NOTE: POTTY MOUTH ALERT… Just in case I sound like all those ‘oh-so-cool’ women bloggers who drop f-bombs and tell us about their sex lives … ick!”

It’s time for a change.

it’s time to get busy, change shit up, make new plans. Stop old habits and forge new ideas and alliances and projects. Start a new business with a friend in Omaha, get the ad agency going again – solo. Shoot shoot shoot shoot.

A look back on 2011:

Books were written, seminars were taught, workshops went well (for the first half of the year anyway), was recognized by a prestigious organization for the workshops, was asked to – wait – can’t tell you about that yet, but keep the first weekend of April open… just in case.

I have written a good blog, one that is read and discussed all over the country. I receive no acknowledgement by the ‘mainstream’ so now, I don’t give a shit. I don’t write this blog to be ‘accepted’ into any group or ‘good ‘ol boy’ network. I write it for me. And you. And now it gets even more interesting.

(Reading Richard Branson’s “Screw Business as Usual” has me thinking some new ideas. Screw it for sure.)

I will continue to write at this blog… but some new self imposed rules come out now.
Would you like to know what I am talking about? HIT the more button… bwahahahahaha…

1. The gloves come off. (paraphrasing my friend, Leslie Burns – and by the way – read her post. Read Luke Copping’s post while you are at it…)

I say this because I have been reticent to growl back at some folks who seem all too sure of themselves. I will stop holding it in, and call bullshit where I see it. It may cost me friends, but then – they weren’t friends if I cannot disagree.

2. I only want to hang out with, and am only interested in, positive people. (NOTE: being ‘positive’ that everything sucks is not what I mean… seriously.) There is way too much negativity in my life. I teach this self-awareness, get positive stuff all the time. (NOTE TO SELF… glad to see your ass on board, dude…)

3. I must get more shooting time. Not client stuff, and not business stuff… ME stuff. My work. My approach. I have been so under the gun this year (two books, a crap load of workshops (which I absolutely LOVE teaching) and a business that was either out of control busy, or dead as a dry gulch in July.

4. Now that I am formally not writing a book (book three ships to publisher in the morning, I will devote more time to this blog. More inspiration, more critiques, more interviews, and more real info for the emerging photographer (who ain’t living in NYC) – the great forgotten. If you ain’t shooting hollyweird celebs, or the brightest sports stars, no one really cares. I do. I really really do.

5. Teach. Here, LearntoLight, Project 52… wherever I have the opportunity. I know… there are a couple of dozen lighting sites out there. I know… I have visited them. Most are meh – some are pretty damned good – and some are sucky beyond the sucky of all suckness. I won’t be teaching gear at Learn to Light…that’s the how. I will be teaching lighting for the subject… the WHY of lighting. My way.

OK – here is the look back to a few of my favorite posts here (although not recognized on any OTHER best of post sites…)

Why Being a Photographer is Like Being a Jazz Musician
On Balance: Challenging the Nature of Gravity
10 Principles of Photography No One Tells You When You Are Starting Out
Need Inspiration: Try “Immersion”
Somewhere, Right Now, at This Moment…
Assignment Photography: a Strategy for Bidding the Gig

Things I need to remember:

A. Life has no visible finish line. You can be running and jiving and doin’ the happy dance and – blam… the ticker gives out or a bus out of nowhere flattens your sorry ass. Stop feeling like you got time… you ain’t got no time.

B. Friends are rare. Treat them as such.

C. Everyone wants to tell me how fucking hard it is out there. I don’t care. It is what it is. The game has been ramped up. You are ready to play or you are not. If not, it is not my fault, not Bush’s fault, not Obama’s fault, not yo mama or yo daddy or your big brother’s fault. It is YOUR FAULT. Best you understand that before getting out of bed tomorrow. Occupybullshit… if you are failing it is YOUR Fault. Period.

B. The smart and oh-so-sophisticated bigass world of art is really a small midwestern town with 1950’s values. Seriously… it’s true.

E. Every day you get a chance to make art is a gift. Every day you turn away from that gift to watch TV is a waste. There is NOTHING on the tube that feels as good as doing something for your art. NOTHING. NO… not even “dancing with the has-beens”…

F. Take nothing for granted. Nothing. You think awards and recognition and ‘attaboys’ mean something? They don’t. Want more people to think you are cool, give away cameras on Twitter. Bask in the glow of the… wait… what?

G. There are people who will tell you that ‘balance’ is so important in life. “Live/Work Balance” is all over the magazines… written by women writers who have nannies and are married to corporate attorneys. Worse are the actresses and actors exclaiming the virtues of ‘balance’…

BALANCE is bullshit. Every one of the most successful people I have ever met… in ANY endeavor… in ANY sport or art or music or dance or anything profession – are driven, highly focused maniacs with a full agenda of work. They have relationship problems and their own demons, and there are challenges that must be met… but they are NOT balanced. Anyone who tells you differently is either lying, or trying to sell you something.

H. If you want to know how successful photographers do it, show up. Be there. Do what they do. BE a successful person by doing and acting like one. Successful people do not waste time. (BTW, relaxing is not wasting time… it is necessary and a part of the process.)

I. Before you do anything… I mean any-damn-thing – ask yourself if what you are about to do will;
– Strengthen my work?
– Strengthen my relationship?
– Strengthen my personal self?
If the answer is no… why the hell are you doing it? (Be specific, full sentences please.)

J. Anyone who brings you down for any reason, personally or professionally… dump them. I don’t care if it is someone who shares office space or a significant other. In the world there are allies and enemies… choose wisely, as the enemy is vicious and sometimes comes disguised as the loves of our lives. Meaning well, but burying you with toxicity is a “sorry, it’s not me – it’s you” moment. Sorry if that’s harsh… See “A” above.

We start ‘the last year of earth’* on a happy note… Success is possible, it is everywhere around us. We have to work smart, with a different set of tools, and a much different mind-set. The old ways may not work anymore, and the new ways are still in flux. But you are guaranteed a seat on the “too damn bad, your business failed” bus if you keep sitting around waiting for stuff to happen. It won’t without you MAKING it happen.

So Happy New Years, enjoy your life, and any time someone brings up that Mayan Calendar thing, punch them in the face and laugh… By the time trial comes along, we will all be long gone according to them… so what’s it matter? Successful people know better. Nothing is written, nothing is pre-destined… we MAKE every day the way we want it to be. Every. Damn. Day.

I love what I am doing, I will be doing more of it and I hope you all are here for the ride…

Woohoo, 2012! I LOVE YA!

We return to an F-Bomb free zone tomorrow… well, we’ll try really fkn hard!

Project 52 / Learn to Light / Don Giannatti Advertising and Design / Don Giannatti Photography

* reference to the current hysteria over the Mayan calendar. If they were so smart, where the fuck are they? Another foolish, attention diverting media hyped pack of bullshit.