Category: The Biz

Asking The Question

Posted on Posted in The Biz

Ambitious Image

The Prompt: an opportunity happens. You can buy into the dream of your life. More than what you wanted; much more than what you have. A functional darkroom, automated and operational in a commercial space, in a resort town. The cost is small, to a modestly successful business, at only 400K. This amount is less than 2 years of your current income, most of which comes from your spouse who has encouraged your taking the risk. You’ve been in business for 25 years, yet still don’t have a dedicated location, working out of your apartment.

The opportunity was there, before accident dropped it into place; made it obvious. If you are the person who can see this through, you would have seen that. You could have rented property, setup space and conducted workshops, already

most failures are failures of timidity. People tell themselves ‘no,’ at least as often as they tell themselves yes.

Q: Do you really want to do what you say you do?
Q: Is that really your dream; do you want it only as a dream?
Q: What if it doesn’t work; doesn’t make you happy; wasn’t a dream, after all?

Ask The Lost

Asking directions from the lost is a dangerous way to find your way.

Perhaps you need confidence. What do they see that you don’t. Yet, remember their journey; they are halted, not making it far, either.

Perhaps the unasked question is: “how do I get out of this? what do I tell my wife, without lettering her down too much? can I still have the dream, without having to take a chance, and turn it into the dream?”

What You Know

You can’t succeed. You haven’t so far, and since you haven’t changed, your chance of success hasn’t changed; yet you don’t want to let her, or you down.

What You Don’t Want to Know

Did you determine the measure of success correctly? You are asking people who probably have misjudged their path as badly as you have yours. Of course they are going to tell you to go for; that success is certain; and so on. There will be cautions; some showing their experience with defeat — things they’ve had fail. No one will suggest a reversal of direction, since they share the dream, and also the blindspot. Self doubt, but the underachiever’s vanity

Most failures see it coming; they just don’t know that it is because they are calling to it.

What It Really Is

A maybe: you asked them because they won’t talk you out of it; rather, they will admire you, maybe even with a little envy. Another maybe: the answer you seek is: how do I get out of this? What do I tell my wife, so that I can continue my current course. Is there some way, some question, some excuse to save me from dissapointing my wife?

Difference Between Then And Now

Posted on Posted in olden ways, The Biz

Old Teaching

In the olden days, when making a living in art photography was shocking, which is to say, unlikely; this was the period just after WWII and through Vietnam. There were few galleries, minimal collectors, and hard scrable poor museum mandates for photography. The main museum collecting photographs had been the George Eastman House, which emphasized old images, and the technology of photography. It was a tax write-off, not the best of vehicles for substantive risk, or innovation. The main byproduct was Nathan Lyons, who quit and proceeded to do much more interesting things via Visual Studies Workshop. His journey wasn’t far, less than 2 miles, but it was an alternative perspective, one which spread during a fertile growth period of photography as art, art as photography.

Photography entered the curriculum of fine art programs becoming a profession, one that carried a differing mandate from professional education schools. Fine Art schools were meant to provide an environment for development of an independent artist, one who would develop their own practice without regard to market needs, or edges.
But that changed, lasting no more than a decade. Education, all education, became job oriented after the 80’s. Since the 90’s all discussion within education has taken on the tone, and vocabulary of business development, sounding like low-grade MBA coursework. Students became clients, and customers. So it goes.

The course in fine art didn’t include business advice. Now, many books for artists feature a ‘money’ section of some sort. Art became media, and media become the alternate spelling of money, just as fashion is commerce all made up to seem something else.

Now Teaching

Change the world, or your place in it.

End the rat race, or try for the lead.

School now includes how to write advertising and a sales pitch .. That’s your artist statement.
And your teachers main income is from teaching. How much time do they give you toward getting their job?

Why It Has To Be

It has become this way since your parents, even you, expect it to be. Would you take a class, assume all that debt, if you knew you would never make any money? The school bets that you wouldn’t. Further, all schools operate as a business, even the dedicated, free standing art school. Become and alumnus and you’ll find out why I say that.

My real suggestion is don’t go to school for art. Absorb art via other means. If you have a need to create, you will. School is for teachers, not artists.

Make art; sell hot dogs