Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be doing a tour of theatres. Not once. I mean I guess I’ve always had a touch of the old “extrovert performer” thing going on, but always as a singer, never as a speaker. Booking theatres to do a solo show speaking about my business and my photography just seems so surreal.
When I started taking these photos I didn’t know what to do with them. To be honest, as much as I enjoyed the challenge I was pretty embarrassed about the whole thing. It felt like a strange thing to do, even to me. I didn’t know how to explain it to anyone, but the satisfaction of seeing another crazy photo come together after the building process, the tricky photography and the animal handling had all blurred together was enough to offset the discomfort of doing something that nobody else was doing. It took a long time and a lot of encouragement from some very supportive people to give me the confidence to put it online in the first place, but that all seems so long ago now! It’s only been two years.
Within two short years I’ve gone from being reluctant to show anyone my photography to touring the country to display it on big projector screens! And STILL this wasn’t where I thought this was all going!
When I first went online I thought that such a unique approach to two things that already have supporters would be a huge success. I thought toy photography enthusiasts would appreciate my builds, my creativity, my lighting and my stubborn insistence on using single shots, instead of photoshopping layers together to create great, but somehow fake, images. I thought macro enthusiasts would love the unique approach to photographing critters, showcasing them; highlighting them, through such a contrasting backdrop and my careful and considerate collaborating with these wild creatures. And while I have had supporters from both sides I wouldn’t say I made it big in either camp. The two audiences I thought I was sure to win over have proven harder to capture than any other. Blending styles together offends purists in both camps.
As I’ve explored ways to share my imagery and develop a name for myself I’ve also developed an increased awareness of what I can achieve with my work. I’ve been a tour guide and environmental educator for some time now and these photos have become an entirely new avenue into environmental education. The images are interesting and engaging enough to use on their own, without the disruption of actual wildlife present, and they offer a way to customise explorations into deeper concepts like symbiosis, mutualism, mimicry, human influence over environment, conservation, and all sorts of other stuff. Kids GET IT. I’ve now delivered presentations to 4 year olds and 60 year olds and all sorts in between and what I’ve found is that this works at every level. There’s only one catch:
THERE’S NO DEMAND FOR A THING THIS NEW.
None of what Gone Buggo is capable of is immediately obvious. There is no pre-existing framework for something like this, so nobody looks at my work and thinks “I can see why this would benefit me”. Some people see toy photos and believe that couldn’t matter, some people see bug photos and think they hate bugs, NOBODY sees a groundbreaking educational offering that could revolutionize the way we think about the little lives around us. Even people who have followed me since the start; supported me the whole time, have no idea why I’m doing this or what it’s worth until they’ve listened to me speak about it.
After I’ve talked about the photos every audience so far has been engaged, curious, fascinated by the little things around them. I get messages about people spending more time in their gardens, I get sent photos of bugs asking for ID’s, I get people confessing guiltily when they kill a cockroach (which was never my intention: we don’t like them in our house either!), and Gone Buggo becomes a little part of their life.
The problem isn’t in the value of the business, it’s in explaining the value in the first place. How do you speak to someone who assumes you have nothing to say?
So here we are now: touring the country with a show that explains the photography, the philosophy, the mission, and the business, in the hopes that people will give me a chance to show them that I’m not a toy photographer or a wildlife photographer, I’m an environmental educator who happens to photograph animals on toys, and I’m here to make your world a LOT more interesting.
Curious? Well Let Me Explain…
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