Rasmus Rasmussen dot com » Miscellaneous

The Fork in the Road

Rasmus — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:48:58 +0000

I’m at a fork in the road. Truthfully, I’ve been standing here a while, for several months in fact. One direction is lit up in bright neon. Down this road lies ambition, dreams and risk alike. The other is murkier, but I can sort of make out an alarm clock and getting old before my time. All my life, I have wanted to create and build things, from songs and photographs to a self-sustaining business. Creating jobs for other people is high on my wish list too. You’d think choosing a path would be easy, but it turns out, it’s not.

Creatively, I have reached the point where I really should hire a part time assistant, because my projects get more and more complex, as my ambition grows. Which is great, and the way it should go. Another Passion is the best example. What started as a side project grew into a priority, and instead of a one-man creativity blog, I wanted to build an Arts & Culture site with multiple contributors and high quality content, as well as a framework through which other, original projects could take root. And all of that is happening, slowly but surely. It’s pretty awesome.

But. Other things have made me reconsider many a plan and ambition. Most importantly Kelly’s cancer, the treatments and the toll all of that has taken on our household. A situation that makes life difficult, even if you’re not trying to make your own way and build a business. It’s made me realize, that if I really want to go down the neon lit path of risk and possible wonder, I need a better plan – and help.

Of course, while I’m busy working on said plan, Life keeps happening.

Kelly is not out of the woods yet, which means I still have to focus on supporting her more than anything. It’s not a chore or a duty, it’s a privilege, but it does drain a lot of energy of both the physical and emotional variety. I channel most of what I have left into Another Passion. And when there is nothing left at all, I hop on Minecraft and take a mental vacation.

On tough days, you might find me here in the Clearview Lounge, hanging in the bar or at the jukebox.

While standing at this fork in the road, I have been living off of my savings – leftovers from selling my apartment last year. There is still a little left, but not enough for another year of living like this. So I need to get that plan done, get my ducks in a row and buckle up (and whatever other clichés you can fit in) – or dial it all back and focus on work that pays me, instead of being paid for by me. But I’m not quite ready for that.

The one good thing I have to say about cancer, is that it puts everything in perspective. There’s a lot of little stuff I don’t sweat anymore, and I appreciate the good people in my life more than ever. Even on the tough days. For that very reason, I still want to build and create, and I still want to create jobs instead of just taking one.

These are interesting, and scary times.

A Nerd Comes Home

Rasmus — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:44:16 +0000

I am a nerd. I always have been, from my early memories of playing with Star Wars toys in the late 70s and graduating to Dungeons & Dragons, video games and comics in the 80s. Then the 90s, where I was deeply involved in the Danish gaming community, writing for a magazine, active on the con scene and even getting paid to game with kids! However, that was also the time I started feeling the pressure to “get a life” and “grow up”.

I spent the late 90s and a good part of the 2000s looking for a new identity. It’s clear to me now, but back then it was just life. I had wanted to be a writer, a photographer, a filmmaker and tell stories for a living, but that did not seem to fit with the rest of the world (as in: paying my rent). So I adapted, got a haircut and a “real” job in IT. It was vaguely creative, and I even made pretty good money for a while, but I also felt the joy of life getting sucked out of me.

In 2001 my mystery novel "Det perfekte offer" (the perfect victim) was published in Denmark. I was one proud nerd.

I still played the occasional game with friends, but that was about it. The urge to tell stories was satisfied by writing novels and song lyrics, I even got published and played on the radio – but I had given up on making any of that into an actual job. It’s easy to say, that I should have pushed through and stuck to my guns, but I didn’t have the self confidence to do so. Maybe I was just too young and inexperienced.

I found photography as a way to tell my stories and make some cash, but I still supplemented my income as a bartender for the first couple of years. My nerdier interests remained firmly planted in the back seat.

Eventually, I started running into people with similar backgrounds, but who had stuck to their nerdy interests in their professional lives. Some had become established authors, others were designing story-based team building events. The range was larger than I had imagined, and that inspired me.

Since 2009, I have made a conscious effort to reawaken my inner nerd, and I truly believe it’s the best thing I have done for myself in years. Luckily, I have a wife who is also a nerd at heart, and who supports me completely.

