April 23 Update
Richard gives a written and visual life update from April 23.
Hello my friends,
Man what a month it has been. For the regulars it might seem like I’d only just wrote a journal entry, and THAT is because well… I really just did. But I’m trying to get back on my more timely schedule but we’ll see how this goes. I still have to do my photos and slideshow as I’m writing this but there’s no grant application or photo festival in my way this time so we’ll see.
Anywho, personal life has been in a bit of a tough patch with everything going on with our foster kiddo (court and other related stress), funny that my photography from winter lined up so nicely with my self diagnosed circumstantial depression/funk that I have been in. Synchronicities man… take em however you like [or not]. This month has been more of the same although I am putting more effort into my self-care —which TBH is already pretty strong so don’t cry for me [Argentina].
Last month was a bit of a grind in photo related activities, the Medium Photo Festival which is primarily lectures and artistic talks and what not, writing a grant application, and just this past weekend I had an ArtWalk event (art fair) in Little Italy so the last couple of weeks have been a lot of framing and prepping for that show. So busy busy busy but admittedly not a ton of shooting itself in April which was unfortunate as shooting is one of my main forms of self-care. So that is what excites me about this month. Nothing on the calendar other than me and the camera(s) getting some steps, getting some hours, and getting to work.
As far as the ArtWalk event this past weekend, man I’m at a loss for words. It was another successful show on so many levels that it caught me right in the feels (again). It must be something about the Little Italy shows. To everyone who came out and bought prints or postcards and helped put fuel in the tank: THANK YOU! To everyone who came through to chat about my work, or photography, or gave any kind of positive energy, hot tips, and exhibition opportunities: THANK YOU! To my family that came through and my friend Kern, I love you all. THANK YOU! To ArtWalk for putting on a great event: THANK YOU! And to everyone else who helped make this weekend a success: THANK YOU!
Those show weekends are always all the things, nerve racking (am I going to make sales?), exhilarating (any time I make a sale), reassuring (anytime someone gives me a compliment or makes a comment to let me know they get me), hilarious (all the awkward encounters with fair attendees that visit my booth but aren’t interested AT ALL in my work, or the people who also don’t give a shit about my work but want to talk my ear off about whatever (usually their dog or something)), unexpected (meeting fellow artists, art lovers, and rad people I never know what to expect but I’m always pleasantly surprised), exhausting (prep, setup, being “on” for 8 hours straight 2 days in a row, then break down). Overall I feel that they are overall very positive for me, but still, they are A LOT.
After visiting my chiropractor and getting in some good naps on Monday and Tuesday I’m finally coming down from this weekend and it’s freeing me up to think about what I want to work on this month. I’ve had a captivity/zoo/aquarium animal project that I’ve been working on. Some of the shots have been making their way into my recent newsletters, blog posts, and Instagram feed. Anyway, I put together a rough cut of the project for a friend who wrote me a letter of recommendation for my grant application, but I think it would be helpful to get some feedback on that project from a trusted reviewer and I have someone in mind so hopefully I can get that in the works for this month.
Nothing else really of note. I have started reading Keith Harring’s Journals and I love it. It’s incredible how knowledgeable he was at such a young age. Sometimes when I read his thoughts it makes me feel like an idiot for being 37 and just starting to develop that type of an understanding of the world but mostly it just makes me feel like I’m on the right path. Like “oh he had that shit figured out right before he was blowing up. Yup gotta stay true to myself and keep moving forward. Things are gonna happen for me. I’m Joe Dirt!”
Also, his journal does make me want to start doing some more intermittent journaling (as opposed to just these monthly posts) because it just feels like a more useful exercise than trying to sum up a whole month in one post. I dunno though, we’ll see. I also don’t want to spread myself too thin because I also took a hit on my work time available since we have Wolfy every day during the week now whereas Tuesdays and Thursdays I used to be able to work until 5-5:30pm I now can only work until 3pm on Tuesdays and 12:30pm on Thursdays without working something out with Erin (I know!). Not complaining but time management is everything and losing 7.5 hours of work per week is significant and I’m trying to get adjusted to this new schedule.
Anyway, I should get back to my computer and work on my pictures/this month’s slideshow because I haven’t gone through any of that yet! (Shhh).
Alright, love you all. Thanks to everyone who supports me. If you are interested in buying prints or postcards you can do it here, and if you want to send me some love you can do it in the comments or here richard@ricpics.me.
