Wild Art Wednesday
Wednesdays are interesting. They have become this fluid day that has very little hump anymore, what with all the brains working remotely on a permanent basis, and seven-day-weeks commonplace, because of the flexibility of remote work.
Wednesdays at Texas Fly Caster have evolved over the decades as well. From Water to Wild Art, the transitions are hardly smooth or coherent today. Maybe defining “Wild Art” before I refine Wild Art Wednesdays here, is a good place to start?
What is Wild Art?
Back in the day of real newsrooms, real writers and real photojournalists, editors had a need for photographs to “fit holes” in their layouts of a paper newspaper -a newspaper made of real paper. While photojournalists were respected in the newsroom, they were also counted on to do things writers were too good, they would say “too busy,” to do. So an editor would pop their head into the darkroom, or photo office, and ask, “Got any wild art?” meaning they had a hole to fill with a feature photo. Sometimes we would squirrel away some wild art for just such a question, and other times? Other times it meant “go get us a feature photo so we can fill this hole.”
Wild Art hunting was one of those crutches that showed just how newspapers worked. It was expensive in all reality, to go out wandering the countryside, looking for a different image of something that was overlooked by the average passerby. And that was the enticement – photojournalists could make a lot of coin on mileage, and we did. In fact mileage was what kept photojournalists on the payroll – a deductible expense that is income for the photographer. Feel Free to Think. Is it any wonder newspapers are becoming extinct?
Here and Now – Wild Art Wednesday Freeing Minds With the Art I Find
In the here-and-now of seeking Wild Art for readers, I realize there is not a crowd that pounds down the site looking for their man cave artwork here (sorry no license plate sign kitsch), but still I try to free some minds with the art I find, buy and sell here in PoPs Fly Shop at Texas Fly Caster. It’s much like those days chasing interesting angles or events in North Texas and Southern California photojournalism.
I push the bounds because of my formal art training, and because who really needs normal? I was the guy in the newsroom who they could count on to find circus tents going up, tennis courts being painted and single shells made into drought flags. Some things will never change. So have a look and see if you can find the thread that holds all the art together in PoPs Fly Shop.
Thanks for reading on this rainy Wednesday, and I’ll see you at the movies tonight in The Colony, Texas!
Category: Fly Art, Fly Shops, Life Observed, Wild Art Wednesday
