ramaged

Sketches

2009-12-15T21:48:00.005-05:00

As I listen to these song fragments after I post them, I realize that what I'm doing is the audio equivalent of a sketch pad. Listening to them causes me to notice all the myriad of things that i will do better the next time. "Why didn't I take that lead melody where it so obviously was leading? I need to listen better." "That distorted part overlying the cleaner chords really works - but it needs to be much more precise - it's too ragged." "I need to put in more bridge or chorus sections - it gets monotonous really quick." These are some of the thoughts that come to me. I could go back and rework these fragments - I have all the individual layers saved. But I don't think I'm going to. These awkward, incomplete, poorly played sketches show me where I am now. And hopefully, most of the time, the new ones will get better as I go along, absorbing what I learn from repeated listening. So, here's the diary of my growth (hopefully!) as a guitarist, musician, songwriter.

Toothache

2009-12-15T00:16:00.001-05:00

“Toothache” Comment & more at RiffWorld.com

Thanksgiving

2009-12-13T21:56:00.002-05:00

Another new song. This is my first foray into playing bass behind the guitar layers.

“Thanksgiving” Comment & more at RiffWorld.com

Black

2009-11-24T00:45:00.001-05:00

Here's a new jam with multiple layers of guitars - all me.

“Black” Comment & more at RiffWorld.com

Broken Vessel

2009-11-15T21:50:00.001-05:00

Another jam..... don't know what's causing the buzz at the end.

“Broken Vessel” Comment & more at RiffWorld.com

Music

2009-11-15T20:16:00.005-05:00

I've been learning how to play guitar for about a year and a half. This is one of my jams. It's the chords to "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Stones. I've layered about 4 guitar parts here. Still really raw, but at least it sounds like music.

“sympathy jam 2” Comment & more at RiffWorld.com

2009-05-17T21:33:00.001-04:00

Originally uploaded by lightpainter

amazonian water nymphs

2008-11-23T20:10:00.001-05:00

amazonian water nymphs
Originally uploaded by lightpainter

Blue Heron

2008-04-18T00:19:00.001-04:00

Blue Heron
Originally uploaded by lightpainter

by the bed

2008-04-17T23:09:00.002-04:00

by the bed
Originally uploaded by lightpainter

I think my schizophrenic switching around of subject matter and styles keeps me from ever really developing a consistent body of work or significant following. My portraiture of women drives away anyone remotely interested in my nature stuff and vis versa. Just a thought - considering the two images I've posted tonight: blue heron and hot legs next to a bed.

ghostly self portrait

2008-03-26T12:15:00.001-04:00

ghostly self portrait
Originally uploaded by lightpainter

After cervical spine surgery, I got a small camera - a canon G9 - because I couldn't carry around my dslrs. Using this camera changes the way I see and the kind of images I make.

One of my first microstock sales

2007-11-02T09:16:00.000-04:00

Microstock

2007-10-30T22:03:00.001-04:00

Over time, I have found that a number of my images have been "acquired" from flickr and used without my permission - or attribution to me as the creator. Because of this, I have investigated the numerous microstock agencies that have emerged in the past 5 years. My feeling is: if my imagery is good enough to steal, then maybe it's good enough to buy - if the price is right.

Microstock agencies came about because the massive expansion of the internet has affected the "value" of imagery in much that same way it has affected the "value" of music. There is so much of it available for free now that many buyers are unwilling to pay premium prices. But at the same time, the market for imagery and music has grown immensely. So the trick is to sell your product at a much reduced price but sell many more units than you would have before.

The record industry has yet to realize the truth of this and is, therefore, an industry in ruin. If the powers that be had decided early on that they should work with Napster to sell monthly download subscriptions at a very low price, and let people download whatever they wanted, they could have divided up the subscription money by number of downloads and ended up making more money than they have with the old model. Instead, they have encouraged their customer base to become thieves and are actively seeking to punish them to the full extent of the law.

Why would they make more money selling their product at pennies on the dollar? It's because people need and expect to have more music today than they did in the old days. How many albums did you own when you were a teenager and young adult? The really addicted music lover probably had a couple of hundred. I did. The average person had between 20 and 50, maybe. Now one iPod can carry more music than a radio station had in its total collection just a few years ago. That's a huge amount of music - a huge number of downloads - in the hundreds of millions. That's the money that the record industry is giving away by encouraging people to steal instead of buy. Of course, not everyone will subscribe and there will still be thieves. But if you make it cheap enough and easy enough to purchase legally, I think that the average person will opt for doing the right thing.

So as not to be a thief myself, I wish to point out that my thoughts about the record industry were formed by reading a very astute observer of the industry: Bob Lefsetz. If you're interested, you can read him online or subscribe to his letter. He's very opinionated and a real gadfly.

But back to photography: The same basic premise applies. There are countless more customers for imagery than there used to be. But they are unable and/or unwilling to pay high prices for that imagery. So you price it low enough to encourage people to buy instead of steal and you make up the difference in units sold. That's the idea that drives microstock. Does it work? They say it does. But like anything else, becoming a successful microstock photographer takes hard work and resolve. You can't throw a couple of images up and expect to make money.

So, I'm putting in the work. I'll see if I have the resolve. Right now I have begun to send photo files to: Fotolia, Dreamstime, Lucky Oliver, and iStockphoto. Click on the links to check my meager but growing portfolios. I'm not sure I have the right kind of imagery to be successful at this, but I'm willing to try. Instead of spending my time preparing photos for flickr (fotolog in the old days) to get that occasional attaboy from a viewer, now I'll spend a bit more time - the images have to be flawless, no shortcuts or sloppiness allowed - to get a sale now and again. After all, my wife wants to know how I'm paying for the 40D I just purchased.

2007-09-29T21:02:00.001-04:00

Originally uploaded by lightpainter

2007-09-19T22:17:00.001-04:00

Originally uploaded by lightpainter

2007-09-15T17:48:00.001-04:00

Originally uploaded by lightpainter

the crucible of infrastructure stood forgotten

2007-09-02T10:31:00.001-04:00

the crucible of infrastructure stood forgotten
Originally uploaded by lightpainter

suddenly, the colors in her dream faded, leaving her in an environment of muted tones.

2007-09-02T10:16:00.001-04:00

suddenly, the colors in her dream drained away, leaving her in a place of muted shadows.
Originally uploaded by lightpainter

the garden of lost time

2007-09-02T09:59:00.001-04:00

the garden of lost time
Originally uploaded by lightpainter

2007-08-31T22:07:00.001-04:00

Originally uploaded by lightpainter

temporal displacement

2007-08-31T22:06:00.001-04:00

temporal displacement
Originally uploaded by lightpainter

2007-08-19T20:55:00.001-04:00

Originally uploaded by lightpainter

2007-08-14T10:32:00.001-04:00

, originally uploaded by lightpainter.

As usual, the ones I like best, few people visit or comment on.

2007-08-04T14:44:00.001-04:00

, originally uploaded by lightpainter.

The future?

2007-07-14T21:58:00.001-04:00

The future?, originally uploaded by lightpainter.