Month: February 2009

So, for any of you who are familiar with Neil Gaiman, and are familiar with his wonderful online journal and read it on at least a semi-regular basis, you understand the idea of his ‘closing the tabs’ posts.  If not, here is a short explination:

As the week goes on and people send cool links to him, or he finds cool sites on the interwebs, he keeps each site open in it’s own tab.  Eventually, when he has time, the posts links to all of the sites on his blog, and closes each one after posting.  Each tab has been passed to him, reflected upon, blogged, and there-by passed on.

I do the same sort of things with tabs.  As I come across cool things that inspire me or make me think in a different way, I keep the tabs open until I completely finish reading them, or I have figured out an appropriate tag to give them so I can bookmark them.

I have decided that there are many tabs that might be of great interest to someone reading this, and decided that every-once-in-awhile I should do a ‘closing the tabs’ post, though I much prefer to call it ‘my inspiration for the week’.

So here you go:

My Inspiration for the week:

A Survey of London’s Remaining Professional Darkrooms is a great photo essay about, well, London’s remaining professional darkrooms.  I found this thanks to Polaroidgirl on Twitter.  (I follow many awesome photographers and artists on Twitter!)

I think these are awesome and I almost want one of my camera cards to die so I can make one!  (Also sent to me on twitter from someone cool though I can’t remember who now)

I really like the idea of this sketchbook especially since the pages are meant to be screen-sized…but I always feel like I can make notebooks myself.  Having the grid would definitely be nice though!  (Also from Twitter)

I <3 these Kodak films about Mr. Pixel and Mrs. Grain!  They make me smile :)  (Found on Twitter from Kodak’s Chief Blogger)

Films like these of the awesome stop action type make me secretly wish I was a video artist…(Yup, it’s from Twitter!)

Enough links for now.

‘Til next time…

Today, for whatever reason, was one of those hard days that you feel like will never end. 

There were a couple of blog posts that I read today that did help a bit – at least from a “creative-photographer-not-a-waitress” point of view:

First there was this post at Smashing Magazine about 10 ways to make your photography skills better.  I’m not trying to brag at all, but I have noticed that I am doing (or at least try to do) many of them on a regular basis. 

Then, there was this blog on HDR photography which intrigued me.  This is the first I have really read about the subject, so I’m still a little uncertain about it.  Perhaps more of a discussion on that will be in a later blog.  Anyway, there are some great pictures in that posting.

And of course – Fashion!  (“Fierce!!!”)  The Daily Beast’s posts on Fashion Week made me smile :)  Lots of great pictures to look at!

This day has been long enough for me.  Signing off for the night.

New pictures to come soon!

~Jes

I’ve been planning all day.
Planning things to make for Art-A-Whirl in May. Planning things to post on Etsy. Planning things to make for the gift shop at BLCA.
Now if only I had the time off from my job to make these plans become more than just plans.
I saw a quote the other day on Twitter from Cory Doctorow
“Down economies are golden ages for bohemia as creatives are released from the rat race and make art instead”
It is an interesting quote and one I have been thinking about for most of the week.
Does it really release artists from the rat race? Or do we have to work harder to make enough money to get supplies to keep creating? Or does it simply remind us that we can live with a lot less than we are probably used to and squeak by on having just a little money and making more of the things we need. I have not yet come to a conclusion.
This year is the first year that I will be participating in Art-A-Whirl. I’ve already spent all of my budget so far paying for the membership and advertisement fees. So, the work I will be making to hopefully sell will come from supplies I already have. Small prints, blank cards, and work that is already framed. Hopefully it will be a fun experience and something I will want to do again! Though this brings one more question to my mind:
By putting your art work on small prints, and blank cards, and creating multiples and selling them at a lower price, does this cheapen the work and make people feel like it is worth less, or does this make you accessible to a much broader audience where people that couldn’t afford a bigger piece are still enticed to by some of your work because they truly enjoy it and can find something they can afford? I have heard arguments for both sides and think each have their points. I however feel there are many artists whose work I greatly enjoy but cannot often afford larger pieces, so instead I find myself buying small prints, magnets, and cards from them in the hopes that someday I’ll be able to go back and purchase a larger piece. Perhaps that is my answer…