It's all about perspective!

It’s a late night here in the Twin Cities, and even with cringe-worthy crypto prices, I’m proudly boasting some optimism. Cryptocurrency isn’t everything. Rarely do all aspects of life thrive at the same time. When money is bad, for me at least, art, family and friends are usually good. There’s usually one or two things out of balance with the others. I’ve been having a great time with friends and family, I just got back from a successful trip to LA, and as of tonight, I’ve managed to wrap up two more clients that I owed. That means in the last seven days, I’ve managed to close out seven clients! I can feel the burden lifting from my shoulders and it feels great.

The low, low price of STEEM has had some unexpected side effects on me lately. I got through the soul-crushing sadness we’ve all gone through lately. On the other side of that, I’m looking at my job with new eyes. The pace and relentless travel I’ve had to do over the last six years […a lot of that as a single dad], burned me out and made me resent flights, trips and time away from my home. Now, though, maybe because I’m aware I’m not going to have a choice for a long while, I’m realizing my job is pretty fucking great! I’m finding motivation just when I thought it was all but lost from my life.

One of the biggest factors is the stress of owing SO much work. I’ve said before that as proud as I am of Dark Pinup, the book I did with @wcpublishing, it was the only project that I could give any attention to for all of 2017. The only photos I was able to edit we’re the ones that would be in the pages of the book, thus leaving dozens and dozens of shoots out in the cold until after it’s release. Once it was released, I was terrified at the amount of “….I’ll get to this later” shoots I had to edit through with the same amount of attention and care that I gave to the photos that made it in the publication.

These photos tonight are from one of those shoots with a beautiful Canadian model named Holly. Of my coveted patient clients, she’s one of the most. This shoot was from last October [….yes, as in over a year ago], when I was in Toronto. They’re beautiful shots, and I was able to get her in the pages of Dark Pinup, but the remainder of the shoot was pushed further and further back. Finished her tonight, and another client […that I unfortunately can’t share publicly because of her career] genuinely makes me feel like I can breathe without an anvil on my chest. It’s a huge personal accomplishment […this entire week] and I feel like celebrating.

I’m going to keep up the positive pressure and attitude despite this bear market. I’m a believer in things happening for a reason. All I want to be is drawing comics with @ghostfish, but this might not be my time. Looking at the illustration and art I was drawing a year ago is elementary to the work I’m doing now. I’m drawing and working on our comic @coppercoins as I can, but the universe clearly needs me to keep traveling, shooting and being grateful that I can make a living in the photography medium, so for now, that’s what I’m going to do. Thanks for reading. For more, follow me here @kommienezuspadt!