It's not a book

Web sites concern me and this includes my own at www.bobkillen.com.

That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate and love the talented ladies who created it; Tanis Campbell and Pat Wright (www.dotwizards.com) and my art manager, Tamara Smith who beat it into my brain housing group that a web site is not a book. All of these folks did a great job, and the ‘site’ (short for web site I’m told) is, in my view, outstanding. So why the concern?

It’s because I make fine art photographs and my output medium is the print. You can feel the texture of the print; you can hold it in your hands. The hue, saturation, and luminosity characteristics are always the same except under some lighting conditions. On computer screens, image appearance can vary significantly just as color televisions did in store displays back in the day (read that as 70’s and 80’s). It freaks me out so see my work on one screen appear reasonably well and then on the next the image looks like “Happy Days” with the magenta knob twirled full right. Talk about red eye!

Besides, you can frame a print, hang it on the wall, invite folks to come and see it while sipping a glass of wine as they discover the image’s meaning, or perhaps they are wondering why it is meaningless. Prints are authentic, made out of fibers, pulp, and other stuff. Folks purchase prints because they stir something within their soul, challenge their intellect, and it might be a good investment over time. When was the last time you did a black tie to see new art on a laptop with wine and brie? I know— it didn’t happen.

Honestly I would prefer to have you meet the real me at a gallery show and see the new prints together. Most of the time that won’t happen because__________ (insert reason(s)). Besides, during the site development I began to wrap my mind around the idea that a web site is not a book or magazine. I still have concerns, but with Tamara’s help, I’ve accepted the fact that I will never be able take it to the throne room, read it in bed, or like a newspaper, put it next to my cereal bowl in the morning. All I can do is work within the technical limitations of web color spaces and if it turns out that my work stirs you, you can still acquire limited edition prints via my ‘site’ (sorry we do not ship wine and brie— not yet anyway) or from a very cool gallery representative.

Going forward the new blog http://bobkillen.blogspot.com/.blog is the place for my Rants and Craves about new products, workshops, creative and artistic perceptions, great and not so great folks in fine art photography, great and not so great folks in other arts, as well as bits and pieces to juice up your creative work too.

I might tweet you http://twitter.com/BobKillen (tweet!.... you got to be kidding) with notices about new things or works-in-process, but never about what I am eating or when I’m changing skivvies. If this is important to you, you really do need to get a life or visit a couple of great therapists I know in the Kern Valley. They can help you with that.

Otherwise, enjoy, comment, hang out, and become enlightened.