Top Lab.Odd Mobile Phone Shop. Great Dentist.

Its not every day that in London you find a high end professional lab who will treat you like you are the only one in the shop.

If you EVER visit London or live in London but are looking for a great new lab -- this is the place:

Top Lab

Terry is absolutely fabo and Iris, yes... can you believe it... she works the digital production unit and is so approachable you feel like giving her a hug once the meeting is over.

Next - Carphone Warehouse. I can't decide if they are fabulous or a bunch of yoyos. Really. It's so inconsistant its not funny.
I just renewed my contract and got my new phone. I am not happy with it so thought I'd look at an upgrade. But this is a serious case of the right hand not speaking to the left hand. From the call centre to the high street shops, there have been about five different ways in which I can solve my return. From "sorry you are not elegible for that return" to " yes, let's see what we can do for you when you bring the phone into the shop... i think we can do something here for you".... I know that eventually I will connect with someone there who will genuinely know what they are doing and have the service to match, these people I hope CPW is propping up and grooming for better things. They are the glue holding CPW together. If anyone has a comment/ experience about CPW I would love to hear it.

Dentists. I know this is not about work, but I just have to acknowledge that my dentist is fabulous. He is the product of a second opinion - the first dentist wanted to do 3000.00 GBP worth of work and by the sounds of it great damage to my mouth. I went for a second opinion and my soon to be new dentist explained to me what aggressive surgery to the mouth can do, how the bone of ones teeth is not something to play with and he has this "let's act if and when" - in other words if it ain't broke, don't fix it". He also believes in the body's natural approach to healing. He's so common sense. Love it.

Death of a Salesman.

How honest can one be in business?
How personal can one be in business?

I seem to have these old ideas. I believe that business is this powerful engine generating new life or process between two parties and that the grease that makes this process operate successfully is honesty and fairness resulting in a respect. From this point onward, anything is then possible.

I know this sounds supremely idealistic, a bit utopian ... but its my nature. I believe in the good of mankind, and believing in this includes a belief in being personable and honest.

So how do you sell anything then?

The Affordable Art Fair

A mobile camera shot of the event. It was interesting to see how little photography there was in comparison to painting and sculpture, but what was very inspiring was how much photography was selling relatively speaking. Also it seemed the more simple, bold and graphically strong the image, the more sales it reached. One artist had sold 12 @ £1999.00 and that was only after the second day there. The image was a very simple landscape shot, of a tree in snow. To be honest, a lot of my students could execute such an image.

The thing about the Affordable Arts Fair is that its not about refined concepts and theory. Its simply aesthetic.

The INVITE

Its decided ... (to tell you the truth we were going to go ahead with this one anyway, but it was good to get the feedback so thank you!)

What sort of artist are you?

The idea came about having now attended Frieze and
The Affordable Art Fair.

Would you rather be an artist who sells only a single piece for £24,000.00 or a artist who sells the same piece twelve times for £2000.00 per sale?

I've seen both in the last two weeks. I find this a very difficult question to answer. I can only question if the single image has more chance of escalating the artist over time - to a potential Gursky earning 2.5 million US. The £2000.00 will never reach that sort of money market.

Three versions of our exhibition invite... comments please.

Our gallery show in November is rapidly approaching. I've completed the invites but am unsure as to which one to go with. Any comments on either of these four would be appreciated.

Turning around the day.

What a morning. I was in an insipid mood and feeling very, very angry. I was in conversation with a friend of mine who owns his own business in the tech sector and I was hearing how successful his business was, as it was growing faster and faster and bigger and bigger. I was angry because the tech world has a corporate affiliation, and with that comes automatically a heightened fee structure. It's simply automatic. The environment is cash rich and so any business aligning itself with it will share in that higher earning curve. It's that simple.

So in comparing work for work it was a no brainer. The destination of, say, a million pounds, to each of us has a different expectation life span. It's not as easy to earn that financial figure as a photographer who owns his own business as someone building a business around the mobile phone industry. Work for work, each may do the same amount, but the day to day service and need of the product/ service he offers is so much different than my industry. Mine, infact, feels like a bloody luxury in comparison.




This really bothered me. I was thinking about the opportunity I have of making my million and it seemed so much more difficult to earn than his. I wanted to escape all my efforts in photography and go in search of something more lucrative.

