As I continue to go in a counter direction of most professionally oriented contributors in microstock, I have decided to forgo the sensible white studio wall and turn my space into what I call a "living" studio. My "studio" is actually our empty master bedroom It's a fairly large room, but still much too small to be a very useful shooting space...I've worked in some grand spaces, gotten spoiled by vast coves, and stretches of hardwood lit by bays of old windows in downtown lofts...As I've reduced my circumstances in order to be creatively free, the possibility of ever having a large space to shoot in again is unlikely. I live in the desert. I'm painting. I'm printing. But I need to continue shooting and need beautiful backgrounds. By using the walls as photographic backgrounds I take back a few feet that a canvas or seamless would have used up. But it is a commitment...The mud, American Clay, is expensive...and I'm pretty sure anything I shoot against this treatment will be most difficult to isolate-a cardinal sin in microstock! However, I will also be refining a particular style I've already begun investigating with my still life work, and forcing myself to continue following my own path regardless of the trajectory of the greater need. I continue to hope that niche work will be accepted at Dreamtime. So far, they have been wonderfully open minded, thus fostering my personal journey.