I started a fresh gaming group, playing D&D for the first time in more than a decade. Even though the campaign died out, it got me back to writing game material — I wrote maybe 150 pages of notes for that campaign, some of which was put online. And it felt right. It felt good. It felt like home.

So for me personally, I am naming 2012 as the Year of the Nerd. I will be working on as many nerdy projects as I can, and for the first time since the 90s, I will be attending (at least 2) conventions this year. I’m even a panelist at one of them. So here’s to you, my fellow nerds. And thank you for the inspiration.

The Year of Good People

Rasmus — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:19:57 +0000

2011 will never be my favorite year, but if there is one recurring theme that is good, it’s the people.

A year ago I was back in Denmark for the first time in half a decade to experience one last Christmas with my mother. My mother had aggressive Cancer and died on the following Mother’s Day. This is the experience to which all other experiences of 2011 are compared, at least in terms of personal impact. If you have lost a loved one, I don’t need to say more. If you haven’t, then good for you.

It was the toughest year of my life, so far. After my mother passed away, my wife got hit with Cancer. Major surgery was followed by radiation treatments. The last of which will be over just before new years eve. My mother was going through treatments a year ago, but it wasn’t enough for her. In Kelly’s case, they caught the Cancer early. Things are hopeful, as well as painful.

I have spent a lot of time being a caregiver this year. It continues to be my most important job, until Kelly is well. It’s rewarding because I get to take care of someone who is extremely important to me. And sometimes it is incredibly hard for that very same reason. But life is not all bad.

When the stress of medical bills started piling up alongside the health related anxiety, two friends we have never even met started a benefit drive, and in less than 24 hours the bills were taken care of. Elizabeth and Ryan, I cannot thank you enough for what you did, and the same goes for the hundreds of people who showed their support.

My personal project – Another Passion – started out strong and took a back seat when Kelly’s health went down hill, but not before Lily had signed on as the first regular contributor. He work has been crucial and kept me at least a tiny bit responsible and on task.

Two comedians, Paul and Storm, have provided more awesomesauce in 2011 than they are probably aware of. Twice, they let me come take pictures of them performing. They even made me part of the show. You know you’ve had a bad year, when one of the highlights is tripping over a hole in the stage floor, interrupting Wil Wheaton mid story in front of a packed venue of laughing nerds. I had a blast that night. And at the other Paul and Storm gig, I took pictures of Hank Green – who liked them so much, he put several in his new album, Ellen Hardcastle.

Good people have carried me through 2011, and no one more so than Kelly. In spite of her own ordeal, she has remained loving and supporting of everything I do – no matter how scattered my efforts or lacking my follow-through. I am lucky to have met her, and I treasure every day we have together. She is amazing.

Looking back at the year 2011, I feel blessed by having met, worked and played with many kind, inspiring people. Many, many more than I could ever name in a blog post. I also feel closer to my wife than ever before. So I guess, even the awfulness that is Cancer is not without a bright side. That said, I will be glad to see it gone.

Here’s to a healthier, happier 2012 for all!

Holiday Wishes 2011

Rasmus — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:10:43 +0000

I’m not a big Christmas person. I like the food, spending time with loved ones and the spirit of the season, but by the time we get around to it, I’m usually just waiting for the jingle bells to stop and Santa to go back on vacation. I hope this doesn’t automatically classify me as Naughty.

2011 has been a stressful year for me to say the least. More precisely, I would call it my least favorite of the 35 years I have been alive. Marred by death and disease, dealing with Life became the main and often only focus point. I never got the traction I was hoping for to push Another Passion as far as it deserves.

When Christmas rolls around this year, my wife will be nearly done with her radiation treatments. That’s what I am looking forward to the most, not just because of her being Cancer free and finished with treatment, but because it also symbolizes that we’re finally heading for a fresh start and better times.

If I am allowed to wish for more than that, it would be for a busy 2012. I have so many things I would like to do, in terms of growing Another Passion, but also various other projects – from apps to video, photo shoots to writing – but I need the resources to get it all done; time and money both!

