maybe it's just me

more on the topic of money & art...

this is Martin's response to my last comment on the post below & my own response. If anyone would like to weigh in with their opinion it would be appreciated.

yeah
i know that it was referring to the prints; that's why i made a comment.  i try to think of photography as a persons' way of relating to the world, but it seems that more and more often photography is used as a way for people to get the world to relate to them.
we, as relatively unknowns, have an opportunity to bring photography to light as something that we really care about... not necessarily something that cares about us.  we cannot rely on photography, or art in general for that matter, to support us if we are going to make the best art we can.  kind of like relationships.. you dont count on your partner's love to make you happy.  you become happy by loving your partner.
basically, i would like to see you making new pictures and updating your photo site with those images... that part of your site has been barren for a long time, wheras the blog is always attended to.   then i think that the photo selling idea would make sense.
sorry to be so preachy.  i just dislike where i see photo at nowadays.
martin

martin

I would love to afford the highest moral ground & keep my photography as a wholly seperate part of my life, distinct from the "business" of life-living but I can't. Like it or not, making photographs is & will always be part of my livelihood. It's what I want to do, not what I want to do when I'm not working. I don't plan on slinging records or working in an office for years on end to provide for my "artist's life". It simply won't work. Offering people an opportunity to help support my picture-making is a viable option. Something akin to applying for a grant. I make photographs. It costs time & money, which I am glad to give. With my bank balance near zero, though, I make less photos. I can understand if I was soliciting sponsorship from a major corporation but how can you say that offering up my work to people that I know, people that have expressed interest in it, somehow compromises my relationship with photography, that what will come out will be tainted? Does exchanging money for photographs at such an early stage in my artistic life, my "career", imply that I care any less about the photos or about photography or art in general? Am I selling out?

A person's relationship with photography should be reciprocal not one-sided. I make photographs because it's the best way to express the way I feel or the way I think about things, how I relate to the world. But I also expect photography to give back to me & I don't mean that in monetary terms. At the same time that the pictures I make are showing people the hopefully particular way that I look at things, I hope that it also reveals to me things about myself that I don't know, to return the love so to speak. I'm not counting on photography loving me back but it's what I'm after & I don't think that's a selfish or greedy thing.

Rob