Oh, Week Three. You were a beast.

The beginning of week three was about trying out a bunch of different ideas and compositions. So the first half of the week was a blast, and now I have a direction for the body of work I am going to make for this month.

My inner craftsman was dancing with joy. The straight forward, mechanical work of coating paper to prepare for making all of these cyanotypes is right up my alley.

My goal for October was to have three finished pieces around a cohesive theme to function as an anchor off of which I can build a greater body of work. Also I wanted to have a good ending point for my residency.

I've got three pieces. More than three I'd say.

So I've reached then end of the creative/producing part of my residency. Then I hit a wall. I noticed it right away.

I stopped sharing the work I was making. Writing to you from the beginning of week four I can tell you that I've had these finished pieces for over a week now. I haven't showed them at all.

I thought this would be the easy part. I have a lot of experience sharing my work. I've been photographing myself at work for over a decade. So I went into this part feeling pretty confident. I'm discovering that it is a whole different beast. My biggest hurdle at the moment is my set up. I need a big sink and a room I can darken while the light sensitive paper dries after I coat it. My studio doesn't have a sink and there is no way I can get this room dark enough. So I'm having to work part time in my old basement workshop. Which is not photogenic.

I know the obvious answer is to just shoot anything. Perfect is the enemy of done, but I'm finding myself getting caught up in trying to perfect it. This is a red flag for me. It's one of the ways I procrastinate when I'm slipping outside of my comfort zone. This whole residency is an exercise in being outside of my comfort zone. I shouldn't be surprised that this has come up.

I suspect the bigger issue is that I'm nearing the point where I have to make all of this real. I will have to show my work to the outside world. Creating in a bubble is safe and fuzzy.

This feels a little like posting nudes.

Experience has taught me to just do the damn thing. So tomorrow I'll be shooting a video of me talking about my work, how it is developing, and why I've made some of the choices I've made. Following that will be a round of "just take a bunch of damn pictures".

You'll be able to judge for yourself the results in a few days. I give myself 50/50 odds of messing it up.

Next week will be the nitty gritty. I'm going to start contacting printers this week to see about getting reproductions made. Then I get to dive into the exciting world of pricing out art mailers and packaging. I know, right?

October Residency Week Three