The above image is a screen grab of me placing a camera on a vehicle. What that means exactly, is that as I was pre editing motion clips for a music video I saw this, stopped the roll and hit Apple-Shift-3, which saved a jpeg image of my computer monitor screenview to my desktop. That is called a screenshot. It is a nothing tech tool you learn the first week using a computer as a work platform.

I admit to being a geek and nerd. Though I love my little Go Pro cameras for some work, I am the very last person to resort to using one for a number of reasons, most of those involve wanting to maintain absolute control of how my work looks and being able to reproduce what passed in front of any one of my ridiculously large assortment of lenses in the highest resolution possible.

Once that is accomplished, I archive the original camera raw capture, produce final commercial high resolution files, and jpeg web resolution imagery and archive those as well. Right now I have close to 30 terabytes of active storage, most of it cataloged by keywords which cause the image to pop up when I type the keyword into the Finder (search) box of my MacPro library computer.

I learned quite some time ago that the iphone was a great device. Possibly one of the worst telephones on the market ((I am using the 4s) it has potential to keep us digitally connected in a manner more thorough than any device prior. But for me as an artist who must create in word and multiple arts formats, this same connectivity is also a complete sell out and potentially fatal to my Art.

This is why. By sheer connection, your work in process becomes a reflection of what you see via connection culture and it’s low skill devices. The reason for this  is because consumer based imagery is designed to not be interpretive by the user. As a business model it succeeds by being imminently user friendly. In fact, this has been the logic behind much of Apple’s product Development and Marketing which has created the massive profit behemoth that is Apple and it’s wonderful devices.

The point of this blog is to let you all know what I had to do to preserve my artistic integrity. I turned my texting off. Then I began to keep my phone ringer turned off while thinking (Yes I do that) praying (I do that as well. Hanging out with God is a favorite pass-time) writing, editing, shooting, creating.

What I learned, is that if I give the world unlimited access to me, it will conform me to itself and in turn I become a mirror of cultural mores and response. In effect my worth as an artist goes down. This was an essential lesson for me, this process of planned digital disconnect and is what allows my art to survive. It is not that I am being selfish. It actually is the polar opposite, as it involves discipline, solitude and desire to build work that matters.

What matters to me above all is being authentic and that means I operate my tools. I never let them operate me.

Years ago I read all of Isaac Asimov’s work. One of the most influential works in his library is I, Robot. Are you? (No, the i thing irony is not lost on i) Why would that be a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Well, for me it is the end. And i don’t like creative death. Life is much more beautiful.

Ever think about the word “I” and why it is capitalized?

This is a really on point blog post regarding tech, and in particular the potential shift in culture’s perception, and acceptance of the intrusion of technology in our lives.

Below are a few images from the past week’s digital sequester. Nope, none of em are made on an Iphone, or a Go Pro. With neither interchangeable lenses, exposure lock (Manual exposure operation) or ability to shoot in high resolution raw file format, those tools are for imagery that lives for the moment and is intentionally meant to disappear into the white noise which is endemic to our connection culture.

I want to limit my contribution to the static, let alone allow it too much control over my soul.