Wednesday, January 21, 2015
New Beginnings
I truly thought that once we left our house and everything else behind that life would be a lot simpler and in many ways it is. However, moving into a 30' travel trailer from a big 2 story house has a BIG learning curve! The space is smaller, of course, but the adaptation to the change in lifestyle takes a bit more than we had figured.
The first few weeks have been mostly spent on getting organized, moving our domicile to another state, getting new drivers licenses, tagging vehicle and trailer and just generally learning what we can and cannot do in such a limited space. It has been eye opening, to say the least. But, alas, I have finally settled into a kind of routine and started getting out to shoot new images everyday.
We chose to spend our first few months in the area of the Great Smoky Mountains and make this region our new home base. I had lots of images of the Smokies during spring, summer and fall, but virtually none in winter. Ironically, the weather has been unseasonably warm for the Smokies this year, but I heard last night on the news that we may get some snow later in the week. Yes! I love shooting snow covered mountains and rivers and waterfalls! So look forward to that in upcoming posts. In the meantime, enjoy a few of the images I have been lucky enough to capture the last week or so.
The Ogle Farm is a historic place built in the mid to late 1800's just outside of Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Since it had been raining a lot for a few days, when the rain stopped a beautiful misty fog developed in the higher elevations making some of these old farms look rather surreal and almost spooky. I loved it!
Yesterday, we took off to the far side of the park to revisit a few places I have photographed in the past. Not to mention the wonderful ride through the Smokies, Mother Nature cooperated with some very pleasing light to aid in the documentation of our new journey.
I plan to keep this blog a lot more active from now on, posting at least twice a week with new images, tips and tricks on how the images were captured and processed, and much more. Stay tuned! The journey is just beginning!
Please, leave comments, questions and suggestions of things you would like to see or how-to questions. I will do my best to answer them all.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
The Big Leap
The time has come. I am closing my tattoo studio and taking on photography full time. Already have some work lined up in the next couple of weeks, but it's time. I have put it off for too many years and it just feels right.
I had hoped that my photo book project on kickstarter would get fully funded and that would be the catalyst. I suppose, in some ways it has been, even though the funding has not been up to par. Simply starting the project has been the impetus to make the transition from not knowing if I can pay my bills to REALLY not knowing if I can pay my bills! On the positive side, I have most of my bills reduced to minimal amounts now and closing the tattoo studio saves me a lot of money.
The photo book project, "Mist on the Mountains, Southwest Virginia" is still very much in the works, although printing the book may take a bit longer due to cost of printing. I am continuing to shoot images for that book and also beginning another project that will provide more immediate income. More about that soon. Let's just say for now that I will be shooting cops and blowing them up, and it's all with their permission!
So it's off we go into this new chapter of my life. It is pretty exciting to write the chapters as you go along!!!
I had hoped that my photo book project on kickstarter would get fully funded and that would be the catalyst. I suppose, in some ways it has been, even though the funding has not been up to par. Simply starting the project has been the impetus to make the transition from not knowing if I can pay my bills to REALLY not knowing if I can pay my bills! On the positive side, I have most of my bills reduced to minimal amounts now and closing the tattoo studio saves me a lot of money.
The photo book project, "Mist on the Mountains, Southwest Virginia" is still very much in the works, although printing the book may take a bit longer due to cost of printing. I am continuing to shoot images for that book and also beginning another project that will provide more immediate income. More about that soon. Let's just say for now that I will be shooting cops and blowing them up, and it's all with their permission!
So it's off we go into this new chapter of my life. It is pretty exciting to write the chapters as you go along!!!
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Less Than 5 Days To The End, "Mist On The Mountains, Southwest Virginia"
"Mist on the Mountains, Southwest Virginia" kickstarter campaign is almost over.
Here we are near finish line of our funding cycle and we're only at 11%. Kind of disappointing, but the remarkable thing is WHO is backing this project. There are the few family members I knew I could count on, and another family member that blew me away with a wonderful pledge. Then there were the people I know on a more casual basis. There have even been a few perfect strangers, even as far away as the United Kingdom! Wow! To each and every one of you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in me and in this project!
Even if funding does not reach 100%, I am still going to complete the book. It may take me a bit longer to do it, but I WILL do it. The motivation for the project has not changed, The drive and desire has not changed. The one thing that has changed is my absolute determination to see this project come to fruition, despite any and all pitfalls.The desire has been there all along, but the faith that all of the backers have placed in me has overwhelmingly touched my in ways I cannot begin to describe.
We will see this project through!
Here we are near finish line of our funding cycle and we're only at 11%. Kind of disappointing, but the remarkable thing is WHO is backing this project. There are the few family members I knew I could count on, and another family member that blew me away with a wonderful pledge. Then there were the people I know on a more casual basis. There have even been a few perfect strangers, even as far away as the United Kingdom! Wow! To each and every one of you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in me and in this project!
