The above image was shot a short while ago. For me it is sort of the peak of  what is possible with modern DSLR imaging. The detail and various aspects which make an incredibly complex subject rendered to perfection are all there. This is why I am not posting the two images which are being discussed below, in  a pasted in conversation with one of my editors at Corbis.

My work evolves. It is far better than ever before. If that process was not building in such a way, I would stop. But many who die, who have reached bottom do not stop. And they are tenuously still in Publishing.

Here is that conversation.

“Wow, congratulations on the award”

Why Corbis matters. And it keeps me in the water somewhere in the world every day. Thank you !

Now back to the point of this post on Awards and Praise.

The way my work moved forward was via the connectedness and support of professional publishing which was run as a purely editorial concern firstly, to provide real time documentation of the sport as it occurred around the world. The second order of the day was advertising.

As the world morphed publishing reversed and editorial became advertorial and what we refer to in Marketing as the race to the bottom began. Then the publishing bankruptcies began. Out of this a restructure occurred when most professionals were jettisoned and literally told not to bother submitting work as it would not be looked at. Publishing then engaged a green new crop which could be more easily controlled and taken advantage of more or less. I won’t go into it, as the explanation is one of photobiz tediousness. But basically the publishing companies hit bottom and figured out a way to stay there.

Cue social media where a photographer can display his work and progress and connect directly to the market via Blog, Facebook, Twitter et al.

Cue Publishers who now say shunned senior staff cannot be published because they showed their work to a few people via their networks and that makes the image “dead”. What that says to me is not unlike the conversation of a jealous girlfriend who saw you talking to another woman and beat you up for it when you return home together each day. It just does not make much sense.

This is why.

Social media allows an Artist to connect his work and that of his publications to a far greater-different audience. The lack of understanding of how Permission based marketing and social media which is based upon it is exactly why publishing is hitting bottom perpetually. They do not understand the concepts of generosity and connection. Yet all great Art is based upon those things.

So what does that say about the greenies working for those struggling publications and the content itself?

Here is a cool vid I did for Blue Mind 2013 on Block Island  recently, which was part of a presentation I did on Beauty and it’s effect on Humanity. I bookended at the event with painter Ran Ortner, whose work I love.

Here is another I built using the latest iteration from Adobe of LR5 which allows motion to be included. It is created for a fantastic project which serves the restoration of US Military severely wounded (Purple Heart Veterans). The project is called the Never Quit Challenge which will be a historic return to NYC and Ground Zero of our people who sacrificed everything, in service to this Nation. The project details are in the video liner notes. Never Quit Challenge:Dancing Girl.

This image is from the Ocean Lovers Collective Blue Notes Project where we are building change that matters.

You can also support this incredibly ambitious project and my work, by purchasing Art via Ocean Lovers’ online store. Browse the site. See who is involved, and what we are about. If you like it, climb aboard. We are creating a new better world via intelligent approach to caring for people and the Oceans. There even is a new Realtime Gallery where work is uploaded as it is created around the world. Change that matters is collaborative. We need YOU for any of this to matter.

No plans to visit the bottom ever.

Onward! Aloha nui Loa.