i am not a cat person….never had a cat as a pet…never wanted a cat…..i was always a dog man ….dogs were always happy to see me, followed me around…dogs responded to commands…..cats always just seemed aloof to me….now, i have a cat…..
on the fourth of july, a hot summer night, little Simone just showed up….my son Bryan and his love Michelle and i were sitting on my porch having a glass of wine and pretty much minding our own business , when along came little homeless Simone (sometimes Lulu) who just jumped into my lap….end of story…..or, should i say, beginning of story…..
now i am dealing with raccoon proof cat doors, dry food vs. wet food, auto feeding machines and worse, yes, AFFECTION…damn!! ….the last thing i need in my life is a cat….i do not have time for a cat….i travel too much to have a cat or any pet….but, now i have a cat….or, rather she has me….she now owns the place….runs the show….wants affection sometimes, and shuns it other times….does what she wants when she wants to do it and my job is just making sure she is happy …and i now trip all over myself to make sure this is so…..hmmmmm….
it is always the unexpected in our lives which seems to govern….all of us work so hard to plan plan plan and then , well, the “plan” becomes whatever “just happened” with perhaps a very slight twinge of the light of original agenda….most of us i think then take whatever circumstances evolved and then turn it into our “plan” as if we had thought of it all along….pure justification or acceptance or , well, what else can we do???
certainly there must be adjustments in our creative spirit as well…if we all did what we started out to do, then i am sure that the results would be a whole lot less exciting then if serendipity rules…..yet, we also know from experience that not having any kind of plan in the beginning usually leads to no action at all…so, strange as it seems, we need a plan or a thought or an idea at the beginning that we know surely with change as we move forward…we should not be surprised that we become surprised with what actually happens , yet this is the ultimate surprise!!
perhaps we all have different proportions of planning vs. serendipity……and , of course, this is all related to being able to FINISH what we start out to do…i think many of us do not finish what we start because a Simone shows up….changes the equation….priorities get scrambled……what we want today, may not be what we want tomorrow….
i do spend a lot of time with young ambitious photographers or photographers who are trying to make a mark….the single biggest difference i see between those who “do it” and those who do not is simply the ability to finish what one starts….
yes, of course, talent is a must…visual acuity, sensitivity, spacial awareness, timing, balance….but, given two equal talents, the one who can actually complete a body of work is the one who will rise….sounds simple, but it is the most complex compound of all things facing any creative person….i see it over and over with photographers i mentor…..i have fought this with myself all along….i suspect a solid 80% of what i start goes unfinished….folks know of the other 20%, but i coulda shoulda woulda done more….blame it on Simone??
what about you?? do you finish most things, or sooner rather than later give it up?? be honest…we are all in this together…
ok, while you take on this question, i have to go feed the cat…..no joke…she is an hour away , and i am going to go feed her instead of taking a picture….woe is me….
I think I finish what I start. I have been doing several projects at the same time but they have been running for a while, well over a year and I still have no desire to give them up as I dont think they are finished. Pieces is coming along as is Marooned, which is actually growing. I have 2 years left in Korea, after which I will be done with the MBA course I am doing and I will try to land a job elsewhete, so thats 2 years to finish Marooned, one chapter of which I submitted here. To be honest I am relishing the whole process of a long term project, I love building, tearing down, building again. It is fun, challenging and educational. On top of my own shooting I am trying my hand at curating and editing the work of others, which is helping me understand editing which I can apply to my own work.
I often go on paths I don’t finish. Usually I learn something from them, think how an unfruitful project that was to pursue, and move on to the next one. Luckily I have long projects that I carry on shooting, and others that are sort of over arching, so every some time you go back to them. Now I’m going to start a project hoping it will all work out, as I spend plenty of time in its preparation too. Would be quite sad to get it wrong.
On the cat. I got a stray cat about two months ago. What I didn’t know then was that it was pregnant. It’s like a double whammy, so now I have three cats. The pro is that they don’t need too much looking after (as dogs would). If I don’t finish a project I can always blame it on pregnant stray cats, I guess.