I can only do so much as a single individual and having had my own life turned upside down in recent months, it has become clear that help is needed to keep up productivity when Life throws you a curveball. So I’m wishing for an assistant and/or an intern to help out! I would have taken on an intern already, if I weren’t working out of my home with a sick wife and two insane cats.

Wonderfully unexpected and possibly best thing about 2011 for me, has been the outpour of support from friends, acquaintances and strangers all. The community support during the hardest weeks around Kelly’s surgery was absolutely amazing – and continues to help both her and I through dealing with healing, hospitals and everything in between. From notes and emails to flowers and cards, everyone who has reached out, has touched us.

If I may have one final wish this holiday, it will be for my fellow creative and artistic friends to have an inspired, productive and successful 2012.

Life, Business and Bad News

Rasmus — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:13:30 +0000

In the last few weeks it seems my world has gotten smaller in almost every sense. It started when my wife’s health took a hit and she was diagnosed with not one, but two serious conditions, one of which was cancer. This kind of news will make everything else seem unimportant, all of a sudden. The fact that I lost my mom to cancer in May is probably not helping any.

The good news is that they caught it super early, and that the doctors are expecting a full recovery from the cancer part. There’s still the other issue of course, which will require surgery and several weeks of recovery. The ugly kind, where they give you hardcore meds just to deal with it. Right now, we are both mentally and physically preparing for what’s ahead.

Since we are both independent businesses owners, this situation has another effect on us – neither one is working much, while the bills keep piling up. This is added stress that we really don’t need. We are not on the brink of starvation or anything like that, but we are definitely feeling the crunch. Which is what led me to write this post.

If you are a freelancer or a one-man band, do yourself this favor: cover your bases in case of an emergency. Get health insurance. Let me repeat that. Get. Health. Insurance. As an independent, insurance is expensive and if you’re bootstrapping it is easy to tell yourself you’ll add it later. Don’t. Bite the bullet and pay the man. Cancer doesn’t wait until you’re ready.

You’ll want a support network. We have had daily messages from friends and family, checking in and offering help and encouragement. This support is crucial, especially if you’d like to try and stay positive.

Anybody working for themselves will be used to being immersed in the work, and powering through to get the job done. You may even enjoy it. But when illness hits the household, that is taken away. Focus shifts, and staying on top of business quickly fades into the background. It has to. If you can, put a little aside for a rainy day. You might even look into getting a backup in place, if you have clients who need regular pampering or can’t be rescheduled.

Whatever you do, don’t just sit there thinking it will happen to someone else. It’s not a gamble worth taking.

Pleased to Please, Mostly

Rasmus — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:24:19 +0000

Warning: This post is as fragmented as many of my thoughts lately. That has roots in an ongoing family crisis – my mother is very ill from cancer. It’s the kind of thing that tends to fill the head with all manner of thoughts, most of which are pretty distracting to put it mildly. It also brings with it its own insight and inspiration, and the following statement popped into my head this morning.

I like to please.

I think most people do, really. Certainly us creative types who spend our time making things for others to enjoy or use later. Unless we’re seeking a different and specific response like shock or outrage, pleasing people is pretty much the default.

I’ve been thinking a lot about video lately, because it’s fun and offers an awesome way to combine words, visuals and music. My three favorites! But I also have a tendency to want to do too much, mainly with editing and B-roll which can take forever. I have to remind myself that 99.9% of the people that are going to watch it will only watch it once. And I’ll be lucky if they watch it all the way to the end – so at some point I have to call it good enough, or accept that the time I am spending is really to placate my own anal retentiveness.

I haven’t shot a ton of actual video, mind you. I’ve been watching, reading and learning, and shot mainly little clips for myself. At some point I decided – for no apparent reason – to write a 30 page script. I’m about 18 pages in, and I still don’t know what compelled me to begin. Other than a lingering want to try. It’s not like I’m dying to tell this particular story or make a short film.

Pleasing the audience vs. myself (yes, I just said that – and no, not in that way) is a fine line. Go too far in either direction and the result loses power and appeal. That’s not what I’m aiming for, though I am definitely guilty of having been both too self-centered and too eager to please from time to time. No one is perfect, right?

