I liked that you started talking about how to create context in the presentation, although some of the slides were a mystery to me without the experience of your presentation.

Did I just have a meta moment, needing more context for a presentation about how to creat context?

I think so :) I intentionally left the explanation of how to create context out, with just a couple of examples. My plan is to tell the story during the talk itself, but perhaps it would help to outline it a bit more. Your feedback is similar to @Bonifer's comment, so perhaps that's something I should improve.

Two notes: 1) Your instinct to distinguish story from narrative is spot on, though I don't fully agree with how you draw the distinction. Think of it like this: Narrative is Quantum; Story is Newtonian. Narrative is flow, movement, change. It is nature itself. It is existence. It has many beginnings, middles and ends. Story is the technique we use to create context, give meaning to, define relationships, and realize value from within this flow. If you were Native American, you might say that Narrative is the River and Story is the Fish. If you were Hindu, you might say that Narrative is Brahman and Story is the Gita. A Christian might say narrative is God and story is the Bible. If you were Joseph Campbell you might say Narrative is myth and Story is one face of the hero. Motherhood is a narrative. Jim and Pam having a baby on "The Office" is a story. etc. etc. You get the idea.

2) I hungered for more context (!) around the connection between photography--or any artistic endeavor for that matter--and emerging career paths. You are, for me, the primo living, breathing, Mardis Gras float riding epitome of this connection, one shining face of the Hero, and I wanted more of your story as it relates to how you operate as a artist/businessperson in the networked world. How do your photography and your conversations with Umair Haque, for example, relate to one another, or inform one another?

Great and profound work, as always. Sorry I can't be at this, and hang with you at SXSW this year, I have to be in the Midwest on biz, and am also doing workshop at Notre Dame. Let's compare notes in a few weeks.

1) I admittedly hadn't paid much attention to the difference between story and narrative, and was definitely thinking of it looser than you. I'll consider how to change to match the intent and the audience. Looking at your description of narrative and story, I'm definitely thinking more about stories, about the techniques and tactics that create context and how they can be used to make better art and better business.

2) Great, fantastic point, and it's something I'll have to really think about to make this talk better. This is a narrative I was planning on integrating through the actual talk itself. The emerging opportunities to create and sell context are creating emerging career paths, but the battle I fight in my mind is telling artists to take their art from content to experience. The opportunity isn't just how to sell art, it's how to *make* art.

One point / question: I didn't want to make this talk about me, but more about others, and to help others think about their art and business, because my own individual path is one that is very hard to understand or copy. But, would it help to tell more of my own story?

Thank you: your thoughts, greatly appreciated, as always.

Post-SXSW, we'll talk...

Yes, it will definitely help to tell more of your story. The point, I think, is that your use of photography is particular to you, and your ability to create a singular perspective and context. If you were to cite your use of photography as the only, or most useful, approach, I'd be concerned, but I think it's instructive to present as one facet of the larger perspective.

Also, you hit on something powerful when you talk about CREATING good stories. (vs. telling them). The obligation, whether as a photographer or a blind person, is to make good stories. They are out there, coursing through the quantum narrative, in abundance. It's up to the artists, the storytellers, the imagemakers, the listeners and the poets to identify them, and point them out to others...

Yes, creating good stories is the opportunity. Telling a story does create context, but creating a story creates much richer interactions, and it's these richer interactions which are the biggest artistic and business opportunities today.

And because the economics of creating context have changed (i.e. cheaper to connect, create communities, empower niches), creating rich experiences, rich interactions, etc. is more available, possible, and powerful than ever before.

Loved the presentation. Provoking me from the perspective of an app idea I working on and as someone who's just gotten back into photography. The power of stories is huge in orienting our direction and connections, and finding a narrative in my photography is something that feels like a missing piece for me.

Awesome. That's an interesting point, that as someone just getting back into photography you're looking to find a narrative to make the photography better; but for experienced photographers that already think in narratives with their photography, expanding the narrative beyond their photography is the business opportunity.

Interesting. And for me what resonated about finding a narrative in my photography is giving it a purpose and helping filter decisions about when and of what to take and edit photos. I like photography enough to invest increasing time and money in it, but was at a plateau needing to focus my effort before it can go any further. That needs a narrative. A purpose. Fuel for the passion.

Check out @Bonifer's comment above, it's great about thinking about narrative and story and thinking about how they interact. It fits a lot of our past discussions about meaning, fuel, passion, etc...

(btw, I keep hitting like when I mean reply. not that I don't like the comment, but lol :)