I have a folder called packaged works, heaps of stuff there including about 6 full exhibitions ready to go(printed proofs), about 3 installations, heaps of completed slide shows and the usual singles that I am happy with. The handmade photo books are sitting there one is ready to go, just a matter of printing and binding the single copy ……. other than that there is this stuff about 270 meters of images……. which is only completed when I become maggot food http://etrouko.com.au/art/3050.jpg
I usually finish what I start, a side-effect I’m sure of working all my adult life with rigid deadlines that newspaper people live and die with. The newspaper always comes out, daily or weekly or whatever, and you finish. I need deadlines to function well, I guess. As James Taylor sang in Bartender’s Blues:
“But I need four walls around me to hold my life
To keep me from going a-stray”
I prefer the sloppy love of dogs to the aloofness of cats. :)
The dog in my life:
http://www.39thframe.com/sweet_chichi.jpg
“Miaow, miaow…”
DAVID,
Laughing! I’ve been through almost exactly the same thing with a cat, but today I’m grateful and like them (didn’t before though). This cat http://search.milim.com/MilimData/magnify/Z625_091.jpg
Regarding projects I’m the same. I probably finish less than 50% of what I start. I’m even insecure when I finish if I should finish or not or continue or if it isn’t good enough.
Anyway, great story!
Cheers
Thanks. This is just the kind of thing I need to hear. I’ve been learning about the importance of this the last year or so.
Most of my life I’ve been terrible at finishing projects, when I’m in the middle of working on something I get so involved I just can’t step back anymore. I lose my ability to see the work from a distance. Then I get a negative comment or a rejection from somewhere and it all suddenly seems like crap. Often I find 6-12 months passes and I look back at the work and I really impress myself – it seems so obvious I shouldn’t have given up. I guess it’s about believeing in yourself and well…gritting your teeth and doing what needs to be done, the best you can, even if everything doesn’t go the way you hoped.
David, I had a Simone knock on my back door and wait for me to let her in about 8 years ago. Literally, her name is also Simone, and she is a cutie pie kitty that chose me. At the time, I was in no way shape or form ready to take on the responsibility of pet ownership, but there she was, hungry and cold, and she loved me unconditionally already. So, into my arms and life she came. It is a nice parallel to draw about the little surprises serendipity throws into our path…I believe that whatever we are currently experiencing, we are supposed to be experiencing. Sometimes these are good things, sometimes these are bad things, sometimes we cannot figure out why and may never know why certain things happen. Regardless of the why, however, remains the fact that we are a product of our experience. What we glean from that knowledge is up to each of us. Shall we learn and become wiser, and therefore stronger and better people? Or shall we misuse our precious energy by worrying about circumstances that are unexplained or beyond our control? Starting what you finish speaks volume about character…so does simply showing up and trying. I am trying like hell to start what I finish, and most of these things take way longer than I would like them to, but I have a pretty good track record of achieving what I seek to accomplish. So, that’s what I have to say about that. (And I know that your story was more directed so that we look inward and examine ourselves, but I just wanted to leave a little comment.)
Once you start reading the spam on the net and it finds its way into your work one will never finish as there is help online…….. http://etrouko.com.au/art/Orissa0610.jpg
CUBA with LOVE
took 10 years to complete..
I wanted to give up so many times…
I wanted it to go away,
this urge and desire and vision
and
have it leave me alone….
but
it wouldn’t…
***
and
now a movie….
and
now
brothels…..
***
life
is
certainly
an
adventure…….
***
and shes a
black
cat……..
xox
Good to see you writing again David…
When doing my own personal work I usually finish what I start though it can take a long time, and I have to ‘force’ myself to ‘finish’. It’s usually hard to know when to stop…another picture, another thought, another idea…sometimes I spend a lot of time thinking things over again…second-guessing…
One of the most important things I’ve discovered is the importance to START and to DO rather than think and read and theorize endlessly. Once you’ve written something on a page, put up some photographs on the wall, ideas start materializing and changing and developing…
Deadlines help. The first photographic essay I ever attempted was the assignment to produce 20 pictures that David gave on the original Road Trips blog a couple of years ago. I ‘finished’ it for the deadline, but feel it is really a long-term project.
