I Had this Great Idea in the Shower

Well, I didn't, but I was thinking about the idea-in-the-shower cliché. About why it's a cliché, and what it signifies.

By default I think of creativity as a discipline, something to apply energy and thought toward, something to push along, whereas in reality it's always, always, something that flows into a space.

A space created, perhaps, by an inability to move around and be distracted. A shower, after all, is limited in stimuli. There's some tile. Water. Products. There's no newspaper, no TV, no radio, no internet. Me. And my thoughts, or even better, lack of thoughts. In a space.

And so yeah, the standard human routine enforces a daily space into which creativity might appear. Which isn't enough, really, for a career in the arts.

So I need a lot of space, but, and I'll venture to speak for many humans, space is a little scary. We have 238567464247983274 little methods to fill space, from 'um' to television, from knuckles cracking to cigarette smoking, from obsession to terminally successful careers.

Because space can let in so much more than some great idea, some creative solution to a problem. As if just emptiness itself wasn't enough, space can let in memories and worries and most of all it can let in the reminder that the past is gone and that the future is unknown and unknowable, and that can be terrifying.

Which I think is why art is hard sometimes. Why I run into so many people who sigh and wish that they could 'be creative'. They can, of course. Happy little trees right there.

Sometimes I've wished, and it's an immature wish, that I'd hit that plateau, upon which life becomes easy, a breeze, effortless. I have not hit this plateau in life, but I'm beginning to see that, as far as creativity, the plateau's right nearby. I just have to summon the right attitude, I'm on the plateau.

Because I've gotten used to space, really. It has gotten easier to be creative. And I thought that ease would come from learning more techniques, absorbing more art, affording better materials, but really the ease has come from setting aside fear of emptiness and uncertainty about the future.

And you know, much like the shower, it's pretty nice.

What's your relationship to space like?

Reflections on Self-Promotion

So...the view from below, meaning my perspective is as a beginning photographer, not an established one, being a good photographer is not enough. Being a great photographer might be enough, but even then, people have to find out about you somehow.

Thus, marketing.

I've been skimming Guerilla Marketing recently, and this section on Patience struck me.

Twenty-seven times. The book says that your materials must pass in front of the buyer 27 times before they buy. And throughout those 27 times, they're gradually warming up to you, paying increasing attention, figuring out how they can use you, etc.

But meanwhile, what that looks like is total silence. Because why would they contact you unless they're going to buy?

It's just business, after all, nothing personal, but of course what you do is, hopefully, personal. So how to maintain sensitivity as an artist but harden up as a business person? Or even better than harden up, become like water? And how to keep going in the face of all that silence, especially when so many other people seem to be doing so well?

It's tempting to seek validation in other areas, like contests, and vanity publications, and paid portfolio reviews, and the local scene, but that validation is fickle, ephemeral, and expensive.

I've been told, and I think every day it's truer and truer: the work is the answer. Just keep making photographs. The recognition that you've expressed a photograph that has integrity and material must be validation enough.

Flickr's Not for Me

Two years ago, I wrote about a Five Year Plan. And I've been doing all of the items in the to-do list, except for editorial. But Flickr, and what Flickr represents for professional photographers, is connected to many of the factors in the final list, the opportunities list. “Everybody is a photographer” The long tail Microstock Online distribution Copyright degradation w/ new generation File sharing “Free the net” Orphan works legislation Internet audiences and their characteristics Licensing arrangement degradation Intellectual property ignorance Social networking sites

I just deleted all my images on Flickr. So far, all the infringements I've found have been via Flickr, which isn't completely far-fetched, considering it's a photo sharing site. But it's not for me, as I have no interest in Flickr's "currency". The people who seem to have "made it" via Flickr seem to have been in the right place at the right time, and it seems that's past. And the Getty link just looks like bad news. Thus ends my initial foray into Flickr as a professional.

But that still leaves open the question as to whether or not the list is full of opportunities, or spells the end of photography. The Five Year Plan post has kind of haunted me for the last two years, and I don't feel like I'm any closer to answering the question. Judging by most of the talk on the internet, nobody else is either.

It's pretty easy to pine for the days of yore, of giant expense accounts and ad jobs falling out of the sky, when photographers used expensive, hard-to-use equipment and all you had to do was be good at photography and let 'em know, and then it was briefcases full of money and novelty-sized checks all day.

Not that those days truly existed, and not that pining does anybody any good.

Portfolio Revamp

I finished this awhile back. Well, "finished" anyway. Heretofore, it's been difficult to find enough pictures to put in my book. This time around, I'm doing double-sided pages and I'm still pushing the physical limit of the book, so here's to making pictures.

Naturally, it's a real question as to whether a printed portfolio is necessary any longer. If I ask, "Would I rather have a portfolio if someone asks for one?", the answer is obvious.

I'm still using the Waterfield cases I got, and I still haven't found a good way to identify myself on the outside of the case. Embroidery might be nice, or some kind of slick luggage tag. Or maybe I'll just stick a business card on it with a mess of gaffers tape. Ha.

I still like my custom cut and beveled red plexiglass covers with grey chrome fabric binding. I've got a variety of responses, from "Looks like you're trying too hard." to "This totally introduces your style perfectly." So.

I'm printing on Moab Lasal doublesided. I tried a bunch of different papers, and I like the detail, saturation, and tactile sensation of the Lasal best. Toothier papers softened up my images too much, although they feel more luxurious and arty.

Of course, the matte papers scratch so easily, especially in big black fields, which you find a lot in my portfolio. I wonder about the various sprays - they don't seem to do anything, but I keep trying. This time I tried the Krylon one, and it seems to be as ineffective as the rest. It did, however, make my book smell like a man's clean cologne. I kind of like it, but I'm airing it out, since people get freaky about odors and chemicals.

So yeah, most of the time, people use the website, sure. But I'm ready for the rest of the time as well. Plus I have to say, websites are nice, but looking at this book is a pleasure of a different order.