A Freezing Cold Gathering

A "wampaweekend" took place last weekend, it was another in a series of events created by a bunch of guys over at Instagram. The events are about toyphotographs and they take place on certain days with certain themes which are announced a few weeks before the events take place. The ethos on these events is refreshing, there are no judges, no points or rewards, it's not a contest. It's purely about having some fun with a pre-designated theme. You can determine the level of the challenge yourself, but you still won't win anything.

This one got started from a joke I made on a photo a few weeks ago. Some of the events were just one day long and I made a humorous remark that a full weekend would be bigger. I threw in the wampa because it rhymed with weeked. To my surprise, the guys took the joke on and invited me to be a guest host.

I've never really participated much on things like these, but this is different. I like the angle on these particular events very much (as in "no contest"), it should encourage all people to participate, young and old. If you have access to a camera and something even close to the theme in question to shoot, you're good to go. When the subject is so close to what I think dearly of (snow and Hoth), a world I've visited frequently with my camera, how could I ever refuse an invitation like this? In fact, it was an honor.

The weekend was a lot of fun and there were a good number of wampa photographs. I was told this was the biggest event yet. You can see them with the hashtag #wampaweekend on Instagram.

You might also like to check out the feeds of these Instagrammers for past and future events: @smokebelch2, @east_mountain, @brett_wilson and @zenith_ardor.

Oh, yes, I'm there, too: @avanaut.

Pluto (a response)

One of the best parts about paticipating in this blog for me is the back and forth between Me2 and mysef. I realize it's not always an easy conversation to follow and we often go off on tangents, but I enjoy the process. It's been a couple of days since his Pluto post that posed more questions than answers, but I wanted to put in my two cents.

It is hard to put yourself forward as an artist. It can be an emotional and ego busting experience. You are displaying something that is often intensly personal and you don't know how it will be perceived. Will it be appreciated, criticized or ignored? 

But that is not the only risk in our newly minted uber connected world. Information flows quickly on the internet, copyright has very little meaning and appropriation is the order of the day. As an artist it can be disheartening to see your work end up in the wrong place with no attribution. Another all too real risk is the overly enthusiastic fan or even worse the outright thief.  

What do you do if you are the Jedi with a Padawan walking too closely in your footsteps? I was reading through "Steal Like an Artist" (again) and came across a great quote that in my mind deals with this beautifully: 

"Complain about the way other people make software by making software." ~ Andre Torrez

In short...get busy. The truly creative artists who have the perseverance to stay in the game for the long haul will always be one step ahead of the Padawans. There is really no reason to dwell on what can't be changed, the Padawans will always be there. But how you move forward with your own work will separate you as the true Jedi.

~ xxsjc

My apologies for any errors in this post. I wrote it in the car on my ipad as I am hurtling acrtoss the barrren landscape that is know as Southern Idaho.