We also had a pregnant cat give birth to four kittens in our place here in Bracciano, and we now have 5 kittens looking for a home…(the fifth kitten walked in the door one day seemingly out of nowhere, and became the ‘boss’…) Some cat pictures: http://simongriffee.com/story-catsi/
well… i haven’t visited Burn for a while now and the day i do, a new post from DAH. Serendipity indeed!
when i left london behind to travel with my wife and daughter we had a very basic plan, to be open minded, follow our hearts, take our time and see where it leads us to. we were searching for something different to our familiar urban lifestyle, we had the notion that we would end up living some place else, in a different way, in touch with nature… some sort of romantic ideal… we went to India (again) traveled for a while, rented a cottage in the mountains, bought food at local markets etc. After about a year we flew to Darwin in Australia bought a campervan and drove around the west coast and stayed a while near a small town in the forests of the south west. Then my wife became pregnant, we didn’t plan that! what to do? our families expected we’d return home, have the baby, settle back into ‘normal’ life… nope, we went back to India, rented another cottage, by chance found a wonderful mid-wife Sister Priscilla and decided to stay in India and have our second child. A blissful time it was…
Anyway after a few years between India and Australia we knew we’d found our ‘Shangri-la’ in the forests of Western Australia. We wanted to migrate, but that became a whole other mountain to climb. We were told the only way we would ‘get in’ is if i went to collage for two years and study something like cooking…
So after being a pro-photographer for quite a few years, i’d have to go to collage full-time and study hospitality? for two years? and work as a cook 900 hours per year? would i finish what i started? could i?
well, i’ve got 4 months left and i’m done with collage, cooking, hospitality… it’s probably been the most grueling bitter-sweet two years of my life. sometimes i think i must be crazy. sometimes others think i must be crazy. but when i have an end of term break and some sanity returns and i look at where we are living and how we live and how happy my two daughters are, it all makes beautiful sense…
However, the thorn in my side that has tortured me so often is that my photography grinded to a total halt for well over a year. I couldn’t complete the editing of my travel project, i couldn’t shoot much new stuff, i didn’t have the mental space or energy. But thanks to Burn (and Road Trips) i’ve managed to kick my own butt and finish my travelogue edit and start new material… (many thanks!)
So i guess i’d be saying that i do finish most things. Although my wife would probably disagree and list plenty from the washing up, changing the oil in the car, sorting those shelves……..
Never really got dogs. They rely on you, they need you. You cant just abandon them…They are like family.
cats always seem to say ‘whatever’. Feed me and house me..or not, who cares? They survive, they can live large or go back to the streets with no looking back. They are Independent of my care and love. Thats good.
I dont think I ‘dont finish’ stuff. I abandon things. Projects start, projects finish, projects get interupted, but when they are done..what then? Who were they for anyway but me?
Again it really does come down to to “why do you shoot?” Look in the mirror and answer THAT one honestly, just to yourself if need be.
There is nothing wrong about motive. Fame Money recognition salvation conscience career need guilt art[whatever the hell that means] …as long as we are honest about that motive. Lots of sheep dressed as wolves and wolves dressed as shepherds in the world.
john
Me? I’m a lifelong drop-out, and a shiftless, lazy bum. And stubborn enough about it to be proud of the fact. Being easily distracted and leaving projects ‘unfinished’ has been my basic operating procedure for so long that it’s become my only real ‘career’. It’s the biggest reason why I live far below the poverty line. I’ve pretty much always thought that modern societies place far too much emphasis on encouraging and rewarding people for being obsessively “goal directed”. Oh, I understand why, and I have no illusions it will ever change just because of me and a few other romantic rebels.
