My Journey into the past, instead of writing.
While he was staring down the old weapons I was wandering, looking for crazy things. There are stacks and stacks of shelves all holding important mainstays of archaeology like pottery and household implements to some really crazy and exotic things. It is kind of an x-file looking stack of shelves too. Just like in the movies and TV. So that made me somewhat interested to browse the place.
They didn’t have just pottery and bones though. I was kinda excited to see that they haven’t forgotten about the other things from history especially the more recent history. They had military helmets, Crazy formaldehyde jars of snakes, frogs and other not so normal things.
Today is a screenwriting day. The day where my writing partner and I go over the plot and circumstances of our current screenwriting challenge. Yes, you should write every day and make it a habit, but he really likes to work when he feels the time is right. Not saying that he doesn't work on other things like I do (I am writing this blog instead of a story, for instance) but he only feels he can work on screenplays when the time is right for him. Needless to say, it takes a long time for us to get a collaborative screenplay out into the world.
We generally go to Sam's Club every Saturday before we start because they give away free samples. Everything is always better when it's free, as you well know. We get to walk around the store and get any itch to goof off out of our system. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Today was different, there was an open house at the University of Arkansas' archaeology department, and he wanted to go. So we went. I took my wife, and he took his girlfriend.
I was surprised to see how many people were at the open house. They had pizza for everyone but that didn’t last!
Little exhibit where anyone could handle replicas of the artifacts stored there.
It was supposed to be held outside, but with this crazy-stupid Arkansas weather, they had to move it inside. I expected to see a few people but boy I was wrong. That place was packed. I also expected the folks to be rigid, facts oriented people that have no funny bone in their body. Wrong again. Don’t get me wrong, there were a few, but for the most part, they weren’t not cool folks.
3-D Printed copy of the artifact and the 3-D printer that made it.
The original artifact and the scanner used to make the 3-D Image
It’s still pretty cool, I guess. They scan in the image to the computer and plug it into the printer and out pops a replica. My buddy said that they need to refine the print head or something to make it more accurate, I do not disagree.
You could definitely see the printing lines in it and it only roughly the same shape when you look close enough.
Since it is actually a working laboratory for artifacts, I am genuinely surprised they allowed the access they did. We saw everything and anything we were interested in. My screenwriting partner asked to see the old weapons they may have in the place, and they happily obliged to open the storage area they are housed in and let him see them close up. Of course, he couldn’t handle them, but hey, good luck asking a museum to show you what they have in storage.
While he was staring down the old weapons, I was wandering, looking for crazy things. There are stacks and stacks of shelves all holding important mainstays of archaeology like pottery and household implements to some really insane and exotic items. It is kind of an x-file looking stack of shelves too. Just like in the movies and TV. So that made me somewhat interested in browsing the place.
They didn’t have just pottery and bones though. I was kinda excited to see that they haven’t forgotten about the other things from history especially the more recent history. They have military helmets, Crazy formaldehyde jars of snakes, frogs and other not so ordinary things that I find interesting.
Just some of the interesting and more modern stuff they have at the pottery collecting facility.
Of course, they have fossils at this place. Most are not that interesting, but there was this one thing. It is an alligator looking thing that was found in Germany. Wait, what? An Alligator in Germany, really? I mean that’s like finding a python in Ireland!
Mystriosaurus (Teleosaurus Bollensis
The keepers of the fossil were telling me all about where it came from and why it’s exciting. They said that the throat cartilage generally goes away when fossilization occurs but this thing, you can still see the esophagus. They believe its throat was made of harder bone than what would be expected in today’s animals of any kind.
The esophagus of the animal
They also pointed out that you can see what it recently ate as well. Ew…I guess it’s sanitary now being that its last lunch was over one hundred and fifty million years ago.
Lunch never got to quite be over, I guess.
For some reason, they also have lots of Taxidermy. Taxidermy isn’t just furry animals; it is also bones. One of them looked a little creepy, the Marmoset has a skull shape that’s eerily close to the form of a human skull. Plus, the plastic bag it’s in doesn’t help the situation much.
