Consequently I am pleased to announce that I will be in the Salt Lake City, Utah area from the 19th of August through the 24th of August. I currently have sessions scheduled for the 20th, the 21st and the 23rd. I can still take on 2 more sessions while I’m out there, if anyone is interested.

Let me preface this post by saying that “event photography” is not exactly my forté. Especially at events like this one, the backgrounds are busy no matter which way you turn, there’s next to no control over lighting situations (it’s not like you can ask them to move their entire booth over here where there’s nice open shade …), and if you blinked you missed it. Nevertheless I think I got some interesting photographs.

Here they are setting up in the morning:

The people came and looked:

The Humane Society had a booth where the kids could visit with dogs that need adopting:

There were ‘train’ rides:

A parade with Chinese dragons:

and clowns:

and this guy:

The Cub Scouts were there with a Pinewood Derby track:

Wipeout!

There were booths with face painting:

Clowns doing balloon sculptures:

“Make your own Princess Crown” kits:

Here the kids (and their parents) could learn about Pakistan:

This little leopard is checking out spices from the rainforests of Belize:

At another table there were traditional toys from eastern Europe:

Over here they could see marvels made by modern technology:

This young lady was displaying her paintings (can you believe she’s an EIGHTH GRADER!?!?!? What talent!):

In the “It’s a Small World” department, these kids ran into their favorite teacher:

Among all the other interesting people was this little diva, who just HAD to stop and pose for the camera:

and of course there was music:

and magic … gotta love Audience Participation performers!

All in all it was a great day! I didn’t even get sunburned!

I look forward to seeing you at next year’s event!

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again. ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

The folio will contain 15 11×14 photographs, will be available in the fall for $10K, now for a limited time on sale for $6500 to help subsidize his work for the coming summer.

Original available on the TED website.

In a day and age where media bombards us from all sides with information, misinformation, disinformation, and constant attempts to influence our behaviour, it seems we have to be just as cautious about the “kid friendly” material.

It’s just a drawing with some captions in it … that highlights perfectly one of the main reasons why I so strongly dislike so many Disney movies:

“What Disney Movies Teach About Women”

*Whew!* Moving SUCKS! Unless, of course, you’ve got somebody like A Perfect Move on your side! When they say “A perfect move”, they mean it! Their friendly, professional crew got me from Somersworth to Seabrook in two-and-a-half hours - load, drive and unload!

Best of all, nothing really changes! I still do all my photography on location, and I’m currently accepting commissions in the Seacoast area - from Newburyport MA to York ME, from Hampton Beach to Manchester. (As before, if it’s more than about an hour drive, we’ll need to chat about travel expenses.)

To celebrate the new digs, the first three (3) Seacoast area families to commission portraits of their kids between now and 15 July, get an 8-inch finished photograph, ready for framing (a $125- value!) at no additional charge.

But being liked isn’t everything.

I attend a number of networking groups every week, where we get to know other businesspeople and the goods and services they have to offer. On the principle that “people do business with people they know, like and trust”, these groups encourage us to meet with each other one-to-one, outside of the formal group setting, over lunch or a cup of coffee, and get to know each other better. A good idea, if you ask me.

Recently, in meeting with some of these people over a cup of joe and an apple danish, it was made known to me that some people in the meetings are … disturbed … by the photographs that I bring and share, particularly by the fact that a number of them are of boys without shirts on.

Now that clearly doesn’t bother me, and I understand that, whatever their reasons, some people object to my photographs. Which is fine, to each his own, as the old saying goes.

Which brings me back to the idea of being liked.

Life should not be a popularity contest, and neither should art.

It’s been asserted that being an artist is one of the most profoundly selfish things a person can do. I’m inclined to agree, at least in this case. I make the photographs that I make, because they’re the kind of photographs that I want to look at, that I want to hang on my walls, and that I want to make more of. The only person that I’m aiming to please when I pick up the camera is myself.

That may seem, on it’s surface, to contravene one of the fundamental principles of running a business, which states that it’s the client that needs to be pleased, but I think you’ll find, on deeper inspection, that this is, in fact, not the case.

Every good businessperson knows that their product or service is not always the right one, at the right time, for every person they come in contact with. Trying to be everything to everyone is among the surest ways of putting yourself out of business. You can never please everyone, no matter how hard you try.

Every good businessperson also knows that in order to succeed, you have to have a “Unique Selling Proposition” - something that sets you apart from every other business that’s out there.

For the artist, that “Unique Selling Proposition” is built right in - it’s your selfish desire to make things that please you. Your target market is the other people that are out there who share your aesthetic enough to want to pay you for the enjoyment that your work brings into their lives.

My selfish desire to make photographs that I like, is what makes my photographs different from those of all the other photographers out there. The desire of some other photographers to make only those photographs that will “satisfy” the most people, and won’t offend anyone, is why their work is basically indistinguishable from the work of all the other photographers out there that hold the same attitude. By “selfishly” pleasing myself, I ensure that I have something unique to offer others.

A wise man once told me that if my art isn’t offending someone, I’m not doing it right. In fact, there are certain people I don’t ever want as fans, including the likes of Pat Robertson, James Dobson, people who want to ban Jock Sturges’ and Sally Mann’s books, or indeed anybody who wants to ban anybody’s books. I don’t really care what those people think about my work, because I have no respect for them whatsoever.

Which brings me, once again, back around to being liked.

When it comes right down to it, the most important person I need to be liked by is … me. What does it matter if anybody else likes my photographs, if I don’t like them? What does it matter if anybody else likes me, if I don’t like me?

One of my favorite quotes of all time is one where he discusses the role of beauty:

When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” - Buckminster Fuller

Recently one of the episodes really hit home with me, because it put into words a thought that I previously hadn’t had the right words to express:

In this segment, Brooks talks about watching a photographer work, and how it seemed to him like a dance.

I find this in my work all the time. The act of using a camera to make a two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional world is very much like a dance. It’s all about finding the right position for the camera to be in, relative to what’s being photographed, and the positions of the various elements in the frame relative to each other, and the direction of the light relative to all the other elements.

People watching me work often raise eyebrows, scratch their heads, or even think out loud about how strange it is, when they see me climbing trees or laying on the ground or standing on furniture to get a different angle on things. Sometimes it even feels more like acrobatics to me than dance … but that’s part of what makes it so much fun.

While the result may be a two-dimensional image on a computer screen or a piece of paper, it’s making is very much a dance with light and shadow and form and texture.