Comparing to Google’s aerial photos, that path led to a trail running along the river. The aerial photo was taken a few years back. The land has shifted since then, taking 15 or 20 feet of path with it. It just ends in empty space. No guard, no rail. Just … walking along and then all of a sudden, you’re discovering gravity and hitting the river bed below.
Thankfully, it was still light enough out to see it. I gingerly tested the ground to make sure it wasn’t going to collapse out from under me as I neared the edge. It was a good 15-20 feet down and I wasn’t looking forward to climbing out with a broken leg. This was quite a view. To the east was the old bridge that crosses the Colorado River just north of the Highway 183 and Montopolis interchange. This would be an amazing photo for sunrise. Sadly, I don’t know that I could get out here early enough to take it. Especially if I had to access this path via the park. It’s a fun thought. I could certainly try the hike from the 183 side (assuming I thought my car would be remotely safe parked on the road).
To the west is a bend in the river. The glowing orange of sunset reflected off the water. The water was moving at a pretty good clip. It was oddly peaceful out there. Just the sound of birds, crickets, and the water. With the occasional airplane moving across their approach vector which happens to travel along 183. As I was taking photos of the western bend, I noticed some movement off in the water. I couldn’t tell what it was so I switched lenses and, in the fading light, discovered a man playing with his two dogs down on the river bed. The two dogs were running back and forth, frolicking in the cool flow of water.
I sat down on the edge of the path, not quite hanging over it, looking for a way down to the river bed. There was an animal trail leading off towards the west, but it was overgrown enough that I didn’t trust going down there in just shorts. Plus, it was pretty close to the edge. Not so intrepid now, huh? As I was following the trail I caught sight of a pile of rocks down next to the water, some 100 feet away. They had been arranged much like you would see two tombstones, a husband and wife, lying next to each other in the rocky earth. It was creepy. With the light slipping further and further away, I wasn’t able to get a photograph of it. I want to go back and get a closer look at them to see what they really are.
After awhile, I decided to pack my gear up and run out the rest of the main trail through the park. It was an extension of Grove. If you look at aerial photos of the area, you can see that the trail extends fully to the park at Pleasant Valley Road where the dam is. Walking along it, well into dusk now, I noticed movement out in the brush to my right. Two shapes frozen and alert. It was the dogs from earlier. They watched me and soon I wandered out of range. I kept walking for another ten minutes, wanting to see what was just around the next bend. I hadn’t looked at the aerial photos for quite awhile so I couldn’t remember where this all went. Taking it slow and just listening and watching, the
wooded areas began filling with lightning bugs. If I had the tripod, I would have attempted a long shutter shot in the darkness just to see if I could capture them. When I came upon a downed tree that covered most of the path, I decided it was time to turn around and head back to the car. As the sun finished setting, the moon began it’s rise in the east, cresting the tree tops and launching itself fully over the old, abandoned Grove.
As I was sitting on the ground, taking this photo, I was thinking back about not taking photos when I had the chance. It kind of irks me that I let my procrastination get the better of me at times. It takes a good, swift kick in the ass like this to make me realize that there are no second chances. If you can do it now, do it. Don’t wait. Sure, you might be lucky and find your subject there when you get back to it, but really, it won’t be the same. The light will be different or your mood will be changed. Maybe you’ll have the wrong lens or there’ll be a swarm of blood thirsty gnats charging forth to suck you dry, causing you to tremble just as the shutter clicks (ooh, instant blur!). You won’t be able to recreate it exactly as before, so do yourself a favor and take the damn photo. You’ll thank me when you’ve gone back to discover that the image you want can never be created because your subject has been demolished and destroyed.
So yeah, take the damn photo.
A bigger view of the park. The red path is what I ended up walking tonight, just exploring until I got tired. The circle on the far right is where the lift station used to be. The blue circle is where my car was.
Shooting Scarlett
Last week, I ended up on Mt. Bonnell in Austin while looking for pancakes. Don’t ask me why I was up on the highest point of Austin jonesing for Mrs. Butterworth and hotcakes. Suffice it to say, I was there, the pancakes weren’t, and I had my camera.
So, there I was, roaming around the park and thinking, “This would be a great place to shoot.” I wandered up the stairs to the top, walked down the path to the bottom, ran across a photog shooting a Marilyn Monroe remake, and eventually wandered back to my car. One of the things I noticed was how windy it was up there. If I were to shoot here, I’d definitely need to find a way to anchor my brollies so they wouldn’t flip over the edge, taking my flashes on a long dive to their flashy end.