The rest of the taxidermy is pretty impressive. Just click an image below, and you should be able to scroll through all of them.
All in all, it wasn’t too bad of an excursion and being that today was a cold, bitter jerk, yet again. I guess the day wasn’t entirely wasted.
If you would like to purchase any of the images in this blog, please visit the store or just click on the photo. I have many different types of prints that can fit in and with almost any decor or color scheme.
Rain killed my image.
Once we got there, it began to pour. Maybe I could have found a way around the weather and shoot from the truck or other cover but the sky was also littered with lightning. Now, I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to stand outside holding onto a large metal tripod in a lightning storm. Call me overly cautious but I wasn’t actually made with a bolt of lightning, stitched together by a madman in a dungeon laboratory even though that may be what many former high school girlfriends might claim.
The a7III is an exciting camera. Because it can almost see in the dark, I wanted to try my hand at some interesting photography in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I also needed to replace some of my older landscapes taken with my Sony a77 APS-C camera. It was a tremendous looking morning, but it quickly grew into a downpour that lasted almost all day.
Since I was with my father, I could not spend the entire day in Eureka and knew that I only had a limited window to get the shots I need. Once we got there, it began to pour. Maybe I could have found a way around the weather and shoot from the truck or other cover, but the sky was also littered with lightning. Now, I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to stand outside holding onto a large metal tripod in a lightning storm. Call me overly cautious, but I wasn’t actually made with a bolt of lightning, stitched together by a madman in a dungeon laboratory even though that may be what many former high school girlfriends might claim.
We did stop on an overlook that has a nifty little cover, and I was able to test out the Sony a7III’s time-lapse video feature. Kinda cool, but not really a good test of the camera since the weather was so bad. Below is the video it created with some color correction in Premier. If you look closely, you can see the rain come in from the left and drench the Crescent Hotel.
But of course, I got some RAW photos of the landscape. It took a little doing to make those photos look way more interesting than the image in the above video, but I think it came out alright.
The Crescent Hotel, Eureka Springs Arkansas. Some say it’s haunted…
I used Lightroom to make all of the edits in these photos except for dumping them into Photoshop to enhance the Gamma to where I like it.
I also went playing around with many of the “Free” presets on the internet. Some of them are pretty cool, but I find it hard to find any that work for every photo. If you download them, they are easy to install but sometimes how they get the result is kind of hard to figure out.
Needless to say, I did find one that I liked. In the context of the Crescent being haunted, after all, it was a hospital before it was a hotel, I thought the old-timey look was appropriate.
Nothing Beats A Sunny Day
Mini Suspension Bridge near Eureka Springs, Arkansas
I do plan on returning to the town in the future. I really want to get images of the old suspension bridge that hold up when blown up to massive proportions. I just love seeing these images larger than life, if you haven’t figured that out yet. Don’t worry, I will also be looking for that spectral image at the Basin Park Hotel and the Crescent this year. Ok, not really expecting to, but I might work a little photo magic and pretend something like that actually exists. And if it really does, I will be even more shocked than you would be.
If you would like to purchase any of the mages in this blog, please visit the store or just click on the photo. I have many different types of prints that can fit in and with almost any decor or color scheme.
The perfect location for a photograph
Some of the best portraits you will ever see more than likely could be a great photo without the subject sitting, running, walking or doing some damn thing. Its about the dream, your photograph. When taking portraits for clients it becomes even more important to have that backdrop be something spectacular. So today I was looking around for something that might make some great lines for some wholesome portraits.
As you may or may not know, the setting is as much a part of the photograph as the subject. You can have a beautiful woman or man sitting for a photograph, but if the background is a power plant, well, those photos aren’t going to impress anyone much.
A few decent lines and I can have them stand in front of the caution signs, might be good. Rule of Thirds will work great here.
Some of the best portraits you will ever see, more than likely, would be a great photo without the subject sitting, running, walking or doing some damn thing. It's all about the dream, your photograph. When taking portraits of my clients, it becomes even more critical to have that backdrop be something spectacular. So today I was looking around for something that might make some great lines for some wholesome portraits.
