Bridges

While Shelly is exploring the mystery fields of Big Inc. and wonders if the neocortex powers of the why are not overestimated and we all just need a daily dose of sugar to keep us motivated, I took a break from all these big questions of life and took a walk in the city.

A city walk I have to thank @legojacker for.
He reminded me on his IG feed of his participation downunder in the Melbourne InstaWalk. A walk to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Instagram (you can find the first pictures that started it all 4 years ago from the founders of IG).

I myself joined IG a year later (3 years ago !!!) and it has taken me on a photographic journey that is just starting.

A journey in the fields of digital lightroom and molded plastic.
A roller coaster from digital selfies (my very first post was a selfie on the ski slopes, taken with an iPhone 3) to epic stories of combined full frame pictures that took just a tad longer than a snapshot.

A voyage across galaxies, meeting new friends in the digital world to making a city walk in Stockholm just last weekend.

From smaller art galleries, long discussions on the Parisian boulevards and the peer recognition in the art scene in the fifties (or was it eighties) to IG, Flickr or 500px anno today.

The scene is shifting, the digital platforms are driving us in our journeys and explorations, yet there is nothing new under the sun.

We still want to connect, meet people, share our creative work and see that smile in the eyes when your image hits home and makes a connection.

And this is what Stuck In Plastic is all about.

Building plastic bridges between dinosaurs and young puppies alike.

Building bridges between a small and instant world full of plastic living in your mobile; taking the creativity to the streets of our cities. Exposing those photos on real walls, in a big format, for all of us to enjoy and connect.

Connecting our worlds, one brick at a time.

Brick Inc.

Herr K. from Hamburg being featured by Brick Inc.

Today @brickcentral featured me on IG with this great post on IG:

"It's hard to work for Darth Inc and pursue your love of legography, but Me2 seems to find a good balance. When he's not performing some corporate daring do...he's creating some of the best Lego photos around. ... Now if we can only get Me2 to work less and post more" ... 

And indeed there is a lot of truth in this post when it comes to striking a balance between corporate live and just shooting being Stuck in Plastic.

Would I want to work less and post more ?

For sure there are days when Darth is going crazy on the flavor of  the latest marsh-mellows on the Death Star I would like to join Dilbert and take a corporate break, but in general it is the shopfloor reality of corporate Inc. that keeps me going.

It is not a work life balance, but a balance of life.

I would not be me without the corporate Inc. and me in my relationship with Darth and corporate Inc. would not be the same if I hadn't my legography to escape the corporate madness for a while and sharpen the saw (ouch, is it still political correct to mention the seven habits now that Dr. Stephen R. Covey is no longer setting the scene ?).

So it is a synergy that feeds upon each other and strengthen and influences each other time and time again.

I feel a drive to take pictures and work my "art" but I need the touch with reality and big Inc. to feel that same reality and feel the power balance and not just live in my ivory tower seeking for inner beauty just within myself.

Brick Inc. 

Big Inc.

Inc.

Star Wars, LEGO, Disney, ... a series of Big Inc. that influences our creativity and artistic self.

  

Buy Two Wookie Burgers ...

Are you looking for an exclusive Art ™ piece to make that wall of your board room or penthouse flat just perfect ? 

The easiest is to get a Wookie burger ordered and get an exclusive limited edition signed Me2 print to adore your walls.

A Wookie burger may not be in your sweet spot, but don't worry, you still have a chance to win one of the exclusive prints Me2 is giving away with Easter ...

Just go over and like #stuckinplastic on Facebook and you automatically enter the great Easter egg hunt ... without hurting any Wookie in the process ...

Here is the full background story ...

The Journey has just begun ...

Just back from outer space where we enjoyed a fantastic 24 hour light show where environment and art were coming together. And so now it is time to wonder on great questions mankind and bricks alike have been asking for centuries, like where are we coming from, where are we going to and things like what is art ?

When I asked this question to Lady G. she told me I was lucky and that art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as a painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

So when Meg explained in the comments section of Shelly quest for live after IG " ... that the value of images like this are simply to put a smile on someone's face. That's what it does for me ..." I do think that a smile is for sure an appreciation or sign of beauty or emotional power and we at least make one part of the definition.

An appreciation, a smile, a like ...

The discussion then continues with Mike throwing in the other side of the discussion that likes and being popular is not what it is all about.

And I agree.

I agree completely with Mike and Banksy quote about being famous and the eternal question why one goes to a restaurant (which is after all more as just getting the basic nutrition in and the waste out) .

Now, how does one measure success in triggering this appreciation or emotional power, the smile on Meg face ?

How does one measure his or her engagement with the audience ?

How do we know we are doing something more as just pasting time away or developing our own skillsets for our own pleasure ?

And this is where likes on IG do come in to play.

It is the recognition of other people (and bricks) that what we are doing is putting a smile on their face, or triggers an emotional power within strong enough to move that tumb so slightly up to hit the like and show some appreciation or engage in the discussion.

Other people.  Strangers to us and we share our work with these people, with the world.

Not to become famous, but to be able to engage.

And there are some numbers and rules out there that give a deeper insight in these engagement ratios and some people and services are taking these numbers into a mathematical game, but if you dont try to play the number game, 500 likes on a 2.5K follower base (the Shelly example) tells you that the picture did trigger a smile and an engagement with its audience on 620 by 620 canvas.

But is that enough ?

Is 5K likes on IG the end game ?

No, and here I am completely with Shelly, we have to storm the walls outside IG and make sure our art bring that smile also inside the real house, not just in a fantastic app.

The framed in print, signed and stuck against a brick wall, triggering that smile everytime someone walks by the image.
 

Stuck In Plastic is all about that.

Taking our work to the next level of the journey ...