Art Model, Covenant ©2015 Terrell Neasley |
“Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
I have a love/hate relationship with traveling. Okay, maybe that’s a little strong way to put it at the expense of dramatic effect, so let me be a bit more plain. I absolutely love to travel and come back with all the great pics. However, this is the only time I really don’t enjoy editing as much. Don’t get me wrong. I love editing photos. But not when I have to cull through FIVE THOUSAND! I know its got to be done those and all this month, that’s been the deal. ALL this month. Usually, I’m spending a week, (max two!) editing a project and then its on to the next gig. Its been all month and I think I’m maybe half way through at best….maybe…
Art Model, Covenant ©2015 Terrell Neasley Sting Rays |
But that’s cool. Its got to be done. And it’s hard to complain about SO MANY GREAT SHOTS. This is just the other side of the coin and I’ll do well enough by pacing myself. In the meantime, I’m already shooting again with those edits on the back-burner and more models to schedule for July. The trick though is shooting in Las Vegas in JULY, is to beat the heat. Which isn’t easy. I just got off the phone a few minutes ago discussing some possible options to shoot in the next few weeks. So somehow, we need to get to some sites nearby that will not melt your face. So I have some serious scouting to do coming up in addition to editing. I’m basically caught up on all the movies I missed. Game of Thrones has ended the season. So no more distractions. Except for all the chatter about whether or not Jon Snow is really dead. I’ll leave you to your own theories and research about that, though.
Art Model, Covenant ©2015 Terrell Neasley |
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
~ Steve Jobs
If you have been following my Instagram, @PhotoAnthems, (and if you haven’t been, you should), you’ll see that I’ve definitely been mixing my art nude work with my travel and street photos. Initially, I felt the need to keep these two genres separate, but I honestly don’t think I’m being true to myself when I do so. The two best loves about what I do right now are traveling and shooting nudes. So its sort of like the next greatest merger of all time for people who like chocolate and peanut butter. I just have to find a way to put them both together and make them work. Do what you love. Well, those two are it, primarily. If I had all the resources I needed to simply Travel and Shoot Nudes, that’s all I’d be doing. I’d live on a boat and circumnavigate the planet stopping at interesting locations to visit, make new experiences and friends, shoot, and tell stories about.
Art Model, Covenant ©2015 Terrell Neasley |
And that leaves me with with the task of finding my real audience. Plenty of people are interested in travel photography, visiting places around the world, and living vicariously through those that do in the form of instant access social media. That demographic is easy. A smaller portion of that demographic is interested in seeing a nipple exposed anywhere near a waterfall landscape composition. And even less want a full frontal nude body littering, what would have otherwise been appropriate imagery to hang on a family wall. I can be a bit obstinate, I know. Because the easy solution is to just stick to the travel landscape and make everybody happy. And that would be great, but it would come at the cost of my own happiness. And I can not do that.
Open to suggestions!