Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
Starting a new business is tough. Starting out as an artist can make some parents weep in concern. I’m almost through my first year as a fulltime photographer, and I am blessed with a warm home and a full stomach.
Much of my attention this year has been focused on how to stay or grow in business. This includes finding my target audience, figuring out the logistics of creating and selling work, and how to stay creative and create new images. In all the craziness of, “how does all this work?”, there have been some wonderful unexpected consequences.
One of those consequences is the pleasure of getting to know other artists. Many of my days involve working alone in the studio. The camaraderie of other artists helps us to inspire and spur each of us along.
Here’s an email from Martin, who I met in Louisville this past weekend:
My wife and I met you on Friday afternoon at the show (we asked if you knew relatives of ours who live in Indy). I must say, for me, your images were one of the highlights of the show. I recently began revisiting my watercolor practice after many years in the working world (which took me away from work with my hands). As we strolled the show my wife would point out watercolor paintings with the hope of inspiring me. I told her that what moves me most is great photography that presents images that inspire me to ask “How would I represent that in watercolor?” Your work inspired me in that way…. I really enjoyed your blog. I usually don’t like blogs but your insights into the creative process, use of light and playfulness were attractive to me in my own process of re-awakening my creativity…. Thank you for the inspiration.
Wow. I thank all of you for supporting my work, and continuing to inspire me. I hope that I may pass some of the same back to you.
For those of you curious about the life of emerging artists, check out Deanna Wood’s excellent blog, Artist, Emerging.
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Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
As I show my work, I often have the pleasure to meet other photographers. We have different tastes, motivations and skill levels, all with a desire to interpret the world through a camera lens.
If you’re pursuing photography, I like to encourage you to tap into some of the wonderful resources that are out there. Online, a good place to start is photo.net. In the physical world, get connected with a local photography club. There are a few good clubs in Indianapolis, including one that I’m rather fond of, the Photo Venture Camera Club. PVCC has been around for 30 years and meets every Thursday evening at the Indianapolis Art Center. Come on by and say hello. There’s a wealth of knowledge with experience levels ranging from beginners to full time professionals.
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Tuesday, September 19th, 2006
I replenish my raw materials every two months or so. It’s like an intermittent Christmas, with daily arrivals of shipments containing fine art papers, ink, frames, mat board, tools, camera accessories, and various other odds and ends. With all these shipments, I’ve started to become a connoisseur of packaging methods: Double boxing, bubble wrap, packing paper, stretchy wrap, foam peanuts and inflatable cushion bags.
Last week, the package pictured above showed up on my doorstep. No box, no peanuts. Just one big ball of bubble wrap, several inches thick. Two long lengths of bubble wrap along each axis. I was tired by the time the package was finally unraveled. My weary unwrapping stupor left me unmotivated to perform the ceremonial bubble wrap popping dance. The actual contents were found in a tiny core in the middle of the bubble ball, gloriously protected from the risk of a three story fall.
There’s a mischievous property of bubble wrap in that once unraveled, it takes up twice as much space as the original package.
I’ve heard of stranger shapes going through the mail. In the old days, you could send anything that you could stick a stamp on, regardless of packaging. I remember an account of someone sending a shoe (no packaging, just stamps on the shoe) through US Post. I wonder if that would still work today. I wonder how many stamps I would need to stick onto a watermelon.
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Thursday, September 7th, 2006
I’m planning on doing some backpacking in Red River Gorge next month. Would anyone have recommendations on trails?
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