So much trouble in the world is caused by people with ‘big plans’ and the single-minded zeal to carry them out. Most of the important encounters in my life have been serendipitous… most of the important events unexpected or beyond my control… and most of the revelatory understandings I’ve been blessed with have come as a result of being willing to admit that I was mistaken or misguided, and willing to change my mind and my direction. Having room in one’s life for these things to happen is very important to me, and I see far too little of such room or possibility in the lives of heavily ‘goal-directed’ people.
I’m probably an extreme case. Maybe a balance between goals and openness to serendipity, between defined and directed projects versus pure whimsy and aimless curiosity, between over-achieving and under-achieving, would be the desirable ideal. But as I’ve looked around me, growing up, studying, working, and traveling the world a bit, a lot of the harm I’ve seen is the result of the over-achievers’ greed and ambition. The world- the real world- is so beautiful, so mysterious, and so abundant, so enchanting. And can be enjoyed, savored, investigated, accommodated, and surrendered to with such little need for harm, with such slender resources. But it is filled with swarms of noisy, bothersome, pushy, loud, aggressive people intent on making their piles, making their reputations, building their walled castles, creating their personal empires, and flaunting their wealth and power.
I’m not trying to lead anybody astray into the poverty and idleness that is my voluntary lot, but just to offer a few words of encouragement to anyone who is constitutionally not so goal-directed or obsessed with ‘completing’ projects… No need at all for you to feel guilty or less adequate! Follow your heart and your own curiosity, indulge in whimsy, let yourself be distracted… maybe you will find something far more valuable and interesting that ‘success’.
As for pets… I grew up in the same family with an older brother who was a serious naturalist, and have had the rich experience of living together with a wide range of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals in addition to more conventional dogs and cats as pets. Some of the more interesting and amusing pets that stand out in my memory are raccoons, crows, flying squirrels, ferrets, and boa constrictors. I love a lot of dogs and tend to get along well with them, but have never wanted my own and have always felt heavily burdened when forced to take care of other people’s dogs for periods of time. Their needs for attention are too great, and their energy level too rambunctious. I feel much calmer and at ease with the energy and independence of cats. Of the thousands of cats I’ve encountered, there were only about five I really didn’t like and who didn’t like me. And that was always a flashing red warning signal to me about their owners!
For the moment, I didn’t abandon my projects, but I think it sometimes… I always work on my parents, I had few months when I saw nothing, but I believe that it is better now…
me, I always had cats…
Have a nice day,
audrey
I’m on the last leg of my canal project. It’s been 4 plus years. I do intend a self-published book. Lots to wade through, though. But, yes, I will finish it. Getting started is often more difficult for me. Need a new project! I’m open to ideas! ;^}
Cheers.
P.S. Dogs tend to worship their owners. I always found that pretty damn annoying.
Cats worship no one. They give what they receive. Love and affection and peace and quiet. This is why they rule.
Cats are trouble. Are you a closet cat person David?
Good luck,
Paul
Dogs have families, cats have a staff, raccoons have to seize
I write this as I’m laying here with a cat nearby…
Dear Mr. Harvey,
I feel your pain, perhaps you are dealing with your delemma more light hearted than I have though. I was not picked by a cat, but instead a woman who has two cats. My dog passed away over the summer while I was out of town with the woman. Two days this week I couldn’t shoot because she wanted attention. It’s only built up resentment and I’ve been quite upset each time this has happened. I have to keep her happy, that unfortuneately might mean going out to dinner with friends or what ever it means. I haven’t had a realtionship like this for nearly ten years and I’ve gotten a lot done in that time… What now though? Break her heart and think only of myself to get it done more? Instead, it seems I must think nothing of myself, and hope I can get it all done in my spare time…
Yes well anyway, I wish the best for you and Simone.
Jason
Very hard to know if I finish things, because I rarely have a definitive start for them..the way I work usually is organic, not project based until the project claims it’s own turf.
That said, the book project that I started last June needs to have firm boundaries because of the volume I am shooting and the number of hours committed that make it nearly impossible for me to do other things or live in balance. Hence, and enforced deadline of end of October. I do hope I can stick to it, because there will always be more to add to this piece. I just can’t though, for money, for sanity…
A cat! So happy for you. Someone is trying to get me to care for their 2 cats for 10 months..am really on the fence. September will be the first time I will be without animals in the home, possibly ever..and am sort of excited about the freedom.
