Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lou Vest. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lou, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
The first photo I sold was for the Pasadena Phone Book – an old custom where the phone company provided every home and business with a thick book listing all the phone numbers. You could request not to be listed, but you had to pay extra and having an “unlisted” number was a little bit sinister… like you had something to hide.
If I remember correctly, they paid me $250 for a photo they used on the front cover. (Photo 1) I toyed with the idea of setting up a table outside a book store and signing copies of the phone book with the photo I had taken on the cover. I still think it would have been funny, but Barnes and Noble would have never gone for it.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I was working as a ship pilot in Houston. The port is relatively unknown to the rest of the world even though Houston is the busiest shipping port in the United States. It’s just that it is pretty much invisible. New York, San Francisco, Venice and other famous ports are visible from the cities and are part of the culture, but in Houston you can be less than a mile from some of the biggest ships in the world and never know they are there. In addition, even those that knew we had a port assumed it was an enormous eyesore.
But to me, from my high perch on the bridge of ships, it was a grand, colorful spectacle. I started taking photos to illustrate that and posting them online. At first I was asked to provide photos for people’s slide shows or power point presentations. Mostly by the other pilots or people that worked at the port to show for “what dad/mom does” presentations for middle school. Then there were requests for prints to sell at fundraisers which led to businesses asking for prints to put in their offices. Meanwhile, my public postings on Flickr, a website for photographers, continued to attract more followers and views. I had over 300 photos listed in the daily “most interesting” category (an admittedly imperfect algorithm).
One day I got an email from the Houston Center for Photography asking if I would like to participate in an exhibition there. Jason Dibley had discovered my work and he and the director, Madeline Yale, extended the invitation. I was an absolute blank slate with regard to fine art photography at the time, but immediately understood that if I was going to bring the port into the cultural awareness of the city this would be the path.
One of the truly remarkable things about Houston is its warmth and openness to newcomers. I was welcomed with open arms by photographers who are far above my level of work. Shelly Calton, whose work I greatly admire, recognized me from the exhibition while I was walking around the neighborhood and we have become friends. Peter Brown has been a warm supporter. I learned fine art printing from Cyndy Allard and Joe Aker. Pat Jasper and Angel Quesada invited me to participate in a project for the Smithsonian about the port that resulted in an exhibition at the downtown library and a solo show at the Houston Arts Alliance. Sally Sprout kindly gave me a place in shows at the the Williams (TransCo) Tower. The famous Anne Tucker and Clint Wilhour pair gave me encouragement and advice. HCP continued support by including my work in their influential annual auction. The U of H architecture school, led by Peter Zwieg, used some of my photos and videos in a project that won a Palm d’Or at the Venice Biennial. Geoff Koslov and Bryn Larsen asked to represent my work at their prestigious gallery, Foto Relevance. Every couple years I am invited to participate in a space somewhere for FotoFest, an outstanding Houston tradition. My photos are prominently displayed at the Houston Maritime Museum – thank you Leslie Bowlin and the halls of the airport. Most of all, thanks to the Houston Pilots Association members and staff for one of the first opportunities to display my work in a public place. There are literally too many people to thank for their help, encouragement, advice and friendship.
What artistic achievement am I most proud of? I was often asked to donate a photo to the Houston Center for Photography’s annual gala auction and consider it an honor to be included. One of the signature events is a pre-auction tour by the curator of the Museum of Fine Arts – Anne Tucker (at that time) and her friend Clint Wilhour. They walk through and talk about some of the work they consider noteworthy. Anne stopped in front of my photo and, after talking about it a bit, suggested she would be pleased if someone bought the photo and donated it to the museum. (Photo 2)
What I would like readers to understand is that I am where I am through an artistic gift that came free to me and through the good will, friendship and help of hundreds of people. Read Lewis Hyde’s book, The Gift, to understand the gift of art and how to be generous with it. Picasso said “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” Kurt Vonnegut said “the purpose of art is not to make money, it’s to make your soul grow.”
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Engaging in the world with a camera in my hand or nearby is a totally different experience from what I experience without it. Sailing down the ship channel with a camera on the window sill beside me enhances my awareness of light, color, weather, and the people around me (Photo 3). The captain becomes not just a man looking out the window beside me, but someone from a different culture, likely many miles and many months away from home, The helmsman, concentrating on the gyro in front of him is a study of seriousness. Other ships are not just obstacles to get around but also objects that give scale to the sky and water.
Driving across country can be an awesome experience, but driving across country with a camera in the seat. beside you changes the world. You “see” things differently. Clouds cause you to look for a foreground that reveals their majesty (Photo 4). The lone tree in a field becomes a symbol (Photo 5). A dry creek bed becomes an array of light and shadow that leads the eye to a landscape that you would normally ignore (Photo 6).
Walking – just walking – with a camera in hand causes one to notice not just the longhorn in the pasture, but also the shape of the branches in the tree behind him (Photo 7). One sees not just a wall of graffiti, but also its relationship to the people walking by it. One of my friends once said if you wait long enough the perfect person will walk into your photo. How often do we sit patiently waiting and watching for the perfect person? How often do we patiently put ourselves with open mind in a plaza watching for the perfect moment? That moment when a man sits down a few feet away and begins putting on clown makeup and children form a semi-circle in front of him watching intently (Photo 8). That moment when the gondolero is framed in a dead end doorway (Photo 10) The moment when the street performer dressed as Spiderman takes a break and sits down to play chess with an old man, watched by the Pink Panther (Photo 9).
Going out with a camera is a lot like fishing. Sometimes you get nothing. Sometimes you come home with a big one.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Like it or not, we live in a capitalist society. Unless one is lucky enough to be independently wealthy it’s really hard to make a living – even a poor one – through art alone. The list of famous artists who had to support themselves with a day job is a long one. Phillip Glass was a plumber. Mark Rothko was an elementary school teacher. Ezra Pound was a banker.
Everyone pays lip service to the importance of art. If you asked the average person on the street which is more important – painting, music, sculpture, and literature; or carbonated sugar water what would they say? Yet the annual revenue from Coca Cola is $43 billion. The US art market is $30 billion. Does our money go to artists or lawyers, stock traders and bankers?
Look at Venice. One of the richest cities in the world at one time. It is a showcase of beautiful buildings and public art that its population invested in to give themselves a magnificent quality of life. Even the doorknobs are often works of art. Five hundred years later it is still astounding. How many people 500 years from now will travel to Houston to appreciate what we did with the riches that have flowed through our city? It’s nice to have the kind of economy where Tilman Fertitta can have a yacht with two helicopters if he wants, but do we need to prioritize that?
In order to support artists it isn’t necessary to give them money (but that helps). Just pay for their work. Buy original art that someone studied and worked hard to produce. It doesn’t have to be complicated at all. Buy what you like and what you’d like to look at next year and the year after that. One of my goals with abstract photos is to produce something that one can come home to, sit quietly in a big chair and forget their day while they have their evening whisky (Photo 11).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.flickr.com/oneeighteen
- Instagram: louiscvest
- Other: Email Address: [email protected]
Image Credits
Lou Vest