Do Not Rush

This entry is prompted by a recent experience and several web/blog readings. First, the experience occurred the other evening as I traveled home from work. I endure a lengthy drive everyday which takes me through several small towns and a couple of the marsh and wetland areas of central Florida. The road I traverse is a small two lane highway with limited shoulder space. This is where some of my best scenic images have been taken.

The other day as I was making my way home nature decided to put on a beautiful show of light and colors. Now I’m never in a rush when driving through nature rich areas to start with but this display caused my foot to ease a little further back off the pedal. Of course the gentleman behind me did not care to enjoy the show and proceeded to start beeping his horn and racing up onto my bumper trying to get me to hurry along. We were the only two vehicles on the road and we went through several passing zones but he seemed content with being discontented and continuing his beeping. Eventually I found a spot where the road widened for a bridge and pulled over. The gentleman behind me raced past, I waved one hand towards him and he waved what I figure to be his only good finger at me, then all was quiet.

The sun was settling down over the left side of the bridge and generating some gorgeous colors. I grabbed my camera and stepped to the other side of the bridge to capture the end of the evening show in peace. I captured several beautiful shots, a sample of which is posted with this entry. I felt sorry for the other gentleman for not having enough time or patience to truly enjoy what was happening in his environment.

I have spent plenty of time as many folks do nowadays reading blogs and art site forums. Most have interesting and insightful discussions and ramblings that offer one new ways to improve art/photographic techniques as well as web, social, and marketing skills. Very helpful information for today’s struggling artist, IF one makes an attempt to apply said information. Just knowing what to do is not enough; you have to use what you've learned and refine it to fit your needs.

Then there are the discussions that start with, “i been on this site two whole days and haven’t sold crap?” which is usually followed by the obligatory, “this site sucks!” I know some of these statements proclaim to have been on the particular site for months and even years without sales but, for the moment I want to focus on those who expected the world to instantly start buying their “crap” as soon as they posted it. To me their first issue is trying to sell crap. I and many artist friends prefer to sell art/photographs. If one wants mass produced crap in a pressboard or plastic frame, Walmart and several “art supply” stores can easily fill that need. So posting crap on FAA and other respectable art sales sites is a total waste of time and effort. I also feel that if you're referring to your work as "crap" you totally lack confidence in your abilities and should join a local art/photography group for support or find a different creative outlet. Next, just because your crap is posted on the internet and is accessible to everyone on the internet doesn’t mean your crap will appear at the top of everyone’s search engine. It takes time to be seen, more time to actually be noticed and even longer, if ever, to be appreciated enough to get a sale.

Patience is the one commodity that is a must for folk’s intent on making it in the art industry. Great images take time and patience to create. Getting into the market and achieving sales takes even more of the same. Instead of complaining about lack of sales use patience and take some time to study the works that are selling. What makes them marketable? Figure out how you can use the gathered information to make your work marketable. Do a little research to determine which groups of people buy your style of art and focus on presenting your works to those groups. No matter what action you take, it will take time, so don’t be in a rush. If I had let the aforementioned gentleman rush me along I would have missed the opportunity to capture some beautiful images as well as enjoying a relaxing moment with nature.

Chris