As an artist I want to stay true to myself, tell my own stories and share my crazy, stupid and occasionally insightful ideas. Sometimes the message outweighs the need to please, sometimes I have only myself in mind when I create something, and the decision to share it comes later. Not everything should be shared either, but that’s a tangent I’ll save for another time. I do think that any creative person who claims to never take the audience/recipient into consideration, is either being pretentious or an idiot.

Change Is Here (with a Song)

Rasmus — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:20:00 +0000

You may notice that things look a little different on the site (unless you’re reading this in a reader). I’ve ditched my old theme and a over 75% of the content. Don’t say I didn’t warn you this was happening.

This is part of my quest to reclaim the site that carries my name and make it once again represent the person I am, what I do, stand for etc. So why take the old content down? Because it feels like a misrepresentation of the above stated. To me, at least. Much of the most popular content is still available in the Microstock Photographer’s Guide, which continues to get a lot of traffic and so deserves to stay online.

So to end this post on a positive note looking towards the future, here’s a video I put together out of iPhone snapshots. It’s set to the song “All In All” by yours truly.

Change Is Coming

Rasmus — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:46:31 +0000

I haven’t updated this blog in ages. Not because I haven’t had anything to say, but because I haven’t felt like this was the right place to say it. As I have grown and evolved as an artist, shooting stock photography has become less important to me – and writing about it even less so.

Writing has always been my first passion, but after my debut novel was published in 2001, I realized doing it for a living would be near impossible. At the time, my day job was in IT and though my title was designer and project manager, I spent some time coding and scripting too. Fast forward a decade and I am writing a ton of different stuff (from D&D adventures to screenplays) and I’ve taken the first steps into iOS development. Not surprisingly, my first app – WriMuse – is made for writers.

I love photography and shoot a ton. But I don’t really feel like writing specifically about that anymore. I have no ambition of becoming a photographer’s photographer like my friends Jack Hollingsworth or Rob Sylvan. They rock at what they do, but my passion lies elsewhere.

If you have been reading this blog and have learned or found inspiration from my words, I wholeheartedly thank you. Those who have left comments, sent me notes of encouragement and support, or purchased a copy of the Expanded Microstock Guide – you are the reason I kept at it this long. But the time is nigh for the site that bears my name to also reflect the person I have become.

So what lies ahead? I am still debating the details. Part of me is tempted to do a complete reboot, start from scratch with a blank slate. Another part of me wants to turn this place into something other than a blog, but I have yet to decide. Will I ever write about photography again? Of course. It’s a huge part of who I am. What about microstock? Probably not as much, but from time to time, maybe.

I do have a little something on the way for the microstock photographers out there. Stay tuned.

What I am doing right now, is concentrating on developing Another Passion. My blog about art, creativity and passion-driven lifestyles is so much fun to produce, that even though it is actually costing me more than it brings in, it has become what I enjoy doing the most. It combines writing and photography with meeting some very talented and inspiring people. Another Passion is also syndicated by Fox/Tribune Media via the Seattle area blog portal, Puget Hound. This has opened up a unique possibility for me to help get more artists and creative professionals seen by a broader audience – which is nothing short of awesome.

Next week, I am scheduled to appear on Q13 Fox News in the morning alongside local author Sean Beaudoin. I’m super excited and thrilled to help get Sean some publicity for his book — it’s called You Killed Wesley Payne, by the way. Check it out. This kind of work is mostly voluntary, but gives me great personal satisfaction.

The future is unknown, but for one thing: change is coming.

The Man of Steel

Rasmus — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:31:53 +0000

This is about the absolutely greatest influence on my life, as a person and an artist. Though we do completely different things, this guy taught me many of the fundamentals of what it means to live for your art. For good and bad. The man I’m talking about is my father.

Gert Rasmussen is his name, and these days he works mainly as a blacksmith, using his long time artist name Grasart. It’s a return to the roots for him. As a teenager, he was a blacksmith’s apprentice for a while, before being lured away by working with glass, painting, sculpting with clay and porcelain and working with precious stones and metals. You might say he has come full circle. You might say he has come home.

