My original intentions upon creating this blog were three-fold:
1) Share photos from my recent projects, since this blog would be updated more frequently than my website.
2) Discuss the various aspects of the photography business: technical challenges, personal projects and ideas, business strategies, etc
3) Present really cool things that I have come across in the field of photography, things that inspire me and make me think, “My God, what a genius!”
The third topic is one of the the +/- parts of this crazy/wonderful profession. As with any artistic field, there is a Jekyl/Hyde aspect that goes through many artists’ heads as they paddle through the waters of inspirations. “That is a great idea”, “Whatever, I have seen it before”, “No, really, I think it’s fantastic”, “Yeah, if by fantastic you mean predictable and unoriginal”, etc, etc. I struggle with this from time to time and my way of coping is generally inaction. We all have our demons to overcome, and that is definitely mine when it comes to progressing my own artwork and ideas. Having said that, I do often thrive on inspiration I find in all forms of art/life. When I am confronted with something original and thought-provoking, I always ask myself how can I bring this back to my work. However, I think the better thing to do is that I need to also remember to take a step back and appreciate the work for the amazingness that it has brought into the world, and forget about what it can do for me.
So, on that note (i.e. long digression), I am brought back to my third intention which is recognizing amazing and inspiration artists. This one goes by the name of JR. Why did I say it like that? Well, he’s somewhat a rogue artist, think of him as a photographic Banksy. Anyone that can bring more art into the world, I say more power to them, but the fantastic thing about JR is that he focuses his efforts in run-down and often third-world locations, bringing art to some of the most “unbeautiful” places. Not only that, but he also involves the communities where the art is displayed, using local people as the subjects of his portraits. One of the most poignant projects was his Face2Face project concentrating on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, or more specifically, the people. He just currently won the 2011 TED Prize, and I think it is totally deserved.