Chapter 17 | Good is the Enemy of Great
IF YOU’RE GOING TO DO IT…BE GREAT!
CHAPTER XVII - GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT | Years ago a friend and collector gave me a book to read. Now I’m not what you’d call a big reader of books. My Graduate Studies Thesis was a mere 19 pages and was filled mostly with mathematical formulas and is, by any standard, a tough read.
Chapter 16 | Knowing
HOW DO WE KNOW?
CHAPTER XVI - KNOWING | ‘Knowing’ is one of those transition points. What is meant by that isn’t ones personal ego about ‘knowing’ how ‘great’ they personally believe they are – in this case it is knowing based upon reality which is shown by people...
Chapter 15 | Feeling
FEELING IS BELIEVING
CHAPTER XV - FEELING IS BELIEVING | Being present means looking at everything and making sure what you see is really being conveyed, it is not about thinking where should you be next. Finally, ‘seeing’ is mostly an issue of you and how it makes you feel. Because isn’t...
Intermission | 60 at 60
INTERMISSION | 60 AT 60
INTERMISSION | 60 AT 60 | July 2020 marked my 60th year on this amazing planet we all call home. What a journey it has been. But I’m not here to talk about everything in my life, rather I’d like to share with you the three big goals I set for myself during my 60th year...
Chapter 14 | Seeing
I SEE WHAT’S THERE…DO YOU?
CHAPTER XIV - SEEING | Right up front I should probably make something very clear, so there can be no ambiguity concerning my belief in sharing what I saw and not what I imagine, I saw. I’ve long held the belief that Nature is amazing on her own & she doesn’t need my help to somehow make her more beautiful than she already is...
Chapter 13 | The Cameras
MY CAMERA EVOLUTION
CHAPTER XIII - THE CAMERA EVOLUTION | At its most basic level a camera is just a box that lets light in to expose a light sensitive piece of film or digital sensor. Some don’t even have a lens…look up pinhole camera on Google. The most simple of cameras are those that have a lens in front, bellows in between it and the rear where film can be put...
Chapter 12 | Stand Here
STAND HERE
CHAPTER XII - STAND HERE | CONCEPT GREAT | Sometimes we make something expecting everyone on the planet will want to get on board with this idea – because it’s great! Well it turns out that is not always the case. Stand Here started with the simple concepts that if we could properly educate folks about how to conduct themselves in wild places then...
Chapter 11 | Books & Benny's
BOOKS & THE BENNY AWARDS
CHAPTER XI - A BENNY AWARDS IS LIKE AN OSCAR IN THE PRINTING WORLD | Over the years we have been very fortunate to have published four award winning coffee table books. We self published them for to basic reasons…artistic control and superior quality. Admittedly it helps when you have your own distribution line, in this case our own galleries...
Chapter 10 | Why Fine Art
WHY FINE ART?
CHAPTER X - YOU CAN BE RICH OR YOU CAN BE FAMOUS, BUT NOT BOTH... | One of the things I’ve yet to share with you concerns one of my first experiences with publication type sales. Publication is the kind of work you’ve certainly heard about and most definitely have seen. Publications like National Geographic, Life Magazine, Popular Photography, Sierra Club Calendars and...
Chapter 9 | The Recognition
THE RECOGNITION
CHAPTER IX - RECOGNITION MATTERS | There have been a number of events, which have taken place over the years, which have been simply amazing. I’d like to take a few of these and expound on them a little. I don’t do this to pump myself up, I’m way past that point, but instead I hope that it might lend a new artist some perspective on such things. Sales Marketing...
Chapter 8 | The Galleries
THE GALLERIES
CHAPTER VIII - WE EVOLVED - THE GALLERIES | Word had gotten out, we were doing exceptionally well on the art show ‘circuit’. To put it into perspective, not gloating nor bragging, during a four month summer show window we were bringing in over $700k in sales. That was unheard of at the time. But it was an exhausting schedule and time away from home, my beloved and our children, was hard. Certainly there must be another, better, way to do this...
Chapter 7 | Paying the Bills
PAYING THE BILLS
CHAPTER VII - PAYING THE BILLS | Maybe it was Nick Zungoli’s positive attitude or the unending praise from team members saying ‘I bet you could sell those.’, that made me even think I’d have a chance at making it as an ‘artist’. Let’s face it ‘artists’ aren’t typically known for making a go of it. There are of course many who had, but they were, statistically speaking…outlying events. That means rare...
Chapter 6 | Beyond the Edge
BEYOND THE EDGE
CHAPTER VI - BEYOND THE EDGE | Hopefully the irony of this Chapters title won’t be lost on you too much. For those of you who don’t really know me well, I can be sarcastic to the point of irreverent. This brief description, which explains the title, is just such a moment. You’ll understand more later, but give me your ear and let me explain what ‘Beyond the Edge’ alludes to. Hang on it could be a bumpy ride...
Chapter 5 | The First Six Months
NO NO NO, NOT LIKE THAT!
CHAPTER V - THE FIRST SIX MONTHS | Recall that I had sold a number of pieces before leaving the corporate world? That means that I got to call myself a ‘professional’. If any of you have sold any of your own works of art, then you too get to call yourself a ‘professional.’ Never really wishing myself to be known as a ‘photographer’ I labeled myself an ‘artists.’ Being an artist to me meant...
Chapter 4 | Life at 9,000ft
OXYGEN PLEASE
CHAPTER IV - LIFE AT 9,000FT | Some base camps aren’t even this high. Oakland NJ (where I worked) wasn’t too far above sea level. So, 9,000 feet higher than Oakland was nothing to make fun of. We’d often joked with one another after bringing in a load of wood for the fireplace up three flights of stairs, “I can’t talk right now, I’m having to make oxygen choices.” Even today anything above 14,000 feet...
Chapter 3 - Getting Out of Dodge
WESTWARD HO!
CHAPTER III - GETTING OUT OF DODGE | Oakland New Jersey was a long way away from the Mountains where both our hearts yearned to be. So we packed up everything into a UHaul truck, put the Honda Del Sol onto a car carrier and drove away. It took us less than three days to pack up an entire household, three small children, all our precious belongings and we hit the road headed West...
Chapter 2 - Walking Away
HIT THE ROAD JACK
CHAPTER II - WALKING AWAY | Nearly everyday in the ‘real’ corporate world something doesn’t go as planned. In business you will always have something that goes wrong. Let me share with you how to deal with these situations. Here are MY three simple rules of running a successful business, if you'd like to learn more then read on...
Chapter 1 - A Little Background
SOME BACKGROUND
CHAPTER I - A LITTLE BACKGROUND | I fell in love at first sight. It was all over for me, but I had to convince her, and I didn’t even know her name. The summer between my Junior and Senior year at University I was living inside my mothers garage interning at Intel as a programmer. Now for some of you that might sound like a cool thing, Intel, garage, freedom, etc...