Creating Honest Work

Hi Cintila!

I hope you are happy and well, but I hope you're not hot like we are in Colorado!

Here's a shorter newsletter with longer quotes (it all averages out). I hope you‘ll find something of interest. 

And as you can see, my newsletter has a new look. I'm using a new email service, and I hope this will help the Mac users who have had trouble viewing the newsletter.

If you have any issues, would you please email me at:

Cole@ColeThompsonPhotography.com

Thanks!

Cole

In This Newsletter

• Quotes by Rick Rubin
• Creating Honest Work
• New Work: Where Lava Meets the Sea
• Print Drawing

Quotes

I'll admit it: I'm a Rick Rubin fanboy!

When I read his book “The Creative Act,” I no longer felt alone, an outlier, an oddball. He thought the way I did, and he expressed big ideas in a simple way. 

His approach to creativity really resonated with me; it seemed so natural and instinctive. If you haven't read the book, I recommend it. It's one of two books I go to for creative inspiration. 

So, enjoy a treasure trove of wisdom from Rick Rubin.

Cole

“If you think, “I don’t like it but someone else will,” you are not making art for yourself. You’ve found yourself in the business of commerce, which is fine; it just may not be art. There’s no bright line between the two. 

The more formulaic your creation is, the more it hugs the shore of what’s been popular, the less like art it’s likely to be. And in fact, creativity in that spirit often fails even at its own goals. 

There is no more valid metric to predict what someone else might enjoy than us liking it ourselves.” 

Rick Rubin

"So if we’re making art, we’re making…it’s almost like a diary entry. So should I be concerned that someone else might not like my diary entry? It doesn’t make sense, it has nothing to do with them. My diary entry has nothing to do with anyone else.

So everything we make as artists are essentially diary entries.”  

Rick Rubin

"Understanding how you feel in the face of other voices without second-guessing yourself is probably the single most important thing to practice and develop as an artist,” 

Rick Rubin

“Concerns about releasing a work into the world may be rooted in deeper anxieties. It could be a fear of being judged, misunderstood, ignored, or disliked. Will more ideas come? Will they ever be this good again? Will anyone even care? Part of the process of letting go is releasing any thoughts of how you or your piece will be received. 

When making art, the audience comes last.” 

Rick Rubin

"I'm doing me and showing you who I am, and you can like it or not, but either way, this is still how I see it."  

Rick Rubin

(Referring to new work) “It is of little importance whether it’s better. The purpose is self-discovery.” 

Rick Rubin

“Beginner’s mind - one of the most difficult states of being to dwell in for an artist, precisely because it involves letting go of what our experiences have taught us. 

Beginner’s mind is starting from a pure childlike place of not knowing. Living in the moment with as few fixed beliefs as possible.

Seeing things for what they are as presented. Tuning in to what enlivens us in the moment instead of what we think will work. And making our decisions accordingly. Any preconceived ideas and accepted conventions limit what’s possible.

We tend to believe that the more we know, the more clearly we can see the possibilities available. This is not the case. The impossible only becomes accessible when experience has not taught us limits. There’s a great power in not knowing.”

Rick Rubin

“The templates of the past can be an inspiration in the beginning phases, but it’s helpful to think beyond what’s been done before. The world isn’t waiting for more of the same. 

Often, the most innovative ideas come from those who master the rules to such a degree that they can see past them or from those who never learned them at all.” 

Rick Rubin

“The most deceptive rules are not the ones we can see, but the ones we can’t. These can be found hiding deeper in the mind, often unnoticed, just beyond our awareness. Rules that entered our thinking through childhood programming, lessons we’ve forgotten, osmosis from the culture, and emulating the artists who inspired us to try it for ourselves.

These rules can serve or limit us. Be aware of any assumptions based on conventional wisdom.

Rules obeyed unconsciously are far stronger than the ones set on purpose. And they are more likely to undermine the work.” 

Rick Ruben

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace,” Charles Mingus once said. “Making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”

Rick Rubin

“How shall we measure success? It isn’t popularity, money, or critical esteem. Success occurs in the privacy of the soul. It comes in the moment you decide to release the work, before exposure to a single opinion. When you’ve done all you can to bring out the work’s greatest potential. When you’re pleased and ready to let go. 

Success has nothing to do with variables outside yourself.” 

Rick Rubin

“The audience comes last. I believe that. I’m not making it for them, I’m making it for me and it turns out that when you making something truly for yourself, you're doing the best thing you possibly can for the audience.“

Rick Rubin

"Honest Work?" What does that mean?

And if there's "honest work," does that mean there's “dishonest work?“

Let me tell you a story about honest and dishonest work.

