Sincerity in Work
My favourite movie of all time is Lawrence of Arabia and when, a few months back, I was able to see it fully restored on 70mm film in an actual theatre (complete with intermission), I was in absolute heaven. It is what a movie is all about from how it began, to how it was filmed, the how it was completed and then the bonus of how it well it was received.
The footage of how the movie was created, to me, is part of what Lawrence of Arabia is. What was supposed to be a 6week project turned into three years. As Peter O’Toole has said of the movie he went in a young, inexperienced boy and came out a very changed man. And he was changed not by how the movie was received but the process of making the movie itself.
So much of the movie is amazing to me; the cinematography blows me away every time I see it and was especially mesmerizing when, in the theatre, I saw for the first time little bits of sand drifting across the desert. The acting, the script, the costumes, the direction, the music – it is everything and more. It is why I fell in love with movies and why I love working on sets. It is the process of creation – the hard work, the long hours, the creativity, the messes, the camaraderie – that is what suits me best, keeps me content, and gets me up in the morning. Everyone on the set hopes the outcome will be worth it but for most people who work on it (set designers, costumer’s, craft services, cinematographers, actors etc) are doing what they love and loving the process. Each day, each set, they are worried only about that moment – and not the outcome. That’s what I was always about, too – the moment. Enjoying each moment and feeling good at the end of each day that I’d done just that. This left me with wonderful stories to tell, a sense of pride, feeling full or tired from a hard days work. The outcome {money, success, rewards, brownie points} never, ever were a part of my living process. I never cared if I came out with a bazillion dollars – I only cared if I enjoyed the day.
However, last night I realised that this philosophy had gone the way side when, sitting in a gown with the hair done and lipgloss on, I was debating whether or not to go to an after Oscar Party. At the party I’d mingle with the whose who of Hollywood, I’d wear a smile and be annoyed when talking to people seeing how their eyes are always moving, looking to see who better to talk to. I’d have to make the trek into Hollywood and rub shoulders with starlets who are in the business for the end product – the parties, the fame, the attention, the money. I wouldn’t relate, I’d feel dirty and I’d come home early. Because for me, the celebration would have been at the Oscars themselves, when people who did the real work would be doing the real celebrating and talking about what they did and “do you remember when…?” stories and not at the after parties where everyone shows up to try to get some coverage and show that they’re cool.
I’m not cool.
Story of Flickr
“Had we sat down and said, ‘Let’s start a photo application,’ we would have failed,” Fake says. “We would have done all this research and done all the wrong things.”
Interesting little article on Caterina Fake and how Flickr came about.
Quote
I heard this quote the other day and it’s been stuck in my mind for the mere fact it’s so very, very true:
Girls Guide to City Life SXSWi Web Nomination!
A little tootin’ of the horn here, but today it was announced that the site I created, Girls Guide to City Life is a finalist in the “blog” category for the 9th Annual SXSW Interactive Web Awards!
This is my second nomination (the last one was in 2003) and I’m so thrilled and excited.
Belief and Action
When someone posted on the Another Girl at Play Discussion List that they had just gone freelance and were in need of some advice, I had a small offering. I think it’s valid advice for anyone and something that I believe works based on experience. So here’s what I shared with her:
While the formula for success is simple (belief + action = success), it’s the following up that is often hard. So many people get caught up in their fears or in limiting themselves with their beliefs that they are not able to do anything and therefore can’t get anywhere. Instead of taking their beliefs and moving forward with action, they run on the same treadmill propelled by self-sabatoge, excuses, fears, bad beliefs. These people generally have lots of great ideas but little to show for it. They need to step off the treadmill, think about their beliefs and then follow up with action. But the trick is not to just believing anything and doing everything but instead really understanding your beliefs (both personal and professional) and taking actions that match. That is why it is so important to really take the time to really understand what you believe about yourself, your work, and your life.
Ask yourself, what do you believe is your value? What do you believe you are entitled to? What do you believe you can accomplish? What do you believe you can do? What do you believe your future holds? What to you believe is your benefit to others? What do you believe is in you that needs to come out? And your beliefs need to come from your core, your gut, your soul and not from what you’ve read, have been told by your family or media or the part of the brain that makes you rationalise away what your heart is saying. It is important to note that beliefs are very, very different than wants. You can want something but if you don’t truly believe it, no amount of action can manifest it. And ideas are very, very different than action. If you have lots of great thoughts but take not even one little action, you’ll always be standing in the same place. So always be very careful and conscious about what you believe and the actions you take. If you don’t believe you can do more than struggle, guess what, that’s what you’ll manifest. If you believe artists starve, you will manifest that. If you don’t believe you can do anything, you won’t.
