I Love Your Stories- Conversations with Artists and Creatives with Hava Gurevich

Photographer Jeff Pfaller joins host Hava Gurevich to talk about dark sky photography and rare natural phenomena—aurora, the Milky Way, comets, eclipses, and more. Jeff shares how he moved from writing and advertising into photographing what cameras can reveal beyond human night vision, why he cares less about technical perfection than capturing the feeling of being there, and what it’s like to chase events where so much can go wrong. They discuss planning versus unpredictability, learning to embrace imperfect conditions, guiding trips for photographers and non-photographers alike, doing art fairs, and Jeff’s evolving definition of success—finding fulfilment in making the work, with selling as a way to keep doing more.

Website
https://jeffpfaller.com/  
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/pfallerj

*Shownotes*

Jeff explains what “dark sky” means and how it relates to night conditions and environments without sunlight.

How long exposures allow cameras to capture light and detail beyond what the human eye can see at night.

Jeff’s background in writing and advertising, and how storytelling shaped his approach to photography.

His early struggle to capture the feeling of travel experiences in photos rather than just documenting places.

The moment he first photographed the Milky Way and became fascinated by what exists beyond normal perception.

His experience seeing Yosemite’s firefall and the emotional impact of witnessing rare natural events.

Why he focuses on capturing how a moment feels instead of technical perfection or photo-realism.

The challenges of photographing rare phenomena such as eclipses, comets, and unpredictable weather conditions.

The importance of embracing imperfect or unexpected conditions and finding beauty in them.

Planning ahead by scouting locations in daylight and using apps to predict where celestial objects will appear.

His perspective on gear and why he believes smartphones can be powerful tools for night photography.

Balancing photography with a full-time remote role as a UX writer at Mozilla.

Selling prints and wall art online, along with guided trips as a way to share experiences with others.

Encouraging people to experience moments with their eyes first rather than focusing only on the photograph.

The value of guided trips and witnessing others experience rare natural events for the first time.

His focus on family, sharing these experiences with his children, and creating meaningful memories together.

Why he chose art fairs as a way to connect with people and build relationships in person.

Lessons from art fairs, including humility, rejection, and the importance of personal connection.

How photography can trigger personal memories and emotions in viewers.

His evolving definition of success, focusing on enjoyment of the creative process rather than outcomes.

Viewing sales as a way to continue creating rather than as the primary measure of success.

His journey from writing novels and scripts to making art for personal fulfillment.

How people can find his work online and meet him at art fairs in the Midwest.

Creators and Guests

HG
Host
Hava Gurevich

What is I Love Your Stories- Conversations with Artists and Creatives with Hava Gurevich?

I Love Your Stories is a soulful conversation series hosted by artist and creative guide Hava Gurevich, where art meets authenticity. Each episode invites you into an intimate dialogue with artists, makers, and visionaries who are courageously crafting lives rooted in creativity, purpose, and self-expression.

From painters and poets to healers and community builders, these are the stories behind the work—the moments of doubt, discovery, grief, joy, and transformation. Through honest, heart-centred conversations, Hava explores how creativity can be both a healing force and a path to personal truth.

If you’re an artist, a dreamer, or someone drawn to a more intuitive and intentional way of living, this podcast will remind you that your story matters—and that the act of creating is a sacred, revolutionary act.

[MUSIC]

What does it mean to chase rare moments

and keep showing up,

even when conditions

don't line up perfectly?

Welcome back to All of Your Stories.

I'm your host, Ava Gervich, and today I'm

joined by photographer Jeff Feller,

whose work centers on rare dark sky

phenomena like northern lights,

eclipses, comets, and

other fleeting natural events.

Our conversation explores

expectation and uncertainty,

how much can go wrong when you're

photographing rare events, and

how to handle those moments

creatively and practically.

Jeff shares his journey from a coherent

advertising to photographing

the hidden world revealed through lung

exposures and patience.

We talk about what first drew him in, the

early imperfect images that changed

everything, and why he's less interested

in technical perfection than in

capturing the feeling of being there.

Jeff, welcome to the podcast.

Now, quick word from our sponsor, and

then we'll get right back to the show.

When I started selling my art, I had

absolutely no idea how to actually turn

it into a business, a

professional business.

And then I came across art storefronts,

and that was a game changer.

