Support my Creative Endeavors
I will be going to college full-time, while working on several creative projects to include: book writing, photography, gallery exhibitions, and blogging. And I need your help.
I am asking the regular readers and followers of my writing and photography to consider becoming one of my lovely patrons by contributing moderate sums of money to help me continue to blog, pursue photography, and grow in my art.
Why ask for contributions?
It is difficult making a living as a full-time artist, especially one that is pursuing college on top of everything else. I have several choices, many of them leading to my working two to three jobs in order to put me through school and not being an artist. However, I did not leave the Marine Corps just to work several dead-end jobs and stop my creative work.
When it was time for me to re-enlist, I had to make a set of hard choices. The money offered for me to stay was really good. I was offered $82,000 as a re-enlistment bonus on top of a good job that pays extra money. In return, I will have to severely curtail my creative endeavors. My photography would have stopped and my writing and participation in the world would have been reduced to the point of non-existence.
Once I realized that I was unwilling to make that choice, I made the decision to leave the Marine Corps.
What are my plans?
School, first and foremost. Why? 12 years of teaching myself web design, typography, layout, composition, and photography has its limits. There are things that I can learn that others are able teach me to further my art. And not just continuing to do the same things, but also expanding into other mediums. All aspects of design and art and photography. Upwards and outwards, as a friend would always say about me, is my trajectory.
My learning, my experiencing, and my being exposed to all aspects of photography and writing and other mediums will only help me. If indeed I have a talent in photography or writing, I want to see how far I can take it.
What are my monetary goals?
The goal is to raise enough in contributions to get me by until my Post-9/11 GI Bill kicks in. Getting out of the service in the middle of one of the worst recessions in recent history is probably a stupid, stupid, stupid decision on my part. But I am hoping that you will not hold that against me.
I am hoping that this works. I am hoping that you gain enough of a value in what I do, from my photography and my writing, as well as my various activities and experiments online (all free and licensed under the freest Creative Commons license available) to want to become one of my patrons.
If you want to become one of my patrons, I have a contribution gateway through PayPal. And if you want, I will list you in a very prominent patrons list. Just send me an email and I will put your name up there.
If you rather get something tangible in return, that is fine! I sell bracelets and prints of my photography.
Thank you so much for everything. And I especially want to thank Jason Kottke, whose post “Doing kottke.org as a full-time job” inspired me to start this patronship program.
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- Kelsey
Feb 11 2010Your set up of this has been the inspiration for me to seek funding for The Mongolian Project, just so you know. ;)
I think it’s really great that you’re seeking patronage. I think that a lot of artists underestimate the value of their work and feel bad asking for money to help support their artistic pursuits. I sincerely believe that if more artists asked for support, more would be given.