Caroline: We should hang out more, it was really fun.

Had a few cool links to check out this morning, click the photo to go to the link. I found out via NPAC’s twitter account that a Q&A with me had been posted to the website’s front page. Also, I got an email saying that my video on my project in Rwanda had made it onto globeandmail.com

At 5 o’clock Wednesday my New Year’s Eve plans were to lay low, have a few celebratory beverages, and continue to nurse a nagging cold that had been bugging me for days. I called up Tristan and asked him his plans, he stated he was thinking of taking a train out of town for some of his time off, something that I immediately realized would be a great adventure. After a couple of phone calls, and some hurried packing, we picked up Victoria and were cruising south on a road trip. No better way to ring in the New Year.

So here is the my own personal forecast for myself in 2009: More Adventure.
Pike Place Market - Seattle Five seconds after NYE marriage proposal - Seattle Astoria Bridge (Over Four Miles Long) - Astoria, OregonFoggy Woods - North Plains, OregonRoad - Lewis and Clark State Park, WashingtonBurnt Paper - Cannon Beach, OregonDog Walker - Cannon Beach, OregonSmall Dog vs. RC Car - Cannon Beach, OregonVictoria & Tristan - Cannon Beach, OregonMan & Dog - Cannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonOcean Ave. - Cannon Beach, OregonTristan - Cannon Beach, Oregon

And here is the great video Tristan did on our trip:

In 2008 I:Started off my year on The Big Island of Hawaii photographing the Paniolo Cowboys. More photos are on my website.Photographed this Buddhist Nun drinking tea during a freak March snow-storm in Richmond.Photographed this feature on the first day of Spring in Steveston.  These girls were on spring break and go to the school my cousin teaches at.Started a personal project using my Hasselblad to photograph the hands of inspiring people, which I will be continuing in 2009.Climbed a tree with some friends.Road my motorcycle. LOTS.Photographed a bunch of weddings, which I really enjoyed and made a lot of pictures I really liked, this being one of them.Hiked the Chief in Squamish 3+ times. One of my favourite spots around, some of the best days of the yearQuit my staff job and traveled to Rwanda, land of a thousand hills, to teach photography to youth in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.Photographed some very interesting people in foreign countries.Taught photography to some amazing kids in Rwanda.. Went to DR Congo, saw and heard the testimony of rape victims in North Kivu, still can’t understand how human beings can do this to one another. Went to the Eddie Adams Workshop, met some great people and learned a lot.

There is a lot more, but I seem to have run out of time. An update to this post will come soon.

Scrabble with Angie at Locus on Main Street. I lost miserably.  It was still great.

Merry Christmas!  Hope your holiday was filled with good times and lots of turkey. The snow is piled up here, like most places, but is melting away now that we are back to rain.

Thursday night was an overwhelming success, lots of money was raised (I am still tallying the exact figure as I have some prints to drop off and some money to collect) and I think everyone had a good time.  It was a bit nerve-racking to be sitting at the empty space at 6 o’clock after hanging all the prints on the wall.  What if no-one comes? The thought had run through my head.  But turning around at about 8 o’clock when I briefly talked about the project, the room was absolutely packed and I felt really great.  It was a blast to see everyone and meet new people.  Here are some photos my buddy Tristan Casey took after I handed him my camera early in the night, I was too busy talking to everyone to do picture-taking duties as well.  I really want to thank everyone who came out, I will be delivering your framed prints very soon, and to anyone that wants to order a print please email ASAP and I can organize getting them printed.  Email: brettbeadle@gmail.com

Last but not least, thanks has to go out to Cynthia Leong, who catered the event (great food!) Bob Fierant from Grolsh, and especially
Erin Slobogian, events co-coordinator at Chapel Arts, who also printed the photos and volunteered to tend bar at the event.

I don’t normally do long, drawn out posts but it has been a big topic of discussion amongst friends and other these days, and I guess, as a generalization, the question that seems to keep coming up is “How do I find success?”

I don’t the answer to this question, but I think through some of the reading of blogs lately, as well as the book I am currently reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” I found some great insight.  The quality of what you do always has to be the best it possibly can.  Some people get lucky and have doors opened for them, call it being in the “right place at the right time” or what have you.  But if you are undeniably good, over a matter of time, those doors will present themselves.

Here are some quotes I lifted from Chase Jarvis’s blog:

1. Be Undeniably Good. Last year, in an interview with Charlie Rose, the famous comedian Steve Martin gave this advice to anyone trying to make it in any field:

Be undeniably good. When people ask me how do you make it in show business or whatever, what I always tell them and nobody ever takes note of it ‘cuz it’s not the answer they wanted to hear — what they want to hear is here’s how you get an agent, here’s how you write a script, here’s how you do this — but I always say, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” If somebody’s thinking, “How can I be really good?”, people are going to come to you. It’s much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties.

2. Dedicate at least 10,000 hours to whatever it is you’re looking to master. In his enlightening talk at the 2008 AIGA Business Design Conference, about innovation and misconceptions regarding what it takes to become a success, Gladwell discussed this concept from his new book Outliers: The Story of Success. “Genius and creativity don’t necessarily spring forth unbidden, they require time and support to experiment, try and even fail.” I found his talk really entertaining, and I’d imagine you might too.

What’s fun about photography, of course, is that anyone can pick up a camera these days and make great pictures, straight outta the gate. No brainer, really accessible, relatively little effort, nice pictures. I love that about photography - it’s why everyone has a camera these days. The technology is really wonderful.

But, if you want to “make it”, whatever that means, I think you need to start by being undeniably good. And if you can’t intuit how to be undeniably good, then start by dedicating 10,000 hours to it. That will get you where you want to be.

Obviously, for me, I interpret this into my work as a photographer.  But it can relate to anything. To anyone.

I love this quote from Tim Gruber’s blog as well:

“Any douche with a camera can shoot a technically sound photograph. Technique and technology are no substitute for passion. A technically sound photo lacks two of the most ingredients in making a great photo; your eye and heart.”

and this one, which he lifted from Seth Godin’s blog:

“Some bosses don’t want to hire people who have a vision, a personality and a shtick. That’s okay. You don’t want to work for them anyway.”

In summary, at least I think, success comes to those who excel in their craft, who spend an massive amount of time developing their craft, and who stay true to their own personal vision.

If you are in Vancouver, please consider coming out to the photography exhibition of the kids I taught in Rwanda. They did some great work, and it will be a great evening. It has been a lot of work to organize and set up as these things always are but I am really looking forward to seeing everyone out there.
-Brett.

I went out on November 28th to photography a protest of a protest on Commerical Drive in Vancouver. The Westboro Baptist Church http://www.godhatesfags.com had said publicly they were coming to protest a production of The Laramie Project at the Havana Theatre on Commercial.  The production is based on the story of Matthew Wayne Shepard, a gay university student who was brutally attacked near Laramie, Wyoming in October 1998 and left for dead by his attackers.

Hundreds of people came out to protest the hate-filled message of the Westboro Baptist Churh despite the cold and rain to listen to live music, sing, dance, and speeches from local MLA’s and others. The Westboro group never came, word was they didn’t make it through at the border, but nonetheless and despite the weather, the night ended up being a warm and beautiful evening with a great feeling of togetherness. For a great documentary about the Westboro crew, I recommend seeing Louis Theroux’s “Most Hated Family in America”

Also, I think I am going to start shooting a lot more on my Hasselblad for my personal work. I really enjoy working in the square format, I find it really frees your mind up to just try to take pictures and compositionally pictures seem to just “come together” better. Also, that sharpness and the look of film just can’t be recreated on my digital.