This is “Woof of the Week”, the newsletter about the things that make me say “Woof” the longest each week!
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Welcome to Woof of the Week!
Because my Spotify account of 10+ years has enabled me to create an echo chamber of my favorite artists, rarely do I engage with new musicians, let alone pop music. So when a pop song with an undeniably catchy hook enters my orbit, I can’t help but play it over and over again until my brain finally asks “Haven’t you had enough?” To which I reply “No!” out loud and replay the song.
I had this experience with Shivers by Ed Sheerhan,1 which I heard for the first time nearly a full year after it was released. And even though someone I know has put this as one of two songs on her “DO NOT PLAY AT MY WEDDING” list, I still, unfortunately, very much enjoy it.
Which brings me to the song that had me in its clutches last week - Nonsense by Sabrina Carpenter. In my defense, she recently released a remix of the song with rapper Coi Leray on March 23 so it was making the rounds again. But the song was first released with her album Emails I Can’t Send L A S T JULY. Goodness gracious.
Anyways, if you were driving around Los Angeles last week and heard me attempting to hit the Ariana Grande-esque notes on the line “Ooh, it feels so good / I had to jump the octave” give me a shout!
Around the World in 80* Woofs
*more like, a handful of bullet points
Here are some stories from the week that made me say Woof:
On the topic of cultural blindspots, two big events that “happened” Sunday were Frank Ocean’s Coachella “performance” and the Love is Blind “live” Netflix reunion. A lot of quotes here, for a lot of reasons! Frank Ocean’s first performance in six years started an hour late because of a melting ice rink and was cut off by Coachella curfew, while the Love is Blind Live reunion ended up not going live after facing numerous technical difficulties that ultimately canceled the premiere. I personally could not have handled this 1-2 punch of disappointments so I’m glad I wasn’t tuning in for either, but I feel for all of you that were!
An event that did happen over the weekend that I knew about was the second ever Creator Clash – a boxing event where online personalities and influencers fight for charity. As much as I liked Creed 3 I’ve just never been one to tune in for boxing. I especially don’t want to see people I know in non-boxing contexts fight each other. And trust me I know that that’s exactly the appeal of the Creator Clash, but… not for me! Yet, I still couldn’t help getting sucked into Twitter threads to see who would come out on top. Woof!
Speaking of Twitter, it still lives! But two of its recent updates make me wonder if it’ll survive this year. First, the company has limited access to its API in the name of clamping down on bots. This has affected many accounts, like one that provides a very minor, probably unimportant, thing called tsunami alerts. Yes, the National Weather Service Tsunami Alerts, among other public safety accounts, can no longer auto-tweet updates as they come in. Second, in its ongoing feud with Substack, Twitter has given Twitter Blue subscribers the ability to post 10,000 word Tweets. It also introduced a new content subscription model for Twitter users to offer their followers. And so, while Twitter becomes less itself every day, I do wonder if we will have something that can replace all the “good” that Twitter had to offer.
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Why the Photos Stopped | The Creative Half-Pipe
If this was a Twitter thread, this would be 1/? of a “series” I’ll be doing called - “The Creative Half-Pipe”. I might go back and change the name later but let’s keep it loose for now! No need to define it here, just know it will mostly be thoughts and conversations about the creative process and its constant oscillation between highs and lows.
In 2016 I “challenged” myself to post on Instagram every day. It started as a bit - digital influencers were in vogue and I wanted to see what it would be like to put myself in those shoes every day - to put “content” out every day. My only rule was that it had to be interesting, at least to me. And so what started as a joke became nearly three years of posting a picture everyday.2
Today, I’ve been struggling to take at least one photo a week. And when I scrolled through my photos to see what I could use for this newsletter’s accompanying promotional Instagram post I realized that I had taken zero photos last week.
I used to have stacks of photos ready to post - what happened?
It’s easy to point at COVID and the subsequent lockdowns as one reason my photo taking has reduced. My photos are usually taken on the go, on my iPhone. So not leaving home meant I was “seeing” less. It was hard to iterate on the same four walls every day, especially when those four walls were sparsely decorated because I was strapped for cash.
