OK, let's hit this from the top. Back in the yesteryear of probably 2013 I started Edge of the Map with not a single goddamn clue of what I was doing. It wasn't even a viable business idea, it was (at best) a pipe dream. A misguided stab at doing something new to shake up a period of depression that came from a few poor choices I'd made and a few broken face bones (that I hadn't made). I grabbed a Gopro and took pictures in the sea. People liked them. I got a drone, took photos, people like them as well. I got my first digital camera, took a shit tonne of photos and people actually liked them as well. I was amazed, my tiny pity project had somehow morphed into at the very least, a conversation starter.
We're a few years down the line now and I want more from my images, so I got really into retouching and editing. Nothing clever, just Photoshop, but I made some gnarly stuff that people actually liked again and slowly the image manipulation became a Frankensteinian cousin to what might be confused as graphic design. Anyway, fast forward a few more years down the line and Edge of the Map had finally shifted into something that occasionally made money, I sold some T-shirt designs, some prints, a few photos got noticed and I was feeling pretty confident about it all and I decided to start calling myself a Graphic Designer / Photographer. It felt good to say that, like I'd achieved something. I then spent the late stages of a break up creating a portfolio. It was worth it. I dreamt up every single bit of artwork I could think of, I took photos like nothing else. I'd get up at 7am, take photos all day, go to my bar job in the evening, finish at 1am, edit for a bit and then start the next day off the same. I dabbled in ridiculous print techniques and all sorts to get a portfolio that was worth a damn together and holy hell, guess what? I got a job in design,
A job I actually still hold. I create content, brochures, ads and every other goddamn thing under the sun. I even bundle in photography and web design and a few other things with that and between that and Edge of the Map now I feel like an actual designer. I get people who call me up, or email me and ask me to design stuff for them. My designs have sold all over the world! There are people in Australia who wear my nonsense on their bodies! People want to pay me physical, actual money to take pictures for them, how rad is that? People want me to use my skills to make them look good. It's amazing and I'm sure they're mistaking me for someone else. I'm still doing all that stuff. I'm still designing stuff and taking photos and working with really cool people and helping companies get a brand together but it's not enough. Somehow I want more, so I decide that I want to try and make actual art. These are a few examples of attempts at that and I guess we'll see how it goes.
Once upon a time I went to a beach party and got the shit kicked out of me. I lost a tonne of memories, I had to have my face fixed surgically and I lost my ipod. I missed out on uni because of that, but I kind of feel alright about it now, as long as I have an excuse to keep doing what I do. I'll keep teaching myself new stuff and hopefully people will keep asking me to make them look good.
Maybe I'll even write a blog more than once a year.