This post is about a few random things that came across my bow over recent days.
- From now on, if you want to see my YouTube films, you must come here to see them. They will be hosted on YouTube but kept unlisted. I’ve come to learn that my YouTube channel is part of the problem. Creating work for people who talk about wanting to do something, but instead of doing it, they continue to surf from YouTube photography film to YouTube photography film, never embarking on work of their own. The people who will venture to a site, any site, to find meaningful material are those I’m interested in spending time with. Those who write me saying, “If you force me to go to your site, I won’t watch your films anymore.” Well, in the words of Curly Bill….”Bye.”
- My newsletter is indefinitely postponed. I had good intentions, but I can’t get the time I need to do it right. I can see what it should look like in my head, but I can’t get there at the moment, and I’m not sure when I would be able to.
- AG23 is dead. (sob, sob)
- If you are using AI for your photography, you should think about stopping. Bragging about using AI to do your editing, and using it for voiceovers, is so lame and so soulless it’s difficult to fathom why anyone would do it. Nothing in the online world shocks me, but this has truly been a race to the bottom over the past three months. The AI takeover of YouTube is both incredibly impressive and one of the dumbest things I’ve seen. My wife handed me the latest issue of a photo magazine, which in itself was surprising because I can’t believe it’s still being published, and the “portrait” section winners were so manipulated that they didn’t resemble humans. Middle-aged men will be the end of us all.
- A young art student reached out for advice. This is what I said. Make the work you want to get hired for, make something every day, create your own ecosystem, transfer the power from the client to you, understand the power that comes with being “a creative,” read, write, learn outside of your field. (In a nutshell.)
- If I were independently wealthy and could downsize dramatically, these are the things that would make me happy. Books, coffee, journal, camera, van, waterproof backpack, folding bike, running shoes, binoculars, hat, rain shell, thermal layer, fly rod. The second category would be motorcycle, kayak/canoe, bow and arrow, inflatable Wayne Newton doll, and Abrams tank. (Wife is somewhere on the list.)
- I learned how to shoot Nikon N-Log and grade it with RED/Nikon color, then realized Adobe Premiere and my current laptop can’t handle it. Premiere crashed again and again.
- Just finished rereading a Paul Bowles book that has me frothing about Morocco.
- I just recorded a new film for YT, then deleted it. Hard to make films like this now. Have intentions of making NEW style films at some point.
- New Mexico is seeing a stretch of cool and semi-wet weather, which is pure fantastic.
- This is a store run by my friend Ross, who is a stellar dual-threat photographer/designer. His shop is super cool and he’s stocking some of the best books around.
- I feel like I’m a bit flat on the Blurb front, meaning I’m not making enough books, but to make books, I need time to make work. Historically, this would be photography. Now, it could be written, drawn, or fabricated in some other way. The only time I make things is when I’m teaching a workshop, but while teaching, I’m not doing my thing, so it’s limited.
Comments 27
RE: AI, from one of my favorite newsletter writers: “I don’t care if your dance moves are derivative or if your prose sounds like a Hallmark card written by a lovestruck eighth grader or if it takes a year for you to reply to my email because you just couldn’t find the time. I just want whatever you create to belong to you, not the robots, because I don’t want to build anything with them.”
Author
Ha, that is spot on. I think people who are using to make their work, whether that be music, films, photographs, are lacking something. Not to say experimenting isn’t good, but the full buy in to total shit is astounding. And those WATCHING….good grief.
Sorry to hear about AG23. I know it’s long been a passion. Hope it revives. (And I need to watch that film again).
Author
Could never get the mothership to engage.
Well if you embraced AI without question (like everybody should, hum hum), you could make the newsletter AND AG23 without breaking a sweat 🙂 . Sure, it would be shitty content, but nobody seems to care and you could make a lot of $$$$$. Then you would be wealthy and could do all you listed above. Then, disrupt the system from the inside, and make more $$$$$. Same goal, more $$$$$.
