This year at the fair was interesting.

On Aug 21, I held my bi-monthly PhotoCrawl at the fair, in the evening. Around 9:15pm a powerful microburst struck the fairgrounds with 70 mph winds, knocking over ticket booths, breaking tree branches, tearing up canvas tent awnings and vendor canopies. The fair was shut down at around 10:15pm and everyone was evacuated because there were still high winds blowing stuff around. Reports of 70 - 80 minor injuries (scrapes and bruises) and 4 people taken to the hospital (one person apparently the victim of a fallen branch). Around the area there were grass fires sparked by exploded transformers, massive power outages (40,000 people without power), a car fire, car accident, even a domestic shooting, all in the same relative area at the same time. It was a busy night for fire, rescue and police.

I shot some iPhone video that ended up on the local news and a request to upload to CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRS2JwWYdQc

I went back again on the following Tuesday to shoot some things I wasn’t able to get on Saturday, and came up with an idea. So, I went back again last Saturday to finish up. I created a slideshow (http://www.vimeo.com/14560155) using 534 photos from those 3 days (many are time-lapse style). This show is probably a first draft; the photos (except for one) are processed very minimally.

I judged the Youth Photo Entries this year and there were a lot of really good photos. The judging was made even more difficult because the bakery good judging was going on right behind me and I was constantly smelling ginger snaps, oatmeal cookies, snickerdoodles, and chocolate chip cookies.

I also picked up 2 2nd place and 1 3d place ribbon from my photo entries. As usual, I have some issues with the judging, but that’s the way it usually goes.

I mention in the presentation an effort by Microsoft to develop equipment to document a person’s daily activities; an ongoing diary of your life (MyLifeBits) based on the ideas of Vannevar Bush. There are others working on similar projects. One I recently came across is by graphic designer Nicholas Felton who, since 2005, has produced a personal “Annual Report” of his life during the previous year. He developed a program to record entries of his daily activities, compiling them into various graphs and maps and statistics (www.feltron.com). An interview with Felton can be found (here). He’s also created a place where the average person can record their own activities (www.daytum.com). There are two levels of recording; free (public and limited data sets) and $4/month (which allows for privacy settings as well as unlimited data sets). You can track any number of things, from the number of phone calls made, daily miles run/biked/walked, how much money you spend on what, food eaten, people met, books read, relationships, etc. Access is via computer and smartphone or mobile device (m.daytum.com).

Whether you decide to have a go, the annual reports at feltron.com are well designed and interesting to look at.

I’m certain there are other sites and applications (other than Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and the like) that allow for the collection of personal datum and it begs the question regarding the debate about personal privacy. We seem to like to share everything about our lives with complete strangers, but don’t like it when “others” want to look at that same information. We can’t have it both ways.

Determining for yourself the criteria of success as an artist is a complex process involving both internal and external factors and obstacles, starting with the creation of a way of being and expressing, of life and living, a structure that is your own. Do you want to be a full-time artist, a part-time artist, or improve your skill as a hobbyist? Do you want to have a solo exhibit in a well-known gallery? Do you want to be published? Do you want to establish an art school? Do you only want to be personally satisfied with your work and don’t care what others think?

Creating the structure of your own life provides greater freedom and opportunities for self-expression and happiness. If you do not have control over the structure of your life, you will have to accommodate the structure created by someone else and their vision of what you should be and do, which puts you in a position of powerlessness. The people who would love to create your structure for you (and do) are friends, teachers, family, lovers, mentors, colleagues, employers, strangers, students, even enemies and rivals. When you have control, you seize the initiative and move forward confidently and deliberately. An artist’s life is made from the inside out.

Many artists (if not all, even secretly) want one (or THE) measure of success to be financial security. As artists, one of the things we look for in our audience is approval. Approval is an external factor dependent upon others liking our work and showing their approval by positive comments and/or a purchase or two. We can become slaves to approval, however, and stray from our intended path if we only create art that is approved of (purchased) or suppress our talent or experimentation because we fear risking disapproval or because the “easier” or “safer” art sells better.

The best life would be doing what you love and getting paid well for it. But, financial security isn’t a true measure of success by itself. I know of several well-known artists who are (or have been) unhappy, although very financially secure, because they lost control over their work and life for the sake of financial gain. I think a successful artist is in control of their work and their life, whether it’s making a million dollars or a thousand dollars a year as an artist. Establishing that balance is a tricky proposition. Our ego and the desire to be somebody special helps turn us into slaves of approval, which diminishes the quality and impact of our work and our overall satisfaction.