Hey DAH – McGowan here.
Facing and fighting these demons head on. I’ve been thrust into the vagabond lifestyle, loveless, penniless, with little over a month to get Garage Sale ready to hang for ArtPrize.org. It’s going to happen… it has to now, I signed the venue agreement. You can track my progress on humanfiles.com if you’re interested.
Sorry I haven’t been around in a while… it’s been that kind of life.
Sidney,
Amen to all you (beautifully) said!
Simon
i can empathise..
tor capa keeps filling his nappy..
3 esteemable bowel movements today..
it is a distraction..
in the short term finishing is easier for me than the long term.. finishing commissions / exhibitions and the like are easy – a deadline forces an end.. goals and time-lines are in mind for pragmatic reasons.
what i have more difficulty with is finishing personal projects over a long period of time.. and by personal projects i mainly mean my music work.. because it will never really finish..
it has evolved though and so i guess the end of this stage is where i need to show people what i have been up to.
the same goes for photographing my daily life.. meanderings and jusfodahelluvit stuff.. there is no end.. no end..
perhaps having tor capa is an end of a certain life.. so maybe this more personal stuff needs to be sorted out..
i wonder.. is an end bought about by marketing and commercial pressures?
or is it more that an end has to be bought about for our own mental filing before we can move on?
a little of both, along with the reward of an end?
maybe it is passing through a portal of sorts.
perhaps the ‘natural’ end of a project is when our lives change.. you know..
the 4 or 5 lifetimes we live in one.
photographing instinctively and growing a body of work organically – there is no end..
i’m not even sure i can pinpoint the beginning.
so i guess we have to recognize when current stages of a project have finished.. and that’s the time to collect what has come together and solidify what comes next..
that’s okay.
the tibetan work has been exhibited twice and the music work 2 or 3 times..
i’m yet to air my more personal laundry, (some of it stinks), or create a book..
what i need to do is present my conclusions at each stage of the longer project in the form of a book rather than wait longer, until the bitter end.. (which may well be my end).. in order to try and present something more epic.
with music work – i wanted to photograph the uk scene over 10 years.. but ended up getting sent abroad.. bang goes the end of the uk project and so begins a more ‘epic’ project.. from nearly 600 uk commissions i could do a uk book.. or i could wait, (which i did), and try for a worldwide book..
and now..
trying for a world wide book i am thinking..
well..
there are many more countries i could do.. or, as with this summer, i could look at one country more closely..
i remember reading once that people posing for portraits are nervous in part because of the impression of a portrait lasting beyond their lives.. standing to represent them and their image long after they are in the ground.. and that’s part of the thing with me and long term projects..
the other part being that i want to do things properly.. not hit and run.. taking time.. learning as much as i can..
although of course.. perhaps the deeper you live a life to photograph it, the more murky the waters become.. it takes a while to ingest what has gone before, and then i guess we know if a ‘time’ has ended.
no amount of time is enough to cover things properly.. we can do our best though.
anyway.. i have a handle on finishing.. know what it feels like to finish and am capable of calling an end to a stage of a project.. yes.
the ultimate finishing will be the end of us..
so we’d all best finish filing our negatives / RAWs before then.
:o)
hope to chat tomorrow david, unless tor capa has another ‘epic’ nappy day or lulu simones claws find your archived prints..
david.
“it is always the unexpected in our lives which seems to govern….all of us work so hard to plan plan plan and then , well, the “plan” becomes whatever “just happened” with perhaps a very slight twinge of the light of original agenda….most of us i think then take whatever circumstances evolved and then turn it into our “plan” as if we had thought of it all along….pure justification or acceptance or , well, what else can we do???” -DAH
…I feel that there are few truer statements than this … something that inches so close to reality it can shatter personal foundations and induce poppy goosebumps. Is anything ever finished though? really, can anything ever be complete as long as the concept of time withers forth? I don’t know … I haven’t the damnedest foggiest – but I feel with photography and documentary and reportage this is especially true – how can anything ever be finished so long as the subject of interest keeps breathing and their family and ancestors keep breathing and so on … and even in death there’s a continuation of memories…. fuck.
