So I'm sitting at a meeting of the Paris Photo Collective. My friend, photographer Joe Johnson has just won the bi-weekly ''Golden Lens Cap Award'' for his photo of a butterfly that had landed on the side of a young lady. It's a cool shot. I get up and snap a few photos of Joe for the group Facebook page. As usual, there are lots of comments, lots of laughter and some good natured ribbing. I love this group. We take some seriously good photos but we don't take ourselves too seriously in doing it.
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| Joe Johnson with the Golden Lens Cap Award |
As I meander through this creative journey of photographic expression, one thing that I've come to appreciate more and more is the sense of belonging to a creative community. It helps to fuel my compulsion to continue on.
For me, believing that my pictures are good enough to display and sell in a gallery or online requires a huge leap of faith. I mean, in this day and age, everyone is a photographer. Almost everyone has a camera, usually in the form of a cell phone, in their pocket. According to one source, upwards of 1.8 billion images are uploaded to the internet every day! https://www.dailydot.com/debug/mary-meeker-photo-report/
Based on that, how can I possibly believe that my images are more beautiful or more interesting than anyone else's? The short answer is... I don't. I firmly believe that everyone's creative vision or view of the world is valid. Ultimately, all I can do is make the images that I make and present them. After that I can only let the chips fall where they may. It's not up to me to gauge their intrinsic value or importance.
This is where being a part of a creative community comes into play. It's comforting to know that I'm not the only lunatic who loves to make visual images and present them to the world. Furthermore, the validation, constructive critique and helpful advice that I receive from other visual creative types goes a long way in helping me achieve the results I want in this creative journey.
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| Members of the Paris Photo Collective L-R Gord Barker, Dean Ellis, Joe Johnson At the opening of Dean's art exhibit at the Tom Robertson Fine Arts Gallery Brantford, On. http://www.robertsonfinearts.ca/studio-11-2/ photo by Tom Robertson |
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| Brantford Artist/Photographer Dean Ellis with Paris On. Gallerist/Curator Taren White at the Tom Robertson Gallery |
Earlier this year, I made a promise to myself to get the work out there. That being said, I booked a showing at the Taren White Gallery https://tarenwhitegallery.com/ in the spring and currently, I'm showing my work at the Dog-Eared Café here in Paris, On. https://www.dogearedcafe.ca/ It's been quite a ride. I've learned a lot about improving my own creative process as well as marketing my pictures. Best of all, it has catapulted me into being part of the local arts community. I have made some great friends and have enjoyed some success in selling my images.
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| Members of the Paris Photo Collective L-R Maria Ko, Dean Ellis, Emily Kew, Adam Tipler at the opening reception of my current show at The Dog-Eared Café Paris, On. |
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| Me at the opening of my spring exhibit at the Taren White Gallery Paris, On. |
So in my photographic life I'm in a pretty good place. I get to hang out with other like minded photographers in the Paris Photo Collective. I get to find the joy in making my images, as well as finding my niche in the local arts community. The cool thing is, I'm just getting started. I've got a few ideas for upcoming projects as well as some minor changes in the style of photographs I'm making. Stay tuned. This could get interesting!
...more later
