Members Only, Now Free Fiddy!

This week’s photo set is with Anneke. Lots more in the now free, members only section. Join here.

I’ve been running this little experiment of a site now for a few years. Tremendous thanks to all the members and visitors. After lots of deliberation, I’ve decided to drop the paywall to the members only galleries. For a number of reasons. I think the primary one being the self imposed pressure I feel to keep updating things at a pace that may not suite my life and schedule. I have a fairly demanding day job shooting for a large apparel and footwear brand, a number of side hustles, tintype shoots, personal work, personal life, etc, etc. I feel a twinge of guilt every week that goes by that I haven’t updated. I think its acceptable to expect something you pay for to be updated weekly. Sometimes I’m lucky to hit monthly. I also feel this push to publish the kind of images that people want to pay for, heavy on the T&A, yet not so much T&A that will piss off the hosting overlords. And not just publish, I feel this expectation creep into the shoots that I’m producing and the work in general. . . Really trying to embrace creating for myself first and just letting the chips fall where they may.

The income that I derive from this is nice, but is in no way supportive of materials of model fees or hosting costs, etc, etc. So, maybe there’s more to be gained by making it free. I’ve never really been comfortable with the hard core self promotion needed to drive people here. Always been a kind of, take it or leave it situation.

Additionally, Squarespace has a fairly liberal policy on artistic nudity, but the payment processor, does not. I’ve come close to having the site shut down because of that and losing access to that payment portal’s services across the board would be detrimental to my other businesses. Their reach is vast. So this move is in part, self preservation. It really does feel like we’re in a puritanical time online with a handful of gate keepers. SESTA and FOSTA really did a number on the expression of nudity and sexuality.

You’ll still need to be a member, but now its free to sign up. If you’re paid for an annual membership and are upset about it, drop me a line and I’ll happily refund the remainder of your membership.

This path, this career has never been about the money for me. Of course everyone needs to be able to support themselves. Long ago I decided I’d never be a starving artist. I would also never compromise on what I wanted to be doing just to make more money. I’m a commercial artist and I’m extraordinarily lucky to be able to earn a comfortable living with my craft, doing what I love, doing what I’m good at.

So, how can you continue to support this work you may ask? And thank you for asking! The print of the month club is still available at $15/month. There is physical work for sale in the Store and more on the way. I am looking at some kind of tip jar, that could be fun.

In the immortal words of Joe Walsh, “I can’t complain but sometimes I still do. Life’s been good to me so far.” Lets see where we go from here.

-Cheers!