I am currently in New Mexico, and I came here on my own dime, for my own disillusioned assignment to cover navajo nation with a writer friend down here. And for the love of all that I ever held to be true, my “expectations” were so shot to shit that I had a meltdown … several, actually. The planning I had for this trip, well, whatever it was is no more. And the direction I have taken, well, seems like it could be endless … I can’t foreseeably see an out to the problems down here … and if anything coming to Gallup, New Mexico slapped this realization – this slice of wisdom that, coming from David mind somehow means more to me than any nascent experience I may have with it … well, its beleaguering and nauseating and if anything it gives me hope to see it written by another. It is one of the more difficult things – to see direction, realization, epiphany – by yourself, without a guide or mentor. We have books and collected wisdom in frames and motion and sound but really its all how it churns in you. I don’t know how anyone else feels, and if i’ve splayed out my innards via verbal evisceration I’m sorry.
Expectation seems to be one of the worst things we do to ourselves as people. How to surgically remove expectation from documentary/reportage assignment is a struggle I think many of us contend with … but hopefully its just myself.
x
First get that cat neutered.
I have a totally shit work ethic and finish everything I start. The problem I have is not starting something because I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it. I think I’d be more relaxed tipping into more things without out the self imposed pressure of finishing.
I think Churchill might have said “dogs look up to you, cats look down on you and pigs treat you as equals”
All the cats I have ever owned have been strayed into my life. The current one I’ve had 9 years. I’ve learnt a lot from this one which came from a cat colony as a 2 month old kitten. Here’s one important point. If your cat is doing something you think is naughty, it’s not being naughty: it’s distressed or needing something. Find the cause and change the situation the naughty behaviour will stop. And cats are easy to train. Don’t buy silly toys like clawing posts. Let the cat outside near a tree. If the cat is sick, with something, take it to the vet, don’t just wait for it to get better. If you cat gets in a fight, it needs antibiotics to prevent abscesses from developing. Keep your cats in at night if you want to avoid your cat getting in a fight. Get it neutered. Clumping kitty litter is a cheap and less messy solution for indoor cat box seriously consider stopping the dry food. I could go on but a book on cats is a good thing. A happy cat carries its tail in the air. A really happy cat has a little bend at the tip of its upright tail. I have come to think that a tail on a dog and a cat is much like facial expression, although I can see facial expressions on my cat as well. Certainly he has a frown. Cats like affection. They get lonely without attention if they’ve gotten used to it. Introducing strange cats can cause terrible problems if the one who was there first is the weaker one. Nasty cats are only frightened cats. All cats can be tamed with patience.
Do I finish things. Not often enough but I’ve reached a time of my life when I am tired of starting afresh. Photography is something I have picked up and put down a few times and now it’s time I picked it up for good. There’s a lot to be said for persistence. Certainly your post makes a very good point. What is that saying, “90% of success is persistence”. At least now I am sure of what I want to do, no longer care that much about other things, know that whatever hiccups come along, I can deal with them. I now have the self-belief that was sorely lacking as a 22 year old when I first took up photography. When you lack self-belief, persistence will get you through the rough patches, so long as you know enough about it to hold fast to that idea. By all means, take a break, change the pace, but don’t let go of your idea and you will finish it.
Oops, that was a bit long.
I swear I hear her purring! What a dear pussy cat. Simone chose well…
“Patsy does not finish what she begins.” That was on every one of my elementary school report cards. So I’ve spent the last 60 years trying to prove them wrong!
Actually, the greatest preparation I ever had for finishing this book project was my yearlong training to run the marathon. There are no shortcuts there. You either stick with it day-by-day or pay BIG TIME on the day of the race. I was determined to finish with a smile on my face so I did everything the experts said. I ran every day no matter what the weather, which in Detroit could be pretty heroic in February. I alternated long and short runs, did my longest (23 miles) three weeks before the race and then started tapering off. Ate carbs and got lots of sleep. And was a REAL BORE because all I could talk about was running. But I LOVED running my first marathon so much that I ran another the next year. In pretty good times at that.
