Monday, February 8, 2016

Monday Musings (On Being an Artist)

Lately I have been re-working many photos from months and years ago.  With my new-found skills at some post editing, I am able to finally create the image I had envisioned when I made the picture.

The thing about being an artist (just one): I love it when people love my work.  I love that they get as excited about an image as I do.  The other thing about being an artist (just one): don't expect to actually sell your work, except once in a blue moon.

I recently sold a picture of Half Dome in Yosemite that I took in December 2015.  It is one of my best photographs, I know, and I am quite pleased with it.  This is the first time I've sold an image in a long long time.  I came to terms with this state of affairs many years ago.  So why does it still bug me?  I guess because I feel my work is getting better and better, and yet, there is a teeny tiny audience for it.

I'm not alone.  There are photographers who I greatly admire, whose work is mind-blowing, and they are not successful at selling either.  It's a bit like expecting to make it big in Hollywood: oodles of aspirants and very few working actors.

I'll just keep doing what I do, because it brings me pleasure.  It provides an avenue for me to interact with the world around me.  And that, my friends, is a wonderful thing.

Tara Crowley, 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Tara Crowley, 2014.  All Rights Reserved.

But seriously, folks, do you know anybody who manages or owns a gallery?!

5 comments:

  1. these two are magnificent. I know someone who used to. :-)

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  2. Your photography is quite beautiful. I think the thing about selling art these days, much like everything else, the internet is made it all available to us for free. We can download any image we want, print and frame it. The quality of art can't be measured by sales. It can only be measured by how it makes the heart sail.

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    Replies
    1. Ha! Yes, if I measured the worth of my work in sales figures, I would have stopped 30 years ago!

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  3. I've always wanted to own a combination bookstore and gallery. And if I did I would love to display your art. Ditto to Robin's comment.

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    Replies
    1. would that be grand?! Yes, I agree completely with Robin's comment.

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