Every now and again, I go out looking for easily accessible spots in town that aren't too secluded. I used to try and take clients to the craziest places I could think of. Why? Because of the background! I would find the best environments I could. With my tastes, it meant that no one else would ever get that same photograph and probably hasn't yet either. The problem is, I may find that pleasing but the regular Joe doesn't or even worse, it scares them to death.
I once had a couple that needed engagement photos for their wedding. I love water being in all my shots, and I know of a place that's easy to get to and secluded enough that it would be a one of a kind. The path is level with the water. Leaving nothing but a clean horizon line full of a lake, BEAUTIFUL.
I took them out there, we navigated the little path made by the local deer population and got right up to the water's edge just as the sun started to hover above the glistening western horizon. It was going to be perfect. I was so excited that I didn't notice the bride-to-be getting more and more nervous. That is until she let out a little shriek.
“SNAKES! SNAKES EVERYWHERE!”
I didn't see them, the fiance didn't see them but SHE SAW THEM, and that was it. We were off to take the engagement photos in my front yard. Lacking anywhere else to take them other than the local museum turn of the century barn and homestead house, I was out of luck and out of scenery.
After that day, I began hunting for that great backdrop that would allow the client to feel like they are getting something beautiful and I didn't feel cheap shooting it.
This is one of my earliest HDR Photographs of the Shiloh Museum Barn
Yeah, I said it, I don't want to feel cheap. However, I get a few drinks in me, and I stop caring for about four hours, but I always hate myself in the morning. Cheap to me are the obligatory barn photos or the hay bale in a field. Put everyone in plaid and pile them against the hay, not my ideal photograph. YUCK! Ok, if you pay me enough and I'll do it, but I ain't gotta like it. Besides, old barns can be an excellent backup plan. Shoot them right, and you get to keep some self-respect.
That's where I went today, to make sure that the backup plan still existed. To my utter horror, my backup plan is completely destroyed. Well, not completely, but close. Sometimes I like to use the Shiloh Museum to shoot the "homespun" clients in front of. They love it because it feels like the world they wish they could return to. You know, the better days when family cared for each other and ate around the dinner table together. (Secret, those weren't the better days. You worked 12 hour days in the field and momma had to do the laundry outside by hand). It used to be a safe bet and friendly enough place for the majority of the folks but now the only thing left is the barn, and it looks like it's going to fall down. Now what do I do?!
I know what I am going to have to do, find another backup “wholesome” backdrop. Yay me…
Pretty Little Pink Flowers are here today, but they might not be here in June.
That’s when I saw this little gem. It isn’t much, but the flowers seem to be nice, there’s a micro-brewery nearby (two of them actually) so it might do in a pinch. Plus, it’s literally less than one hundred yards from the Police Station. Can’t get much safer than that!
But, there is a downside. Once the spring is over, those little pink flowers will be gone, and the contrast of the background will fade ever so slightly when there is nothing but green. I guess I am going to keep on looking. I wonder if those snakes are still there?
If you would like to purchase any of the mages in this blog, please visit the store or just click on the photo. I have many different types of prints that can fit in and with almost any decor or color scheme.
Freelancers should to charge more — Why businesses are happy to pay it
For the Creatives and the Business folk alike I can say with 100% surety that the consumers of “content” can tell when something is good and when something is bad. Or worse, contrived from salesy stereotypical double talk that hasn’t changed in sixty years. They can tell (and so can you) when something has no “heart” and zero creativity, so let the Creative do their thing. Speaking now as a Creative, we abhor salsey and, if let off the chain, we will kill everything that even remotely smells like it was in the same room as it.
As a Creative, I have been in many situations that require "white knuckling" a negotiation. Everyone wants to pay as little as they can for just about everything, I mean, why wouldn't you? So, we can't fault a business woman or man for trying to get the most for the buck. Artists do the same thing, some of us do anyway. It's a natural process of living as a human.
