“This is not a hobby, this is my life,” Kazu Nakajima
The Walkie Talkie videos with Paulie B are amazing. As my curiosity about photography has ramped up, I’m devouring stuff like this, just taking it all in.
And I’ve thought this – what if I’m a photographer in my 50s?
I mean, I’m an absolute novice with any and all of it.
Internet marketing stuff? Email newsletters? Editorial planning and all that? Sure. I got 20+ years of doing that.
But what does a year being serious about photography look like? A dedicated practice? A system?
Love this so much, from Tina Roth Eisenberg (Swiss Miss):
“This past Saturday I invited my neighbors and a few local friends to a “pop up coffee shop” in my kitchen.
The premise: Doors are open between 9am and noon. Coffee and tea is flowing and there are baked goods and fruit to snack on. Pop in for a quick hello or hang for as long as you’d like.”
Like I mentioned yesterday in ‘TRADITIONAL MEDIA KILLED IT ALL,’ the quote that got me was, “(podcasting) started as a homegrown endeavor before traditional media got into the game.”
“Blockbuster was also constantly maligned as the corporate behemoth that bowdlerized mom-and-pop video shops.”
Oh, yeah, that’s right. The town I grew up in had several mom-and-pop video stores, one was run by people I knew!
But then Blockbuster rolled in, and the mom-and-pop establishments closed one by one.
It’s like maybe these corporate giants who waltz into our communities don’t have our best interests in mind (see also Conde Nast buying Pitchfork, Bandcamp left in the hands of Epic Games).
It’s just crazy to me that people are having a hard time earning money making something so many other people clearly want.
Well, part of the problem is that people aren’t paying for it, right?
Right. They’re accustomed to getting it for free.
That’s the hole in the business model.
Most people ain’t paying for shit.
There was a time when Limp Bizkit sold a million albums in one week. Now artists on labels with managers and lawyers are lucky to sell 50,000 in a month.
You used to have to pay money to go see a movie. Now you pay a few bucks a month for a few streaming services and never buy another DVD
Yes, a small percentage of diehard fans support via Patreon, or Substack, or whatever, but for the most part there’s been more entertainment options that exist in the world.
Think about the 100 or 200 or 1000 things we read a day, and watch, and listen to. In a DAY. A MONTH.
I pay my ISP $56/month, and some streaming services. I don’t think I spend $100 a month on everything, and I can fill my eyes and ears with “content” every second of every day.
And we’re all paying that $100 every month, and more (much more), and a few people are making money from making the things that everyone loves.
Again, from the interview: people are having a hard time earning money making something so many other people clearly want.
From A Quick Brown Fox program direct and bike racer Ayesha Mcgowan, re: banning trans athletes from competition:
Don’t @ me pretending to be a scientist, a member of the peloton, or even a savior for women’s sports. Women athletes are underpaid (if at all), under-supported, underestimated, and face a world of very real problems in the present that actually need solving. Banning transgender athletes is not helping us in any way. It’s cruel and sad and wrong. If you really want to save women’s sports, learn ways to help solve the problems we are actually facing.
The Canadian wildfires left a bunch of us in the dark. Not total darkness, but it blocked out the blue skies and sun, and you could smell the smoke indoors, and it made your eyes scratchy.
Though it wasn’t as orange as the photos below, it was still very unsetting and creepy.
I figured instead of linking to big media coverage, why not see what people have posted on Flickr?
“If you’re constantly reluctant to show up and do the work, maybe this isn’t really what you want and need to do. Maybe you need to explore other disciplines, and see what flares your creativity with a stronger passion.”
This was regarding writing, but like any good writing, it applies to more than just writing.
Some people just can’t get into running, which I understand – I’ve been running for seven years now, and that first mile still sucks.
But eventually I muscle (or shuffle) through, and by mile four I’m like, “I don’t ever want to stop running.”
And I can’t remember a week where I haven’t ran like, every other day.
Unless I’m injured and can’t run, I don’t know, I’ll always get in a run. It might not be pretty, it might not be three miles, but I’ll do that work.
Core work?
Replying to my bookkeeper?
Playing bass?
Yeah, I just can’t show and up do those things most days. Whatever.
