Q: How long have you been into photography/art?
A: Since 1957. I am very old. I decided to go to economics school when it became obvious how hard a job photography is. At that point photography became merely an obsession.
Q: How did you find RB?
A: From Debra Trean whose average posting at her blogsite, A Passion N Frames, http://pnfphotography.blogspot.com/ makes me jealous. Since she belongs to RedBubble, I of course came to see what part of her secret lurks here.
Q: How has Red Bubble affected you and your art?
A: I am slavishly trying to figure out how it is that so many people here see things so much more imaginatively than me. And I am also inventing Byrne’s Zone III. It is my theory that art has three component pieces, each with its own secrets…. Secrets that can be taught, learned, and mastered.
Zone I has to do with gear mastery (pre-processing, camera, post processing, stuff management. etc.), Zone II is about aesthetics mastery (color theory, composition, lighting, texture, shape, form, etc. ), and Byrne’s Zone III is about resonance. And what, you wonder, are those rules which are basic to Zone III? If I told you before I write the book… well, I’d have to move you to trash… heh, heh, heh…. Not to worry, I am slowly revealing the basics as I discover them on my blogsite at http://imagefiction.blogspot.com. Anyway…
The necessary and sufficient conditions of art demand all three zones. The first two, by the way, are all about craft. Master them and you are a master craftsperson. Master III atop I & II and you are an artist. In fact I am onto a personal crash course into the components of creativity (neurological, psychological, chemical, cultural, philosophical, and whimsical…). I’ve already published one article on the topic, and am building heavily. Still, it’ll take years. Meantime, this stuff’s way cool.
Q: Who has influenced you the most in the way you do art?
A: Well lots of people, including you. Here at RedBubble? Lookit my favorites. Classically I started getting really interested by the street and candid photographers who ruled the 50s and 60s. The great magazine illustrators of the 50s are also a key influence. I keep going back to them. There are just too many of those designers and photographers to roll out.
Currently a lot of my friends are doing stunning work. Take Andreas Mannessinger for example at http://pnfphotography.blogspot.com/. Or for a stimulating grasp of Americana I’m frequently impressed by John Roberts at http://pnfphotography.blogspot.com/. Among abstract photographers I’m most impressed by the eye of Roland Voegtli at http://www.punctumsaliens.ch/about.html. My friend Craig Tanner is a renaissance man with a very special sense of street portraiture http://www.craigtannercreative.com/lightdiary/. Tuna’s postings at Photography On The Net are among the most compelling surreal perspectives I’ve recently come across http://photography-on-the.net/forum/. And the daily photography of Kathleen Connally http://www.durhamtownship.com/portfolio/, is almost uniformly magical.
Q: How do you stay inspired?
A: My studies into the secrets of Zone III are continually inspiring. There’re just so many ideas to reach for graphically… so many feelings. Inspiration isn’t the problem… time management is.
Q: What are some of the biggest personal challenges you have faced?
A: I’m a lucky guy: great wife, good family, exciting business, lots of support, good schools, nice friends, and a bunch of opportunities. Problems seem too small to whine about. I’m an editor of terrific magazines http://business2businessonline.com/ a writer and an economist. This is a remarkable time to be all three of those things– and a special time to be an artist with photographic skills.
Q: What is the one thing you want others to get from your art?
A: To understand that art is about something. That it connects to ideas, feelings, imaginings. That it does not stop at craft. It is an amazing moment, the digital breakthroughs offer us a primal opportunity to take viewers into a ride through the image plane. Everything we do is for the first time. From here on, everybody else will be building on what we do. We are the giants upon whose shoulders they will sit. This is huge!
Q: What was the hardest thing for you to master in your style art?
A: Everyone wishes that they could see what their most admired artists see. I’ve found that brilliant ideas are obvious just as soon as a brilliant person shows them to me. Haven’t you? Haven’t you noticed that the really dazzling artistic breakthroughs seem as if you should have done them. And you should have, if you were just sufficiently genius to have had the insight. There’s little technique that I can’t figure out. There’s too much brilliance that continually astonishes me. How to be that brilliant? How not to be derivative? How to learn from breakthroughs without plagiarizing them?
A friend once explained to me that while the 1940s-1950s movie star Carey Grant was an actor with virtually no range, in fact, no one else on earth could do Cary Grant as well as he could. I’ve reconciled that while there are so many brilliant artists at work today, and while perhaps I cannot do what they do, maybe I do what I do better than they can do what I do. Got that? It keeps me sane.
Q: Where do you hope to be in 5 years?_
More thoughtfully productive.
Q: What advice do you have for someone just starting out?
Find the artists who make you look through their work rather than at it. Then, find ways to make people tumble through yours into a place of ideas, feelings, imagination, conclusions. Learn that the crafter depicts and the artist incites – that the artist tells us not what something is, but what it is about. Learn what intangible means. Master technique but remember, art without wonder is merely craft

See Ted’s Art Here

Thank you Ted always a pleasure = )

Fantastic interview – this is my favourite so far!

Articulate and inspiring words – I especially like the reminder to focus on doing what YOU do. The dazzling array of brilliant creative minds and masterful techniques on here can be intimidating!

I’m going to enjoy perusing Ted’s folio with a deeper insight!

Ted is amazing and keeps me on my toes artistically!I have admired his style for some time and I am humbled by his work.

Thanks so much for doing this interview Ted. Hugs

Ted is such an eloquent writer as well as a gifted artist with the ability to inspire others with his insight and encouraging comments. Can’t wait to read more about Byrne’s Zone III (not to mention I and II). Thanks so much Vonne and Ted! I love these featured artist interviews!

a wonderful interview. I learned so much:)

fantastic

DAMN! I have just been beaten up by my buddies for inexcusable errors.

(1) I bragged about knowing and loving the work of Andreas Manessinger. However I mis-spelled his name. AND then I failed to run his correct URL. So there was NO WAY any of you could ever find and learn from him. You can visit Andreas at http://photography-andreas-manessinger.blogspot.com/index.html

(2) While I spelled John Roberts name correctly, I also gave you the wrong address for this master of Americana… it is: http://2cjohn.blogspot.com/

Please visit them and hopefully enjoy their talent as much as I do.

VERY SORRY… grumble.. grble… grb…..

Wonderful insightful interview , thank you

Inspiring insight into a remarkable artist and person;)