What I do know is that after a hard-fought concession that meets the minimum requirements for me to take a job, I feel dejected, used, grimy and totally drained. The exact opposite of where I need to be if I am to give the client what they paid for, or more. At home after negotiating this kind of contract, I always feel like I shouldn't have taken the job because I am mad as hell. There usually isn't any reason for me to be mad, but I typically am. Mostly because I feel that if the business really liked my work, why did they have to say that it costs too much? It's a pretty dumb way to look at it, but it's just another one of the emotions tearing at me on the inside. To look at it from the outside, I actually won. I got the contract, and I am going to get paid for my artistic work. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of soul searching for me to get over that hump and into the right mindset to deliver the best I can, if at all. I am sure most artists feel the same way about it too. It's also one of many reasons why artists tend to fall deep into despair and overflow with self-doubt right before they quit for good and become a hermit. Even though they should revel in the fact that someone actually wants to pay them for their art.
Speaking to artists and freelancers out there, I have a couple of useful tips that will help. To the business folk, I have some great tips on how to talk and work with someone who is genuinely creative.
To the artists: You have to defend your business. That's what the guy or gal across the table or on the other end of the phone are doing. It's nothing personal, they actually value your work as well as you.
Wait, what? I know, right…
Sometimes that seems so far out there you can't even begin to believe it. But it is true, Trust me on this one. I used to be that business owner. Whenever I hired an artist to help me with something I didn't do it because they were cheap to hire, it was because I thought they did excellent work. But that didn't mean I was a wealthy billionaire who wanted to bankroll the dream project.
They have a budget too. You have to look at this side of the project as the business only side, compartmentalize it. I know, that's terrible, but really that's the best way to look at it. That doesn't mean you have to be the one giving up everything. Don't hedge your bet. Hold to your standards and don't back off.
You, the creative, have bills to pay and budgets to meet, even if they are only scribbled on the McDonald's bag in your car. Guess what, so does the person in front of you. You may think spending $10 on Whataburger is splurging while they could feed the entire room and not miss it but a budget is a budget and money is money, that's about all there is to that. Don't take it personally.
Treat this part of the deal like you work for Walmart and give em hell. After all, they are going to do the same thing, at least before they read the rest of this blog. Hopefully, these next things will help the creative in business but not "content" understand that we are not tools, we are artists.
For the business minded folk who are confounded by the Creatives out there, I am glad you are still here, reading this blog. Don't be frightened that the price for every Facebook video or graphic just jumped 20% after all the artists read that. It won't, I promise.
Creative folks are kinda different than you are used to dealing with. Some are more "easier" to get along with than others, but that doesn't mean they are singing your praises either. Just like your employees, Creatives can suffer morale issues and, just like your employees, creatives work better when they feel respected.
If you have pushed your contract to the limits and negotiated the best deal you can get, you have probably pushed the Creative folks (especially if it's only one person and not a team) up against a wall. It is true that some people respond well to being cornered and do their best work under pressure, but I am here to say those folks are far and few between. What you have really done is poked a giant hole in the creativity bucket, draining away what you thought you were paying for. If it was stressful for you, these negotiations, then it was, at the very least, just as stressful for the Creative and that's not a good thing.
I would suppose that you, the businessman or woman, have an expectation that you must get what you ordered. You are right, you should. That's not always the case though. Creatives aren't order takers or line workers. These folks don't do well when working on the factory floor, they are artists after all.
The work they do cannot be dictated to them. When you do that you actually devalue them and their work. It makes it worth LESS than what you thought you were paying for.
Videos, graphics, designs and anything else that you want to be better than the bullet point slideshow you have open on your desktop right now cannot be done by dictating to the creative every pixel or brush stroke. You want it to be better than what you are making, right? Then why are you making them do it exactly the way you would do it? This happens more than you know and that shouldn't be why you hired them. Creatives can only shine when all the barriers are lifted, and they are free to express themselves. Sure, give them deadlines and parameters but let them surprise you. After all, they are the artist and not you, right?
For the Creatives and the Business folk alike I can say with 100% surety that the consumers of "content" can tell when something is good and when something is bad. Or worse, contrived from the salesy stereotypical double talk that hasn't changed in sixty years. They can tell (and so can you) when something has no "heart" and zero creativity, so let the Creative do their thing. Speaking now as a Creative, we abhor salsey and, if let off the chain, we will kill everything that even remotely smells like it was in the same room as it.
