Slothicorn Introduction - RTB <3

Hi @slothicorn community, my name is @run-the-bits, aka <3aire, aka Luvaire and sometimes just Luv, for short. As far as visual art goes, I never really considered myself an artist (check out recent poetry and writing here), but I have always considered myself creative.

Early on, when the first (android) smartphones were released here in the U.S. (I still have the original G1), I began exploring photography and digital photo manipulation while travelling several hours round-trip to and from work via public transit. When I would get to work, often alone and for the earliest available shift, I would sit at my desk in the dark playing around with MS paint and basic internet browser-based photo editors for fun.

Sometimes I’d edit the photos I was taking or sometimes I’d literally Stumbleupon (anyone still use it? ik it still exists) DeviantArt posts and political cartoons that inspired me to play with different images. In fact, I did this so much in-between calls at my workplace that it became somewhat therapeutic for the stress of working in a small, high-call-volume support center. But as the company grew and we moved into the downtown offices of our new, larger corporate owners, you’re damn right I wasn’t able to get away with that kinda thing anymore.

This was definitely not the reason I ended up quitting shortly thereafter, but having lost this freedom, which meant more to me than even I had known at the time, leaving was just a touch more compelling.

Since then, I studied photography in college, as in, “took one class my senior year,” and began taking photos for friends’ events, vacations, and while driving around town delivering pizzas _{(hey, this ain’t a movie, walking out on that soul-crushing desk job doesn’t always end in dreams coming true)}. Which, I actually like doing precisely because I am not behind a desk inside all day and I have the freedom to create while working once again.

As for why I continue making the images I do, there are really only two reasons:

1. It’s fun
2. It makes me feel good

For me, it’s just that simple. I’m not entirely sure why or how else to describe it, but editing photos both entertains and fulfills me. Which is why, nowadays, my toolset still includes pretty basic, amateur-level things, all purchased used for good measure. My entire toolkit as of now consists of:

1. Old-ass, entry-level Canon Rebel T5
2. A Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Standard AutoFocus Lens
3. An LG G4 Android smartphone which shoots RAW and
4. Mobile editing software like Lightroom and Snapseed (because I like editing most all my photos on my phone)

For the past couple of years, I have been thinking about creative commons licensing of art as inspired largely by the unsplash community. In fact, a lot of my most recent and future stuff features the use of some of their (also others, like pexels’) high-quality images.

The fact that the #slothicorn community here on Steemit seeks to do the same thing, but for art more broadly, has inspired me to humbly commit what “art” I can offer for the larger creative community worldwide. For now, I hope to contribute images from both my Hubble Telescope composites series as well as my frcATL multiple exposures of single photos. Like these, already posted elsewhere on Steemit:

❤@run-the-bits