First day of school.

NYC DAY 2

Nothing feels worse than busy work and not being productive.  So on my 2 hour break in between classes today I visited some shops, went to a book store for some inspiration and got some photo practice in.  Street photography isn't my thing neither are cities, with that being said I'm looking to merge my style with my location.  I don't know you can call yourself a photographer if you are unable to shoot in different places, seasons or in a studio.  I think if you are a real photographer with the potential to be great your style will show through in any place, in or out of a studio and in any season.  Don't let your workflow be a crutch.  Stretch your creative brain even if the work comes out like shit (which it often does for me) work through it.  

Day 38 of 365

I am spineless when it comes to grudges.  A repercussion of growing up with brothers, I just cannot hold grudges.  I see the good in people.  I don't care for money or power.  I care for happiness, prowess and my ability to work.  I'd lend my hand out to someone who spits in my face or disrespects me because more than likely they're dealing with a lot more instability than I am.  It was good growing up with brothers and getting punched in the face over the last poptart, because now I don't sweat the little stuff.  Bills are little stuff, petty arguments are little stuff.  Family, friends, love, fun, happiness and laughing, well those are the big things.  Let go of your grudges trust me none are worth holding, not even if someone killed one of your parents like someone did mine.

 

Day 36 of 365 Finding Work

These past few weeks have been the most stressful hectic and uncertain time of my life, but I have never felt so composed.  Instead of freaking out or getting stressed about shitty situations and mistakes out of my control I have been working all summer to be a more positive person.  When bad shit happens that really only effects myself, 99% of the time it is nothing to lose sleep over unless it is about your health then yeah go to the doctor, exercise get help but I still don't think stress will help it.  I made a mental switch to feel the same way about money.  I used to freak out a lot more when it came to money but now I understand it is solely in my hands.  Speaking for myself here, there is no excuse for me to not have money.  I used to blame it on my small town, shit economy, no jobs in photography etc.  This quite frankly is BULLSHIT.  If you've got the gusto to get off your ass and be persistent and ask people lots of people daily for work, well than you will find it and thats exactly what I did.  I found manual labor work, just so happens to be the easiest work to come by because well a lot of people avoid struggle.  As for photography work, I took a different route.   I just keep producing work everyday and I let some of it find me now but for the past 2 years this wasn't how it went at all.  I was doing the same thing I did to find the manual labor side jobs I did all summer.  I would email my favorite clothing companies to collaborate on shoots.  Ask them to send me products and that I would photograph them.  I would promise 10 photos and deliver 20-40 if they were happy trading products for 10 photos I always knew they would be super happy with more so long as they were quality.   After building a rapport maybe 2, 3, 4 or more shoots in shooting for nothing more than products I most of the time give away because they send me the models sizes I finally started to see some dividends coming in.  It is still slow as far as living off of photography all together, but it's not the quantity of the clients you have it's the quality.  If you end up getting one client that does 4 shoots a year for 250k well then I think most of us would be pretty happy with that.  I hope this helps somebody find a job because it did for me.  If your reading this you're employable you've got a brain, and if your physically able well your twice as likely to get hired.  Best of luck people.  

The only thing you need to survive in New York.

Day 36 of 365, Nyc 

Today I had my orientation for a photography program at SVA the School of Visual arts in the heart of Chelsea.  Its been exactly a year since I last lived in New York City.  Today was an instant flashback of how much I hate carrying a backpack, how extremely hot or cold New York's weather is, how much I love meeting new people, and that New York really does have the best food.  New York just has a way of bringing out the best in some people and the worst in others.   I think its a mix for me. Specifically if I don't have one thing and that is the #1 thing I need to survive New York....a shower.  I sweat my bean bags off today walking to and from orientation meetings at different buildings and not having an apartment to shower at right now is really making me anxious to get home and get clean.  Summers in the North East feel like summers in tropical jungles.  Hoping we can move into an apartment asap so I can finally end my days in New York with a hot shower and a beer instead of a long ride home.  

Day 34 of 365

Been a crazy week.  A lot of amazing new things happening that constantly remind me why the ups of freelancing will always out weigh the down times.  Chipping away at the grind stone.  

Day 32 of 365

I've been hiking to a spot in my home town for about 8 years now.  In the past 3 years I have really ramped up the amount of times I frequent this place.  It's a long trail that leads to a reservoir.  Hiking in this area frequently has really made me realize the importance of putting in your time and not just hourly or weekly but yearly.  Success is a marathon not a sprint.  After hiking to this trail for years I have seen more and more wild life.  So much that I truly believe I can hike these woods until the day I die and I will never run out of new things to find.  Over the years I have seen everything from baby owls growing up to, beavers trying to play, a black bear 10 feet away from me and so much more.   None of which would be possible if I didn't put it my time.  My hike yesterday reminded me of such a simple key to success.  Working your ass off needs to be long term if you want to accomplish big things.  Keep working people.  

Day 31 of 365 "DON'T HUSTLE"

Hustle your products, hustle your projects, hustle your workflow but more than anything don't hustle people.  Be in love with the process it takes for you to create quality work no matter how hard it is, learn to love it.  Quality is what I am constantly striving to give myself and all my clients.  At the end of each day I want to be proud of my work.  I want to be a good person in and out of my business.  This is why I don't hustle.  I work my dick raw and I treat my clients with respect.  I hate to be hustled as do most people and it is very easy to tell when people are trying to hustle you.  I don't want to be conned into buying something or sold products that fall apart in days just because some brands care more about margins then they do their customers.  Don't sell me something, educate me.  Educate me on what I am investing in, tell me the back story to your product or service so I have something to tell my friends and family, don't leave me with an extra paper weight to collect dust on a shelf.  Most of all don't try to hustle people, its a lack of respect for your customers and it will bite you in the ass in the long run.  

The best sleep you'll ever get camping.

Utility is something I hold as a priority when I buy anything.  As most of you know I love camping but for a while sleeping while camping was a nightmare.  After a sleepless and cold night in Iceland in a sleeping bag without a pad separating me from the ground to preserve my body heat and to make my sleep more comfortable I knew my next trip needed a sleeping pad.  After tons of research I found the perfect fit for me.  I wanted something light and easy to blow up, as well as comfortable and not too thin.  I ended up going with  Windcatcher Airpad 2+.  It blows up in about 2 minutes and its really the only camping pad of its kind.  Camping is super fun but without this pad it was pretty impossible to camp out for more than a night because I just couldn't sleep.  The sleeping pad retails at $99 dollars which may seem expensive but if you ask me its a very reasonable price to pay for a good nights sleep.  It also packs extremely small and light.  All bullshit aside if you want to camp with comfort and enjoy it, I would say this is the most essential piece of equipment you can get for camping hands down.  

For anyone that wants to camp out I recommend this sleeping pad as a must have and its been a total life saver on all my trips this summer.  If you want to sleep comfortably while camping I will leave the link here.  

https://www.windcatchergear.com/

 

Day 27 of 365

Unfortunately I had to take a break from the POV photos while I was traveling.  Fortunately I was still shooting them every day on the road but wifi was scarce, which was a good thing.  First day back home felt good to go back to work.  It also felt really good to arrive home to a magazine that has really inspired me over the past year.  Cereal magazine is a travel and style magazine but at its core it is routed in minimalistic design.  This magazine has really helped develop my vision and inspire me to calm my ever restless mind.  If you are a fan of minimal design, photography, travel, style and maybe a bit of architecture you should get your hands on one of these magazine or check out their website at http://readcereal.com/