Guess I’m Moving to 500px

After the recent Flickr update, I decided to re-evaluate whether or not to continue using Flickr. I’m a Pro customer, so I get to keep my account indefinitely, and I won’t be personally affected by the changes in the immediate future. However, free user accounts will be subjected to ads, which means I’ll eventually have to wade through ads to see what I really want to see on the site. I’m unhappy about that.

I just feel like there are so many places to put ads. You can put ads on blogs (in fact many people make a living on ad revenue from their blogs), and it doesn’t bother me. You can put ads on a myriad of different sites, and it doesn’t bother me. But I feel like a site dedicated to displaying photography should be devoid of ads. I think it detracts from the art, and has the potential to distract viewers.

I already paid for an Awesome account at 500px to display my portfolio, and I think I just might make the move there. It will definitely force me to be more selective about the images I upload, because the standards seem to be higher (although there are a lot of overprocessed landscape images  that seem to get a lot of attention there for reasons unbeknownst to me). And images tend to get a lot more traffic on there than they do on Flickr. So those are both good reasons to move. It’s just a chore to do it. Let’s see how much of it I get through this weekend.

Goodbye Facebook

So I’ve been on the verge of deleting my Facebook account and pages since late last summer when over 70 of my photos were stolen by someone who called me their friend. I ended up having to design a brand for my photography work, and watermark my photos, which still makes me feel uncomfortable. 

So it happened again. A local venue went on Facebook, stole a copy of a photo I took of one of my favorite local bands, and used it to promote the band’s show this past weekend. The person who took the photo cropped the watermark off cleanly (and left the rest of the photo in tact), so I was back on this fucking hamster wheel. I confronted the owner of the venue, and he hooked me up with a gift certificate, and is going to waive my covers for all shows I shoot from now on. 

I got a really good deal out of it, but it reinforced the fact that Facebook is not the place for me to post my work. I’ve yet to have photos stolen from other sites, to the best of my knowledge, but I decided not to wait for it to happen again. I killed both my Picscursion page and my personal Facebook profile, because I can contact all of the people I care about elsewhere. 

To be perfectly honest, I felt a big wave of joy when I deleted my account and page. The only thing I miss is Messenger, because it was super useful, and allowed me to contact the people I wanted to without dealing with the cesspool that was my feed from time to time. I made sure I got an email address for everyone I was friends with, and I’ve added a lot of them to Google+. 

Supposedly you can use Messenger with your phone number and use it to send and receive message with Facebook friends, but I’ll investigate that later. For now, I’m happy to be free, and I don’t see any reason to ever re-open my account. 

Photography Stuff: Picscursion Launch

So recently, I decided to launch some branding for my photography work. I was rushed (forced) into it, because over 50 of my photos were stolen and reused without my authorization, and I felt that I needed to create a brand and organize my photos to keep this from happening again. While this is something I’ve been planning and working on for some time, I had to move way faster than I wanted to, and I’m still angry.

At any rate, I launched a Facebook Page called Picscursion. I plan to post my newest photo sets there first, so it would be AWESOME if you could Like the page. It would mean a lot to me.

I also started putting my work on 500px, and launched my portfolio site there. It’s really a showcase featuring my best sets, but I can also sell digital copies and large canvas prints via 500px, so there is always a chance that I can make a buck or two.

Finally, I’ll be putting ALL of my photos on Flickr in neat little sets and collections that you can view here.

I also wanted to first apologize about my last few posts, because they haven’t exactly been uplifting, and I’d like to thank all of you who sent me messages of encouragement lately, because it really meant an awful lot to me.

Consumed by Life: Overwhelmed, Disenchanted, and Exhausted

I’ve had a pretty rough go at life lately, and I’m drained. I’m physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. I feel like humanity has sucked me dry, and my body told me today that it needed a break.

I woke up to heart palpitations in the middle of the night, which has only happened a few times this year, but it’s still scary, and it’s still exhausting. I don’t think they quit until close to 11am. I lost the better part of a night of sleep, but I’ve been sleeping my life away lately, so I can’t really complain. 

A few weeks ago, someone I thought I could trust stole over 50 of my photos and republished them on multiple websites unbeknownst to me. The very minute upside to this is that my photography is getting good enough to be noticed, and people want to reuse the images. The downside is that this debacle has cost me money I don’t really have to spend, and forced me to watermark and clearly copyright all of my work. I always hesitated to watermark my photos, because I never thought anyone would want to steal them, so now I feel like one of those dick photographers that plaster their name and logo over everything. I would, however, rather do that than have more uncomfortable conversations with people who have reused my work without permission, or be forced to retain a lawyer to resolve these kinds of issues. But be rest assured, if it happens again, I *will* retain a lawyer. 

