Art is Life

We have all heard the saying that "Life Imitates Art". I am here to say that life really is art. Same hard choices. Business school or History. Foreign language or mathematics. All our choices impact our future choices. Notice though that I only admit "impact". There are too many artists and pseudo artists who have a personal pity party going on. They have some misguided belief that being an artists means suffering and privations. That it means not being able to pay one's electric bill. That it means that the artist is always looking for a patron to sponsor him/her. This morning I looked at a few photographer's websites. More of the information is about how to make money; how to market oneself; how to advertise or not; how to determine what is fair pricing. Makes you think that being an artist might mean choosing to wear two hats ARTIST and business person. It would be nice if people were pounding on your door to have their portraits, weddings and events done and that there was some magical way that you could easily convince them that artists have needs, supplies and expenses, too. But there isn't so, the artist has to establish his/her own fair pricing. A digital camera cost X dollars and will last Y long. When that camera needs to be replaced with a new version it will cost X+ dollars. Other expenses are gas, housing, food, lodging for trips to make the photographs, insurance, pensions or savings, upgrades, education, professional fees. It is quite a bunch to keep track of and we haven't even produced a single photograph yet. It is not free. Time is valuable. Ask any executive who needs to have time in the schedule for 9 holes on Friday afternoon with the lobbyist or the legislator. I think I see why so many of us barely make it. Let's let people really pay for the skill and the energy and talent. We can always donate our time for charitable causes.