Kivgiq 2011: Six frames of Tikigaq women dancers

I hate to ask for more patience - a lot more patience - once again, but I am going to, because I now have a new plan on how to go about completing my posting of Kivgiq. I have changed the plan for two reasons. First, when I originally decided that I would post massive amounts of pictures here, I did not think that I was going to be able to dedicate a whole Uiñiq magazine to this Kivgiq. I thought that I would have just a few pages of Kivgiq in the Uiñiq that I am working on right now, so I would not be able to include many pictures at all.

I wanted people to be able to see the pictures, so I thought, "well, I'll just put them on the blog."

Now, while it is not yet absolutely certain, it looks like I will likely get to do a Kivgiq Uiñiq.

When people open that Uiñiq and look at the pictures, I want them to be seeing most of the images for the first time. But if all the pictures that wind up in the magazine appear in this blog first, there will no surprises.

So I thought, "well, I will do a serious edit and I will put the best ones aside for Uiñiq and fill this blog with second, third, fourth and fifth best and then Uiñiq can still be fresh."

But now I don't want all the best that appear here to just be second best, at best.

Plus, for me to figure out which is best and second best is more work than probably just about anyone imagines.

Right now, after having devoted several days to doing my first and second edits of Kivgiq, I have created a working pool of 2000 images to draw from.

But that's still a lot to boil down into first and seconds and thirds and when I sat down this morning with those 2000 working pool pictures in my editor to pick out 30 or 40 to post today, I thought, "how am I going to do it, without spending every minute of this day working on it?"

I have my Lightroom editor so that it shows six decent-sized thumbnail images at a time.

So, when I sat down at my computer and looked at my editor, six of the 2000 images in the working pool showed on my screen.

I suddenly decided that I would just post those six images and save the rest until I can get my Uiñiq done.

So here they are, the six images of the 2000 in the working pool that were on my screen when I sat down: women of the great Tikigaq Dance Group of Point Hope.

I did use one of them earlier, but I am keeping it as part of the six.

When I make Uiñiq magazine, there are always many, many, pictures that I want to use and that I know people would like to see, but I just can't fit them all in. So, as I work on Uiñiq, I will organize all these images into various categories. Then, after Uiñiq comes out and people get a chance to see it, I will do some more postings that will include both images from Uiñiq and the images that I could not fit in but that I know people will want to see.

Maybe by then, I can pick up some good animation techniques, so that I can do some sequences where one image flows into the next to create the effect of motion but not to look like video. Maybe I can find some good sound recordings and add a little bit of sound, too, so that people unfamiliar with the music can hear the beauty and power of it.

Then there is another factor in my decision. There is simply no way around it. I am exhausted right now. I have hit the wall, big time. I am always a hard worker, but in the past few months I have responded to certain situations by going into overdrive, by essentially working on one thing or another from the time I get up to the time I go to bed, often with only a few hours of very poor sleep separating those times.

Now, my work has become a blur to me. I can't see my own work. I look at it but it and my eyes focus on it and it is right there but it is a blur and I can't see it. I need to look away from it, for a short while, in order to see it again.

So, after I post this, I am going to drop everything, grab my wife, take her to town, go see a movie and buy something good to eat.

That is what I am going to do.

I will yet do justice to Kivgiq 2011, but just in a different manner and on a different time frame than I had originally envisioned.

View images as slides

Comments

[Lavina~mom of the grandsons]

yay! enjoy your date! love you guys!

[Rocksee]

Beautiful Bill.. AS always.

Sometimes you gotta step back. You just have to.. I hope you and Margie had a super time on the town tonight..

Take care... and amazing amazing stuff.

[Wasilla, Alaska, by 300]

We did, Lavina.

Yes, Rocksee - sometimes to step forward, one has to step back. Thank you.