Business Cards Ordered

It’s official.  I am now a “professional” photojournalist!  This does not mean I’m giving up any of my other professional titles, just that I’m adding yet another to the vast array of skill-sets developed over a lifetime of experience, education, trial, and error!  It’s been a long time in the making! I’ve been an amateur photojournalist since before the word “Blogger” was coined and based on my success in that forum, I’ve decided to go ‘all in’ on making a success of myself in this career field.  Much more after the jump.

Why Now?

It’s way past time for me to monetize my considerable portfolio of web content.  I recently noticed that I’ve topped over a hundred thousand page views on this WordPress blog alone, and it’s only one of many blogs I’ve got floating about in the ‘cloud’ these days.  In the ten years since I opened my Flickr account, I’ve garnered over a quarter million photo views!  Since the recent passing of my wife I’ve realized that it’s just “me and my dog”.  If there was ever a time in my life where I could risk making the jump to a new career field without it affecting anyone other than myself, this is it.  I’m already so enamored of the occupation it’s not unusual for me to engage in photojournalist activities well in excess of the hours I spent working at any other job in my life, and at the end of the day it’s a labor of love.  I’m often asked what it is that I’ve ‘got’, and I’ve always taken the Sublime route by answering “Love is what I’ve got“.  So now it’s time to do those things that I truly love, unencumbered by the risk of failure causing degradation and starvation to anyone other than myself and my diminutive ‘best friend’.  Bandit it on board since he’s spent the better part of his life as my most photogenic subject!

What Lies Ahead?

Expect to see a more consistent pattern of posting on this blog as well as a continuation of the social media interactions on Twitter and Facebook that have carried me to the lofty heights I find myself today.  In addition, I’ll be doing as much affiliate marketing as I see fit, but only in those areas and for those things that I honestly believe are worthy.  I refuse to “sell out” for any amount of money but it is a fool who doesn’t “buy in” when the offer to do so is as appealing as it currently is to me!  You can look forward to the same kind of sui generis output that I’ve always offered up but I will finally be adding a PayPal button for patron donations, if only to collect enough money to keep Bandit fully fed, fat, and happy!  I’ll be expanding into some Tim Channel branded merchandise, but nothing as mundane or routine as the Cafe Press pablum so prevalent on similar self-funded blogs.  That path is stale and boring and I refuse to engage in the redundant or the mundane.  Since I’m back in the states, I’ll be re-engaging in hand-to-hand combat against the asshats of the Republican party who are still enamored of such nincompoops as Sarah Palin and Joni Ernst!   I won’t suddenly decide not to have fun with atheism!  If all goes as expected, there ought to be a little something to piss off just about everybody!  I do have my areas of expertise after all!  Thanks to everyone who has followed or subscribed to me across the whole of my vast media “empire” (cough) that I’ve built over the last decade and a half.  Pass me along to your friends.  Each one teach one.  We’re gonna run this town tonight!

Enjoy.