I was visiting my son in Ukraine when we decided to spend a few days in Poland. We stayed in Krakow, and the family was discussing what we should see while there. I knew that Auschwitz-Birkenau was nearby, but I did not want to visit because I am an empath. I absorb the sad feelings from books, movies, and places... and I definitely did not want to visit a "death camp."

But the family outvoted me, so off we went. 

We took a tour bus to the camps, and during the one-hour drive, I reflected on where I was headed. I thought that if there were sacred places on earth, this might be one of them, and I decided not to photograph there, believing it could be disrespectful or even sacrilegious to treat the camp as a tourist spot. When I got off the bus, I asked the driver if I could leave my camera equipment on board, but he said, "No," and said he wouldn't be responsible for it.

And so, fortunately, I started the tour with my camera and tripod in hand.

I'm not claustrophobic, but within minutes of starting the tour, I felt overwhelmed and couldn't breathe. I excused myself and stepped outside to try to catch my breath. I walked slowly, looking down at my feet, and wondered who else had walked this same path on their way to the gas chamber. I wondered if their spirits still linger here at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Then something whispered to me that I needed to photograph their ghosts. So I started photographing ghosts.

Using the other visitors at the camp, I transformed them into ghosts with a long exposure. But I had limited time - the bus was leaving soon - and I rushed to capture the images I could see in my mind's eye. I had to get them now because I knew I would never be back, that I could never return to another Death Camp.

During my two-hour stay, I created 15 images for this project.

The Ghosts of Auschwitz-Birkenau was honest work, and this is how I define that:

1. The work was created from my Vision.
2. The idea was mine, not borrowed or stolen.
3. I created it for myself, not others.
4. If I love it, then it doesn't matter how others feel about it.

Creating honest work is my goal with every image and project I create. However, in the past, I have made some "dishonest work," and in hindsight, I'm grateful I did because it taught me a very valuable lesson.

The Ghosts of Auschwitz-Birkenau was successful in two ways: it was internally successful because I loved and was proud of it, and it was externally successful and was published, purchased, and exhibited. 

Then something interesting started to happen: my artist friends began encouraging me to pursue another "Ghost" project to boost my exposure and marketing opportunities. 

They suggested projects such as:

• "The Ghosts of 911" 
• "The Ghosts of The Killing Fields" 
• "The Ghosts of The Little Bighorn"

My response was an emphatic "No!" I did not feel inspired to create another series, and there was no Vision for another project. It seemed wrong to create something that I wasn't inspired to do, or to create simply for marketing purposes. 

But their entreaties persisted, and I gave in and decided to do another series.

Around this time, my wife and I had been watching "The Tudors" miniseries, and I was very drawn to the English castles. I decided to create a new ghost series in the castles called "The Ghosts of Great Britain."

So I headed to England with my 13-year-old daughter in tow and a white sheet in hand. She was to be my ghost so I didn't have to depend on strangers. We traveled all over England, creating images of her as she walked and spun during my long exposures. This drew some interest from locals and tourists at the castles.

When I got home and processed the images, I felt an emptiness and unease...and then I realized why: I hated this project! 

Why?

• It was contrived. 
• I was not following my Vision. 
• I was imitating a previous project without inspiration.
• I did not create the work for myself.
• And I did not love the work.

It was dishonest work, so I scrapped the project! My wife said, "Perhaps others will like it," and I responded that it wouldn't matter because I didn't love it.

I spent over $10,000 on this project and kept only this one image. 

But the lesson I learned was more valuable than the money spent: I am only happy when I create honest work.

New Work: Where Lava Meets the Sea

Where the Lava Meets the Sea No. 27

Where Lava Meets the Sea

Hawaii was created when molten lava collided with the sea. The intersection of these two great forces created a place of contrasts; hard versus soft, dark versus light, desolate versus abundant.

I am drawn to it.

This project is complete and has been released to the universe. I love Rick Rubin's quote about releasing new work:

“How shall we measure success? It isn’t popularity, money, or critical esteem. Success occurs in the privacy of the soul. It comes in the moment you decide to release the work, before exposure to a single opinion. When you’ve done all you can to bring out the work’s greatest potential. When you’re pleased and ready to let go. 

Success has nothing to do with variables outside yourself.”

To view all 20 images, follow this link:

Newsletter Print Drawing

For this newsletter, I'll be giving away a print of Faroe Islands No. 217. 

To enter, all you need to do is email me and put "Faroe Islands No. 217" in the subject line. 

(saying hello is optional!)

The winner of the last print drawing of "Melting Giants No. 21" is Bonnie Svarstad. Congratulations Bonnie! Please email me to arrange delivery of your print.