False Prophets, Used Car Salesmen, and the Temple of Muses.
November 12, 2015Well, I think it’s time to start a blog. I won’t post daily. But I
feel there are issues in my life as an artist and my pursuit of a
narrative that brings on critical thinking in a world that fights me
every day for it’s narrow and surface one. FB is not really a place for
this kind of thing. It’s too temporary in it’s attention span. It’s not
quite the Socratic dialogue I was hoping for.
I will try to bring some thought provoking posts. See if they can help some one in their own journey as well as sharing my own.
Much of my work is in bringing not just imagery that is meaningful and
enjoyable to me but that will help others think critically. In fact many
project ideas I never shoot due to that thought honest appraisal they
are not appropriate to my narrative. I feel like I am in hostile
territory and my weapon is an honest dialogue and to think critically
about my projects. To move forward with dignity and not laziness and the
spectacle, that is overwhelmingly what most photography seems to be
about. Much of it is cheapened by this notion that we can just fix it in
Photoshop or that there is no need for a craft or that because we know a
process or have a skill this means we are an artist. It’s not that
simple nor is it right to make such claims. The internet has made us all
false profits, delusional PHD’s and self awarded artists.
A lot of the work also help bring on a Socratic dialogue. In that our life should be filled with
questions and then more questions. That we should make huge mistakes
and learn from them rather than do little and accept credit for a job
well done. I will over time talk about my projects, my journey
from my first photos when I was 10yrs old to now. Why I have so much
trouble with making money and why commercial work has always been hard
for me to do consistently. My philosophy on “The long road”, and many
other subjects I hope will turn on some lights in peoples heads while
the world is falling apart into oblivion around us.
I will end today with this quote I have read and heard many times from Quinn Jacobson and other like minded fellows.
“He who approaches the temple of the Muses without inspiration, in the
belief that craftsmanship alone suffices, will remain a bungle and his
presumptuous poetry will be obscured by the songs of the maniacs.”
Plato