Looking at the photographic landscape in Denton, Texas, at the end of 2023, it’s hard to see where the local creative juices are coming from these days. In fact, the well looks to be running dry.
Maybe a honest photo contest is in order, just so that I can be soaked in the imagery that is being produced in Denton these days – without having to search for it. Everywhere I go in Denton, it seems like the level of what is now called “art” has taken a bit of a detour – away from creativity, control of medium and consequential critique.
The Art Critique – Backslaps & Bubble Wraps
Ahh, critique. What a word. In the old days (BOOMER SAYS ZFG and keep reading if you dare) an art critique was something that put bark on your tree. It gave you a thicker skin, not another layer of bubble wrap. Notorious were the professors (tenured, educated and worldly) who would throw YOUR work in the trash, or smash pots. Their goal was to either break you or make you. Passion for your craft had to be overflowing, because relying on superiors for backslaps and bubble wraps? That was a thing yet to come, a thing of the 21st. Century – futuristic.
You Get What You Get
When you have “professors” who have only cracked books, and never cracked the door of a newsroom, a production studio or a darkroom … what do you think that leads to? We get more minions who feed their instructors (to be a little more accurate) egos without questioning their futures … and parents just scratch their heads. At least they’re out of the house now. The conversion of universities, like UNT and TWU, into corporations didn’t happen overnight, but in the long view – it happened pretty quickly.
Opening Doors of all Kinds
There was a time when university students would call, numbers of them, about internships with my studio. I taught and hired a few over the years, and they made money, college credit, and I made money off their supervised work in the studio. It worked so well in fact, most of my interns worked for me a calendar year and more! When an intern gets so good you want to keep them? Back then, I paid handsomely for their services. And doors were opened for them.
Now? Students at UNT and TWU quit calling, what ten or fifteen years ago? Their instructors knew everything, they thought, and they got out of school, couldn’t get a job and their parents sued the departments. Now that’s corporate capitalism at work! Doors closed.
IF YOU are a Student of Photography?
Whether you need an honest review of your work, strengths and weaknesses – and no trophies? Whether you are wondering if photography is even a viable profession?
I will be the first to say I DON’T HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS! And, I will be the first to say; I have more answers to life in the photography business than any of your photography professors do.
I am here to provide you the information – hands-on – that leads to knowledge you soak in for yourself. All you have to do is contact me.
