Adventureskope

Sometimes the world changes overnight. You fall asleep in one universe and wake up in another. Styles change, fashion evolves, business changes, the way things work and how they are done goes from one thing to the next. The creative industry is no stranger to this sort of evolution – in fact it’s often the catalyst for cultural shift.

I’m almost 35 years old and I’ve been a photographer, writer and filmmaker since I was 21. It’s the only real job I’ve ever had. When I was fresh off of travelling around the world I entered art school to become a photographer. The photography world I was a part of then couldn’t be more different from what the world of photography is now. It’s easy to say that the biggest change is technology and in a sense that’s right, but in a more vital way, technology has only been the stepping stone of change. When I started out we shot film and the internet was only for sending silly emails via our Hotmail accounts. The bandwidth didn’t exist to send attachments of word documents, let alone photographs – self publishing in the physical world meant zines that were the lowest of low-fi and digital publishing was a pipe dream. In those early days getting work published in a magazine, getting your photographs or words physically printed onto paper was the only means for anyone to see what you could do.

As technology improved, with high-speed internet and digital photography surpassing and killing film the whole idea of being a photographer or a writer or a filmmaker changed. Where it was once a rarity to have anyone see your work, it was now exponentially easier than ever to get your stuff out there. Blogs sprouted from nowhere and image sites like Flickr, 500px, Instagram and so on became a part of our daily lives. Digital cameras shoot HD video and the ease to share your creative work with the world is light-years away from when I was a fresh faced 21-year-old in Calgary, Canada.

I love technology; I love that I can get inspired by thousands of talented artists from all around the world. I love that I can share my work with a wide audience and use the internet to facilitate me living about as far from the beating heart of the publishing world as you can and still be a part of it. Photography has never been more popular, the amount of high quality filmmaking I see every day is staggering and the volume of well placed words I see ‘published’ ever day is really inspiring. The world of creative expression has gone through a revolution in the last decade – everything has changed and nothing looks like it did when I was cutting my teeth in 1998. Well, almost everything has changed.

In 1998 the way a creative person made their living was to sell their work to a publisher – whether they were gong to use it editorially in a magazine, for advertising, to be printed in a book or shown on television. In many ways this is still exactly the same – the only difference is now we have the internet. Where once the creative landscape was sparse with only a few serious professionals making a living much like a tradesman would, now that same landscape is overflowing with armature part-timers. Not for a second am I discounting their talent, on the contrary, it’s their talent that both inspires and scares the shit out of me.

There are now thousands of creative people who are willing to give away what we as creative professionals once sold. Photographers and writers who are happy to see their work in print for the satisfaction of having their name attached to it, without any concern for getting paid. This is a side gig for them, a hobby that they do on the weekends before returning to whatever job they do Monday to Friday. The thing is, this isn’t my hobby, this is my job. When an editor realizes that he or she can get top quality work without having to pay for it, what is the incentive to ever pay anyone again? Thought the argument is still valid that the cream will rise to the top, the vat has become an ocean of milk and emerging from that sea of talent has gotten much harder over the years.

What hasn’t changed is the grim reality that rent is still due, it still takes gas in the tank to get places and we have to eat dinner every night. The gear that I use has grown more expensive and the fixed costs of being a professional creative person have gone up every year. What hasn’t changed in the wages from publishing – rates for words and images haven’t gone up in half a decade and now there is a cultural expectation to give much of my work away. Websites, Facebook pages, Google Plus, blogs, YouTube and so on – this exciting new world of creative sharing means that much of the work that I would have traditionally sold, I now give away. I’m not complaining, I’m just as excited as anyone when people connect with the art that I create and the fact that I have the opportunity to connect with more people around the world than ever before is truly awesome.

What I’ve struggled with for a long time is to find a way, like nearly everyone in my same position, to navigate through this new uncharted land, while still maintaining the job I love. If I give everything away, I’ve got nothing left to sell. If I give nothing away – I’ll be forgotten amongst the tidal wave of art that’s out there. If I give my second rate stuff away, It looks like I’m second rate. For a long time I sat and thought about what to do and after much contemplation, I’ve decided what I want to do next.

I’m not going to post less, shy away from seeing my images go online or run away from creative sharing – I’m going to go the opposite way. You are about to start seeing more of my stuff online – much more of it. Resolutions will be higher, the words I post will be my A-Game and the videos I create will be shot in HD and you’ll be able to download them. I’m going to have desktop backgrounds you can download, iPhone home screen images, and full resolution pictures you can print out and put on your wall if you like. The hesitation to post my work on this site is being eliminated and the volume of my stuff, the work that I am most proud of, is about to go up. Adventureskope is going to evolve into a publication that showcases the very best of what I can do.

So what’s the catch? There is no catch, but I do need your help. On the right side of this page is a link called ‘Contribute’ this will take you to a secure PayPal page where you can donate some money to the cause. You can contribute as mush or as little as you’d like. I’m asking people to pay for what they think my work is worth to them. If you download an image to be your screen saver or to make a birthday card for your friend or a cool background image for your iPhone that should be worth something. You wouldn’t expect to be able to take a magazine home from the shop for free, so what’s wrong with paying a bit of money to help me keep producing art that you (hopefully) enjoy. I’m not going to put prices on anything or ask for minimum amounts – this is about an exchange that you think is fair and just.

There will never be restricted parts to my site, premium access or anything like that. I want to be able to display my best work for everyone to see, download and share. In order to continue to offer that I need your help to make it happen. I’m not asking for much, just a contribution so that I can justify sharing on the web the work that I am most proud of. At the end of the day its good karma and I will be truly grateful for your help.

The future of art is going to be an exciting and ever evolving place and I’m so excited to be a part of the biggest artistic revolution since the renaissance! Here’s to the future!

Best regards and thanks for visiting,

Scott