{"id":3739,"date":"2014-01-07T21:35:39","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T21:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.michaelgracemartin.com\/main\/?p=3739"},"modified":"2014-03-07T19:36:19","modified_gmt":"2014-03-07T19:36:19","slug":"my-top-tweets-for-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaelgracemartin.com\/main\/my-top-tweets-for-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"My Top Tweets for 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

I opened a Twitter account<\/a> last June to replace my personal Facebook page (the latter became distracting and problematic in a number of ways). I tweeted 161 times in 2013 over the six months I had the account.<\/p>\n

When I was a teenager (well before the time of The Internet), I used to write things and post them on the back of my bedroom door. Occasionally, I would remove notes that seemed stupid or were no longer relevant to my life and keep the ones that still “spoke to me”.<\/p>\n

Here now are my favorite tweets of 2013 (in chronological order), some of which may seem stupid or irrelevant by the end of 2014…(!)<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. True artists are self-propelled…the fanfare is nice, but that ain’t why they’re doing it<\/li>\n
  2. Art has become a hard sell it seems. Entertainment, however, continues to attract a hearty share of people’s “disposable” income.<\/li>\n
  3. Belched and said “excuse me” with only my cat in earshot. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with manners between species..<\/li>\n
  4. I like doing #photography, but it’s not about being a “photographer” for me. It’s about communicating something interesting.<\/li>\n
  5. Facebook is not necessary.<\/li>\n
  6. Making money “doing your own thing” requires mega marketing because you have to convince people “your own thing” has anything to do w\/ them.<\/li>\n
  7. Once upon a time, people had to buy books or magazines, or go to a museum or gallery to see artistic photographs.<\/li>\n
  8. When you wipe all the friends off your FB list, what happens? There’s less to see on FB, so you move on to other things, like taking walks.<\/li>\n
  9. W\/ few exceptions, there’s no such thing now as shooting the one photo that knocks people out. consistently producing..that’s where it’s at.<\/li>\n
  10. Important thing I learned at Grassroots Festival today: use porta-johns that are in the shade! Otherwise they get up to 150 degs in the sun.<\/li>\n
  11. I don’t like to copy\/repeat what others have done. I don’t like to repeat\/copy what I’ve done.<\/li>\n
  12. And somewhere in my mind is the thought: If I ever became famous for my photography, I’d have to quit and start doing something else.<\/li>\n
  13. I need to go to more art museums…whether there’s photography included or not.<\/li>\n
  14. For some reason, I find it way more interesting to watch programs about musicians than photographers to gain insights into creative process.<\/li>\n
  15. A photo that doesn’t distinguish itself is a commodity<\/li>\n
  16. Doing your own thing and hoping someone notices isn’t a very efficient way to get notoriety or make money<\/li>\n
  17. Most successful artists were able to dial in “commercial” when it came down to it.<\/li>\n
  18. Some need others’ opinions to have their own opinion<\/li>\n
  19. I don’t think there’s an option: if u don’t like what the art photo “establishment” calls good, develop a dialog directly w\/ the collector.<\/li>\n
  20. A successful photograph investment-wise requires that it contain a good amount of “cultural currency”.<\/li>\n
  21. I just think if my name were David Butt Philip, I’d tend not to use my middle name.<\/li>\n
  22. I find it kind of funny how artists refer to their artwork as “The Work”, thereby distancing themselves from it<\/li>\n
  23. The web is like putting *everyone* in charge of television programming and having all of it broadcast simultaneously.<\/li>\n
  24. Sex: the adult pacifier<\/li>\n
  25. I used to think I wanted to be a web designer, but the promised land turned into a shitter. This is the last one I do, I swear.<\/li>\n
  26. Size “zero”? sounds like the clothing size one’s imaginary friend might wear<\/li>\n
  27. I find it interesting that YouTube seems to group Amy Winehouse and Janis Joplin together in search results<\/li>\n
  28. I think there’s something alluring about an artist who’s work you sense was created without looking for your (the viewer’s) approval.<\/li>\n
  29. One of the things that stands out about Marilyn Monroe: she was pre-cosmetic surgery.<\/li>\n
  30. Without communication, the best we could do would be hedonism.<\/li>\n
  31. Taking a photo is not the end. It can then be contextualized and recontextualized. I see photos as fluid and dynamic.<\/li>\n
  32. Art that is not relevant is not art; if it doesn’t communicate something relevant or consequential, it’s decoration<\/li>\n
  33. “Though she never considered herself an unattractive woman, she felt like she was suffering from ‘premature ugliness’ in her middle age.”<\/li>\n
  34. Wanting to be rich & lazy is just a reaction to being poor and overworked. Ultimately, rich & lazy would be pretty boring.<\/li>\n
  35. Maybe if people focused more on creative activities, they’d spend less money on trying to purchase joy.<\/li>\n
  36. Maybe most photographers think that emulating past photography is what “doing photography” is<\/li>\n
  37. Art yearns for a unique voice, not a refinement of a previous or existing voice.<\/li>\n
  38. For me photography is just a way to capture portions of my visual experience so I can do shit with it.<\/li>\n
  39. The challenge is to find your own voice (when making art) & it may take a while. And it may come from a very different place than u expect.<\/li>\n
  40. Maybe I could come up with a better word than “art” to describe what I’m trying to do..<\/li>\n
  41. When you’re finally *not trying to be like anyone*…that’s when you truly get there.<\/li>\n
  42. Momentary “truths” have an annoying habit of expiring before you can string them together with other “truths” and make an actual dent.<\/li>\n
  43. What is needed is not *more* photography, but rather, better editing.<\/li>\n
  44. It’s pretty easy to like or not like almost any photo. It depends pretty hugely on the context and one’s frame of mind at the time.<\/li>\n
  45. “Michael is a self-taught photographer. His photography explores the relationship between his camera and his visible surroundings.”<\/li>\n
  46. A “good photo” no longer involves anything like light, composition, etc. It just means *people want to look at it*.<\/li>\n
  47. One of the big misconceptions: that a good or great idea will be instantly recognized as such.<\/li>\n
  48. With photography, I see stuff I would have *never* noticed otherwise because my field of view as I move through life is too fleeting.<\/li>\n
  49. One of the most splendid is capturing the hidden moment on display to all but only “seen” by a device that can pluck out a sliver of time.<\/li>\n
  50. Going forward while integrating backwards.<\/li>\n
  51. Maybe there’s an alternative to riding on the ever-increasing-shock-to-gain-attention train wreck…?<\/li>\n
  52. Aging = becoming a caricature of yourself.<\/li>\n
  53. Here’s one to keep pounding: There’s more to art than making pretty or beautiful objects. Meaning is not always pretty.<\/li>\n
  54. Circumventing the 140 character constraint..\"BbtE6pzCQAAkqGR\"<\/li>\n
  55. Street photography is as much *sport* as it is art.<\/li>\n
  56. My (woman) dermatologist wears pink rubber boots during appointments<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Hopefully my 2014 tweets will be even more fun, insightful, and goofy…:p. And, of course, feel free to “follow” me @MGMSBRAIN<\/a>.<\/p>\n
    \n\n \n \n \n <\/a>
    \nVisit Michael's Art Photography Portfolio<\/a> at SaatchiArt.com!\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I opened a Twitter account last June to replace my personal Facebook page (the latter became distracting and problematic in …<\/p>\n

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