Be mindful of the language you use; instead of staying, “I’ll never have an art career like so and so” say “I’m going to have a great career that I’m working on right now”. Also, don’t ever play yourself or abilities down. I find a lot of artists almost apologise for what they’re doing or their talents so people don’t “hate” them. These same artists are almost always struggling and tend to feel guilty for a life they’ve worked very hard for. It is very important to stand up for yourself because if you keep yourself down, no one will want to help you stand up. Don’t undersell yourself. Really define your worth. Be conscious of who you are, what you’re doing, where you want to go long term. And by taking action accordingly, things will fall into place. You don’t have to have all the answers or money right now or with each step but you do have to have a strong belief system and the desire for action.
The one last thing I would offer is to enjoy your work as you can but if you find down the line it turns out not to be what you thought or it isn’t working the way you want to not get stuck on a path just because you think you have to. Success is also based on happiness and so sometimes one has to be flexible in their ideas to keep achieving success instead of holding tight to something that’s not working. If you start out as a artist that works from home but one day decide you’d rather teach art to school children or you begin as a writer and then want to become a photographer, do it. Don’t stick to a title, habit or idea that no longer works. Art and soul are so connected and both should constantly evolve so let them affect each other. Change is not only OK, it’s natural and important.
Just doing my thing.
I’m often asked what I’m up to; what things I’m working on, what projects are happening , where my words are published and where my photographs are showing. For the last couple of years I’ve taken to not discussing this generally and instead, just doing it. In the beginning I found it important to voice everything I did – part pride, part disbelief, part reassurance. But then I decided I didn’t need to do this and that the pressure to “perform” or “prove myself” had become too much and unnecessary.
So instead of sharing every detail of my work, I quietly went about my own business and let it flourish without the spotlight. Chances are if you’ve picked up a major travel magazine or read the travel section of any US or Canadian newspaper you’ve seen my work. My photographs have been in galleries from London to Vancouver and my artwork has been in stores and on book covers. I’ve been working on major movie sets doing everything from stand-in work to production coordination. Despite being quiet on the web, I’ve been living loudly, happily, and successfully. In fact, I’ve been more productive, more creative and more successful since becoming private about my work – probably due to the fact that instead of taking time to write about it, question it and over think it with a blog-thought, I was just all action.
A couple of years ago I stopped reading artists blogs, books, websites, creative ideas and trying to validate everything. I just did what I wanted and what worked and let everything fall as it may. Although one can find inspiration from others and their work, I think it’s more important to just do the work you’re capable of without judging it or comparing it to where others are. You shouldn’t be keeping a scorecard or trying to prove something to an audience.
Art is about expressing what’s in you without judgment and ego. For me, that means to do anything and everything that pops into my head, continue making a great living at it, enjoying all the great bits and messy ones but never having to explain what it is I do. That freedom is what allows me to keep moving forward and working every step of the way.
The best advice? Do it.
If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place. Nora Roberts
Girls Guide to City Life launches!
Finally, after months of hard work, Girls Guide to City Life
has finally launched! A site dedicated to sharing the best the city has to offer from expensive outings to thrifty finds, if it’s something you need to know, it’s something we’ve covered.
Why Art Matters
To communicate something of what I feel about what we do as artists, as musicians and as human beings. The sun will not fall down from the sky if there are no more [artists]. The world can and will go on without us but I have to think that we have made this world a better place. That we have left it richer, wiser than had we not chosen the way of art. The older I get, the less I know but I am certain that what we do matters. You must know what you want to do in life, you must decide, for we cannot do everything. Do not think [art] is an easy career. IT is a lifetime’s work; it does not stop here. What matters is that you use whatever you have learned wisely. – Maria Callas
I was watching Faye Dunaway’s play “Master Class” based on the infamous opera singer Maria Callas (Unfortunately the play is no longer going and it’s not available on DVD – I only had access to it because Faye dropped it off. You’ll have to wait until she makes the movie). And of all the things I’ve heard about being an artist and what it means and advice given and stories told, I would have to say that this play is the only thing that ever shook my core and made the hair on my arms stand in attention. “This is not an opera! This is LIFE” she says to a student who sings without passion, and sings because someone told him he could and he thought it’d be a great job to make him famous. She goes on to explain to him that because she was living every moment that she sang, she was great. Because he goes through the motions and removes himself from it all, he isn’t.
Why this struck me so was that often people tend to want to take on jobs that they think they should, or that they’re good at or that will get them somewhere. They tend to think of work as work, art as art, and life as everything that happens outside. But life is everything. Life is the act of living. There is no separation from work, art and life. She goes on to say that a person should know what they want to do in life and live it. That to scatter the mind with half wants and ideas is a waste – choose something and go after it with life. And, when you subscribe to the theory that there is no separation between life and work then one really ought to only do what they love. Isn’t that the truth.
Elsewhere