After seeing that I could set a longterm goal and achieve it, I knew I could do whatever I set my mind to. My Falling Into Place book project is a good example. It has been my obsession for 14 months now, and even though there are parts of the process that have excited me more than others–I LOVED taking the pics but am less thrilled about writing/rewriting the text–I’m on schedule and determined to present the best possible Blurb book I can create to the publisher in September. David’s encouragement, critiques, edits and belief in the project has sustained me when my energy flagged. And you folks here on Burn and on Road Trips before Burn have always given me the feeling of being carried along on waves of support.
So, to me, finishing what one begins is not a solitary journey. It depends on the support and belief of those around you. For that I am so grateful to David and to every one of you.
Patricia
Sam Harris, I love your story and find your “postcards from home” to be quite marvelous! Maybe you didn’t shoot for a year but you certainly didn’t lose your artist’s eye. Click on Sam’s name to see some of his photos. A real treat!
Patricia
“No plan survives the first contact with the enemy.” Hemuth von Moltke (Prussian General Field Marshal)
Please forgive me to quote a military guy, but I guess he simply put it very well. I am a pacifist with a bit of a dry sense of humor, so I hope everyone can cope with this quote.
A quiet evening was scheduled tonight, but plans just changed. I have got to go. More later.
Reimar
Harry
August 11, 2009 at 12:45 pm
First get that cat neutered.
laughing…all the Cynics here must agree…:)))))
Well if she’s a femail – Spayed?
Well if she’s a female – Spayed?
Well isn’t that nice, my poor spelling made it through
yes, spayed, for females..or in the language of my midwestern childhood, “fixed”, as if there is something wrong with her natural abilities to have kittens, or worse, as in “that’ll fix her.”
“fixed” goes for LA too…:)
Perhaps fixed as in stationary, or unmoving, no change in status…
Isn’t this a wonderful thread??? David, you and Simone really hit on somthing special here. The stories are amazing! I just keep reading and re-reading them. Can’t wait to hear more…
Thanks everybody for sharing so freely.
Patricia
John Gladdy — I shoot because it’s something I did as a kid, years ago, and after a decade of trying to ruin my own life, picking up the camera again just felt right. That and I’m a bit obsessive.
As far as projects go, I rarely think through what I’m going to shoot. Photography (especially street, whatever that means) for me is a balance, it keeps me excited to wake up, no matter where I am, there’s an area I haven’t fully explored. It keeps me engaged in society, meeting new people — my natural inclination is to be a hermit. So basically, it helps me survive.
If projects come from it (and I suspect I’m starting to see some overarching themes), great.
I do have a project planned for next year if that counts.
What? Not even one teary-eyed Adieu from anyone to the humonguouest section ever on BURN?
EVERYONE, ALLTOGEHER NOW: Bye-bye, BUZZ… (to the sounds of Chopin’ funeral march)
PS: busy, will be back later…
My RSS reader caught this cat image a few weeks ago — but it disappeared from the site instantaneously. I thought it was a glitch, or maybe I had had 1 too many… glad that’s all cleared up.
oh david. i see you with a cat. with that cat. i know the feeling. love strays.
do i finish what i start? before i became a photographer, no and skipped along without a care.
now i do. if it’s not working, i put it aside. otherwise, deeper and deeper i go. out on a limb. jump from branch to branch gathering. like not knowing the outcome, but do know there will be one because i care. love, anne
I actually have always liked cats for their very aloofness! Here in Bucharest dogs are given a very bad name because the strays are absolutely ferocious. So, whenever I see a stray cat it is a welcome site. At least your David gets to spend quality time with the 60th anniversary Magnum book. Thanks for this post. My long-term peasant project in rural Romania has been going on for 7 years and I think I just need to show it around to European publishers soon.
