After talking to a dear friend today it all clicked. Do you want to be an artist because it is who you are or because you think it makes you somehow "cool"? Reality is all this shit is transparent. Those who believe work their asses off at it day after day...committed to the learning process, always wanting to learn and grow. It is not easy. No one hands it to you or "coddles" you through the hard times. It is a self reliance...a commitment to yourself and the devotion to your craft that is the difference between a photographer an a fan with a camera. There are days it is painful...shooting client after client wondering what you have to give, to say but those are the questions we must ask.

Don't get me wrong....Sally Mann sucked at one point in her career, Mary Ellen Mark sucked, Avadon sucked...all of them sucked at one point or another in their career but they had the discipline, the will to learn. They didn't rest on their laurels waiting for someone to hand it to them.

You cannot pick up a camera and suddenly be a "photographer" it requires a sacrifice. Owning a Canon 5d MkII just makes you someone who owns a Canon 5D MkII..not a photographer.

This has consistently been my complaint. Give me someone who is hungry with a simple digital camera...someone who wants and is willing to learn and every time I will take that over the arty, lazy, out of focus "fangirl" crap you see all over the internet. It isn't just a God given talent it is work.

So to those of you who would like to know how I came though those trying times I am posting this interview. I was fortunate enough to have FStop Beyond/ NPR interview me. It was quite an experience. Click the green bar at the bottom of the text to play the audio.

[link]

I am not some hot-shot photographer who has shot everyone under the sun but I have been around long enough to know a few things and I try and share them whenever I can.

I have been blessed enough to be a working photographer and have always thought it was important to pass along what I know. Many of you have emailed me and asked the questions answered here.

It all comes down to this. The internet "fan clubs" are bullshit. If you are not willing to do the work it is obvious in the images. These are the days of blood, sweat and tears..work like you will die tomorrow or get the fuck out of the way.

Hey All,

Just getting some new prints together to post for the holidays. Keep your eyes peeled for some new photographs in the print store in the next few days.

<3
G

So I had this epiphany.

Sometimes you have to let go of something to make space in your life for something else.

For me, at this moment that couldn't be more true.

LOTS going on. Making some changes to the way that I work and it is paying off. I have been fortunate enough to recently shoot the cover of Premier Guitar with Steve Vai and the cover of Guitar Edge with Atreyu. It was a wonderful and enlightening experience. To be able to work so hard and turn something around so quick is always a rush. Working with both the client (magazine) and artist has been something that I suddenly realized I am very good at. I am thrilled about the way the covers came out and the clients and artists are as well and that makes me a very happy.

I also had the wonderful fortune to have two of my images featured on two full pages of The Times (one image for Sheri Bodell the other for Iron) for the full week of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in NYC. The Times is a daily fashion paper that is the bible of the fashion world. Sheri Bodell has since hired me to shoot both lines for the Fall 2010 collections and I am touched and elated that she wants to work with me again so quickly.

In the midst of this my personal life has changed dramatically. Oddly enough I found when I let go off some really destructive relationships and habits there was suddenly much more room to be creative and thus an avalanche of work.

I am blessed. For all the bitching I do about the economy and state of the business I am lucky enough to make a living at what I do. To be able to walk my dog at 10:30 on a weekday and have a coffee at my favorite coffee-shop. I get to hang out with super creative genius' and in essence get paid to play and create.

I am on the road and the journey so far is amazing.

G

Yup....
A book. My dear friends at Blurb talked me into doing a book since you don't see a lot of stuff like mine on their site so.....

here it is....
and it will make a killer coffee table book.
You can go and look through it too before you buy it.

Lots of Dir En Grey, Alice Cooper and Zombie as well as some art and beauty stuff too.



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Hey everyone....

Four new Alice Cooper prints available.
I have limited these to 50 and once they are gone they are gone!

Only to be purchased in a gallery setting and that is IF i chose to show them.



xxoo
G