I turned in my first grant application this week. I applied for the Regional Arts and Culture Council’s annual artist project grant. If I get it, the grant will pay for a good deal of the binding and paper costs for the publishing of my first artist book that I’ve talked about in previous posts. I was happy to get this done. It was almost like writing a business plan, which is useful, but tedious also. I learned more about my project by answering the various questions of the grant. The hardest part is trying to condense all of what you hope to achieve to 1700 characters. But that limitation does force you to communicate the essence of what you’re trying to say, something I struggle with. The hardest question to answer, the one that I rewrote over and over was: Describe how you will reach a wider audience? Be specific.
Isn’t this a common question? In answering this seemingly simple question, we have to go back and answer other questions like: How good is my work? What level am I really at? What am I capable of? What are my resources? I get frustrated repeatedly trying to compare my work to that of others being shown in the high-end concrete floored, white walled, well lit, friendly staffed, aggressively selling galleries I’m trying to get representation from. Is my work worthy? If not, why? Are my prints good enough? Maybe they should be bigger? These questions have made a nice home for themselves in the less confident part of me. I don’t know that there is really any way of answering any of these. And I’m not a patient person either. Even though the questions (doubts if I’m honest) keep me company daily, I don’t believe that even if I answered all of them (complete with bullet pointed lists) I would have a clear answer for how to reach a wider audience.
So what can I do? I spoke about this persistent question with a brilliant cousin of mine recently. She’s in advertising. She’s worked on huge campaigns for The Washington Post and other major corporations. I answered the “What are you doing now?” question on Facebook with “Constantly looking for a wider audience.” She was the only one that responded. No one else even gave me a thumbs up “Like” response. And why is there not a thumbs down icon? Anyway, Lisa, my cousin, responded in a lengthy message with a great idea that I have now adopted as my own (sorry Lisa). Wondering what it is?
One week from today I leave Portland for a 5 week trip across the country. I’m taking the train because I don’t fly. I haven’t been on a plane in 10 years. It’s a little problem with 25,000 feet between me and the ground. I’ve taken this train trip before, when I moved to Portland. It’s a fascinating journey. You feel every mile of the 3 day trip, and you can’t appreciate the changes in the landscape of this huge country more easily. From Oregon to Washington to Montana to North Dakota to Minnesota to Wisconsin to Illinois to Michigan to Ohio to Pennsylvania to New York to Massachusetts. Then I’ll rent a car. And end the first part of my trip in Maine, where I’ll spend a week in the state that comes as close to being heaven as anywhere on earth.
Starting this week and then continuing on my trip, I’m going to be leaving disposable cameras at varying locations. The cameras (see image below) are a way for me to encourage others to see the unrecognized beauty that exists everywhere. Robert Adams said, “No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film.” I’ve decided to give away the unexposed film. I’m hoping people will share the images they shoot with me so I can post them on a new website I’m designing, www.thedisposables.us. I don’t know if this is going to bring a wider audience for my own work. What I do know is that I’m tired of thinking about it. And, I haven’t been as inspired by anything recently as I am about sharing images from strangers seeing the beauty in the world.
Good luck finding one!
The Disposables Camera Front
The Disposables Camera Back
Great idea. I would love to find one of your camera’s. I hope you get some response I can’t wait to see the pix.
The “how” question you were struggling with is a truly excellent question. Someone once observed that photographers tend to be much more interested in the process of creating a product for distribution than they are in distributing the product. So the question, I think, forces one to look at issues that aren’t particularly “fun” issues.
But there is another question I would be interested in seeing you answer – which is “What scope of wider audience would you personally find satisfying? And how would you know that you reached them?”
What a great idea-can’t wait to see the new website. Have a fabulous and image rich journey and I’ll see you in October.
What a fantastic idea. I do hope it gains the results you expect.
But can I humbly point out that you have managed to reach me – sitting here in yet another rainy British summer – so obviously blogging is a successful method of widening your audience.
I find your blog consistently engaging and honest, and wish you luck in all your endeavours.
I love those disposable camera projects, it’s always cool to see what people come up with
I’ve been reading the book “Free” by Chris Anderson of Wired. I’ve seen it criticized a lot, but I think many of the people throwing stones at him haven’t actually read the book. He has some interesting ideas. By giving away these cameras and paying for the web space, you’re right in line with some of the things he talks about.