Well here I am! I'm blogging! Because why the fuck not.
Actually I like blogging. It is a good place to sit down and get my thoughts out. I find value in it even when I know not many are reading. And with all I have been up to I think it is a good time to do just that. Cause I'm a mess. No, nothing else is new. SQUIRREL!
I've gotta stop creeping on people's kids.
When I launched RogueMusings I had this vision of sharing my photos and somehow changing the world. Being a leader in population health and watching Rich solve the problems among homeless youth is fantastic, I also want art to play a part. I have no idea how I thought a picture of a glacier would change the world. I figured I would sort that part out along the way. Since then my photography interest have expanded some. Mostly because I put myself out there - it opened up a new world. By world apparently I mean kids and my dog.
Okay so it isn't just kids and my dog. Although those have quickly become my favorite new subjects. I have always been involved in politics. Even in my early Republican days (*shhhhh*). But now I am bringing my camera when I can. So I have been expanding my photography. Or just being obnoxiously liberal on twitter. Which has nothing to do with photography. Let me pound this beer and I will continue.
That's me. Dangling on a rope.
I am also working on getting my butt higher into the mountains. And that's nice. Scrambling opened up a whole new photography world I found put me in places your everyday Pacific Northwest photographer didn't go. So it seemed the next logical thing to do was to take Basic Alpine Climbing. And discover my absolute love of knots. Cue knotty joke!
That's me. Wearing the same damn outfit.
There are worst subjects to be stuck with.
Basic Alpine Climbing is great. But it won't exactly put me in the mountains this weekend. If anything it will keep me at sea level for a while longer while I take the time down here to practice the skills I will need to survive up there. Which means my only real handy subject is...the dog.
Good news is when I do finally get out there they are lowering my into a crevasse. AND I AM BRINGING THE GOPRO. #AWESOME
So it does feel I have been all over the place. And maybe I have? Maybe RogueMusings was more appropriate than I thought? Gotta love that 3 months later every government agency has a Rogue account. For the record - I was Rogue before it was cool. (But they are pretty cool).
And one of the questions I ask myself almost daily these days, "Is everything I am doing on social media -or anywhere- helping my mission." Am I making the difference I wanted to make? Am I raising money for charities? Getting people to visit their congressmen? Well, not really. Turns out to do a lot of that people need to know who you are. And I am quickly learning I have never been the "marketing" type.
My chosen social media lately has been twitter. Which is where people with ADD go to die. It moves fast and I see a lot of great artist there. People are easier to find then Instagram or Flicker and it is easier to have a conversation even with the 120 character limit. But I do struggle with getting any material I am passionate about out for people to see. My snarky comments on a Michael Moore post do better than photos from the Women's March. And while I am sure in time my snarkiness will manage to change the world - I want to collaborate and create and share beautiful photos and create books to sell to raise money for NARAL. So I have to ask - what should I do next? Don't say be snarky.
I'm kicking around the idea of a 365 photo project. Why not? It would be a personal project I have control over. But I'm really weird about posting photos that are just meh. Sometimes I will go just above meh cause friends are encouraging. But even Ansel Adams said, "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop." Yes, it would help me grow as a photographer. But I don't know if I need to share everything I take, and I already take a lot of photos everyday. I just don't know if the mission needs to see those photos every day instead of the already good ones I am proud of. And even if I did - what do I do with those photos? Share them on social media?
I love all 58 of my current followers (If that number goes up between writing this and posting I'm sorry I see you and love you too!). And I love my 18 flicker followers, 46 Facebook followers, and 52 Instagram followers. I appreciate how they all bear with me as I feel my way around in the dark figuring out what to do next. Even though NO ONE voted on my poll on what mobile phone to get next. Come on, guys! I know like 70 people saw it and the only response I got was some account trying to convince me I could "win" a phone. My Galaxy s5 isn't going to last forever!...or it will burn my house down.
I write and post because it is important to ME and I hope anyone who listens enjoys. But how do I move The Mission forward. Is it a matter of more followers? More photos on my end no matter the quality? So far it has been 90% enjoyable to me / 10% work. Perhaps it is time I do more on the work end (who says it needs to be less enjoyable). Where do I do next? Where do you guys want to see me take this?
Love,
Kara