This is something that occurs from time to time. This feeling of vulnerability. There is this awkward tripping up of the rythmn, of the plan, because it seems that there is a better or easier way to make money than in photography. I don't like thinking this. It makes me fee like someone cheating on a lover.


I then went for my business "mot" or diagnostic by an advisor from Business Link. It was at first like being in a dentist's office. I was terribly uncmfortable. Even with a 40 page business plan in hand, I know that when it would come to financial figures I would be anxious. Its like feeling the pulse of one's body. Is it strong and confident? Or slippery? Weak? or a powerful, slow beat? The diagnosis lay ahead.

Financially the business has grown. This is good. Debt free. Good. But I have come to an impasse. As a solo practisioner I am looking at peaking my earning potential. I am not quite there yet, but there are signs of it. I am costing my business money by trying to do it all myself. The decision is to keep it a "lifestyle" business... or to push the definitions wider and create a company. Labour, money and expertise this will cost. Am I ready for it?


We talk about USP and market strengths and weaknesses, and then past performance with future speculative performance.

I discover... I was surprised to know this about myself... that I want a business mentor. Someone who can show me the next stage, the bigger stage. Someone who puts binoculars to my vision. This is VERY important to me right now.

Coming home and there is a letter from my agent. Sales to Life Magazine and Elle Decor and finally - a transit ad.

I am happy. Life Magazine. ----- 15 years ago it was I thought about it. Today, at the end of this exposure, it was needed.

19:00 hrs GMT

End of day. Well sort of. Have friend visiting from Vancouver so must head out and do the site seeing thing - to a local pub ya know. Gastro or traditional ? Ahhhhh.... Spoilt fer choice.

Business financials done. The business is growing. This is very good. And just got word from Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design ( One of my courses )that two more courses I pitched to them have been accepted and will run 2007 Summer Session. Keeping the titles under wraps just in case there are any spies out there.

So all day been excited about this blogging concept and how to best make use of it. Its going to be a diary of someone with a plan and in putting it "out there" through some sort of internet catharsis the universe will provide an answer or direction. That is really what I envision here. Who knows who comes along the way. For a ride. Short or long. Or just a rest stop. One key thing I have learned - the hard way I may add- is the importance of getting things out there into the universe. Being shy is a luxury one cannot afford - at least not I. The importance of the release is everything. Timing of course has its value too, but too many of us hang on by our bleeding knuckles.

If I were working in an office....

This is a difficult day. I have a meeting with a business advisor tomorrow and I am putting off what I hate most - building a financial model of my business. I worked all summer on a 40 page business plan and I thought that was enough. Now I have to build a financial model of my past performance. As much as I love business I find this part really taxing. Its the reality of your work habits and efforts. Its a false representation in some ways but also a very true representation in others.

Lockport in London

I have been in the UK - London - for five years . Originally from Lockport Manitoba, then Vancouver, BC I one day made the decision in my early 30's to leave a $50, 000 CAN per annum job and make my attempt at being an artist. The choice was to be in London, Paris or New York. New York would have been illegal as I do not have the the right papers to live there, Paris was the language, and so London, with my dual citizenship, was the most appropriate. So I got on a plane and began my new life.

I blame the book "Your Money or Your Life" for this. I read it in my mid 20's and never looked back. When I was 25(i'm 39 now) I asked myself the question - how would I approach life if I was retired? I thought - I would live it like I wanted to live it. I would give myself permission to try and do the things I wanted to do. Realising that this was something I was waiting for - and retirement was some time away - it seemed foolish to waste away so many years waiting for the age of permission. 65 or 25? What is the difference? I made the deal with myself then and there - in my apartment at 25 years old, that retirement began then. I would economise, and do everything possible to pursue what I wished to do. TIme was my new value, not money, and that I would trust life would have all the answers for me. I have been "retired" now for 15 years almost and loving every day of it.

This blog is long overdue. I hope it can be a window for anyone wanting to follow a passion but afraid to do so. Its my attempt at writing a book from the trenches. The victory has not yet been made and books are usually written when an end has occured. Either victory or defeat, it matters not, but an end nonetheless. A report from the trenches is where blogging serves its purpose. So here it will be that I speak from.