A very close relation to approval, is fear. Where approval is external, fear is internal, wreaking all kinds of havoc with our dreams and intentions. Artists are great self-doubters and second-guessers, destroying many opportunities and limiting our potential. Here is a list of the possible fears artists endure and fall victim to:

Fear of
1. Failure
2. Rejection
3. Reality
4. Losing identity
5. Pain/Sacrifice
6. Commitment
7. Making the wrong choice(s)
8. Not being in control
9. That it will never work
10. Success
11. Inadequacy
12. Being misunderstood
13. Perfection
14. Annihilation
15. Expectations

Overcoming Fear allows you to become independent, to divorce the wishes and desires of others wanting to control or influence your work, and to do the work you were meant to do.

Artists have many obstacles, external and internal, to overcome on the road to success. Creating a structure to your life around your art, overcoming fear, understanding and taming the desire for approval, and a host of other barriers, milestones, and rewards make up your criteria for success.

In the end, though, you are the only one that can determine whether you’ve reached your goal and met your measure of success.

Good Luck!

The Government of Tanzania has approved the building of a major commercial highway across the northern part of the Serengeti, home to the world’s last great migration and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The road will adversely affect the world-renown wildlife migrations in that region, tourism, and local economy. An alternate proposal is to build a road in the southern part of the Serengeti, an area less sensitive and where a road would be more beneficial to the local residents.

For more information, go to www.savetheserengeti.org/issues/stop-the-serengeti-highway/

The survey (summarized here) showed artist income rode the tails of the bell curve. A bit over 40% of artists earned very little of their total income from their art while only 28% earned almost all their income from their art. Visual artists and writers were most likely to earn less than 20% of their total income from their art.

“But”, you say, “I have a college degree (or I’m getting one) and that will put me ahead of all those non-educated slackers trying to live my lifestyle”. Interestingly enough, from the survey, the majority of artists have college degrees yet only 6% earn annual incomes of $80K or more. Most (2/3rds) reported incomes of less than $40K.

The recession hasn’t helped anyone and artists are no exception. Art is, for the most part, a luxury item purchased by individuals and others when there’s extra cash to throw around. In a recession, that faucet dries up speedy quick. More than half the 5300 respondents to the survey reported a drop in income, and 18% said their income fell 50% over the previous year (2008). The remainder apparently are just going along, experiencing the same low income they always enjoy from their art, so the recession really hasn’t impacted them much.

I read some other information about the prospects of grants and other “free” funding opportunities for 2010 and 2011. Don’t get your hopes up. Foundations and other granting organizations are cutting back the number and amount of their awards and generally sticking to the individuals and others they have relationships with rather than taking on new grantees. There are way more artists than there are grants, so the odds are not in your favor.

So, if you’re thinking romantic, Bohemian, thoughts of that carefree, do-as-you-will, lifestyle, because you don’t want to work a regular job, wake up. Artists do what they do because they are compelled to do it, rain or shine, boom or bust. And, it’s not easy. It’s work. If art isn’t your passion, your calling, you won’t be able to handle it. Get a job with regular hours, regular wages, health insurance, vacation and sick days, and “art” on the side. I’m not being mean, I’m being honest. Someone I respect told me about the same thing some years back and I can attest to its truth.

Artists, though, are a resilient lot, and tough times breeds more art. And, without the demands a funded project might have on an artist’s time there is some freedom afforded to experiment and explore more personal projects.

But remember this; even when we’re taking handouts from the government we remain productive contributors to a stable, healthy, and vibrant society by continuing to create works of art that inspire, cause us to think, and call us to action. We find a way. It’s what we do.

Zanzibar and Chumbe Island Coral Park, Tanzania, Africa from Mike Shipman on Vimeo.

Here is a nicely done segment from a film about Zanzibar, featuring Omari, the head ranger at Chumbe Island Coral Park. Omari talks about the threats to coral reefs, not just in Zanzibar but world wide. Some beautiful film of the reef as well.

Ducks, geese, jackrabbits, osprey, great horned owls, kangaroo rats, lizards, snakes, songbirds, coyotes, insects, wildflowers, clouds, sky, and people.

We had a fun time exploring and learning.

Visit his website and galleries, plus several articles explaining how you can do this too: http://www.krebsmicro.com/

Here’s an article showing his current set up and equipment: http://micropix.home.comcast.net/~micropix/microsetup/index.html

photos © Charles Krebs