I've been a customer now for years, and

they've been instrumental every step of

the way of helping me succeed.

I have a gorgeous,

powerful commerce website.

I have marketing tools and a membership

to a community that is very supportive,

and teaches me how to

succeed as an artist.

Check them out, artstorefronts.com, and

tell them how I sent you.

Welcome back to I Love Your Stories.

My guest today is Jeff

Fowler, who is a photographer.

And I actually don't know

a whole lot about you, so

I'm gonna let you tell us a

little bit about yourself,

and kind of what got you into

photography, what kind

of photography you do.

Yeah, sure, sounds great.

Thank you for having me.

So yeah, I'm Jeff.

The past four or five years, I've been

focusing specifically on dark sky

photography or astrophotography.

So taking pictures of the stars, the

moon, aurora, northern lights,

those kinds of things.

While I've been doing that, I also got

attracted to rare dark sky phenomena.

So a lot of it happens at night, so thank

comets, meteors, those kinds of things.

But there's also even rarer events,

like a waterfall that looks like it's

catching fire in Yosemite,

rainbows caused by

moonlight, red sprites.

There's all this insane stuff that

happens in the dark.

So- So let me ask a question before you

get too far into it.

Yeah, sure.

Can you, I only heard about the term dark

sky as a term very recently.

And I'm just wondering if you could kind

of talk a little bit

about what that is and

what it is that, how it

applies to what you do.

Sure.

Yeah, I think the official designation

for dark skies is stuff that happens at

night, basically.

So there's an organization called Dark

Sky International, they certify things so

that it is an official thing that exists

out in the world, the term for

how dark a place gets.

For me, it's basically anything that

happens when there's not sunlight.

So that could be weather, storms, things

that happen after sunset and sunrise.

I guess the nighttime for sure, but I've

broadened it a little bit.

So, would it be fair to say, like I'm

thinking about the

actual term photography,

which is photo light, drawing with light,

and traditionally sunlight or artificial

light. In your case, you are drawing with

lights that are night sky lights.

Is that like the moon,

the stars, things like that?

Yeah, exactly.

It's still using

light, same kind of concept.

In some cases, it's sunlight because the

sun reflects off the moon.

And when you're doing nighttime

photography, that can

actually light up quite a bit of

the landscape.

But other than that,

it's very fragile light.

If you live in a city and you look up,

you can't see the stars.

If anybody's spent time chasing the

northern lights, it can

get ruined by a lot of

different things.

And I think the interesting thing about

photography, for me anyway, for dark sky

photography, is the human eye, one of the

first things to leave us as we age.

We're not great at seeing at night.

We're not great at seeing color at night.

But all that stuff still exists.

And because the camera can stay open for

longer and see more

light, it reveals this

hidden world that almost

exists beyond our perception.

And yeah, it's wonderful.

When you take a picture and you see it

show up on your

viewfinder, because you can

see it immediately, it's really exciting.

What got you into

that type of photography?

Or actually, let's go back a little bit.

Do you want to just a little bit about

maybe what you studied?

How do you got into photography?

Yeah, sure.

So I started off completely non-visual.

I grew up wanting to be a writer, novels,

screenplays, that kind of thing.

And pretty early on, I kind of saw it

like that's really

competitive and it's hard to

do, or to have financial success anyway.

So I kind of pivoted a little bit to be

an advertising copywriter.

So still using stories and words, but to

help people sell products, build brands,

that kind of thing.

But was always working

with a visual person.

So not that I didn't have an appreciation

for it, but getting to

see their process and

how they looked at the world and how they

thought through things.

It made the writing that much more

impactful, I felt like,

and gave me a lot of insight

into the other side of the process and

got the part of my brain

that I wasn't using going.

But it was always, I

guess, story-based, right?

Like you're trying to sell stories about

products and stories about brands.

And then from a photo perspective, I

always loved travel and

photography was a way to

try and capture the memories, capture

what it felt like to be there.

And for the longest time, whenever I

would come back from a

trip, I'm sure a lot of people

have experienced this.

The photos didn't feel

like how it felt to be there.

It's like, "Oh, this is

not doing it justice at all.

This isn't what it was

like," that kind of thing.

So when I got serious about photography,

to me, that was the

shift, is trying to focus

on how can I capture what it feels like

to be there as opposed

to taking a technically

good photo or just taking, standing in a

place, taking a picture,

not thinking about it, and

then trusting afterwards

that I'm going to like it.