I love my father’s work. Not because it was made by my him, but because it’s unique and wonderful. He can take something as hard and cold as steel, and turn it into organic and charming shapes. He gives it life through endless hours of heating, hammering and bending. I am truly amazed by his vision and skill.

Like so many other artists, Gert has suffered a life-long battle with self promotion and sales. He is a social and likable guy, but he is too nice and tends to sell himself short. Sometimes to the point of actually causing himself financial loss by giving away or underselling his own work. So, after decades of watching this happen, I finally stepped in and decided to help the old man out.

This is my plan: to promote and talk about his art in the hope that more people will see it. I have confidence in the quality and talent and would like nothing more than to earn my dad some well deserved buzz. Preferably some money too, so he can finally upgrade his tools and stop living on the edge of financial ruin.

So, please allow me to introduce the greatest artistic influence of my life. Please take a minute to look at some of his work, and if you like what you see, help me spread the word about it. And if you really like it, consider investing in one of his handcrafted, one of a kind pieces of art.

For more, please visit the GrasArt – Gert Rasmussen page on Facebook. Photo of the candle holders by Kelly Cline.

Kill the Jack of All Trades

Rasmus — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:38:13 +0000

Jack of all trades, king of none. I hate that saying because I used to believe it, and it was a curse on my self-perception for years. I seriously thought, that because I love writing, making music, taking pictures and pretty much anything else that involves creative thinking, and am completely incapable of limiting myself to one, that I was doomed to fail in all of them. Now, I declare war on this antiquated saying and way of thinking.

The saying implies that you have to specialize in something, or you will never find your full potential. It’s the hidden threat and slight air of superiority that appeals to my never-sleeping inner rebel. Who says you have to even think in terms of kings and jacks? I think that’s too limited, to be honest. If you really want to go with the playing card metaphor, why not go for being an ace? Or a joker? Or how about a whole hand – like a royal flush?

Being creative, no matter your field, is all about breaking down barriers, mixing up elements of the world around us and creating something new from it. If you’re good, you can capture people’s imagination with the result of your work. If you’re lucky, you might even invent something completely new. Leonardo da Vinci is arguably one of the greatest artists in history. He was also a noted inventor and scientist. No single card could possibly represent his work, and why should you and I be any different?

You might simply compare the Jack of All Trades label to that of finding a niche. A niche is a specialty. Mine, in the case of photography, is a certain type of portrait. It’s easier to get commercial success if you have a niche, that is no secret, but does that mean that you should limit yourself to that niche only and become its king? I think not. I think that if you do limit yourself like that, you will either burn out or become a one-trick pony. Like a band pumping out albums that all sound the same, even if they’re well played, written and produced. I’m sure you can think of plenty of examples. Instead, I suggest we all have many niches; maybe even one for everything we love to do.

In the age of social media and self-branding, if I was forced to choose, I’d rather be a jack of all trades than a king of one. Just like the saying implies that the jack will never be as good at that one thing as the king is, the reverse is also true: The king has a limited perspective and is bound to become more narrow-minded. However, I argue that the entire metaphor is outdated, and suggest that we outright kill the jack as well as his king. If you, like me, find that you are a set of jack, queen, king and ace on some days, and a mismatched five, two, eight and seven on others; invent your own game where all the cards are equally important. Solitaire, anyone?

I constantly look for ways to make a buck off of combining my many passions. Every time I succeed, I have discovered something uniquely mine and very fulfilling, and why shouldn’t we all do this as many times in our lives as possible? Trying to become a ‘king’ of only one field might build a better retirement fund, but I’d rather work hard till I drop than be a retiree who never explored life’s possibilities. The way I look at it, jacks and kings are all fine, but if life is a deck of cards, then it has 50 more facets, none of which should be easily discarded.

This post was inspired by a 3-year old kvetch of mine, Michael Nobbs’ recent post on a similar note, and the post by Seth Godin that inspired him.

Death to the jack and his king cohort, the world will be a better place to create in without them.

Rasmus Rasmussen dot com » Miscellaneous

The Fork in the Road

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