The Studio Q Show LIVE! From the Rocky Mountains!

Greetings!

I hope everyone is doing well. I haven't had much time over the last couple of weeks. We've been crazy busy moving and getting ourselves set up to start our home build in the mountains.

I wanted to reach out and touch base with you and do a LIVE show today from our place in the mountains here - the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, U.S.A. Not much to show yet, we’re just starting, but we can talk wet plate collodion and "ask and answer" technical questions.

Join me if you can - tomorrow, Saturday, June 27, at 1000 hrs MST. It will stream LIVE on my YouTube channel as well.

We address attending a workshop and getting tutorials/online services.
(Administrated by Jean Jacobson)

Quinn’s Live Stream from Stream Yard: https://streamyard.com/4sffpya3a8

Quinn’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoFXbRk1u4g

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The Last Day of 2010

Sometimes we find ourselves in a place where everything is ending. Or at least it feels that way.

It’s a bitter-sweet thing. I’m in one of those places right now and wondering how it all happened so fast and what will fill the “hole” on the other side of the pond. While endings can be sad, they can also open the door to opportunities; and that’s where I have to keep my head, or at least try.

Today, I’m reflecting on leaving Europe after five years, Summer’s evolution into adulthood (the loss of “my little girl”) and just the overall loss of what I know now – my life – if you will. The year is ending, too. That’s what started me writing. I thought I could use the last day of the year as a metaphor for my life right now.

I was in my studio/darkroom yesterday and I was trying to devise a plan of where to start to break it down. It made me sad. In a lot of ways I don’t want to go back to America. In other ways, I can’t wait. It’s a roller coaster of emotions, to say the least. I walked out of my darkroom full of anxiety and didn’t touch a thing. I need to get in there today and start packing!  

We’ve met and befriended some of the finest human beings on this big blue ball (you know who you are) here. Europe and the Europeans have been very good to me and my family. This has been, without question, the best part of my life. The people, the experiences and the personal and professional growth has been amazing. I’ve learned more about myself and about life in these five years than the previous forty. I hope I can take some of that back with me and am able to share it without sounding arrogant or condescending. Americans could learn a lot from Europeans, I know I have.

I’ve been treated like a king here. And I’ve been respected and acknowledged for my work. I’m afraid that I will lose that returning to the States. No one knows me and no one cares what I’ve done here. It feels like I’ll be starting over in a lot of ways.  I’m okay with that; I just don’t want to keep taking one step forward and then three back.

I have to thank Centre-Iris Gallery (Olivier and Pierre) and all of the fine Parisians that supported me this year. What a wonderful experience! Merci beacoup! To have a gallery in Paris that supports you like Centre-Iris is overwhelming. I’m very grateful and will return every two years with new and exciting work to show Paris. A big thank you to our friend, Benoît Boucherot, too! He made a wonderful documentary about me (see the previous post). 

To every studio, cultural center, art school and individual artists in Europe (Barcelona, Reus, Gothenburg, Budapest, Dresden, Cologne, Vienna, Glasgow, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, and many, many more) that I’ve had the pleasure of visiting and teaching at (and there have been a lot of them); thank you! You’ve allowed me to grow and taught me more than I taught you. I’m eternally indebted to the hundreds of people that I’ve had the opportunity to meet, teach and befriend; thank you! I wish I could stay another five years.

Summer and Jesse just spent three weeks with us. They flew back yesterday and are back in America today (31 December 2010). I was able to get them in the head brace for a plate during a private workshop with Bernd Radtke. We had fun; we went to Amsterdam, Belgium (Lummen) and Aachen (Germany) to see friends and have some fun.

I miss my life here already. 

Summer Joy Jacobson - December 18, 2010 Viernheim, Germany 5" x 7" Black Glass Ambrotype

Jesse Vriens - December 18, 2010 Viernheim, Germany Half Plate Clear Glass Ambrotype

 

Living An "Authentic Life"?

What does it mean to live an "authentic life"? What does "authentic" even mean? For me, it's a word that describes, or defines, your ability to be you. Whatever or whoever you are. In other words, not counterfeit or copied. It sounds easy, right? It isn't.

Quinn stylin' a Chin Curtain. Henry David Thoreau said, "All men live quiet lives of desperation." I don't think that's as bleak as it sounds. Desperation, in this case, could be defined as not being authentic. Most people, especially Americans, tend to follow trends and other people. Their lives are copies of what is popular or accepted. A lot of television and the mass media teaches them who to be. In other words, their identity is closely connected to what is popular in thought, fashion, lifestyle, etc. at any given time. They tend to be "spectators" rather than "players" in the game of life.

Why do people live like this? I believe it's for acceptance. We all want to be accepted. I wrote in my graduate thesis that we are in a dilemma (as human beings). We want to be accepted and fit in, but we want to be individuals/unique at the same time. That's impossible to do. You're either in touch with who you are, however you are, or you're a knock-off of your culture's latest style, thought, craze, or trend. You can't have it both ways.

There are times I ask myself, "Are you really, truly being honest with yourself about who you are?" I've felt tremendous pressure to lose weight, cut my hair, shave my face, dress a certain way and to be easy on ignorant people (I can be loud and opinionated) so that I can fit in and please people. I'm told quite often, most of the time in very subtle ways, that I'm not acceptable the way I am - that I need to change my appearance and my philosophy toward people and life.

I'm sure people think they're doing me a favor by telling me that I don't fit in. It begs the question about authenticity. What if I'm truly supposed to be the way I am? What if the way I look, dress and think is authentic? What if the masses are wrong about me?

Why do so many people feel the need to tell people who are different to change? Isn't this what's caused wars and has been at the heart of most of the evil in the world? I can't help but think about where I live and how it applies to these ideas of difference and authenticity. Difference, for the most part, is not accepted here.

Just because you might not look or think like the masses, or the popular majority, doesn't mean that you're wrong or need to be changed. If we could all start living authentic lives, maybe we could find peace and acceptance with ourselves and with others.

Change Is Good, We Need It

I enjoy change. I don’t fear it or loathe it like some people do. When you get too comfortable, bad things start to happen. Sometimes, the undesirable things are happening and you don’t even know it!

My belief is that you have two ways to move in life; you either “evolve” or “devolve” - there’s no sitting on the fence. If you’re “evolving” or progressing, you will be acutely present to your accomplishments. If you’re “devolving” you may not be aware of it at all. Distractions or superficial things seem to get in the way. They prevent you from doing what you really want or need to be doing.

That’s my deep philosophical introduction to my move to a new server and new web site. It’s definitely progress for me. I hope you like it.