That makes sense.

Do you have a story that's kind of like a

pivotal story, like

the moment that you took

your first nighttime night sky, dark sky,

where you're like,

"Wow, this is what I want

to pursue"?

Yeah, I mean, there's

kind of two moments maybe.

So the first moment is when I took my

first picture of the

Milky Way and it was blurry.

It wasn't technically

not a good picture, right?

The photo focus, the composition wasn't

great, but like I kind

of alluded to before, the

galactic center of the Milky Way, you

can't really see it with

your eyes unless it's super,

super dark.

And even then, you can't get a sense of

the depth and the contrast.

Even on the VFinder and the raw camera

file, it just jumped out

and I was shocked at this

thing existed outside my perception.

So after that, I was definitely hooked.

But probably the moment where I really

like doubled down on it

and started going after

the dark sky photography specifically was

when I went to Yosemite.

I'd done like 14 trips or

sorry, 14 parks in 14 days.

It was a road trip during the pandemic.

I was laid off and I was like, "I'm going

to make the most of it."

For that, I thought dark sky photography

was just the stars and the moon.

In this park, at this time, or second

half of February, so

particular time of the year,

at sunset, there's a specific waterfall

where the angle of the

sun lines up just right.

It shines only

through the water at sunset.

It literally looks like lava is pouring

off the mountain in a waterfall.

The first time I saw it probably ruined

every other time I saw it

because clouds were covering

the sun for 15 minutes and then the

clouds went away and it

went from nothing to everything

in an instant.

It was like somebody threw a match into

the waterfall and it was

made of gas and everybody

in the park started cheering like they're

at a Beatles concert or something.

That's core memory type territory.

So I've been back to

Yosemite 18 times since.

Can't get enough.

Oh, that's amazing.

I think something that you said earlier

that really resonated

with me, this idea of the

reality that exists just beyond our

perception, but it's here

because we see such a small

fragment of it.

Here, such a small fragment of it.

Feel such a small fragment of it.

Would it be fair to say that to some

extent, when you say that

what you want to capture,

not just what you see, but how it feels

and this idea of like ...

I mean, it almost sounds

like this search for a

greater meaning of what's here.

Yeah, go ahead.

Sorry, I interrupted.

Perfect thoughts.

Yeah, no, I think it's feeling ... I

mean, especially with

things like the universe and

other planet, it's a way to tap into

feeling like you're part

of something bigger than

yourself.

It's also kind of primal

to who we are as humans.

There's not a culture on the face of the

planet that doesn't have a

legend about the constellations

and the moon is like a god-like status.

Even how we spread throughout the world,

we would not be as

successful as a species without

the stars because we use them to

literally find our way in

the dark when we're crossing

the ocean.

It's how people bonded with each other

when they came back to

the village after hunting

and foraging all day.

It's kind of a core part

of who we are as a species.

See it as a way to tap into that.

I think your point about trying to

capture a feeling ... I

mean, with your work, I don't

want to speak for you, but it seems like

your work ... You

wouldn't call it photo-realistic.

As far away from that as possible, yeah.

Exactly, yeah.

Speaking about that, there's the travel

part and I'm pretty sure

that you have professional

equipment so it's not just

an iPhone in your pocket.

What would you say are the biggest

challenges in pursuing the kind of

photography that you

do, the kind of images that you take?

Yeah, sure.

I'm pretty anti-gear actually.

iPhones take great dark sky pictures.

If anybody's listening and they're like,

"I can't go take

pictures of the stars and the

moonlights," an iPhone is

actually a really great tool.

That said, if you want to get star trails

or images of the

moon, there is specialized

stuff that you need to get.

But honestly, I think the biggest

challenge is because the

subject matter that I've chosen

is rare, right?

Comets come through

once every 60,000 years.

It's like, if you miss it, that's it.

Eclipse is the same thing.

You're pointing your camera at the

brightest object possible in

the sky and then in a second

it switches to nighttime photography and

you've got to take off

all your filters and change

everything.

And then you've got like a minute, two

minutes maybe, and then

you've got to put it all back

on.

So those aspects of it are challenging

for me anyway because

these are infrequent events.

They're not usual.

It's not like you can practice on

something without doing the actual thing.

