Over 16,529,835 people are on fubar.
What are you waiting for?
Today I looked and was stoked to see that I have received over 3,000 page views on my DeviantArt portfolio. I know it may seem small potatoes to some of those nationally known photog celebs out there but I feel pretty good about it. While my images have gotten over 8,000 views and I've received over 400 favorites, it's really the page views that excited me because that means I've interested someone in my work enough to slide on over and check me out. To me it means.... well... bottom line is I feel like I'm moving in the right direction... and that's an AWESOME discovery.
Do I do what I do for the praise? Maybe somewhat. Everyone wants to be accepted in one form or another. The driving force for me is the passion involved. I love taking intimate, meaningful pictures but most of all... I like people to feel as beautiful as they look. It's the biggest rush for me when we reach the part of the shoot where the transition of awkward positioning makes way for internal recognition of feeling sexy. Inhibitions are put aside and the cocoon opens to reveal the butterfly. The eyes change, the posing becomes more natural and you can see them realize they are beautiful, worthwhile and desired.
But the next step is almost as exciting. When the model sees the final work you can tell they look as sexy and important as they felt when they were taking the pictures. They're posture changes, their eyes smile and you can see their esteem grow in front of you.
Then the last step of seeing mutual artists understand and appreciate the journey by admiring your work. Just a simple favorite of a picture makes you smile but then the comments come and you realize that, although everyone tends to see things a bit differently, they can see what you were trying to bring to the table.... and they like it, sometimes love it. The last step is not the goal but it does help to keep you going. It encourages you to continue the quest for great images. You feel like your making a connection and that's a good feeling.
After all... isn't that the purpose of art? What more can you ask for than to communicate through these means and be rewarded with some kind of connection... a piece of understanding between your peers. It won't always happen.
But it's magical when it does!