Being creative sells products plain and simple. You hired the Creative to fill the gap those bullet points can't fill. And you, the Creative, you took the job so you can work on your masterpieces without having to work at that nine to five soul-killing job. As a man who once was a business minded sales guy who's turned to the dark side and shed his skin to become a Creative, I say release the shackles and pay that Creative to be creative, and you will get more value out of them than you ever thought possible. I guarantee it.
Five things you didn't know about me...
I was bounty hunter in my younger days. Yes, an honest to goodness bounty hunter. I arrested three men and almost lost my sh*t the entire time I was doing it. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t afraid, I was hyper aware of everything that was going on.
Thinking about my experiences today I really don’t know how I could tantalize you, the reader. Blogs are supposed to be about the exciting and creative things the author has done during the day to show the world how great they are.
Well, today was actually kind of boring. I know, I know… I am supposed to never say that on a blog because it might mean that the folks reading might get disillusioned. It’s all about the clicks, right?
So I thought that it might be interesting to write about five things you don’t know, or probably don’t know about me.
One: I hate clickbait, and I am somewhat mad at myself right now for engaging in it.
Two: I truly put myself in the shoes of other people. I may be wrong about my conclusions, but I try very hard to make sure that everything that I do has a positive impact on the person I am talking to.
Three: I was a bounty hunter in my younger days. Yes, an honest to goodness bounty hunter. I arrested three men and almost lost my sh*t the entire time I was doing it. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t afraid, I was hyper-aware of everything that was going on. That meant I knew I was probably ruining these cats lives by bringing them in. I am older now, so I realize that their lives were already crap and they were the only one that was responsible for their predicament. I was just a symptom.
Truth be told, my right eye twitched 24/7 while I was hunting these guys down. I was smarter than them so I got everyone I was sent after, but it was absolute hell.
When I quit, when I told the bondsman that I wasn’t going to do it anymore, my eye immediately quit twitching. Thank God, cuz that sucked.
Well, almost everyone levels up.
Four: I used to be an American Idol level singer. I know, everyone says they are that good. But I was told more than once that I was great, and not by a bunch of drunks either (they think everyone’s great). It didn’t last long though, just like everything else I tried, it got hard and I had an easier way to make money now, so I did that instead.
What I should have done… wait. life isn’t about what we should have done. It’s about what we are going to do next. Want some unsolicited advice? Ok, I will tell you anyway. Don’t run from what is hard, run toward it. You will only get better and level up.
Five: I genuinely want everyone I work with to succeed. I feel jealousy sometimes, but when I recognize it for what it is, I immediately slap my hand with a ruler. When folks around me win, I win. I win because I get to learn from them (you can too, I believe this with my entire being). They are winning, and I want to win also. Bringing them down or chastising them behind their back or to their face is actually saying more about me than them.
Failure we can learn from. Winning benefits us all. We can learn and absorb what it took to win and use it for ourselves.
Because I put myself in everyone else’s shoes, I know that they may have won, but they are just as scared and full of self-doubt as I am and you are, believe it or not.
Thoughts on Work
You always have to jump into the deep if you wanna swim
I’m thinking tonight about my future. Thinking about what can lie ahead, about my past and just how things could have turned out differently.
See, in the past, I have always chosen the thing that seemed to be right because it will get me out of “predicaments” the fastest. I went into insurance for the money, went with the opportunities because of the money. Honestly, I had cash, and I learned to live with myself and my choice... mostly.
There always was that nagging feeling that I wasn’t doing anything with my life and nothing was satisfying. I had a prolonged bitter taste after the sweetness left.
This time it’s scary, just like all the times before. But this time I think I’m going to do what’s hard. It may ruin me financially, but I believe it’s going to pay off this time.
I’m a creative. That’s where my strength lies. That’s what made me an excellent salesman and also why I can never be a great salesman. This time I’m going to run down the path instead of detouring to the field full of flowers that are beautiful in the short-term but kill me with hay fever in the long.
If you pray, pray for me. I’m going to need it.