Glenn worked a miracle and some how replaced the hard drive from my laptop and I spent the morning rebuilding everything back to where it was before the crash earlier this week. I still lost all my personal files and journals from last year. The computer now seems some how better, faster for sure. I am back in business. Wow I am exhausted after all the hubbub this week from my constant battle with technology. People are actually responding to the new Facebook page and this blog. I am awestruck by the kind words and encouragement people have been giving me. The greatest response from most people is: “I didn’t know you did this sort of stuff and your caliber of work is top notch”. Ye-haw!  I now know I am heading in the right direction only after a week of work here. The greatest compliment of all was from Hank who wrote this:

“The past is but a fading memory; capture the turning points and record them as markers; the future is a mystery; capture the dream of what could be; the present is just that, a gift; record it as if there is no tomorrow and no one around to play god and pass judgment; you are more than you realize to others and have made unseen difference in many lives; record it, let it emerge as a light in a dark place, a beacon in moonless night.”

I asked him where the quote was from and he said he wrote it about my work. Wow this totally blew my mind, thanks Hank!!!! Week one and I have 28 followers. Thanks to all of you out there for your support.

Phase one is complete and I am underway. My next step is to begin creating a website. I feel like I need some kind of marketing tool to begin to promote what I do. This is going to be more difficult to get done. I had hired a kid a year or so back to reinvent my business and come up with a new website but we never quite pulled it together. I got busy, then he got busy, then I got busy, then I wasn’t quite sure the direction I wanted to go, meanwhile I pumped a lot of money into it, and now I can’t seem to reach him to move forward, backward or even recover what we have already started. So it looks like I may have to begin from scratch again. I always love this process of creation. I have been researching this morning to see about getting Dream Weaver and the learning materials needed to get started. My goal: by the end of January to have a new website up and running.

My second objective is to find models to work with and begin creating new images for this “Naked Man Project”. After seeing my work, you may be thinking this won’t be difficult, but it’s the most difficult part of this whole process. Montana is not a hotbed of people willing to work with me on these sorts of images. It takes a lot of networking, I mean a lot of networking and most of the time it leads to someone saying they are interested, we schedule something and they never show up. It’s my constant frustration with trying to create art with other people as subjects. Once in a great while I will find someone and then work the heck out them. Two of my favorite people to work with are Jeremy and Travis you will begin to see a lot of their images on here in the upcoming year.

My basic approach is to come up with a design element I am interested in exploring, for instance: working with a piece of fabric, recreating beautiful light I saw in a painting, revisiting a memory of an experience I once had, an emotional state I may be in. Some of the concepts are tangible, some abstract. I then bring in subjects I want to work with and explore the possibilities of that concept or idea. The process is quite fun. Most of the people that come in to be photograph have low self-esteem of themselves. They never quite see themselves the way I can. Almost everyone is totally blown away by what they see and find in the images we have created together. It’s an organic process from start to finish. It begins with talking and getting comfortable with each other, then as they begin to reveal themselves and explore their own sense of identity I am there to capture them in the most beautiful light, that matches where they are emotionally at this point in their process. I coach and encourage people to break out of their norm and trust their own process. It’s not just hot young built bodies I work with, there are all kinds of people, different sizes, shapes, and personalities; men, women, couples, gay, straight. Women are typically more reserved and self guarded and often have the images created for their husbands or partners that are away in the war or something.  They somehow feel comfortable with the fact that I am a gay man and trust my sensibility toward beauty. They do not allow me to show any of their work, hence The Naked MAN Project.  Most men could care less who sees them in this light, I respect everyone’s right to privacy and confidentiality. I believe there is something extraordinary about everyone and will study them until I can find how best to capture or bring it to light. It is the process of finding beauty that captivates and ignites my passion. This week’s focus will be to find new ways to network and find some new subjects to work with.

“A vision’s just a vision if it’s only in your head!
If no one gets to see it, it’s as good as dead!
It has to come to life!
Bit by bit, putting it together
Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art
Every moment makes a contribution
Every little detail plays a part
Having just a vision’s no solution
Everything depends on execution
Putting it together, that’s what counts!”

“Putting it Together” from the musical “Sunday in the Park with George”
Lyrics by Steven Sondheim