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Sharing Your Art
In case you’ve never read any of Seth Godin’s books, I dare you to choose any and get back to me in a week to see if any of his statments has modified your perspective on life in any way. If it does, then it means his work as an writer has translated flawlessly and for me, that same influence in this particular paragraph has opened up the chance to do something nice with my photography -
Some people think that you can’t be generous until after you become a success. They argue that they have to get theirs, and then they can go ahead and give back. The astonishing fact is that the most successful people in the world are those who don’t do it for the money. - Linchpin
Being compensated for your work is a sign of value for your craft but there’s times when the mere appreciation of your work is enough payment if the art has caused the viewer to step back a bit more to admire it. That extra step counts.
I’ll admit to being proud of having the opportunity to monetize some of my favorite photographs at Thingsshot.com but it’s not always about the hard cash.
Friends often comment how they like a particular photograph I’ve mine and I’ve surprised them by having it professionally printed, framed and ready to hang and their reaction has been one that I don’t think would have been replicated if money was involved.
With that said, I would like to give away 5 of any of the prints I have curated at Thingsshot.com. You select the one that most resonates with you, I have it printed with the great folks at Mpix and they ship it to you.
How to Win
Three 5x7 prints will given away and two 8x12. How will you know which format you’ll be receiving? It’ll all be dependent upon answering one question and sharing one photograph.
The top 2 submissions will receive the 8x12 prints and the 3 runner-ups will receive each a 5x7 print.
The Queries
- What initially interested you into photography?
- Share with us your most meaningful photograph and describe it’s significance.
This small contest will be open for a week, starting today and ending on July 8th. Send your replies and images to contact[at]jorgeq.com with the subject title “Things Shot Giveaway”. Please ensure to include your name and also a website URL if you have one.
All the winner’s questions and photographs will be published here. In the end, it’s all about sharing each other’s art. You don’t have to be a professional anything to create art. You just have to have confidence in that you’re a creator of it.
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I wish somebody had told me that I would spend 95% of my time doing office tasks and only 5% of my time actually taking and processing photographs.
– Andy Biggs on Things Photographers Wished They Learned in Photo School. I hear this a lot from fellow photographer friends. -
The iPhone 4 - I’ll leave the full blown reviews to those that are much better at writing them but the least I can do as a photographer is share with you how incredibly brilliant and vibrant the retina screen screen looks on this piece of hotness. It’s more impressive in person. Case pending on mine. I’m not fond of carrying it around without one. (Photograph by Jorge Quinteros)
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iPhone 4 Captures
I doubt that anyone with the smallest amount of interest in photography would argue that it’s not the camera that creates the image but rather the photographer. But what these gadgets do provide is the flexibility to take photos that mean something to you and even more so if it comes from a device that serves so many other purposes.
Since the first iPhone, one of the biggest reason for not upgrading to any of the subsequent versions has been because none of the new features introduced ever attracted me enough to justify the commitment.
Kids playing at the park in a 90(F) degree weather in Brooklyn.Fast forward 3 years and the 5MP camera on the iPhone 4 obliterated any uncertainly I had in modernizing to a new iPhone and now I’m more than fascinated in the extra value that’ll go into taking photos because of the fantastic quality you get from it.
I rarely uploaded iPhone photos to Flickr because regardless of how compelling the photograph might have been, I strived to curate shots that were as high-level as the camera that took them but now that’s changed and I’ve realized how shallow that reasoning was. If a photo is amazing, it deserves to be overlooked with what it was taken and recognized in what it represents.
I’ve created a set on my Flickr page entitled iPhone 4 Captures that will be home to photos specifically taken with the iPhone 4 and color treatment courtesy of Camera+. iPhone images will be distinguished from shots taken with my other cameras (Nikon D90/Canon G11) because the former will have a thin black border.
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3 Days Without an iPhone
It suddenly stopped working. The screen persisted in being off and unresponsive and no trouble shooting tactic seem to revive what now was my dead iPhone. If you ask me, I think the combination of too much jailbreaking and just the life of the battery all contributed to its death.
What’s interesting is that making phone calls was second to everything else I accomplished with the device yet to make up for the inability to now make a phone call, I resorted in using this cracked Razor flip-phone that we had laying around the house. I quick SIM card swap revived it.
This may seem a bit overboard but being without my iPhone for 3 days has completely made me feel disconnected. The days seem one-sided, half-completed but mostly disoriented because I have zero access to online content that generally keeps me in touch with what’s transpiring in the world. Even standing on line at the supermarket feels unfamilar.
Staying in communication with my wife consist mostly of SMS throughout the day but I refused to put so much effort in trying to text on a phone that doesn’t have a full-blown keyboard like I’ve been accustom to already. It’s a complete hassle.
The device has not only changed my communication habits but it’s brought a new level of excitement and enthusiasm that apparently can easily be taken away from going a fews days without a technology that has forever changed me.
Art Changes You
Whenever an author decides to mention in their book successful companies, it’s almost a given that Apple will be included in that inventory. I’m half-way through Seth Godin’s Linchpin and there’s a chapter where he touches on how we can all be creators of art but not if what we create doesn’t instill some form of change to the recipient and this particular entry resonated with my current plight -
The design of the iPhone is art. It changes the way some people feel. It changes the way they use the device. It changes the way they communicate. And there is a gift as well. People who see the iPhone but don’t buy one still receive the gift. An ugly iPhone would cost as much as the beautiful one. The beautiful part is the free prize inside, the bonus, the gift to us from the artist who designed it.
I was among the few that pre-ordered the iPhone 4. I’m excited beyond belief because the device no longer acquires its popularity based on the bragging rights that comes with owning one but on the integral and emotional relation that you develop with a technology that enables you to be more attached with things you care about. It’s no longer an ornament to what you already own, it’s an integral part to what you want to accomplish.
I’m ready to get back to normal. Normal for me means keeping up on Tweets, Facebook, feeds, reading and texting all of which seems like normal habits for any Mac and web enthusiast.
