Current Mood: lolling at drama

I can't believe I found this! I know at least a few people on my friend list will recognize/remember this without any explanation!

Current Mood: nostalgic

I has new computer! It was my bday on friday so I got my mom to lend me the money I lacked to buy this baby! 17" 720p screen, 8600GS nvidia graphics card, 2 gigs ram, and 1.67 dual core processor. I'm definitely satisfied! This thing'll defintily do all the photoshopping I need, it'll blow through illustrator, AND I get to play TF2 and CS source. I'm a happy otter! And it has a built in webcam ~grins~

I came across this in a really round-about-way through Deviant art (by the way I updated! http://keigh101.deviantart.com/ ). And I REALLY like it. I don't know all how many "creative professionals" read my LJ, or, really, how many at all for that matter. But I've had this EXACT frustration often when looking for a job, permanent or as a temporary gig, as a photographer.

to the article (by the way it was originally posted to Craig's list, a site which I absolutely love): I didn't cut 'cause I absolutely recommend the read (it's at least worth the annoyed scroll past that I think most people'll give it if only one person likes it).

Every day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking “artists” for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.

But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.

To those who are “seeking artists”, let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?

More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them.

And this is not really a surprise.

In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.

So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?

Would you offer a neurosurgeon the “opportunity” to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him “a few bucks” for “materials”. What a deal!)

Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?

If you answered “yes” to ANY of the above, you’re obviously insane. If you answered “no”, then kudos to you for living in the real world.

But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?

Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.

A few things you need to know;

1. It is not a “great opportunity” for an artist to have his work seen on your car/’zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a “great opportunity” for YOU to have their work there.

2. It is not clever to seek a “student” or “beginner” in an attempt to get work for free. It’s ignorant and insulting. They may be “students”, but that does not mean they don’t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a “student” once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid.

3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it’s one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their “portfolio”. They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It’s not compensation. It’s their right, and it’s a given.

4. Stop thinking that you’re giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.

5. Students DO need “experience”. But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the “experience” they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother’s house when they were seventeen?

If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.

6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to “submit work for consideration”. They may even be posing as some sort of “contest”. These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the “contest”, or be “chosen” for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or “spec”, work. It’s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, please visit www.no-spec.com.

So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are “spec” gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them.

And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free… please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you’re accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.

HAPPY B-DAY LAZYFOX


Now everyone who knows 'im do the same and go pester Josh for being so damned OLD!

Current Mood: mischievous
Current Music: happy B-day song by NOFX

Wow, I was pissed off yesterday, But I'm doing great today. I think There've been way too many people in the house way too much and it started getting to me.

Today's pretty cool 'cause I just got a phone call for an interview! Yay! It's for Black's Photography, so on the plus side it's at a photo store, on the negative it's at Black's (which is great for consumer photography, but it's a joke for beyond that). I'm pretty stoked about it though. I've been loving my free time but I've been quasi starving and DEFIITLY feeling the burn of such a limited income. However, I'm not sure though if I'm a shoe in for the job. The position is retail, not photo editing or printing or whatever. So though I've massive experience in the latter, I've only really worked one retail job... I'll just exagerate I guess. I mean, half of my jobs had a retail aspect to them anyway.

Wish me luck!

An update on things that've been going one that isn't angry or depressed (who'd have ever known I have more than those two emotions ; P).

I haven't done too much. Still working for Kevin Clark doing photo editing. Photoshop CS2 works way faster than CS did so I'm SUPER happy about getting that a few weeks ago. I've been spending a lot of time sleeping in and drinking coffee. I'm all about the low stress environments. OH! I got my photo paper!!! It was 120$ for my box of 20x24" colour photo paper, and I just looking at it. Unfortunatly I haven't really taken any quality photos to print yet. I've got some from the summer trip, but those are on 35mm negatives so they won't blow up all too well. I've been playing around with the beautiful 4x5" Camera (for anyone I haven't already talked their ear off: The 4x5" camera means each negative is 4" by 5". SUPER BEAUTIFUL QUALITY!) Unfortunatly I'm less than skilled at portraiture with such a cumbersome camera. So I've just strengthened my resolve to improve said skills!
By the end of the semester I'm going to have a good amount of portraiture, both artistic and glamor, in my portfolio. I'm nearing the point where I'm not going to be in school and unless I want to be working FOR photographers for the next half of a decade I have to get on that portfolio!!! I mean, I can photograph better than most of the advertisements I see; all I need is access to equipment and the time to prove it. And that's exactly what I have right now!

This rant is brought to you by Liam Sheriff.

So According to my roomate Photography is not art. It's pretty, and definitly worthy being put on a wall, but it's just not a real way to express whatever art is. Apperently he knows just "whatever" art really is. I've heard this before from other people and I waived it off because I didn't have enough time to barate someone with the hypocrosies that they don't realize they spouting when they claim one medium is art and another is not.
But this was, and is, too much. I consider him a friend (despite the fact he has no respect for me as a person), and I'm getting sick of waiting for him to stop looking down at me.

Of all people I wouldn't expect a FILM MAKER (well, film student) to disqualify photography as art. Considering that it is such a critical aspect of film. Then again he doesn't seem to find well framed, well balanced, and well planed out scenes a must in film. Which I think is kinda stupid because a well shot scene allows for better immersion of the audience into the film (but this IS from a photographer's point of view). I'm not saying that anything I've ever photographed is art. I personally don't believe any of my work should be classified as such. I'm still trying to find something, that when I'm finished, I truly believe exemplifies what art is. But by saying photography isn't art he's elevating himself above me with nothing but his OPINION. And -I mean- how could you say cinema is art but photo isn't. Film is comprised of many things: music, acting, lighting, film/photography, script and plot (and probably more which I'm forgetting). So because it has more elements it can be labeled genuine? Is the message that makes the art? Lots of films are dick and fart jokes, and lots of photo is just pretty scenery. But in both feilds there are impactful pieces of history. He had NO argument as to why his choice of medium is respectable while mine is tripe. I tried to get him to say something, so that I could feel he had some THOUGHT behind his blanket statment. But it came down to the fact that he really likes movies, and not so much photos. I honestly don't think he's going to succeed as an artist. Not with the closed mind he has right now. He's going to piss off way too many people to be able to convince anyone to fund him. I don't wish him ill, I wish he would take a step back from himself and just be willing to relax the rigid mindframe and opinions he refuses to allow to be challenged.

I WISH I could be so confident with what I do; believe that I like things because they're the superior choice, and not that I simply have a fondness for them. Art is so fucking subjective that I've spent the last three years surrounded by people who spend the majority of their time trying to find a definition for it. I've come to my own conclusion: art can be pretty much everything. But also that art can be more than something you sell. That it has potential to be something which brings awareness, provokes the improvement, or directly improves, social conditions and the lives of people that probably don't have the time to sit around and take photos all day.

When people ask me what art is I tell them:
Art is a way to never work a day in your life. But the responsibility of having an audience is to help those without a voice.

Current Mood: frustrated

Going up island to pick up some of my material possessions which I haven't seen for a good four months. I'm FINALLY going to not be living out of my backpack... wow.

Current Mood: Kinda rejected, actually

the toronto bus terminal. I catch a bus out to rocheter new york at noon. I would have liked to see more of toronto other than college street, that other street, and one of the worst kept over priced hostels I've yet to see. Ah well, maybe next time. aaaaand my internet is about to run out so this is where I say good bye. Cheers all.