Be well,
Richard :)
P.S. Slideshow and Gallery below. Just remember it was a light month so there’s admittedly not many bangers in there. What can you do, ya know?
March 23 Update
Richard gives a life a written and visual life update from March 23.
Hi friends,
If you’re coming from my newsletter, you know the past few weeks put me through a bit of a ringer. If you’re not coming from my newsletter: Welcome. And to catch you up the past few weeks have put me through a bit of a ringer. Boom. All caught up—but also, WHY ARE YOU NOT SUBSCRIBED TO MY NEWSLETTER?! DO YOU NOT LIKE CHANCES TO WIN FREE PRINTS?! DO YOU WANT ME TO BE YELLING AT YOU TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER?! HUH?! HUH?! HUH?!?!?
Just Joshin ya. Live your life how you want to, boo. #nohardfeelings
Anywho, like any other month when you’re a first time parent/emerging artist, this past month [and a half] was a busy one but on top of that it felt like it was exceptionally busy for a number of reasons. Erin’s (1) birthday was in March so there were lots of projects and planning that had to go into that. A couple birthday projects were collabs between me and Wolfy (2) which I was very excited about. Also, in March we had a parent teacher conference, one of my niece’s birthdays, and COURT (TWO TIMES!) which is always nerve racking.
We had a small victory during the hearing in early March but by now we’ve learned to really measure our responses because with every step forward something behind the scenes happens and it’s like 10 steps backwards and it can really fuck us up emotionally. This last month and a half has been no different in that regard. As a bonus we had a special court hearing AGAIN this past Monday (#toosoon) and there weren’t many silver linings that time. No matter how much you learn about how broken the foster system is, nothing can fully prepare you for the experience of witnessing its failures first hand and loving someone who it is failing and feeling powerless to help them.
Self care. Grace. Trusting the process. Self care.
Things this past month and a half weren’t all bleak though. I did have a number of distractions in addition to birthdays and family stuff, namely attending many of the Medium Photo Photography Festival events which ran from April 1-16. I participated in a community pop-up sale where I was happy to slang postcards and prints and meet and connect with an awesome group of photographers, artists, creatives, and aficionados. Most of the other events I attended at the festival were artist talks, gallery openings, and seminars on subjects that I’m highly interested in (e.g. book publishing). It was A LOT and it was fucking awesome. I had such a great time connecting with my people (artist/photographers) and as they say in France: I learned a shit ton.
After two weeks of the Medium Photo Festival I was absolutely wiped but the show had to go on and I spent much of last week completing a grant application before I was able to finally take a breather. That leaves me in the present where I am trying to finish getting these posts up (I'm only 20 days behind schedule...) and I'm starting to get prepared for my upcoming ArtWalk event in little italy (April 29-30). If you're a local and you want to come pick up some prints, postcards, or just say what's up and check out the scene I highly recommend it. I'll be in booth 522 on Date St. Come through!
So this is my first public journaling that I am sharing on my website/blog. Previously I had done it on my FB (during the first 100 days or so of COVID), and in my newsletter for the past few months, but this feels like right the place. The goal is to write at least one monthly journaling post where I’ll also include photos taken during that month in both a slideshow format (via YouTube) and in an online gallery format for those who want to take their time with any of the photos as the slideshows will go by pretty quickly.
You can check out this month’s slideshow below or this month’s gallery even more below.
Thanks for reading and I hope you are all taking care of yourselves.
Be well,
Richard :)
P.S. You may notice the pictures I show don't always coincide with the words I write and this is for two reasons. A) The photos I post on these monthly journal entries are essentially a separate visual journal. A window into my life. Some things I can show, others I cant (see note 2 below) but in either case B) I generally believe that the viewer is intelligent enough to make sense of the photos on their own without me spelling it out for them. That said, if there ever are any questions as to what's going on in any of the pictures you can always ask. Preferably in the comments below but also, you can DM me on Insta or shoot me an email.
Notes:
(1) Erin is my better half. The love of my life. My partner. My world.
(2) Wolfy is the name I use to speak about Erin and I's foster child. There are a lot of rules about not sharing info publicly due to her being in the foster system so I use this code name and shy away from details about her and her story (that latter more out of respect to her than the rules of the foster system FWIW). She is the second love of my life, the best fucking kid in the world, and Erin and I are hopeful that she will become a permanent member of our family at some point in the future, hence all the court talk.