Even if funding does not reach 100%, I am still going to complete the book. It may take me a bit longer to do it, but I WILL do it. The motivation for the project has not changed, The drive and desire has not changed. The one thing that has changed is my absolute determination to see this project come to fruition, despite any and all pitfalls.The desire has been there all along, but the faith that all of the backers have placed in me has overwhelmingly touched my in ways I cannot begin to describe.
We will see this project through!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Press Releases Sent Out
Press Release
I sent this out to every newspaper and TV station in our region. Let's see what kind of response I get.
Press Release
Clintwood Photographer to Publish Photo Book Depicting Southwest Virginia Landscapes and Landmarks
From an early age, j. Michael Hill has loved art in all forms. He’s made his career from art as a tattoo artist for nearly 4 decades. During that time, he has also been an avid photographer, even going back to college (Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas) at age 36 to hone his skills in photography.
One of his goals after college was to photograph the Great Smoky Mountains and the Appalachian regions, but life intervened. Making a living stepped in the way of living out a dream. On July 5, 2013, Hill’s daughter, Candy passed away in her sleep from complications from COPD. She was only 39. The realization that we are not guaranteed tomorrow, next week, or next year prompted Hill to begin the journey of fulfilling his dream of producing a coffee table book covering the Appalachians.
“I decided to start with a smaller goal first, and began the compilation of the book
‘Mist On The Mountains, Southwest Virginia’ as my first goal.” Hill said. “From there we go on to the full southern Appalachians from the Mason-Dixon line to western North Carolina. After those projects are done, I’ll tackle the big one, The Great Smoky Mountains. We live in one of the most beautiful regions of this nation and it needs to be shared with the world.”
Hearing a story on the Today Show, he heard about Kickstarter.com and the concept of crowd funding. After a little research, the decision to use crowd funding to publish the books was made.
Crowd funding is a relatively new tool propagated by the internet. People choose to back a project and make pledges from $1 and up to fund the project. If a project is appealing to enough people, and they become sponsors, the project can be funded from their pledges. If a project fails to meet the funding goals, it dies and no money changes hands.
Mr. Hill began the campaign on Friday, July 25th, with the goal of $14000 to cover the cost of publishing “Mist on the Mountains, Southwest Virginia”. As of this writing, the project has achieved pledges equal to 8% of the goal in only 5 days. More help is needed to reach the final goal and Mr. Hill has asked the readers to check out his project and to make a pledge to make this book become a reality.
The project web address is:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1109020688/mist-on-the-mountains-southwest-virginia-coffee-ta
Milky Way over Bark Camp Lake
Shot last night!
I sent this out to every newspaper and TV station in our region. Let's see what kind of response I get.
Press Release
Clintwood Photographer to Publish Photo Book Depicting Southwest Virginia Landscapes and Landmarks
From an early age, j. Michael Hill has loved art in all forms. He’s made his career from art as a tattoo artist for nearly 4 decades. During that time, he has also been an avid photographer, even going back to college (Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas) at age 36 to hone his skills in photography.
One of his goals after college was to photograph the Great Smoky Mountains and the Appalachian regions, but life intervened. Making a living stepped in the way of living out a dream. On July 5, 2013, Hill’s daughter, Candy passed away in her sleep from complications from COPD. She was only 39. The realization that we are not guaranteed tomorrow, next week, or next year prompted Hill to begin the journey of fulfilling his dream of producing a coffee table book covering the Appalachians.
“I decided to start with a smaller goal first, and began the compilation of the book
‘Mist On The Mountains, Southwest Virginia’ as my first goal.” Hill said. “From there we go on to the full southern Appalachians from the Mason-Dixon line to western North Carolina. After those projects are done, I’ll tackle the big one, The Great Smoky Mountains. We live in one of the most beautiful regions of this nation and it needs to be shared with the world.”
Hearing a story on the Today Show, he heard about Kickstarter.com and the concept of crowd funding. After a little research, the decision to use crowd funding to publish the books was made.
Crowd funding is a relatively new tool propagated by the internet. People choose to back a project and make pledges from $1 and up to fund the project. If a project is appealing to enough people, and they become sponsors, the project can be funded from their pledges. If a project fails to meet the funding goals, it dies and no money changes hands.
Mr. Hill began the campaign on Friday, July 25th, with the goal of $14000 to cover the cost of publishing “Mist on the Mountains, Southwest Virginia”. As of this writing, the project has achieved pledges equal to 8% of the goal in only 5 days. More help is needed to reach the final goal and Mr. Hill has asked the readers to check out his project and to make a pledge to make this book become a reality.
The project web address is:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1109020688/mist-on-the-mountains-southwest-virginia-coffee-ta
Shot last night!
Friday, July 25, 2014
Mist On The Mountains, Southwest Virginia
It's official! The Kickstarter funding push has been launched! Here's the link.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1109020688/mist-on-the-mountains-southwest-virginia-coffee-ta
Be sure and make a pledge. Every little bit helps us reach our goal! Stay tuned for updates as the project progresses!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1109020688/mist-on-the-mountains-southwest-virginia-coffee-ta
Be sure and make a pledge. Every little bit helps us reach our goal! Stay tuned for updates as the project progresses!
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