Art or money: do we sell out?

There has been a lot going on “behind the scenes” (so to speak) in Fluffytek recently. Strange things afoot, new directions etc.

1. Richard has talked a lot about his photographic intentions for the future, which naturally change and evolve as life goes on. However I won’t say much about them, because it s a private matter for him, and its up to him to choose if he mentions it on the blog or not. But many discussions, ideas and brainstorming are going on, of the good creative kind. Fun!

2. We are getting an increasing number of private clients. This is good.
We are in a dilemma though. Should we gear Fluffytek towards varied and expanding art that we enjoy shooting, or should we embrace the commercial side of things?

There is a definite market around here for private porfolios of b+w nudes for private clients, much in the style of the photograph below. They have found the web site (even though we have not publicised it) and they want to look beautiful too.

Rich likes shooting this style of photography, but he is afraid that the more he shoots commercially for private portfolios, the more it might become less about the art, and more about an income. Money is good of course, but we always saw Fluffytek as a passion for art, and thus have the freedom to shoot what we want, rather than set it up as a business and shoot to a formula.

The worry is that shooting to a particular style might perhaps kill the passion. Rich wants to expand the styles and eroticism of his work - we have tentatively shown some of the more adventurous erotic and/or fetishy images (which you guys 'n' gals would find completely acceptable because your boundaries are wider) to private clients, who were universally mortified. They love the fluffy nudes. The "dodgy stuff" doesn't sit well with the general public.

Advice from you lovely folks out there would be appreciated, as I know many of you do both commercial work and shoot for private artistic purposes.
ON-BLOG comments only please. I think your advice would benefit others.

3. My last post, the long-short story, drew several “off-blog” comments, a few of which went along the lines of “Are you sure you want to air your dirty laundry in public?” and “Is this the best place for this type of writing?”

My initial reaction was of course, “This is my blog, I can write what the hell I like!” But then I thought about it, and thought about it a whole lot more, and thought, maybe they are right.

When we started the blog, Rich wanted us to keep it all related to photography. I have definitely let this goal drift recently. My writing has expanded.
I love writing, as you know. General articles about life, the universe and everything, plus fiction, non-fiction, a mixture of both - as was the long-short story – unfortunately with blogs, people automatically assume the stories are completely factual and autobiographical. Well, so it was to some extent, but also I was trying my hand at a bit of creative writing…hence the title “story”. Judging by the responses, this is not the place for that.

The irony is that Rich has reversed his original position completely. He says I should write whatever I want, and who cares about what other people think?
On the other hand, I have come to realise that his original opinion was probably right, especially if we are possibly choosing a more commercial route. Posts about photography and art would be more in keeping with the business of Fluffytek, and I should post less private stuff, less creative stuff, less of my ramblings. To that end, I am contemplating moving my non-photographic related writing (which I MUST do or I’ll simply explode) to another blog, unrelated to this site, under a different name.

Again all thoughts on this from friends, Romans and countrymen (and countrywomen) gratefully received.




The beautiful Holli B, taken last year when she was pregnant.