rent me. I shoot things pretty.

So much to say. But now isn’t the time. It’s late and I’m pretty tired. There was an earthquake last Monday night and it remains to be seen what sort of damage has been done…. That sounds negative. It’s possible that nothing but good will come of it and I’m certainly hopeful. Change can be a very positive thing.

I won’t say more. I really want to see how this plays out. As I said- I’m hopeful.

Meanwhile I’m realizing I have to put a lot more energy into establishing myself as a photographer if that’s what I want to do. So far I have passion, creativity, and arguably an eye for it. I don’t have technical skill beyond the advanced amateur level and that bothers me. Gone are the days when we were slaves to light meters and darkrooms but I still waste time thinking about shutter speed and aperture size. I want these things to be second nature to me. I want a depth of knowledge that leaves me free to think purely creatively.

At least the learning curve has been slashed by a factor of ten thanks to dear digital.

So I’m in a bit of a holding pattern while the portfolio site gets built. To maintain some feeling of progress I’m shuffling through gigs of photos trying to pick a hundred or so for the site. A hundred sounds like a lot but I make no apologies. I’m prolific. Besides, it’s not just to get me hired. It’s also my storefront. At least I hope it will be. We haven’t even tackled the logistics of the merchant side yet. For the sake of expediting things I may launch the same way Kyle did: basically with a cute smile and an invitation to send money.

Speaking of money I’ve signed up for Google AdSense, which means I’m going to be giving some serious thought to monetizing this site. Not in an ugly way, mind you. I have a lot of respect for Google’s approach and I have no qualms about supporting the idea. More revenue to advertisers through Google means less money left for spammers and a healthier interweb for all. What it comes down to is a few text ads in the sidebar. If you see something that sparks your interest by all means have a look. It’s a cost-per-click system so I would get paid a penny or so everytime someone checks out a link. Google actually says in their terms that I’m not supposed to say anything about the ads that might make you more likely to click. They’re just supposed to sort of show up one day and I’m supposed to act all innocent or something. Fair enough. The business model depends on people only clicking through if there’s a chance they’ll spend money at the other end. So I’ll say it again- if something piques your curiosity go for it, but don’t do it just to feed a starving artist. =)

Anyway, I just signed up so I could give it a good look. I may just add it to my archives so daily readers might never even see it. We’ll see. I’m thinking about it. A boy’s gotta eat.

What I *would* like you to spend money on is my pictures! Look at your walls! They suck goat ass! You need engaging, soulful, thought-provoking photography on them. Admit it- you know people are talking when they leave your place: “Nice party but I just can’t stand the decor, you know?”

Have a look. If there’s anything in there you want to make your own let me know. Let me know how huge you want it. Even what colour you want it. I think I can print up to five feet high and as long as you possibly want. And you already know I like to play in Photoshop.

Prices range from $15 for a little 4×6 for your desk through $400 for a 40×60 conversation piece. At the moment every print is a one-off and I’ll sign it that way. 1/1. And why not? With whatever customizing we want to do to it before we print it’s an original work of art.

And until I get that portfolio site up all I have for broadcasting my photography services is this little web property, so here I am saying it: rent me. I shoot things pretty.

At the moment I’ve placed myself at the entry level for decent photographers in this town: $75 an hour on location, even though an hourly rate is bad for all sorts of reasons. After processing that works out to about $10 an hour so I think that’s more than fair. The digital files (the originals and the final images) are yours to do with as you please.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where I should shut the hell up and let the pictures do the talking for me. I should go to bed. Tomorrow I hang out with davin and then take Jen out for a nice quiet dinner to smoothly end her three-week long birthday celebration. I’ll let you know how that goes.