BTS: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...Here's a behind the scenes post about my photography, but I'll include a fun recent image at the end. In short, some really great stuff has happened. Some crappy stuff has happened. I'd also really appreciate your feedback on something ... Amazing: Attending the artist's reception for the 2024 (s)Light of Hand exhibition that I was included in. The gallery is The Photographer's Eye: A Creative Collective in downtown Escondido. Since I was fortunate enough to have sufficient frequent flier points for a quick trip, I decided to attend in person. I'm really glad that I did! First, this was only the second juried exhibition that I've been able to be a part of. This was also the first exhibition that I was actually able to see in person, and it was thrilling to both 1) see my print framed and on a wall with other great artwork; and 2) see lots of amazing examples of alternative process photography in person.
It was specifically awesome to see some examples of alt process prints that I had only read about in the flesh. I was particularly taken by a print that used cyanotype over ziatype, a hybrid inkjet/Van Dyke Brown print, and a large collage of cyanotype-on-fabric. Great stuff all around, and I'm starting to research what alt process that I'm going to be exploring next. (It's either between ziatypes or taking another crack at gum printing ...) Craptacular: My external data drive, a high-end RAID 1 array, has failed. Well, I'm not sure whether the drives themselves have failed or whether they're dutifully replicating a corrupt filesystem journal with 100% accuracy. The bad news is that this drive has ALL of my digital negatives, some 60,000 of my digital photographs and scanned negatives, and so I'm terrified that I've lost my data.
The good news is that I was zealous about backing up all of my data to the cloud. My standard practice is to do a full cloud backup after every photoshoot, and I just had a photoshoot last week. I've ordered a copy of my backed up data to be shipped to me on an external hard drive, but I have no idea how long it'll take to get to me. In the meantime, I'm downloading all of my backed up data to a new external hard drive. This is taking *forever* ... I'm currently sitting at 96+ hours elapsed and data 29% restored, with something like 331 more hours to go.
I no longer trust my RAID 1 array (which was super expensive and which I thought was worth it for its inherent redundant data protection). I'll use it for an offsite backup that's refreshed on a monthly basis or something. Other Notes, New Image & Feedback Request Right before my external RAID array crashed, I went through a fun little exercise. I knew that I had been in a creative slump for the past few years before becoming inspired and productive this last February. I've also been a fan of Adobe's Lightroom software since it was first released all the way back in 2007, some 17 years ago. I've found it indispensible for both efficient photo editing and library management. I organize my Lightroom catalogs by year, with a single catalog for each year I've been a photographer since 2001. I was able to easily tally the number of digital photographs (or scanned negatives) I've taken every year, and then create a chart showing my annual photographic productivity:
In 2023, I shot 490 photographs. In 2024, I'm on a pace to shoot something like 29,000 photographs. More isn't always better (and I'm working to intentionally take fewer digital exposures on my shoots), but it's indisputable that I'm inspired and productive right now! Speaking of recent work, here is a sexy portrait from a recent boudoir shoot with an amazing friend. I love shooting "models", but I also love photographing real people. And, pixel for pixel, there's as much emotional intensity and sensuality in this picture of a gloriously real woman as in any of the other art I've produced recently. I'm proud of this.
Feedback Request So, I'd love your feedback about something. Please email me ([email protected]), connect with me on Instagram (@ignatiusbug), or leave a comment using the form below. I know that I have a few readers, and I'd really love to hear what you think. I'm thinking about doing two things: (1) starting a Patreon or OnlyFans; and (2) starting a boudoir photography business. OnlyFans or Patreon is less about monetization than connecting with people and sharing my content in the way it's meant to be seen. I don't see charging more than a couple of bucks a month, although it would be fun to send folks prints from time to time too. Would y'all be interested in this? So ... about that boudoir photography business idea: Someone very wise once told me not to ruin a perfectly good hobby by trying to make money at it. I've lived by this. But, photographing models is expensive. And, artistically, I'm just as creative, inspired, and fulfilled by shooting real people as I am by shooting models. I'm reasonably good at straight/"vanilla" sexy portraits/bedroom boudoir, and I believe I could make a few bucks, have some artistic fun, and fund additional model photoshoots by offering my services. I need to look into this more, but I'd love hearing about anyone's similar experiences.
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