I am not an artist.
I’ve never really considered myself an artist. I went to a technical photography school. I was trained to be a successful commercial photographer. I was trained to expose and process film properly, correctly and accurately. I was given as many of the tools as possible to not fuck up a job when a client and a budget are on the line. I was trained to execute someone else’s vision. I don’t mind this. I like being in the role of technician. Don’t get me wrong, you have to pour your heart and soul into the work, your eye and perspective, but I’m not coming up with some grand whackadoodle idea thats going to change the world. As I get older, farther along in my career, and my journey as an image maker, maybe an artist has emerged. Someway, some how. I first saw this possibility when I was working on a new website. I printed out all my favorite images in two inch by two inch squares so I could lay them out on the floor and think about arrangement and flow. Seeing them all there on the carpet, I saw a cohesive style that was a through line. I may have talked about this before. It happened again recently when I collected a mass of my tintype images for a promo piece. There’s a there there. I don’t actively cultivate it, I don’t really understand it.
I feel no affinity for the art world. Can barely perceive it if I try. I’m pretty satisfied making pretty things. I don’t have some grand message or voice that needs to be heard. Today I stumbled across a podcast about the art world. The real art world. The world of artists and patrons and galleries and collectors and curators and critics. The kind of art thats bought by billionaires and ends up in some climate controlled, secure warehouse somewhere. Acquired. Hoarded. Collected. Its so far from my grasp of reality. I guess when you have that much money its fun to try to collect em all. Like Pokemon. If you’re read my writing with any regularity, you have sensed my dismay and frustration at our current circumstances. Its hard to wrap my head around and its even harder to try to articulate. These are but a few of the pieces of the puzzle. Things have changed. In some pretty tectonic ways. In my own industry. Commercial photography is not what it was. For a slew of reasons. Most of them stemming from the smart phone revolution. Print advertising is dead. We consume our media differently. The tools of creation have been democratized. Everyone has a multi, multi megapixel camera in their pocket. We are all the documenters and artists of our own narrative. We are inundated with soooo many more images in our every day existence that they have become mundane. Even the most amazing, beautiful, inspiring, soul touching photography, may get fifteen seconds of attention and possibly a “like”. Then its on to the next one. I’m not going to cry a river about this, it is what it is, but I really want to understand it.
In listening to this podcast, the same realizations and frustrations are being felt and voiced. The huge number of creators out there. Saying that someone’s art career may last six or twelve months. Something is hot for a second then its on to the next thing. There are fewer and fewer wealthy art buyers. The younger generation of wealthy won’t be as interested in collecting meaningful images when the meaning has been diluted. The market is shrinking. Visual media is losing its value. That’s not good, or bad, it just is. Maybe thats what this whole writing/journaling practice is about. Me trying to figure this shit out while its happening to us. I’ve seen it happen to photographers in the digital revolution. Those who refused to figure it out and adapt, got left behind. Like everything else, one of the keys is to flow with it and evolve with it instead of resisting it. Sometimes easier said than done.
In a few weeks I’ll be at the Palm Springs Photo Festival. Never been. Was supposed to go right when COVID hit and shut it down. Three years ago. I’m going to the festival in order to meet and take a workshop from Frank Ockenfels. I think he’s probably the most creative, prolific, innovative, experimental, true artist working in commercial photography today. I’m real curious to hear what he thinks of the state of the world.
Until then, enjoy these pictures of Nora. I don’t have an instagram link for her. These were taken a few years ago. There’s some gems in there.
