LAX > MSP freewrite on HF21 day!

Hey, Steemit! It’s HF21 day. I’m flying home from Minneapolis, looking very forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. I need to read up on how the roll out went. I briefly looked at the pin board to something that said “STEEM blockchain is experiencing issues. Funds are safe!”. That announcement was replaced later by an update explaining the changes that came along with HF21, so I’m assuming things are fine, but with an already controversial hard fork, I know there’s going to be a lot to unpack and digest the communities reaction now that the changes have been implemented.

Yes, another mid-flight-freewrite! I feel like more of my Steemit blogs have been from airplanes than not lately. Here’s what I’m celebrating, though. This “should” be the last one of the year! That sounds too good to be true, but the path to being home for a months is before me. @vermillionfox has a sweet job lined up, and she seems really excited about it. We held out as long as we could sustaining on dark pinup shoots and cryptocurrency and although Bitcoin is hold strong at $10K, the alt coins are still being punished. Regular paychecks in our household are necessary now.

As I detailed in previous Steemit blogs, I’m about to commit to a big project. Something that satisfies two requirements. Both the ability to own my platform [...my website] and that pays me passively behind the work being done. During this LA trip, I met with @mtbmondo, amongst other friends, to begin planning of this venture. @mtbmondo is an incredible writer/director and once I decided on my path forward, he was the first person I thought of to bring it all to live. I have the skills to make this on my own, but if I want it to truly be the best it can be, @mtbmondo needs to direct it.

Sorry for being so cryptic. Believe me, as it’s rolled out and begins to take shape, Steemit and my personal Patreon will be the first places I share the news and developments. This trip, though, more than ever, has made a clear punctuation of what I want for my 2020, and years going forward. I cannot continue to fly all over the world doing X amount of work for X amount of dollars, in many cases, paying for my own flights, hotels, cars, food, etc. Even beyond the shoots, I edit these photos for months beyond the day we shot the images and long after the money is spent.

I don’t mean to sound like a curmudgeon, and believe me, there’s nothing I hate more than someone that’s “made it”, especially to a point in their career that I would love to be, that can only complain about how it’s “...not what they thought it’d be”. I’m grateful for all of it. I read once, when interviewing 50 people on their death beds, “I wish I pursued my passions”, is one of the most common answers regarding their regrets. I won’t have that regret, and I’m so grateful for it. I can’t phone it in for this job, though, and I do need some healthy time away.

In my next blog, I’ll be sharing a photo or two, some behind the scenes, and insights from the huge La Femme En Noir look book I shot yesterday. It was a brutal schedule with over 40 designs to catalog, but working with @michelinepitt is always a highlight of my career, under any circumstance. I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with @ghostfish to finish our @coppercoins @fundition launch. Much to come. For more photography, art, illustration and the stories behind the work, follow me here @kommienezuspadt!