Prior to 2020 I had gotten my first full-time, salaried office job, which meant trading in my freelance lifestyle of working around Southern California for the stability of a 9 to 5 (which turned into an 8 - 10 but that’s a different story). This stability proved to be a strain on my creative eye. Prior to COVID I was already struggling to take photos - having determined that I had “shot out” my office in the first month I worked there.
But now that we’re not in lockdown anymore - what gives? Another reason for the lack of photos could be the fact that I changed phones recently. My cousin gave me his iPhone 12 Pro Max for free (thanks Andrew!) and for any family members reading this, I promise I am not complaining!
BUT I will say that the iPhone 12 camera is… interesting.
My previous phone was the iPhone 8+ which I got after my iPhone 6 froze to death in NYC in 2017, leaving me cellphone less in Brooklyn on a Saturday evening in December. (A story for another time!) No knock on my iPhone 6, but I had my iPhone 8 for a looong time. From 2018 - 2022, it traveled with me around the country by plane and train, endured a brutal 24 hour travel day from Georgia (the state) to Massachusetts (also the state), and was what I clung onto upon learning that a close friend of mine had passed away.
Isn’t it funny the emotional connection we ascribe to inanimate objects?
Because of the amount of time I spent with the iPhone 8 I knew the tendencies of the camera very well. I knew exactly how to push the exposure and zoom quality of the image to get what I wanted out of it in the Instagram editor.
But shooting with the 12 - everything feels different. The camera is so much better than the 8 that I don’t quite know how to handle it yet. Every photo feels so much clearer and more defined than what I’m used to. The colors don’t look the way I think they will, the shadows don’t go as dark as I want them to. Yet when I complain about the photos and send them to friends, I second guess myself. The quality is good.
So what’s stopping me from taking photos?
Well me - it’s just, me. When lockdown eased up and I started getting back into the world, I did start shooting again. I photographed all the same things that interested me - shadows, geometric lines, places you could dream in.
But something always stopped me from feeling great about those photos. So I never shared them. And it’s still that way today - often now I never even take the photo - I hold up my phone, look at the image and put it away.
As I scrolled through my Instagram to find pictures to compile for this newsletter (building the plane as we fly here people!) I was struck by seeing the likes and comments on my pre-2020 photos. (And mind you, I have only ever had a few photos exceed 100 likes, I am just “some guy.”) The “engagement” is how I could tell when a photograph resonated with people. I forgot how important that was - to see something be well received, or to be able to discuss with other visually minded folks. It’s such an important part of the process. And one that wouldn’t have come about if I had never shared any of my work… like I’m doing now.
I’ve thought about this point a lot - but what started off as a bit, ended up being one of the most consistent and creative exercises of my life. Posting a photo every day means you’re taking a photo every day. That photo doesn’t always have to be something that other people like. But if you do find those people, if you do get that encouragement - that’s a great feeling.
Perhaps I’m still burnt out. Or perhaps it’s time to get back to basics:
A new photo every day - as long as it’s interesting to me.
(and if other people like it that’s cool too)
Quote of the Week
This week’s quote is from 2020:
That place truly feels like a memory.
The best part about posting a photo every day in my early twenties is the fact that I can look back at those photos and remember (almost) everything around that photo. Where I took it, what I was doing, how I felt when I edited it into a great photo. But of course, some scenarios are more dreamt up than others!
That’s all folks!
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Woof of the Week! Leave a comment because I’d love to hear your thoughts! Some questions I have for you -
Gonna be doing some more stuff about the “creative process” this year, since it’s something I, and many of my friends and peers, struggle with. Anything you’d like to read about?
I should’ve closed this on one more photo but I couldn’t decide on which one! Send me a suggestion from my Instagram!
Did you stay up for Frank Ocean?
See you on the next one!
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Cringe, I know
If you really wanted to, you could go back to January 1, 2016 on my Instagram and try to find the times I took breaks or skipped a day here or there due to work but it would certainly be… a tedious affair.