Do Great Work and it will find a Home
A couple weeks ago I was listening to a videography course
by Corey Rich on Creative Live and he was talking about “Doing great work and it will find a
home.” I probably don’t have his quote
exactly right since it is from memory---but it was something like that. Corey was speaking about a shoot that he did
simply out of inspiration and trying new ideas and that the good work from that
shoot would find a home. Only a few
months later the person in his images was featured in a magazine and his images
were used in the publication. This
really hit home for me. The original
shoot was something cool, for fun and learning and trying something new. There wasn’t a client; it was just for the
joy of loving what you do. But wow, a
few months later and it is in publication??
How can I do that? I definitely
want that…
About a month ago I began an art project that didn’t have a
purpose other than---I was inspired and wanted to do it. It was a portrait of Taylor. Taylor had
modeled for two shoots and the first was an impromptu shoot. One image from that shoot I really connected
with, could see a vision for how an art piece from it it would look, and I
wanted to try out a deckled edge technique.
And so, I went to creating.
The finished piece has been sitting here with a number of
other prints, and I decided that come Christmas, I would give it to Taylor as a Thank You for modeling for me….or would there be more…
I still remember the day I took the leap and bought the
imageprograf 8100. This large format printer
is the size of a tanning bed. It meant
that I was really doing this. Peer
Canvas is more than just a hobby. This
is a passion and I want this to be my career.
Jacques (large format printer rep from Canon) made the trip all the way over
from Chicago to Beloit to see just what this girl was up to. Normally he would come out for a big box
store like Staples for training the staff on such a printer… Nope, we would be
printing some art in the spare bedroom and it was fantastic. Greg Zies, who actually sold me the printer
through Nexus was there also and had to
explain to me what a cool thing it was that Jacques was coming up for the
installation. I was ready and had worked
over ten pieces to print that day so that I could make as much use of Jacques’
time as possible. I think we were all a
little giddy seeing just what the printer could do. Both Jacques and Greg have been good friends
and great believers in Peer Canvas from the very early days. Fast forward three years, another bigger
printer (the Imageprograf 9100) has joined the Peer Canvas Canon arsenal, and
is plugging along.
So, to great work finding a home… I got a call from a
representative at Canon who wanted to feature my work in the upcoming Print13
expo in Chicago. (Insert girlie squeals
here) Yes please! The first piece I thought of was the portrait
of Taylor. I gathered a number of my latest pieces (including
Taylor) and was open for input from Jacques for what they wanted to display at
the Canon booth. Of course I wasn’t sure
what they might like….I knew I liked the portrait of Taylor, but I hadn’t
displayed it anywhere before---little self doubt creeping in for a second,
until when Jacques arrived and Taylor's portrait was the first he snapped up and had eager
questions on. I am so honored and
grateful to be featured in the Canon booth.
Jacques has been such an advocate for Peer Canvas and is eager to tell
the story of our little Dream turned reality business. I am a loyal canon user (Brenton is too) We shoot everything on our 5D Mark IIs
(someday I will have the 1Dx), have a slew of their lenses (my favorite is the
50mm 1.2 and Brenton the 70-200 2.8) and we print everything on our two Canon
imageprograf 8100 and imageprograf 9100.
Thank you Thank you to everyone who believes in, supports,
helps out, carries heavy bags for, is a mom to J,
a Dad to, a husband, an in-law, a cousin, a dressmaker for, a mentor to, any
and all of the above and a friend to me and Peer Canvas.
Much Love----and More cool stuff to come!
Look forward to pictures of Brenton and I standing proudly
by our pieces in the Canon booth J