David,
The EXACT same thing happened to me! With a bird I found in the backyard 7.5 years ago.
Here’s my Eddie the Eagle:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30716737@N08/3812100699/
He runs the show…absolutely. We even bought the house in Santa Fe because we were traveling less and less, hating to leave him home and thought this would be a good place for us all to “nest” together. That makes him a VERY expensive bird!!!
There are two ways to look at it. I could be bummed about what I gave up for him…months in India every year, freedom…all the money we spent buying the house which could have been used for travel…OR thank him for coming into my life and giving me Santa Fe, the photographic life I have here…I can’t imagine life without Eddie. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I look forward to hearing about the gifts Simone brings into your life…and I don’t mean dead mice :))
For me; if procrastination was a full time job then I’d be a millionaire. It’s always been my biggest drawback.
This site was prompted me to see the value in, and begin a project. Before that I’d had a few half-arsed ones, but never followed through. I’d always shot “single” images for stock and small “projects” for articles etc.
The project can get a bit obsessive though which can be both a good and bad thing! My only problem is that I can tend to go a bit overboard with it and the paying work suffers…
I think that one reason that many projects don’t come to fruition is that we pick localities/stories where the logistics of fulfilling them are too difficult/expensive. Conversely; those difficulties have probably resulted in a great deal of top work too!
To be perfectly frank; I’ve probably fallen into the same trap with my Timor project. I don’t want to do a “once over lightly” one month project, which to my mind it wouldn’t perform any useful task.
However, my youth project has evolved precisely out of not being able to get back to Timor for a while (finances etc.). So maybe that is a natural evolution? I don’t know.
Even though I’m equally passionate about both projects, I can pretty much shoot the youth project every day, so the logistics are easy and simple. I’ve decided to return to Timor for two one-month trips per year while shooting the youth project here at home at every opportunity.
But the basic truth to me is that shooting a personal project has been a revelation to me, and I know that this time I won’t be stopping until it’s finished.
As for cats; nearly every cat we’ve ever owned have been strays that have turned up at our front door. I live about 10 minutes out of town and people always seem to throw their unwanted cats out on our road.
I hate to think of the amount of times we’ve nursed emaciated cats or kittens back to health again. All because some mongrel person won’t do the right thing and look after their animals properly.
David; every stray we’ve ever had have been beautifully natured, Oh, they can usually win Olympic gold medals for their ability to eat too! They know a good thing when they find it!
Sidney….!!!! :))))
AMEN…..
HUGS
bob
simone is amazing. a lover. a communicator. only slightly impatient. playful…with that bend at the tip of her tail she does seem happy. we seemed to have conjured her up somehow…serendipitously…as that is david’s gift. see, i desperately wanted a cat, but can’t bear the allergies. we have a yard full of rabbits and birds that would have their fragile balance disrupted by the presence of an outdoor kitty. then david moves in just a few doors down…and soon… simone appears. perfect. i get to enjoy and share my love with the most exquisite, mysterious, black-brown cat. david gets to philosophize about the similarities between cats and women (oh the lessons he’s learning). what else could be more fascinating?
and as for finishing what i start…well…i’ll have to get back to you on that.
Ha! Classic! Simone meet Django…
http://www.jameschance.com/django_superstar/dj-dj.jpg
One half Boxer, one half Aussie Cattle Dog, one hundred percent perfect! We got him this weekend.
As for the question, I guess i would be a finisher. Jess refers to me as “the bulldog” in those types of occasions as I will keep pushing at stuff until it is done… I don’t like loose ends! God knows you have to be persistent in this industry though. Anything less than “bulldog” and in my experience you fall back pretty quickly.
DAVID: While on the subject of work and getting it done… Any interest in the last submission? ;)
The only cat I own is this feral one bought it for 42 dollars, it’s a donation helps this guy on Kangaoo island to get rid of the ferals. Though he is powerless against feral photo guys.
http://etrouko.com.au/art/mycat.jpg
Sidney that’s the way it usually happens but along the way I actually manage to put ideas to rest by completing stuff…….. lets me get on with Mr Next and friends