Newsletter #131 - Welcome Back?!
Hello!
In my last email on May 9, 2022, (#130 - Eagle Obersvation Area), I was looking for an eagle but I couldn’t find one.
I said I'd be gone for a few weeks.
I actually meant a few years.
But now I’m back!
So… Where were we?
What did I miss? What did you miss?
Before we get into it, I moved the newsletter list over to Substack. The previous newsletter was hosted with Mailchimp. While that platform is good for certain things, it really wasn’t great for a person like me. I made it work for a few years, but it was too complicated, had too many features I didn’t need, and it was ultimately too expensive for a list like mine. Substack is better. I think… It’s complicated. All of these platforms have pros and cons. I’ve weighed them all. I asked around. I listened to everything. I read the news. This place won. If you don’t wish to receive emails from me anymore, I understand. You can unsubscribe here.
Okay.
So what have I been up to over the past two years? So many things. But also, not really that much. I guess it’s all relative. I’m just going to bullet-point them to make it easy.
I will also probably leave out a bunch of stuff both accidently and intentionally.
All Consuming - Adam and I brought the podcast back for 23 additional episodes. We stopped buying direct-to-consumer products we didn’t need and started talking about broader topics like Money, Subscriptions, Air Travel and of course, AI. It was fun, but we couldn’t make it work. We have ended the show for good and dozens of people are still upset about it.
Do you hear that? - Paul O’Mara (the editor of All Consuming) and I made a podcast about birds! We published an episode every day for fifty days. Each episode is about a different bird. This was so much fun. We talk about bringing it back, but we probably never will.
JPEG2000 - Vivian Fu and I made a show about art, web3 and internet culture. We spoke to great artists, collected some art, and made some fun skits. Paul edited the show, so it sounded amazing.
The Chicken Cam - Jacob Bijani and I collaborated on project where my chickens took photos of themselves and posted the photos to the internet. This is a very long story. Zora interviewed us about it. Dean Peterson made a video about it. I made a video about Dean’s video about it. I’ll probably talk about it again.
Samsung Frame - I became a featured artist in the Samsung Frame Art Store. They made a video about me. I’ll probably talk about this in more detail soon.
I’ve made lots of new photographs. Lots of fog. Lots of nature. Lots of Normal Houses. I will share more of all of this work here in time.
Various Commercial Projects - Too many to highlight but A Walk In The Woods for David Webb was amazing and visiting an Earthship in Taos New Mexico for TinCup Whiskey were some highlights. We’ll get into all of this stuff eventually.
Studio Expansion - I decided to give myself more space to work and think. I spent about half of 2023 working on this project. Studio tour soon, maybe!
I started a YouTube Channel.
The YouTube channel (which you should subscribe to) is what inspired me to want to bring this newsletter back. Basically, I have been making videos regularly since January of this year. Some might say I have been “vlogging,” but I would never use such a cursed word!
Once a week I have been doing what I call “The Hotline Show” where people can call in and ask questions.
I started getting a number of calls and comments reminiscing about the newsletter. I started to think that this newsletter could be a great addition and compendium to that channel.
I have been telling stories, showing older work, making new work, talking about art, talking about cameras, floating theories like The Triangle of Quality as it Relates to How Much You Care About Cameras.
I imagine a lot of what I do with the newsletter is simply going to be a recap of what I am making over there. Behind the scenes maybe? Adding photos and additional context here will be fun, I think!
I even created characters like ‘Alternative Timeline Noah Kalina’ who is what I imagine I would have become if I didn’t go to art school and become a photographer.
Alt Noah doesn’t “get” art and likes to remind me how great my life could have been if traded stocks and had kids.
Video has been a great medium for me and I am really enjoying writing, editing, producing and photographing these stories. Definitely check them out if you haven’t already. Or maybe just hang out here where I’ll post screencaps and recaps.
Anyway, I am not sure what the frequency of this newsletter will be yet, but I am going to try and do this at least a few times a month, if not more. I’m not making any rules just yet.
It will probably be awkward for a few weeks.
Stay tuned.
Oh yeah, in the last newsletter I was looking for an eagle.
I finally found it.
SUPPORT THIS NEWSLETTER
I always want this newsletter to be free, and I truly dislike the idea of paywalling any of my work, so the main stories will always be available for everyone to read. Click subscribe if you aren’t already to make sure you don’t miss anything.
If you want to pay, I’m not going to stop you! In fact, I’d really appreciate. I don’t know if there will be any perks just yet but I’ll send you a postcard to start, as a token of my appreciation.
Seth Werkheiser is my newsletter guru.
Julia Sforza proofreads this email.
Pablo Delcan made the triangle look good.
Zach Vitale remains cautiously optimistic.
Questions? Comments? Project idea? Sponsorship? Advertising? You can just reply to this email. I read every one and respond to almost all of them.
noahkalina.com
Instagram
Threads
YouTube
So glad the newsletter is back!
Welcome back(?).
Having spent a little more time studying The Triangle of Quality I think I'm positioned on the upper area, but short of the peak. My photos would improve if I cared a little more about cameras, but how do you make yourself care more? If anything I think I'm more likely to slide backwards.
Happy to have the return of the newsletter.
Travis