I have been teaching myself how to play the banjo. Open back. Clawhammer style. More Big Rock Candy Mountain than Dueling Banjos. More wood than mother of pearl. The picking and twiddling of bluegrass just does not do it for me. It seems nervous and insecure. Old time music, on the other hand, seems more open and accepting of settling in and finding your own groove. Driving rhythm trumps melody. Less performing, more playing.
In a few days I turn 40. In a few months our fourth son will join the family fray. Time to rethink where things are headed. I am growing weary of weighing the pros and cons of edition sizes, where to send packets, trying to decide which competitions to enter, and on and on. Strategy, strategy, strategy. Position, position, position. What I am learning is that I am really not that guy. All the effort comes at the expense (emphasis on ‘expense’) of what I love about making and looking at photographs. Of course I still want the pictures I make to be seen, but right now I am looking for ways to be more like myself in the process. More emphasis on rhythm, less emphasis on melody.
So, I have decided to occasionally offer small prints for sale. 11 x 14 inch c-prints. No editions. Just prints. As many (or as few) as the world wishes to soak up. And cheap, too. $25.00 + $5.00 for shipping. That’s 30 clams to the door. (Larger versions of many of the images will still be available in the editions we have grown to expect. After all, there is a place for those as well.)
First on the shelf:
Frog, 11 x 14 inches (8 x 12 image area). C-print. $25.00 + 5.00 shipping to U.S.
Great idea. Simplify, simplify. I was once on a photo panel at a trade show, introduced by workaholic Joe McNally, and he gave a little speech that has stayed with me ever since. I can’t remember his exact words, but the essence was: when he’s all tangled in the business of photography and dealing with clients and meeting deadlines and wrangling hardware, he has to stop and remember that he’s in this business for that one moment when he’s actually taking the picture. That’s what it’s all about, and what he loves, taking the picture. And that’s what makes it all worth while. Remembering that keeps him sane. That’s related in a kind of diagonal way to what you’re saying. I guess the message is, do what you need to do so you can do what you love to do. Everything else is paperwork.