Manifesto

A few months back I wrote up a list of my creative beliefs. These were relevant only to me, and only for that given moment. The more I sat with the list, and let it gestate, the more I liked it as a sort of ad hoc manifesto. You know, all the great movements seem to have a manifesto. Karl Marx had his; Martin Luther nailed his to the church door. The Situationists, the Dadaists… hell, even my therapist helped me focus on a Dharma code…a spiritual, intention focussing manifesto, so to speak.

I have this current manifesto stuck to my studio wall, and also have it as my laptop wallpaper, so I look at it on a regular basis. I incorporated different influences; some from improv, some from my therapy, some from my art studies, and some from my rage and depression (if I’m being 100% transparent, which I am…)
I thought I’d share it here, in hopes that it pushes you, dear reader, to consider your own creative, personal, expressive values.

Some thoughts on each:

“Inactivity is not laziness.” There is great value in doing nothing, and if given the time and space, to do nothing for as long as possible.

“Destruction is creation.” I cribbed this from Picasso, thought I think it is a biblical idiom originally. It really rings true for me, especially in regards to my art practice over the past couple of years.

“Give things away.” Sharing my thoughts, my words, my blog, my podcast, my zines, my photos is an integral part of my interaction with my muse and with my world.

“Expect no reward.” Money, fame, and validation are all fine and good, but I try to create (and to live) with no expectations of profit, monetary or otherwise.

“Expect no audience.” No one gives a shit about you and your artwork. Make it anyway.

“Make boredom valuable.” Much of life is underwhelming, if not outright mind-numbing drudgery. Use this reality as fodder for thinking of things to create.

“Make something every day.” Take a photo, write a note, sing a song, bake a loaf of bread. One creative act a day keeps the wolves at bay.

“Remain curious.” Hard to be bored when there is wonder all around you.

“Say ‘Yes, and…’’ ” As in improv, so in life. Agree and add to other ideas. Saying “no” ends all potential immediately.

“Be the ‘you’ the world needs.” A bit woo woo, a bit snowflakey, but I don’t care. You were born, you’ll die. Be the best version of yourself you can be.

“Live until you die.” Like they say in Shawshank Redemption…. Didn’t realize it was a Stephen King quote.

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feel free to snag this image for yourself…

2022: 4 Re-visiting old work

Taking a knife to work from decades ago. It has been at turns liberating, frustrating, violent, and ultimately…rewarding.

“Any Day Now” by Elbow

What's got into me
Can't believe myself
Must be someone else
Must be

Any day now how's about getting out of this place
Anyways
Got a lot of spare time
Some of my youth and all of my senses on overdrive

Don't play Coltrane you will sleep at the wheel
Eyes on horizon
Don't sleep at the wheel

2020: 8 (No Judgement)

Wrapping up quite a week. Here’s a re-cap: pre-production for a commercial shoot, improv rehearsal, Tuesday night photo book meet up, camera club judging (more on that) a 12 hour day on set yesterday, followed by two improv sets in Santa Fe last night. Oh, yeah, a visit to my doctor since I am still sick with the crud… four weeks and counting. Good times… I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

Thursday night was an event that I had booked many months ago… something that had almost fallen off my radar, honestly. A local group of photographers called the Enchanted Lens Camera Club had asked me to judge their monthly photo competition. The theme was “Taken on a Smart Phone.” I was excited to review the work, especially since I was curious about how a group of serious photo enthusiasts would tackle the challenge of only shooting with their phones. Truth be told, the commitment to be their judge took me more time than I had anticipated, but my passion for photography pushed me to give the work the time and consideration it deserved. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the submissions overall. And there were a handful of real gems in the almost 90 photos I reviewed. Amusingly enough, the photo I chose as my favorite of the night was a shot of fishermen taken in Porto, Portugal… a very special place to me personally.

Part of my obligation was to critique each photo as part of a talk / presentation to the group. I have a bit of a problem giving criticism to anyone photographically, but I also wanted to provide constructive feedback to the group. I hope I struck a balance in my critique. A few members personally thanked me afterwards… and no irate shutterbugs were waiting for me in the parking lot, so I guess all went over well. They also gave me the chance to give a 10 minute presentation of my own work. I focussed on my self-publishing efforts, as I thought it was a topic many in the group would not immediately consider as an outlet for their own photography. It was a nice chance for me to reflect on this journey of photo book printing that I find myself on, and it came at a good time, as I’m prepping my next project as I write this.

I quickly edited a short 15 second video of my books to include in my presentation. Thought it would be fun to also share it here. Life is short… print your photos.

2019: 15 (Improvise)

Besides photography, my other current passion is improv. I love creating with a team of like-minded performers, reacting to each other in the moment. In improv, you work with a suggestion, and add something to that suggestion. The method is known as “yes, and…” and it is the core of positive creative development in improvising.

The relevance of this approach extends into other areas of my life, both professionally and personally. Case in point, I am currently part of a group of local photographers who have the opportunity to mount a group show of our work. We have a unifying theme to the show, and it has been an interesting process seeing how our work compliments each other. What has been even more amazing, though, has been the improvisational nature of hanging the show. We worked as a group this week to hang the show, and it was a great exercise in collaboration, of “yes, and”-ing each other as we curated the groupings of images.

The show is shaping up to be something really special. I’ll be sharing a more formal announcement about the details soon. It’s been a refreshing exercise in teamwork and support and for that I am particularly grateful.

2019: 2 (Riding For The Feeling)

Trying to do one good thing a day to further along my creative practices.

This week included doing a small architectural photo shoot for a friend, which I found surprisingly enjoyable. Put my ultra-wide angle lens to good use.

Trying to bring my recent trip to Naples into tangible focus by working on a layout for my next self-publishing venture. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

On a related note, improv classes up in Santa Fe resumed this week. It’s a joy to play with nothing but thoughts in my head. I know there are correlations between my photography and my improv; I see it in my layouts for sure. I also see the irony of writing about improv (yes, and…) and posting a photo that blatantly speaks the opposite. Such is life, always opposing viewpoints, so often at the same time.

City of Ghosts & Dreams

City of Ghosts & Dreams

Scenes from the streets of New York City. Visual improvisation from the early days of 2017. 

I am excited to share a new body of work on my website today. The series is a bit of a departure for me, in that it is all color photography. The pairing of the images are the result of a kind of visual improvisation, both in my approach to how I shot, as well as how I created the resulting diptychs. Everything was shot with one camera and one lens, during an extended stay in New York during the Spring of 2017. The shift of political and social winds could be felt as I roamed the streets, though I tried (but failed) to not make any overt political statements with the images. I guess the personal is political, as they say. This series will be the subject of a new book I will be releasing in the very near future. I hope you enjoy.