For Love not Money

A rare post by our resident artiste...

Sooner or later all photographers go through a stage where they ask themselves what they want to do with their photography. What is their purpose? Why are they doing it? Over the last few months I have been thinking about these questions.

As you can imagine life is pretty full right now, and I have therefore decided that my photography should be about having fun and shooting what I want to shoot. I have been looking at the various aspects of photography and trying to decide what I really want to do. As with all things, sometimes it is easier to start with things you don't want to do and by a process of elimination deduce the things you do want to do!

So to this end I have decided that I won’t shoot any more private commissions. In fact, no paid work whatsoever. There are several reasons for this:

1. When I started my photography I was taken in by the view, which is often projected by the popular photography forums, that to be considered a good photographer your work must be such that people will pay you for it. Photographers who shoot to show or sell prints but have another day job are often portrayed as GWC's who are not doing it for the right reasons, and that the only valid reason to take photographs should be for payment. Only then will you be considered to have “made it” as a successful photographer. So I set out to be good enough to be paid, and then after I was paid, I realised that this was probably the worst reason to take a photograph. Photography should be an art, and art by its nature is seldom created on demand.

2. I don't get a lot of free time, so when I do shoot I want it to be for me.

3. I want to actually show the pictures I take. Private commissions are by their very nature private. I want to show my pictures on the blog and elsewhere, so these goals are mutually incompatible.

4. I want to shoot what I want to shoot. Most private commissions are about shooting what the client wants. At that point it stops being for pleasure and becomes a job, and I certainly don’t want another one of those.

So, I will sell prints, I will shoot for friends, but I won't shoot for money.

Stephen Haynes mentioned the term “dilettante.” I like this term as it represents the aspects of art that are free from commercial constraints. It is important to remember that until recent history, those who furthered the arts and sciences did not do so for pay, they were often wealthy and were only interested in their own amusement and education.

dilettante \DIL-uh-tont; dil-uh-TONT; dil-uh-TON-tee; -TANT; -TAN-tee\, noun:
1. An amateur or dabbler; especially, one who follows an art or a branch of knowledge sporadically, superficially, or for amusement only.
2. An admirer or lover of the fine arts.

That's me. Not that I’m wealthy of course, I’m not, but I do want to create art for no other reason than I love it. I will take photographs and create CGI art for no other reason than fun!

So if you would like a portfolio of beautiful photographs for free, then I'm your man, providing you don't mind me showing them on the blog! Oh, and coffee is good, I can be bribed for good coffee (is that TFC?)

Please note that this offer is subject to availability and no guarantee or warranty is implied. All offers carry the dilettante quality seal.



Pirate Maiden.

The Monster and the Flea

This week is software release week.
Our day-job software product is a direct competitor to a particular Microsoft product, but we are small fry in comparison to the mighty Gates Godzilla. So small, in fact, that we are merely a flea on the back of a rat on the back of the monster which is called Microsoft. But it’s a start.

There is a great deal riding on this software version, not least the ability to eat and pay the mortgage. It has been a tremendously stressful few years. My dearest partner has sweated 70+ hour weeks for over two-and-a-half-years to turn our company around. We have stressed, we have argued, we have come mighty close to losing everything.

Now it’s over.

Now all we can do is wait, and hope that potential customers will like our software enough to ditch the truly crappy Microsoft code and spend shiny hard CASH on this little flea.

Here is a little ditty that I wrote twelve years ago when we first started the company. It still seems apt! (although you will please note that I am definitely no poet)

An Ode to Mr Bill Gates

One day a famous man called Gates
Came knocking at my door.
“I wanna buy your company”, he said,
“I’d like a guided tour”.

I took him to my office,
He played with my groovy code.
“Richard, you’re a genius”, he said,
“This will surely cost a load.”

I took him to the kitchen.
He scoffed up all the food,
“And now let’s do a deal”, he said,
“I’m in a dealing mood.

“I must admit your product,
Has cost me an arm and leg.
How much do I have to pay today,
Or do I have to beg ?”

He offered me £50,000 UK pounds.
I turned down his offer flat.
“I see I’ve underestimated you”, he said,
“I am a silly prat !

“I’ll bring my millions tomorrow,
Just six or eight or ten”,
But then – oh bugger- I woke up,
And I was poor again.

Lilmummy, looking gorgeous in an eye-watering pose which would surely make me end-up in hospital (again).