2009 was a good year. I no longer have cube-farm fear. That anxiety of returning to a dull copymachine landscape as a coldcalling insurance salesman. No. I managed to strike that fuzzy deal between Art and Commerce. The kind of deal that keeps a few beers in the fridge while still managing to feel your heart strings pulled when seeing work in print. But 2010 is going to be different. I want more than just to stay afloat as a creative. I want to craft work that is absolutely amazing. Perhaps I spent too much time over the holidays on that fat hot beach boulder, dreaming.

I have over 4000 reference images on my Mac desktop in a folder called ‘Inspiration’. Collected ruthlessly over the years, it stores images from blogs, tears from magazines, things I’ll pulled from FFFFound. Out of these 4000 images, I’ve reduced it to 300 important references that cover the styling, treatment and photo-messages that I really love. From my over-abused sketch books, I’ve taken three or four ideas that are the most compelling. It was a tough job scanning through the most beautiful talent of Cape Town’s seven best modeling agencies. But some poor guy had to do it. I’ve found 12 models that will make your mouth water, no matter what your orientation. And on my travels around the Cape over the last few months, I’ve been constantly on the lookout for interesting locations. All these refferences were carefully scanned, considered, shifted, matched and digested.

My masterplan is simple. By the end of 2010 I want to have 20 images that are like nothing else coming out of Cape Town. 20 images doesn’t sound like a lot. But I’m sitting with a PDF of 10 Big Productions on my hands. I only want to use 2 final images per shoot. Each shoot is a completely different imaginative and intricate mix of people, poses, colors, wardrobes, locations, make-up, props, cars, flowers, light-shaping tools, reflectors, wind-generators, smoke machines, c-stands, battery changes and permits. Imaginative concepts have very practical implications. The skill in being a great photographer is fast becoming a skill in being a great producer, organizer, project manager, director, negotiator.

Production started this morning with a very successful meeting with model Donnet Dumas, who I’m working with on my first shoot. Over the next few days I have various meetings with agencies, models, and other artists to get them on board. Watch this space.