Photography Doodles

Time Is Getting Short

I’ve always been more of a doodler. I tried drawing comic book characters and realistic sketches of my favorite heroes growing up, but I didn’t have a natural talent. Maybe I could have practiced enough to get good, but I didn’t have the patience.

Instead, I came up with a doodle style that’s all my own. My drawing style and abilities haven’t changed all that much since the fourth grade. I can draw a decent newspaper cartoon character, ala Peanuts or The Far Side, but Erik Larsen-style Spider-Man is a step too far.

And that’s fine. I worked hard to get where I am, and I’m comfortable with where I landed.

We can’t be good at everything. Some of it is down to practice, and some of it involves our natural talent. The combo of practice and talent can lead to expertly-developed skills. Think Eddie Van Halen on guitar, or Ann Patchett with writing – skills take both an innate ability and an obsessive habit.

For hobbies, I think that the doodle mentality is just fine. It’s okay to work up to a certain level of skill, and then learn anything extra if needed, but only if needed.

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Organizing Information

Organizing Information

Writing non-fiction, a writer is basically organizing information (facts, data, analysis, observations) for your audience. It’s creative filtering, using words, sentences, and paragraphs to make sense of the world.

With photography, a photographer does much of the same, but uses portraits, pictures, and projects to organize visual information and tell a story to an audience. 

Words are the basic units of measurement when writing. In photography, it’s the individual photograph. But for both, it takes talent and experience to make those basic units do work in an audience’s mind. What do they say when put together?

Taking photos is fun, but organizing information is where photography’s true power shines through.

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A Coney Island High

All these years after Peter Steele’s death and I’m still discovering fantastic Type O Negative tunes.

“Why buy a greatest hits album?” I asked myself at the time. Now I hear these unreleased tracks and I’m kicking myself. 

Autumn is Type O season, and thanks to the YouTube rabbit hole, I’m finding some great stuff. 

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Introducing Musicians In Jackson

Banjo Mike Evans

After two years of work, interviews, and shooting, my newest community portrait project, Musicians In Jackson, is live and available. 

The project, like my previous Artists In Jackson project, is available on the web and in book form. It features local musicians doing interesting things. Each of them represents a unique facet of Jackson’s creative community, from musical theatre to rap to folk, and many styles and media channels in between. 

Together, they help make our small Midwestern city a great place to live, work, and play. They help entertain us, heal us, remind us, and connect us. Our musical scene is small, but tight-knit, and gets a ton of support thanks to local venues that value arts and culture. Jackson musicians are just as talented as anywhere else.

Musicians In Jackson took longer than I expected, and I struggled along the way to get the portraits, interviews, and stories done. Something snapped in me earlier this year, where I said to myself, “Enough is enough.” This summer, I made an arbitrary deadline – autumn 2019 – put it out into the world, and then worked like hell to finish the project. 

And here it is. I’m excited to share these 14 local musicians with you, and I ask for your support: purchase the book, visit the website, and help me spread the word. 

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A Great Anything

Musicians In Jackson book

“I believe anyone can become a great founder, a great engineer, a great designer, a great concept artist, a great fine art painter, a great filmmaker, a great writer…

Not that everyone will, but that anyone can. And it’s getting easier every day.” – Sahil Lavingia, founder of Gumroad. 

It’s so true. We have an infinite number of possibilities – and if there isn’t a possibility for you, you can learn something new and go create it yourself. 

I needed a platform to sell my books, keep customers up to date, and collect shipping information. Gumroad was that for me during Artists In Jackson, and it’s there for me again for the new project. It’s simple, reliable, and flexible. 

Glad to see Gumroad doing well. 

 

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