But then also, because it's nature,

there's so many things

that can get in the way.

The waterfall that I mentioned, if it's

too windy, sorry,

there's no water there so you

don't get the same effect.

If it's cloudy, like oops, you need

sunlight to make this happen.

So that gets in the way a lot.

And over the years, I feel like I've

really tried to learn how

to...the perfect conditions

are never going to exist, right?

And probably the most interesting picture

is the one that I

didn't plan on and the one

with the challenging conditions where

it's like foggy and moody

and cloudy and all those

kinds of things.

And just being more open to

those kinds of experiences.

And if the shot I came to get isn't

there, taking what the

world gives me and finding

either beauty or small moments or

whatever you want to call it in the

things that I didn't

expect, if that makes sense.

It makes perfect sense.

It sounds like basically a formula for

having a happy life in general.

Yeah, right.

Absolutely.

And you were saying, you're talking about

a comet that comes every

what, 60,000 or something?

Yeah.

Or an eclipse and some other phenomenon

that are very rare and

you have one chance to get

them and 10 things that can go wrong.

It made me think of

storm chasers in a way.

Was that this sense of

trying to catch a fairy?

And that sense of maybe exhilaration of

when it happens, do you?

I'm assuming these are

fairly long exposures.

But do you, in the moment,

do you know this is the one?

Yeah, that's a good question.

A lot of it is long exposure.

Things like firefall and the other things

that happen at sunrise

and sunset, those are

not because there's enough light.

But everything else is long exposure.

I think you can kind of tell when you

look at the viewfinder,

I guess, are you able to

see what you're even shooting?

Because a lot of times you

can't see it with your eyes.

So there's a check there.

But I think it's also go to these places

when there's light out

so you can see where the

leading line's at, where's the

interesting foreground.

There's a play of apps that you can use

where you can say, OK, if

I came back here at 1.30

a.m., where's the multiway going to be?

And it's like, oh, there's a road that's

going straight that way.

And if I come back here at 3.30 a.m., the

Milky Way will be going

straight up from that.

So you can help yourself out for sure by

doing a little bit of

planning ahead of time.

So usually I feel like, as I kind of

split into two moments,

I feel like there's the

potential during the day when I'm looking

and seeing like, oh,

this can be really special

because the moon is going to come up

behind this chapel or

something like that.

And if I can capture

that, it'll be really good.

And then the nighttime, it's really more

about the technical execution of it.

Like, am I able to

properly expose the shot?

A lot of times you're dealing with

extreme differences in

brightness and darkness.

And if you can get that, then that's also

a moment where you kind of know like, oh,

I got the moon properly exposed.

I can see the craters.

But I also use the light or light painted

or whatever the technique was.

And I can see the foreground too.

I know if I put those two things

together, it'll be really nice.

Is doing photography your full time job?

Do you have another job or is photography

the only thing that you're doing?

And if so, how are you doing that?

Yeah, right.

Yeah, no, I've got a full time job.

I work at a company called Mozilla.

It's remote. They

make the browser Firefox.

I'm not secretive about that at all.

No, because it's right there next to you.

Yeah, right. It's right behind me.

Yeah, I'm a UX writer for them.

So it's still tapping into that

storytelling aspect I

talked about earlier, like

continuing to write for them.

And that's nice because they were fully

remote pre-pandemic.

So a lot of the infrastructure and ways

of working that come

with remote work, like

it's native to them.

It's something that they're very used to.

So it's very easy to and specifically

because I've picked

nighttime photography,

you know, work the nine to five during

the day when there's light out.

Then I've got a few hours to like go

around and see things while they're still

light out. And then if I'm willing to go

without sleep, I can stay out as late as

as late as I want.

But yeah, that that flexibility has kind

of made this possible.

You know, some of the infrastructure in

the parks is also made it possible.

Like I've taken calls from some of the

places I've been shooting and made

everybody on the call call jealous.

I bet.

Yeah, but it's a balancing act, right?

Like I still need the full

time job and the photography.

It's definitely more

than a hobby, but it's not.

So you do sell your

your photography, right?

Yeah, it's all a lot of it's online in

terms of like wall art and prints.

And then there's a few other calendars,

books, that kind of thing.

And then also do guided trips.

So that's actually my favorite part about

the photography is getting to help people

see these things.

