highcastle

i believe that ive fallen into an alternate reality. until i find my way back home, ill create alternate realities of my own.

all my work is available for sale. just contact me at hcastle@gmail.com or click the donate button

on the economics of being an ‘artist’ in the digital age 

In economics, a public good is a good that is non-rival and non-excludable. Non-rivalry means that consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce availability of the good for consumption by others; and non-excludability means that no one can be effectively excluded from using the good - wikipedia

recently ive noticed that some people on tumblr seem to be offended or just dickish, really, about my concept of asking people to donate to keep highcastle going, and i have to ask myself, why? why do you care how i do what i do? why does it upset you? 

i am, by education, an economist and finance guy. i have undergraduate degrees in both and a masters degree in the latter. in fact, i started my college career at the massachusetts institute of technology and finished in texas, where the faculty was right leaning. it became clear to me early on that capitalism, which up until that point, i was a firm believer in, had its faults. mostly it was clear that it was a system ripe with the opportunity for corruption but also one where the rich and the poor would face a growing widening gap. if you have the very rich, then, in a capitalist system, you HAVE to have very poor as well. and this, for some reason, bothered me. in the end, my education served only to make me very well off with regards to my 401ks and also very disillusioned by the whole system that we live in.

art, in my opinion, belongs to the people. if you are the kind of artist who can sell your stuff, have gallery shows and all that, thats wonderful. really, what artist wouldnt aspire to have that? the problem with that is it suggests that only the wealthy, only people with money, can own, can appreciate art or should own and appreciate art.

i really dont like that. there is something less than egalitarian about that. 

the wonderful thing about the internet is that you can share your work with millions, even billions of people, and once its out there, its out there forever. try to delete a tumblr blog post and see if you dont see it pop up as a reblog a year later. it happens. the internet has made celebrities, even minor dieties, of thousands of people who would not otherwise have the exposure that it provides. 

on the downside, it also has a way of diluting talent, both by dumbing down the content and also by making content so ubiquitous that it virtually loses all meaning. ask anyone who is internet famous if their life has changed as a result, and odds are, youll be asking them at their job at the check out line of your local bodega. for most of us, it just doesnt happen.

but i digress.

my work, my choice for my work, is that it is a public good. this means that anyone can enjoy it for free. and by anyone, i mean anyone, and by it, i mean all of it. go to my flickr and youll see literally 16,000 images that ive shot over 7 years. look on my tumblr, and youll see nearly 1600 of my very best work. and you dont have to give me a dime to look at it.

but i am ASKING you to do it, and i have every right to ask you to do it. if you enjoy my work, help me make more of it, so you can see more of it. if you dont enjoy it, or if you dont have a dollar, fifty cents, fifty bucks, whatever, ok, no big deal. 

but dont assume, oh i dont have to give because hes a douchebag for asking for money. im not. if anything, youre kind of a douchebag for getting upset because i asked you to reimburse me for appreciating my work. thats capitalism. fortunately for you, im not really a capitalist

also, dont assume ill keep doing this free forever. because i cant keep doing it for free forever, UNLESS PEOPLE SUPPORT IT. because i dont have the money to do this free forever. oh get a job, bum. i have a job. it keeps me fed and keeps me housed, but thats it. jobs and artists, dont really go hand in hand. they just dont. i gave up a life that i loathed full of money and bullshit i didnt really need to be what i am. and if you find that sad or pathetic, well, then, really, i kind of feel sorry for you. only when we lose everything are we truly free to do anything. thats more true today than it ever was. im not asking you to pay for me to fuck models and live in a fancy house. im asking you to donate, so that i can buy film, so that i can take amazing works of art for YOU to appreciate.

i dont fuck my models. ask any of them. its not my thing.

my work is a public good because you dont have to pay to see any of it. this is no different than public television or national defense. you dont get mad at big bird and the old lady who interrupt downton abbey to give you a free tote bag in exchange for your donation. nor do you get upset (or maybe you do, i dont care) when the government uses your social security taxes to finance its latest war on terror. these are public goods. and if you dont think what i do is a public good, feel free to stop enjoying it. or if you want something tangible in exchange, please, by all means, buy a fucking print. 

but do not think for one second that im asking you to finance my lifestyle. my minimum wage job in the most expensive city in america finances my lifestyle and im pretty ok with that. im asking you to donate, to be a patron of the arts because we no longer really have those anymore. im asking you to BELIEVE in me and in what i do because it moves you, because it makes you happy or sad or even horny or just makes you angry, because it affects you. and if it doesnt, then dont. im okay with that.

i dont need two hundred dollar jeans. i dont need ikea furniture. i dont need a trip to the maldives or a sports car or a beautiful new plasma tv or a fancy apartment in park slope

but i do need to make art. and if you think what i do isnt art, and it isnt work, and if you think that im asking you to finance me taking photographs of naked women, as if this is somehow a bad thing, as if this is somehow some sort of whim, as if somehow what i do is less than art, and especially if youre a fellow photographer who thinks these things, then youre really a complete and utter asshole. 

highcastle instax

(c) 2010 - 2011 highcastle

got a hundred bucks? consider sponsoring a new instax!

if you send a paypal donation of $100 to $150 to me and earmark it instax, i will give you your choice of three instax originals shot with your donation. PLUS i will also give you two originals of my choosing. that means that you will get a total of FIVE one of a kind highcastle originals. im proud of my instax work and want to get back to it and could use your help.

please note that the variation in price is based on whether i purchase the camera online or in store and amazon has a great deal at 150, but am willing to make this offer if you pay 100 to cover cost of camera and about 4 packs of film.

email me for any further questions and details at hcastle@gmail.com or paypal me immediately with your donation marked instax, or click the donate button on my page

be a sponsor of the arts. donate to your favorite public good, highcastle photography!

highcastle continued…

(c) 2007-2011 highcastle

please keep the donations coming! contribute whatever you think is fair via paypal to hcastle@gmail.com or click the donate button at highcastle.tumblr.com