Where I’m at

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a substantive update on what I’ve been up to and what I’ve been working on. It’s pretty much all about time right now. I’m working 4-5 part-time jobs, and although most weeks I work over 40 hours, there are often weeks where I work less because I’m not needed that much by my employers. On any given day right now I’m either an administrative assistant, an artist/photographer’s assistant, a web designer, a bookkeeper, a digital photography lab assistant, or a laborer. It’s nice to not be bored, but some weeks I barely make it. I’m spending money right now to make prints, buy frames for small shows, and submit work, but I’m not getting any financial returns yet. I dream of selling a couple prints right now, not only to help cover some of these costs, but for a symbolic sign of hope.

When I finished school and set out to become a photographer, I went back and forth between wanting one full-time job or various part-time ones. I had to weigh things like money, flexible schedules, and time off to do my own work. I still weigh these two options on a regular basis, over and over again. I’m sure this is a phase that many artists go through, that may actually last a very long time for me. It’s really fine, I’ve committed to it. But I look forward to someday having the options and/or means to have the work I do to pay the bills be determined by the needs or demands of my photography career, rather than the other way around.

I do have some things to look forward to in the near future. One of my platinum/palladium pinhole images was chosen for the Photographic Resource Center’s annual benefit auction. I’m participating in Jamaica Plain Open Studios in late September. And I have a solo show coming up in the Boston area this winter [more details to come]. I’m also keeping up with submitting work regularly and I had a portfolio review recently with Leslie Brown from the PRC, who gave me a lot of great suggestions for how to promote my work. I had an opening earlier this month for my small show at Dame in Jamaica Plain, where I got to talk to people about prints that rarely see the light of day, and I met a lot of other local photographers and artists. I’m looking forward to a closing event there as well, just days before my studio visit from Artadia.

I was floored and surprised by a phone call from Artadia last week informing me that I made the short-list of 15 finalists for this cycle of awards in Boston. I am so excited-beyond-belief to have my work taken this seriously and actually considered for funding. Being a finalist has been incredibly validating and encouraging, and if nothing comes of it in terms of receiving a grant, that’s OK, because so much has come of it in terms of my attitude and confidence and motivation. Although I can’t imagine what $3,000 or $15,000 would do in terms of allowing me to continue some of my projects and start new ones. I definitely wouldn’t mind having to work out a budget for that!

© Steph Plourde-Simard