Oh, you take them to

like the park and at night.

Yeah. Yeah.

And sometimes it's photographers who like

they're coming to try and learn about

shooting at night and getting the shot.

Sometimes it's people that, you know,

know probably more

about photography than I do.

And they're just looking for access to

these interesting locations and an

understanding of the conditions.

And then there's some people who just

come with their iPhone

and they're they're just

there for the

in-person experience, which.

That would be me.

Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Like I like that because even the

photographers, you know,

I tell them, like, see it

with your eyes first, like experience it

and take a moment and don't get stuck

behind the lens or worried about the shot

that you're going to get.

Do you have any any stories about like

interactions or

conversations that you've had

with other people who come that you bring

to these places that may be changed or

enhanced how you approach it?

Yeah, that's a good, good question.

I mean, I think like for my own, you

know, eating my own dog food, right?

Like be in the moment, be in the

experience, not worry about the photo.

Like I say that, but I

forget it all the time.

I get stressed out about,

oh, this is the photo I want.

It's not turning out.

The conditions are wrong.

Like it's not like I don't feel those

emotions or experience that.

So that's continually a good reminder

because, you know, I

have people come on the

trip and, you know, like I do this trip

to see the synchronous

fireflies and you're in

the woods with tens of thousands of

fireflies all around you.

It's literal magic.

And, you know, I'm thinking about like,

I'm out of focus and

now I need to fix that.

And how do I do this

and all these things?

And then, you know, there's just this,

like one of the trips,

I had this like 70 year

old good old Southern boy from Tennessee

and he's giggling like a little kid

because all the fireflies are like

dancing around his feet

and like blinking back and

forth and it's like, yeah, even if I come

up with no photos, like this is like a

miracle is happening around us right now.

That's pretty incredible.

So that's the most valuable part.

It's like big.

When you, when you were telling the story

about that first time seeing that lava

waterfall and how it felt and, and like

the skies parted and suddenly it's there

and everyone's cheering and it was your

first time and you

even said it like ruined

it for all the other times.

I mean, if you're bringing people to a

location and maybe you've been to that

location before and, um, but there's

always going to be somebody that's

experiencing that magic for the very

first time, I think that's like one of

the best things about

teaching in general.

Yeah, I would agree with that one.

Yeah.

So what are you most

passionate about right now?

Oh boy.

Right now getting more sleep.

Uh, I think a lot of photographers

already, like they know the struggle with

sleep because you're, you're chasing like

the good light is that sunset and

sunrise, so you're always chasing that.

Right.

And then, um, now I've somehow managed to

choose or choose a thing in between that

that, uh, gives me even less sleep.

So, um, no, but, uh, I think in terms of

like where interest lies, um,

you know, right now, like right now is

the time of year where I'm usually like

pausing a little bit and reflecting and

thinking about what's next.

Um, so, you know, I've got three kids, so

that's obviously like a big focus right

now cause they're all in different stages

of life and figuring

out how to, you know,

best support them.

We've got some family trips planned.

Um, yeah, cause they've

seen some of this stuff.

Like that's how also I justify it is like

it, it becomes our family vacations

to, uh, go see an eclipse, um, which

thankfully they're, they're into and

don't complain too much about.

Um, so next year they're all coming to

see the, uh, the fire fall, like the

lawful waterfall and none of them seen

it, uh, before, so

I'm, I'm really excited

about, um, you know, all the things that

we're talking about with like teaching

and experiencing things for the first

time, like being able to share that with,

um, my family.

It's like passing, yeah,

something generationally.

Yeah. Um, you, you, you do art fairs.

Is that correct?

Um, so is that, how

did you start doing that?

How did you learn about

them and how many do you do?

And so, you know, there's an art fair in

the town I grew up in, um, that I was

always going to as a kid, um, but, um, so

I was aware of them.

Um, and then, uh, you know, before the photography was done, I was

like, oh, I'm going to do that.

And then, um, before the photography, um,

my most previous side of the

household was a publishing company

focused on Midwestern poets, writers.

You're not publishing my own things, but

publishing other people's work.

So I was trying to make a decision about

where I wanted to focus and, um, art

fairs cropped up because that was the

part of the publishing company

all the publishers go,

they set up tables and booths.

People come up, you talk to them, talk

about your work or the books.

They talk about what

they're interested in.