Scarlett and I have been talking about doing a shoot for some time now. She has this awesome leather corset that just looks great on her. The problem? I didn’t quite know how or where I wanted to shoot her in it, so tonight, we met at Mt. Bonnell to do a test shoot (sans corset, of course). I knew I wanted to try something like overpowering the sun but the weather didn’t quite cooperate with me, leaving the sky mostly cloudy, save for a twenty minute stretch that kept filling my lens with flare (and not the TGIFriday kind of flare, either … thank god).
After doing four different setups, I struck my equipment and we ended up sitting up there for another half hour while the sun finally set over the horizon, talking about the various things I want to try out and some of the scenes I have tumbling around in my head. She mentioned she knew someone who had a decomissioned bazooka. She’s going to see if she can get her hands on it so I can shoot a scene with it (which I think would be absolutely awesome). We talked about using other props in a photo (swords, mainly) and just batted around a few ideas.
The image above is of Scarlett. We’ve only known each other for about a year or so and she’s quickly become a good friend. She’s fun to work with. I can’t wait to figure out the corset shoot with her.
CBS 42 Photo Contest usage agreement warning!
Oy.
I was reading the Austin flickr group and came upon a post regarding the CBS 42 Photo Contest here in Austin. In a word, I’m appalled. Just appalled. The usage agreement they have in place for any submitted photo is draconian and seriously tramples on the rights of photographers. I looked over the website and couldn’t find any contact info for the backend organizers, so I sent an email to Fred Cantu who announces the winners.
Here’s what I wrote:
Mr. Cantu,
My apologies for sending this your way. It’s not clear from the CBS 42 website who the contact is for the CBS 42 Photo contest. If you could direct this to the right person or have them contact me, I would greatly appreciate it.
I am absolutely appalled at the terms and conditions of the CBS 42 photo contest. Specifically, I am referring to the the following statements on http://www.keyetv.com/content/contests/photocontest/default.aspx
“As a condition of submitting your photo, you unconditionally and irrevocably assign all copyrights and other rights in the photograph to Four Points Media Group.”
and
“As a condition of submitting your photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) unconditionally and irrevocably waive all claims to compensation for use of the photograph, and/or any rights with respect to such use you may have under copyright law, the right to publicity, the right to privacy, the law of defamation, and any other common law or statutory claims under the laws of any jurisdiction.”
As a photographer, I find these two statements simply amazing. By declaring that my rights to MY photography are unilaterally assigned to you for usage, you’re effectively hijacking my ability to use those photos in the way I see fit in the future. What you are doing is a disservice to photographers, both amateurs who may not understand the intricacies of rights usage and professionals who use their photography to make a living.
I highly encourage you to reconsider your usage guidelines and make them more friendly to photographers everywhere. Please note that until CBS 42 changes their usage agreement, I will be encouraging all my friends, relatives, and other photographers in the Austin area to stay away from your contest. I would also like to note that this has begun making it’s way through the Austin communities at flickr.com, reaching several thousand photographers, both amateur and professional, in the Austin area.
You may also be interested in reading the following blogs regarding other photography contests on the web that have done similar things.
http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2008/02/19/
how-the-rights-to-your-photo-are-being-hijackedthrough
-photo-contests-social-media/http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2008/03/13/
bill-of-rights-for-photographers-proposed-for-photo
-contests/which leads to
http://www.pro-imaging.org/content/view/177/132/
Sincerely,
Travis Campbell
We’ll see what, if anything, they respond with. Until then, I would encourage everyone to stay away from that photo contest because they’re stripping you of your rights to any of your submitted photos.
For reference, the urls above are also listed in a clickable way below
- http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2008/02/19/how-the-rights-to-your-photo-are-being-hijackedthrough-photo-contests-social-media/
- http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2008/03/13/bill-of-rights-for-photographers-proposed-for-photo-contests/
- http://www.pro-imaging.org/content/view/177/132/
-edit-: fixing some formatting issues.
Finding my 1000 true fans
I was reading Kevin Kelly’s post about 1000 True Fans today and a statement within it struck me.
A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
This simple idea made me realize that for me to succeed in my art, my photography, I need to make an effort to actually market myself and what I do. I sort of started this by opening a Model Mayhem account earlier this week, mostly as a way to have a simple portfolio that models and other photogs would see so they could begin getting interested in what I do. I also re-began this blog as a way to put forth a more “professional” face on what I do. The next step is to get a real website. I like Flickr, but it’s not a great tool for presenting myself to people who wish to work with me. Don’t get me wrong, I love Flickr and what it has allowed me to do, but I’m ready to take the next step.
So, one day at a time, one fan at a time. Starting this all today means I’ll have something to show for in three, five, and even ten years down the line.