We are a week into the new year and I have accomplished the first phase goal I had set for this new new project. I have created a Facebook page showing a large assortment of my imagery and varying styles. In case you have not seen it Terry J Cyr Photography on Facebook. This process is defiantly forcing me to look at my library and sort though my images. It’s actually kind of fun to begin working toward creating some semblance of a portfolio of what I have done. It surprises me to see my images together. As I am looking at it I am thinking wow did I actually create all this. I think sometimes, as artist, we stay so focused in the details of what we are currently dealing with that we don’t always see the over all picture of who we are or what we have become. I have begun this blog to pull my thoughts, ideas, dreams, and experiences together collectively. I do not really know if anyone out there has the time or inclination to read or become involved with other peoples lives or experience. I have always journaled and spewed forth what was in my head. It has somehow always helped me to gain perspective and it give me direction. The more important part of this process is that I have actually become disciplined enough to post this each day.
Today is a hallmark day for me as I have an image that is opening in a show in New York City. It’s part of a show called Postcards From the Edge as a benefit for an organization called Visual AIDS. My friend John Douglas from Sydney, Australia has submitted work to it before and suggested I also do so this year. He suggested it would be good exposure for me and start to get my images out there. So here it is! I keep questioning: with the world filled with so many images and artists how does one get their stuff out there and begin to become recognizable. I feel my talents have been hidden from the world. I just didn’t know how to approach expanding my market. I know it’s something I have got to constantly work at, to network and reach out to others globally. But who are these people? Last summer, I joined the Red Bubble community, which was a collective of international artist based out of Australia. It was the first time I had shown any of my images and I was quite surprised by the response. It felt as if I immediately become a hit with a community of like-minded artists. I even put several pieces into a show in Sydney. But then I got busy with the summer and was distracted with other work. Without constant working of the site I soon dropped below the radar and disappeared back into oblivion. The big question: is there a market for any of this kind of stuff and where do I really want to go with it? I would love to focus on this sort of imagery, but it takes time and how do I juggle everything else to still maintain this? Where, or even will I find a tipping point when I can make money on such images and be able to sustain myself economically, to be able to make it grow? My big hindrance has always been; are my images worthy of going into a global market? I believe they are! I am surprised by what a body of work I have amassed over the years. I think this show in New York is a step in the positive direction. I now need to find other ways and places to submit my images. I need some help figuring it all out. Anyone out there that may have a suggestion? I am willing to try anything.
Today’s image is part of a series I called “End of the Relationship.” Its was about two guys who had shared a remarkable relationship together, and realized they both were now heading in different directions, that it was time to let go of each other. They wanted to capture the essence of what they had once held, and allowed me into their world for this brief glimmer, before they departed. This is the image currently in the “Postcard from the Edge” show and auction.
>Congratulations Terry! The connection between the two young men was intuitively captured by you on film! My eyes kept going to that image over and over when I visited with you last August. Your photographic art deserves to be showcased as it is amazing!
>Any and all feedback is always appreciated. I don't always understand why some images are more powerful than others. I have spent many years working in a void and am still trying to figure it out.
>beautiful imagery ! sometimes i have found that the instant connection to an image is undeniable ! i have wept at the pure beauty of a michaelangelo, or depth of feeling in the eyes of a lautrec, the raw sexuality of an egon shiele ,so follow your Eye and what calls to You , surrender to your own aesthetic, and you can not be wrong . ty michael mcconnell , boston