And you kind of have this

like in-person conversation.

And I really liked that.

Like I've over the course of that

journey, you know,

some of my best friends,

uh, I met as a result of that.

Like I've got, I've got several lifelong

friends that I met at these book fairs.

Um, I was doing it with my best friend or

one of my best friends, um, from college.

Like he and I were partnering together.

Um, so I just had a lot of positive

memories about that process and

the aspect of talking to people.

Um, and some of the other routes like

social media and an online, like I'm

showing my age, like I

don't really love social media.

I don't think I'm good at it.

So I didn't want to go that route.

The gallery thing felt

like really competitive.

Um, so yeah, I just picked art fairs

because it was like,

I know I like talking

to people and being in person and it

feels like there's, you know, I'm in

control of setting up my own thing and

creating my own spirit experience.

So that was the route I was going to go.

Um, and yeah, I really enjoy the process.

You know, there's parts of it that I

don't like, obviously, but, um,

I do about 10 a year usually.

Um, so you, you enjoy being like in a

booth with your art and having people

come and like, they

probably ask a lot of questions.

Yeah.

A lot of, a lot of people ask, um,

surprisingly, like this is a question

I wasn't really expecting to get a lot.

They were like, Oh,

are you the photographer?

And you know, which

that's a fair question.

Um, I think because, you know, at other

places it's, you know, you go into a

coffee shop or somewhere else, you might

be talking to the owner, you might not.

Yeah.

I always read it as they

just don't know what to say.

They want to engage.

Yeah.

But, um, you know, I take it for granted,

like being an artist, you know, all

those years in grad school and then

teaching and then working in galleries

and museums, like I talk art, like I see

art, I understand art, I talk to artists.

So, um, there's always like, sometimes

you have to ask for a point of entry,

like, you know, where's the door here?

How do I enter?

Um, but I'm never in a place where I

just, I don't even know

how to react around art.

But I think for a lot

of people, it's a way in.

Um, yeah, I think you're

a hundred percent, right?

Like it's a, it's a conversation starter.

It's a way to open it.

Um, it is like kind of funny cause like,

there's kind of really

nowhere to go after that.

Like, yeah, yeah, that was there.

It was me.

Um, so it's not necessarily like the most

effective conversation starter.

But like I said, because I think I like

engaging with people, um, and I learned

this like relatively early on is the more

that you can get people talking about

themselves, like the easier, like it

takes that pressure off

and it makes it easier

to get a conversation.

And because I shoot national parks,

nature, um, like I think that I've

learned is like the best conversations

and the most interesting people I've met.

They've either been to the place in the

photo or they really want to go there.

So that is an easy.

Yeah.

You tell me what your time in Yosemite

was like, like you

tell me your story about

being out and seeing this thing.

Um, you know, talk about that core memory

that you made with your kids when

you saw a bear outside your car.

I think that goes very nicely with what

you said before about

wanting to capture a feeling.

Yeah.

Because if, if your photograph, uh,

triggers a memory or a feeling in someone

else, it's, it's going to be very

different from your

own, but the photograph

did its job.

Yeah.

Right.

It reminds them of what

they felt like be there.

Um, and luckily I mean, a lot of people

love nature and they have those kind of

formative, meaningful

experiences out in the wild.

So, um, I think the art fairs is also

like a, it's a really good lesson in

failure as well, um, because like, I'm,

I'm there for a reason.

Like, yes, I love talking to people, but

I would also love to sell the owl, uh,

and, you know, um, have them hang some of

the art on the wall or buy a calendar or

buy a book or that kind of thing.

And I, you know, I don't usually try and

sell too hard when people come in the

booth, like if you're interested in

something and I can

tell, but if somebody's

not like in a buying mood for who knows

why, like there's an infinite number of

reasons, which is totally fine.

Um, but I do ask for, uh, an email

address so I can continue to communicate

with them so that if things change and

their style does change or they have the

space open up or they move to a new

place, like I can still be in the

consideration set, the number of people

who, you know, gosh over it, you know,

like your work is amazing.

It's so beautiful.

I love this place.

Like you really capture it,

like going on and on and on.

And then to say, Hey, like I'm, I'll

raffle off this free piece of art.

You don't have to pay anything for it in

exchange for your email address.

And they're like, no, no, thank you.

I'm okay.