Someone who I met just a few months ago, who I became really quick friends with, is moving back home soon. He came down here for a new creative endeavor, and found that he’d been sold a bill of goods. Enough bad things happened to him here that it’s fair to say that he won’t voluntarily be back in NC for a while. I sat back and watched all of this happen, and there’s nothing that I can do to help, so I’m completely gutted over it. I had plans to work with him on a few projects, that are all presumably shot to hell now. So I’m going to lose a friend, a confidante, and a creative partner all in one shot. 

So yeah, that’s why I’ve been really quiet lately. Either I haven’t had time to say what I wanted to, or just haven’t been in a good enough headspace to say it the way I want to. 

BorrowLenses.com is having a 5 Year Anniversary contest. They’re giving away either a Canon 5D Mark III or a Nikon D800 (your choice), and a bunch of other photography-related things. Disclaimer: If you click on the link and enter, I do get an additional entry into the contest, but it’s not spammy. BorrowLenses.com is a pretty neat company. If you’re in the market for a DSLR, enter the contest. If you’re not, enter the contest.
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BorrowLenses.com is having a 5 Year Anniversary contest. They’re giving away either a Canon 5D Mark III or a Nikon D800 (your choice), and a bunch of other photography-related things.

Disclaimer: If you click on the link and enter, I do get an additional entry into the contest, but it’s not spammy. BorrowLenses.com is a pretty neat company.

If you’re in the market for a DSLR, enter the contest. If you’re not, enter the contest.

Source: bit.ly

I Am 35, and I Am Alive

If you didn’t read the title of this post and hear Johnny 5 from Short Circuit in your head, you clearly have homework to do. Go forth and watch! Just remember to come back and finish reading this post.

So today is my 35th birthday. 35 is one of those ages that makes you pause for a second and take a look at your life. It’s a reflection point for a lot of people, and I guess I’m one of them since I’m writing this. I spent a lot of time thinking of what I wanted to say, but I have no idea where this is going. 

I am not a statistically stereotypical female of color. I am a 35 year old multi-racial female (i.e., black because that’s how I am seen in America) who:

  • made it through her teen years without a pregnancy or any pregnancy scares
  • never had a substance abuse problem
  • never went to rehab for anything
  • never had any legal entanglements or went to juvy
  • never had a child out of wedlock (and is delighted to not have any children at all)
  • never stayed in an abusive relationship
  • received a high school diploma

Apparently someone like me is pretty rare if you look at the statistics (and listen to the drivel from our news media). These next few things make me a collectors item, which means I should ship with a certificate of authenticity. 

  • I skipped the 7th grade and graduated H.S. at 17
  • I attained both a B.S. and an M.S.
  • I have a full-time job with benefits
  • I cave an actual career (despite the fact that it is just a job right now), and know where I want to take it
  • I started my own business
  • I purchased my first home without any assistance three years ago
  • I’ve managed to keep my mean old tabby cat alive for 14 years 
  • I lost 80lbs
  • I stopped chemically straightening my hair

Before 9/11, many of the things on that list wouldn’t have been notable achievements. A couple of wars, a global economic meltdown, fear-mongering politicians, and a news media that lacks integrity have made the “American Dream,” that we’re conditioned to chase our entire lives, virtually unattainable.  So we’ve taken such a massive step backwards as a country, that just having a career and knowing where you want to take it is a pipe dream for most Americans.

OK! I’ve climbed down from my soapbox for the moment. You just have to admit that it is absurd that those two short bulleted lists make me some sort of statistical anomaly in this country. I’m a fucking outlier, and it’s gangsta.

I have no idea what the future holds, but there a few more milestones that I’d like to hit, things I would like to see and do, and a lot of things I would like to learn. 

  • I want to learn to drive a manual
  • I want to write and publish a book
  • I want to see Europe and the U.K.
  • I want to own a biggish dog
  • I want to become a competent photographer 
  • I want to see my gay friends have the same rights and privileges that I have

Despite the fact that I have day-to-day struggles, like all of us do, I always go to bed at night knowing that I’ve accomplished a metric ton of things on my own at only 35 years of age. None of them have brought me notoriety, none of them have brought me wealth, the combination of them have made me content, but they haven’t brought me happiness. It’s been a pretty good trip so far, and here’s to hoping that I’ve got more good road ahead of me than I’ve left in my rearview.