thinking out loud... just another day
since i opened the new website, which is something that i should have figured out how to do years ago, my thinking is starting to change about where i show my work. first thoughts are to stop displaying them in flickr and facebook. not entirely though. i will still store them in flickr but i may decide to start to only store them there privately. two reasons for this. one is that so few people look at or comment on my photos, the social networking aspect of using the site is null and void for me now. i don't feel like it's of any use to keep showing new work there. whether i'll keep displaying my existing work there or not, i'm not sure yet. it's something i debated earlier this year but that was more of spiritual conflict. i still think there is some spiritual conflict elements in this current strain of thought but it's just not quite as gooey. 2nd reason to keep storing photos in flickr is because of it's direct connection to making blurb books. if at some point in the future i discover that smugmug incorporates a method to feed photos into blurb, then i won't need flickr at all.
regardless, here is the gist of what i'm moving towards. i've done enough advertising. i've put my stuff out there for free access long enough. on flickr, anyone who is a contact of mine has the option to view original size images. i don't think they are able to right-click download them. they should not be but there is screen capture software that anyone can use to copy images and do with what they please. i'm not making money from images that people can steal from me like that. facebook is worse. there is a download button attached to every single photograph that i have saved there. high resolution. you don't even have to do a screen capture. why pay me for a print when you can just download a digital copy and print it yourself? sadly, i think that i'll have to take grave steps in facebook. i have to delete all the photos i've already uploaded, which will remove all the comments any people have made. in the way that flickr used to be the place for getting feedback on photos, facebook is now the place to get feedback. the only thing that is different is that in flickr you get feedback from other photographers. in facebook it's fan adoration.
i've got a fan base established. or so it seems. if i stop showing photos on facebook, eventually someone will notice and may ask, hey darko - did you stop taking photos? and i'll say no. i'm just storing/displaying them in my online store. right now the prices in the store are dirt cheap. and i'm allowing them to be viewed quite large. i think i have to change both of those things. modelmayhem is great in a way. you can only display 200 photos if you are a pro member and images are low resolution. no one complains. much.
this is all partly because i deserve to make a living from the hard work that i do. i worked really hard this week and i have been in physical pain for two days since my last shoot. and there is nothing i can do about it but force myself to rest and wait for it to get better. if i had some income there are better things i could do to take care of my body. i got a 30 minute chair massage on tuesday this week, the day before my big photo shoot because i was in extreme muscular pain and was afraid of being very restricted during the photo shoot on wednesday. i was not going to cancel the shoot because of the pain i was in, but i would have been in misery during the shoot. and after the shoot i would have been much worse than i am now. that massage worked wonders. but it cost $30 that i do not have. i'm so wiped out from this shoot on wednesday that i have not been able to sit at my computer to view all of my photos yet or begin editing them. i've edited two so far. they are in facebook. i think they are the last though.
so back to the spiritual crisis - if you lay out all your cards, there is no mystery left. i realized the essence of this mystic thought about a year ago and felt very inspired to become hermetic and not show any of my work publicly any more. it was a deep feeling inside me that was stirred of wanting to stop flashing every single thing i created outwardly. it's like being in an art class and running to the teacher every time you draw a new picture. i have gotten over the need of being acknowledged by the teacher and i only do it now because it is a satisfying experience for me. the continuation of this project. the continuation of this creative process. but its like i've spread my seed for the public to trod on. no one appreciates my work anymore because they rely on me to always show it for free. there is no mystery. true artists do not live like this. i'm an imitator. it's partly to blame on my upbringing. i don't know anything about how artists are supposed to live or behave other than what i've learned from cinema and word of mouth. i've never known an artist. well, there was one. and he was crazy. i'm kinda crazy. i need to become fully crazy though. no one is ever going to appreciate or hunger for my work if i don't start making it hard to find.
that is all.
regardless, here is the gist of what i'm moving towards. i've done enough advertising. i've put my stuff out there for free access long enough. on flickr, anyone who is a contact of mine has the option to view original size images. i don't think they are able to right-click download them. they should not be but there is screen capture software that anyone can use to copy images and do with what they please. i'm not making money from images that people can steal from me like that. facebook is worse. there is a download button attached to every single photograph that i have saved there. high resolution. you don't even have to do a screen capture. why pay me for a print when you can just download a digital copy and print it yourself? sadly, i think that i'll have to take grave steps in facebook. i have to delete all the photos i've already uploaded, which will remove all the comments any people have made. in the way that flickr used to be the place for getting feedback on photos, facebook is now the place to get feedback. the only thing that is different is that in flickr you get feedback from other photographers. in facebook it's fan adoration.
i've got a fan base established. or so it seems. if i stop showing photos on facebook, eventually someone will notice and may ask, hey darko - did you stop taking photos? and i'll say no. i'm just storing/displaying them in my online store. right now the prices in the store are dirt cheap. and i'm allowing them to be viewed quite large. i think i have to change both of those things. modelmayhem is great in a way. you can only display 200 photos if you are a pro member and images are low resolution. no one complains. much.
this is all partly because i deserve to make a living from the hard work that i do. i worked really hard this week and i have been in physical pain for two days since my last shoot. and there is nothing i can do about it but force myself to rest and wait for it to get better. if i had some income there are better things i could do to take care of my body. i got a 30 minute chair massage on tuesday this week, the day before my big photo shoot because i was in extreme muscular pain and was afraid of being very restricted during the photo shoot on wednesday. i was not going to cancel the shoot because of the pain i was in, but i would have been in misery during the shoot. and after the shoot i would have been much worse than i am now. that massage worked wonders. but it cost $30 that i do not have. i'm so wiped out from this shoot on wednesday that i have not been able to sit at my computer to view all of my photos yet or begin editing them. i've edited two so far. they are in facebook. i think they are the last though.
so back to the spiritual crisis - if you lay out all your cards, there is no mystery left. i realized the essence of this mystic thought about a year ago and felt very inspired to become hermetic and not show any of my work publicly any more. it was a deep feeling inside me that was stirred of wanting to stop flashing every single thing i created outwardly. it's like being in an art class and running to the teacher every time you draw a new picture. i have gotten over the need of being acknowledged by the teacher and i only do it now because it is a satisfying experience for me. the continuation of this project. the continuation of this creative process. but its like i've spread my seed for the public to trod on. no one appreciates my work anymore because they rely on me to always show it for free. there is no mystery. true artists do not live like this. i'm an imitator. it's partly to blame on my upbringing. i don't know anything about how artists are supposed to live or behave other than what i've learned from cinema and word of mouth. i've never known an artist. well, there was one. and he was crazy. i'm kinda crazy. i need to become fully crazy though. no one is ever going to appreciate or hunger for my work if i don't start making it hard to find.
that is all.
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