Long time no see!
Well, I'm in my kind of "hiatus" moment, after so many weeks always in contact with people I kind of grew sick of humanity lol so I locked myself up in my apartment for like one week, man the first couple of days was OK, now it feels so boring.
What can I say, I started a new diet, I shot some nice pictures, I'm going to Tokyo in a month or so...oops! The original plan involved a three weeks vacation in LA California babe, and I was already planning everything and getting in touch with people and stuff, but then I thought, fuck that, let's see if Tokyo is a better option. And man, it was. So yep, a couple of weeks in the end, because I don't know if I have that much free time in May/June. Story of my life, nothing's sure until the very end, I'm loving it.
But still, in the corner of my mind I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, I can do some crazy move and go to LA as well, just before Tokyo.
I'm already thinking about what I'm gonna buy lol and I've already set the date for one of the shootings I'm planning to have there
this is actually the reason why I felt the urge to write a blog entry tonight (today?).
When I was sure I was about to go to LA I contacted a few photographers there to see if it was possible to organize something. Luckily all of them hit me back saying cool, it's OK, let's keep in touch. I did the same now that I've already planned my trip to Tokyo: one Japanese guy, one Norwegian guy who lives over there, and one Italian guy whose work I actually already know. His portfolio is quite outdated, I mean, same pictures since a few years ago, nothing too fancy. But anyway, I like his works and anyway his technique is quite good, and thought it might be fun to do something with an Italian guy in Tokyo, I mean, cool. OK, so the Japanese guy answers me first. This guy has an AMAZING portfolio, like, AMAZING. He's a professional, he owns his own studio and works together with his make up artist. Well, he says of course it would be cool, but we can't pay you, can you trade? I mean, OF COURSE, I would never ever contact someone first and then ask them to be paid, and by the way he's fucking good, I mean, what? We already set a date. I mean, in two months, we already have the date ready. Talking about professionalism. The Norwegian guy says cool let's shoot together love your photos! The Italian guy starts by he's so busy blahblah. Then he adds he only shoots with film so we should discuss about the costs and blahblah. I say oh well, I don't see this much enthusiasm, just forget about everything, bye! He answered me, I don't even wanna read his answer for I don't wanna get mad at how people think high of themselves.
The thing is. You can think I'm not at your level, which is fine. Just say it. Just say "I'm not interested", it's perfectly OK, I'm the first one to do the same, when I even bother answering mails I'm not interested it. You can even say "I'm sorry I'm not interested in trading with you, here's my rates", I mean, it's OK, I don't understand since I can't see such quality in your work, I mean, I don't think it's any better compared to the people I've already worked with, but OK, it's perfectly fine, your work, your time, your rules, I'll just decline politely. But if you start by "I'm so busy blahblah", implying that you're such a professional (if you're that great you don't need MM to get work, just saying) and then you talk about money, you're telling me you're not even interested in creating something for the sake of art, you just see photography as a way to make money off people who really enjoy it, and that sucks. And I'm sorry to say, this kind of attitude is typically Italian, I've never experienced anything like this with photographers from other countries, and hell, I've worked with some fucking badass professionals so far. I don't know why, here we have this idea that once we decide to do something, we automatically are good and expert and people should pay for our greatness.
No sweetheart, FIRST you learn how to produce a somehow accettable work, then you improve and reach a decent level, then up to nice, then good, then beautiful, then MAYBE you can call yourself a professional. I'm not talking about arts alone, I'm talking in general. Like, we don't even know the meaning of the word "humble".
I always try to be nice and I follow the golden rule "if you ain't got nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all", but one day I'd love to say straight to some motherfucker idiot "your work fucking sucks, you're a medriocre asshole and I don't even understand how is it possible that you can't see it with your own eyes, how on Earth for Christ's sake". I'd love to.
I've been thinking about it a lot today, I mean, maybe I'm old fashioned, but goddamnit I'd like to see some quality, you see. Some quality and some self-criticism, yeah, that would be nice also.
OF COURSE I'm NOT saying that guy's work lacks in good quality, I'd be a hypocrite, I just extended the thing from one extreme to the other.
On a lighter note (I mean, was this even a heavy one?), tomorrow I'm having lunch at this really good Japanese restaurant with my friend and can't wait!
Also, now that my brain's free I've got so many ideas I just can't wait for this stupid sun to come out at last to put them in the works
EDIT: another Japanese photographer (a girl, with a whole crew and all) just answered me saying she'd like to test
, lots of good energy, I needed that 