Author
Exactly. Make shit, make money, soul dies with a whimper.
One of my other favorite lines… “I’m your huckleberry!”
Author
“That’s just my game.”
A while ago when I was still on Instagram and thinking about quitting, I kept thinking-how was I going to keep up to date with my favorite companies like Magnum, Vii, NatGeo etc if I quit? And then it click, just look at their actual websites! Their websites are a bazillion times better than an instagram post.
Could you please indicate which birds appear in your images? I imagine many of your readers are unfamiliar with the birds of New Mexico/USA.
Author
That’s a male house finch. The females are pretty plain, but the male always has that vibrant red swatch. They are incredible vocal.
I can say this loudly cuz it’s my demographic: “Middle-aged men will be the end of us all.” Especially White guys. Usually in Ram Trucks with Winnipeg Jets licence plates ( ok I am getting regional here)
Author
I’m amazed at how many middle aged men are completely crushed by anything trans. So busy banning books, deporting people, but trans is their kryptonite. How much free time must they have?
The whole AI thing. It’s a steep slippery slope. Used for collating and search data to find patterns leading to useful information, like the cheapest airline ticket between two places, is fine. The AI answer at the top of the Google search results is maddening, because it gives a popular answer written in flabby English that tries to cover all the bases, not a correct answer. Worst of all, it’s a plagiarism machine, stealing from writers and photographers and other artists. It could be the death of human art, in that if we get used to looking at “perfect” images, we won’t look at a real image that tells a story or evokes an emotion precisely because it’s “imperfect”.
Author
I think we’ve been headed here since digital photography became a thing. A friend always used to ask “When did reality get so boring,” after we looked heavily manipulated images. I see portrait wedding photographers using SO much post processing the people don’t even look human. But what’s equally puzzling is the people in the photographs wanting something so clearly fake.
At work we are exploring using AI to engage with the AI Google now uses for search engine optimization. The machines are now talking amongst themselves. Soon the human will be out of the loop entirely.
Also check out Mohammed Mrabet and Isabel Eberhardt if Morocco excites you.
Author
Humans are pesky.
AI helped with my graphic novel, I created the characters and backgrounds in pencil and AI did the colours, I then used Photoshop to digitally create the panels, text and voice bubbles, I never would I use it for my photo work but your not going to stop that train!!!
Author
No intention of trying to stop it. It’s just that I’ve seen what tech does to and for creatives. When the great substitution begins, it tends to not end well.
Premiere crashes again and again. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
Author
I paid extra for that.
Love your advice to that art student. Wrote those points down in my journal.
Also wrote down the “downsize” things that would make me most happy: a fair bit of overlap with yours! Singlespeed mtb, running shoes/short/ trucker hat, boots, books, bourbon, backpack, backpacking water filter, grid fleece hoody, camera, notebook, Lamy Safari w/ blueblack ink, guitar.
Author
For a moment, I read “Singlespeed,” as “Speedo.”
Hey Dan. Yes the struggle is real. I’m downsizing ( non photography gear) and moving more towards film again.
The AI thing does my head in, and I’ve even nearly had enough of digital. So many people have access to high end gear and with phones in everybody’s pockets the world is saturated with photos and Lightroom presets. It’s seems on YT now in order to get recognised for photography you have to be a film maker too, but the bulk of work has no guts. Like you say keep it close and make it for yourself. I’ve been printing 6×4’s of my work and people love looking through that rather than on a screen. It also helps me decide which photos might look good on paper before I spend the money on a large print. Have a good one bro. From little old Stewart Island,NZ
Author
that’s exactly how it works for me too…
I walked into a restaurant for the first time around happy hour and not a soul was in sight. I paused in the doorway, wondering “why?” Then, I took a photo and sat. Five minutes into my first meal I had a smile on my face. Ten minutes later the place was packed.
Good food and a reminder to think for myself. I’ll be back.
Author
Hahahah, good to hear.