Thoughts on a Sunday Morning

Sunday Emails between me and a friend:

Me: I so happy here. But I am going through some kind of evaluation about my work. I've been going back through the Artist's Way and Art and Fear and also reading about some artist. I'm amazed that the Artist's Way was such an influence on me 13 years ago but it was. It is so New Age. I must have been hurting a lot at that point because it was a stabilizing force and helped me get centered about my art. Art and Fear is different. It still seems relevant to me. But I'm having dreams that seem to have some meaning...which of course I've forgotten by the morning but it tells me that my mind is processing some stuff and I know it is about being an artist. I know that I use to feel intimidated by S.... but right now I don't care that he thinks about what I'm doing although I respect his opinion and him as an artist. I don't think the Lensbaby stuff is the ultimate but at the same time I think there is some interesting stuff in there and it is a challenge to use the damn thing and then I'm also challenging myself to put together a small portfolio of 12 to 15 prints out of the work in my Colonia. Where will it go? I don't really care. But it is something I need to do.

Friend: What we do as artist is so evolutionary, I'm surprised there is ever any stability. That we have other interest that are high on our list I think is what helps keep us somewhat sane. Notice that I used the qualifiers "I think," "helps," and "somewhat," because I really don't know. What I do know that by practicing what I preach is leading me to new images, and interest in new subject matter. I know I'm not breaking any art frontier ground, so long as I make images that satisfy me, what the hell? Like D....., those new kid portraits are making him happy and leading him in a new direction. Who cares if it's cutting edge? So long as it's "well practiced" and "well seen" photography, I can appreciate.

The same goes for your Lens Baby images -- I like seeing you work through the challenges of this device. No it's not breaking any new ground, but so what. Neither is anything I've done in the past 20 years. But it isn't necessary to break new ground -- breaking new ground is like breaking wind, gets people's attention really fast and then rapidly dissipates. Seems to me what
is lasting is not what we see so much with a new vision, but what we see with OUR vision.