Like the, the, the, it very quickly goes

from like, like, love it.

Like it lists like you're amazing to

like, I'm not even going to give you your

email address.

So it's a, it's a very good lesson in

humility and like, uh, yeah, the ask

is very small, um, and it's

not enough to get over that hump.

But, uh, again, like it's all they're

looking for is that connection, right?

Like they're, they're looking for that

moment, that good feeling.

And like, even if my art can photos can

give that to them and, um, you know,

that's it, uh, at the end of the day, I

can still feel pretty good about that.

Right.

Like it's, it's not a bad thing that by

any stretch of the imagination.

So that actually segues really well to a

question I like to ask, which is what

is your definition of success and how has

it changed over time?

Yep.

Um, yeah, so maybe like, like the

anti-gear question, maybe my

answer is a little bit unexpected.

Uh, I feel like, like

I've already succeeded.

I specifically intentionally tried to put

myself in that mindset before

I started selling anything.

Um, you know, I'm trying to focus on art

that I get all the enjoyment,

validation, good feel,

whatever you want to call it.

I want to get all of it

out of making the thing.

Yeah.

If I sell nothing, like

that's completely okay.

Yeah.

That's, that's actually, usually when I

speak with artists, that's,

that's the answer, like the number one

thing is just being able to do it.

And, um, selling is

just the cherry on top.

Yeah, right.

Well selling, I mean, for me, selling

enables me to do more.

Right.

Cause I probably wouldn't have gone back

to you somebody 18 times.

Uh, if, uh, I wasn't bringing people who

are kind of helping pay, pay my own way.

I mean, I w I would love to, it's not to

say that I don't want to do it, but,

uh, the economics of it are a little bit

harder when you're not getting paid for

it, but, um, you know, if you told me I

could go there by myself tomorrow, I

would, and you're not going to sell

anything from what

you shoot there or like

you have to leave your camera at home and

you can't photograph anything.

Like, yeah, great.

Would love, love to say less.

Yeah.

Um, has it, has it changed over time?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think for sure.

I mean, especially when I was trying to

do, cause I just, you know, wrote short

stories, screenplays,

novels, that kind of thing.

And it wasn't that like, I was still

writing what I wanted to write.

Right.

Um, but, uh, there was

kind of baked into that.

Um, okay.

I've written the thing and now if it

doesn't get published, like that

doesn't feel like success, right?

Like the first couple novels that I

wrote, um, that, I mean, in all fairness,

that were not publishable.

Um, like I don't, when I look back on

them now, I still don't have that feeling

of like, Oh, like I wrote a book.

Like that's a huge accomplishment, right?

Like not many people are able to do that.

And like I made the thing, the manuscript

is probably still, it's still

sitting on an old computer somewhere.

Um, but I think like once I moved away

from like kind of leaving that behind

and focusing more on making the thing

that I want to make, like, I think I

started enjoying the process a lot more.

So the last writing project I did was I

wrote a Star Wars script.

Like that's never,

that's not how it works.

It's never getting

picked up by Lucasfilm.

Like they would throw it in the garbage

if I sent it to them for like

cop net, like whether it was

good or not, like just copy.

Yeah, they would, they would ditch it.

But it was like, I want to like, I would

love to write a Star Wars movie.

So I'm just going to do it.

And I don't care that nobody makes it

because I am taking it.

Like my part of the process is making the

script if they were paying me for it.

And then after that, it's

kind of out of my hands anyway.

So I get all the fun part of it.

And then because I didn't pin it to

Lucasfilm seeing it, I

was super happy about it.

Yeah.

But like if I had pinned it to it getting

made, like it's a fit, I've

already set myself up for failure.

Like I failed before I even started.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That that's, that's very true.

Um, so how can people find

you both online and offline?

Right.

You can go to JeffFauler.com.

Uh, that's where I'm online.

Um, all the social media accounts and

everything is, uh, there.

And then in person, um, I am going to art

fairs around Chicago, some in Michigan,

the one in Lowell, um, you know,

Fallisburg, I go to that every year.

So yeah, if you live in the Midwest and

like going to our affairs, um, if I

manage social media, I announce my

schedule and would be

happy to see people in person.

Awesome.

That was really wonderful.

Thank you very much.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for having me.

I appreciate that.

Okay.

Thanks again for tuning in.

That's our episode.

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