It's terribly anal to worry about such things, but I appreciate the motivation derived from it. The last several days have been spent searching through the archives for the best shot to serve that purpose, until finally have settled on one working-titled Under the Spell. Just started it last night, but it should be no problem to finish within a couple more days.
In general, this new "wild variety" goal has been terribly rewarding, though also quite demanding. One reason I quit making art for three years was that I'd become very leery of repeating myself, and it took a long time to figure out how to apply my values to the non-model photography. But now I actually find the model work rather a stretch to do! (The goal is to keep doing them, but find those shots that are less solemn and more dynamic.) And now the problem is risking too many desert shots!
In related news, am going to back off the frequency a little bit. Pressing myself to do (at least) one new print a week was a good exercise, but it's proven to interfere with bigger, more ambitious projects which are terribly important to me. Want to finally finish Tried and True (a manipulation that's obsessed me for about five years!) and (working title) Hell in the Making, a massive eight foot panorama, but those aren't going to get done while squeezing out at least a modest print every week.
So in this new year, think I'll be content if there's a new frontispiece every month, and then at least one or two other prints as well, so long as they're substantial. And then if other more modest pieces come through the cracks as well, it'll be all good. (As usual, would recommend following me via RSS or Twitter if you want to keep up without checking in here all the time.)
In other "new year's news," this has been the first new year since 2002 that I didn't commemorate the occasion with either a new work of art or at least a meaningful blog entry. It's my most important holiday of the year, and it felt weird to let it slip by so quietly, but have been trying to round the corner on some demons that have been plaguing me for a long time, virtually all of the last decade. (Is it any wonder I did Hint of Salvation shortly after midnight?) Can't say I've made fabulous progress, but suppose it's been fruitful to wrestle with them and try to find a way out.
But on a happier note, am looking back at the body of work released last year, and feel terribly proud to have finished twenty-four new prints. (Among which: at least one more that I think is truly historically great, bringing my total to three, or possibly four.) If you haven't stuck your head in to take in that body of thumbnails all at once, please do. Am really pleased with the broad quality level, beyond the fact that it was my most prolific year since my original heyday in 2003. (Though, granted, exactly 12 of the 24 were mostly done in 2008. But finishing them is the achievement, especially for me, haha.)
And finally in this new year's news, am finally going to change some of my approach to titling prints (as some have long clamored for), and will have a new policy this year of letting each print decide, whether it needs to be titled, untitled, or available both ways. Some of them must include their titles, but I've finally seen the light that some are much less mandatory than that. (The key revelation in my mind was realizing that I use the titles for different purposes, and therefore no strict rule needs to define application of all of them.) So besides going forward with that policy, will be making new "silent" versions of some old ones. (Never Before is the first obvious candidate.)
Oh, and as a little treat if you haven't found them yet, have you seen the new Flash-based fullscreen slideshows provided by zenFolio? I'm no fan of Flash for the web (though I love vectoring within the software itself), but I finally feel that the slideshow does my work justice, as best as it will be on a computer screen. Pick your favorite gallery and hit the slideshow button for justThorne as you've probably never seen it before. I've set the delay on 15 seconds per slide, but you can use Pause and the arrows to go through at whatever speed you like.
But always remember: I make prints. BIG prints. Sharing them on the internet is just a side-effect, lol. So please try to imagine their scale (averaging two feet on the long side).
Among each and every other new year's resolution, of course. ;-)
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It has been so exciting seeing you produce so much as you have this year and what an expansive variety of high quality stunners! That group of thumbnails is a wonder to behold!
And bring on an excess of desert shots! You're in the landscape, embrace it and share it with us! The desert, as a concept and in actuality, is fascinating.
By the way, do you normally say "lol"?!?! Haha! It took me by surprise for some reason!
Posted by: JNgaio | 20 January 2010 at 05:53 AM
Opps forgot to say I did the slideshow and it's awesome on my big, flat screen! Wowie! I was a little apprehensive but you're right, it really shows the work wonderfully well!
Posted by: JNgaio | 20 January 2010 at 05:55 AM