Promoted Work: Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.

Billy Kidd

Billy Kidd ran a Kickstarter a few months ago to fund his exhibition Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story. If you are going to be in New York over fashion week then you really should make a point of going to this show. I'm on the otherside of the world but I'll be getting a print.

I wish Billy Kidd and Heather Huey the best of luck.

Promoted Work: Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.

Billy Kidd has an incredible Kickstarter project which is entering into it's final few days of funding:

Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.

Please take a diversion and go take a look at Billy Kidd's project - it is beautiful. His project only gets funded if it reaches it's goal before the deadline. Because of the nature of his work, it's not going to be funded by casual backers. It's up to us to help push it over the line.

It's worth backing even if you can only afford a couple of dollars - it all adds up. If you can afford a little more, he has really beautiful prints on offer for your support.

Get behind this, there is not much time left.

Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.

COME ON!

The name of this site is The Quiet Front from which you can infer that I want to use it to fight for something. For me, that something is art and beauty.

Art is pitted against mindless, commercial "content" where images are just a vehicle to serve up pageviews so that advertisers can mine your personal information and sell you shit that you don't need.

Images are not "free" - you can pay for them with your privacy and giving up your time and attention to bullshit advertisements or we can find another way.

A lot of incredible artists have embraced the web and share their work openly, we owe it to them to support their creativity and spirit. We need to do this directly. I don't know the whole answer but we can do this by buying prints or subscribing to small independent publishers (like REVS or 032c) or pledging to creative projects on Kickstarter.

I don't want to be a passive, gormless consumer. I don't want this site to be a place where passive, gormless consumers come and get their daily dose of "free" stuff. The price of admittance is that we support great art.

[Rant over.]

Go and support Billy Kidd's Kickstarter project:

Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.

It's a beautiful project.

Kickstarter has an "all or nothing" policy so we cannot be complacent - there is less than a week left. Billy Kidd needs our help to push his project over the line. He deserves it. You can pledge as little as a few dollars but every pledge accumulates and can make a big difference.

7 Reasons Why I'm Backing Billy Kidd's Kickstarter Project

I'm backing Billy Kidd's Kickstarter project:

Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.

I thought I would tell you why.

1. If we don't do it, no one else will.

Many of Kickstarter projects have been really successful - they deserve it, there are some really great projects in there but when I look at them, they are all pretty safe, nice and accessible projects that any casual backer can get behind.

I don't think that the casual backers are going to get behind Billy Kidd's project simply because of the nature of the work he does. While I commend Kickstarter for being open-minded enough to host Billy Kidd's project, I would be very surprised if they were to push it onto their front page.

That leaves us, Billy Kidd's fans, to push this project over the line.

2. It's worth more than it costs.

Value in art is a very subjective thing and prone to the whims of the market but this is really a no-brainer for me. Billy Kidd is on the rise, getting one of his prints now, before this show, has to be a very good investment.

There is also the value of knowing that you made a contribution to a great project. I'm never going to sell my print so for me the value is personal.

3. It's secure and easy.

I have never backed a Kickstarter project before and there is always the question of how difficult the process will be. It took me less than 2 minutes to back Billy Kidd's project, the payment went through Amazon so you can be pretty assured of your security.

4. Billy Kidd is a nice guy.

I don't know Billy Kidd personally (I live on the other side of the world) but I have followed him on his site I was shot by Billy Kidd for a long time. He is generous in showing us his work but he also takes the time and effort to publicly respond to the questions and comments from the people who write to him.

If you are interested in his work or in photography in general, you will be well served in following him. If you can't afford one of the larger pledges, it's worth pledging a few dollars simply for the contribution he has already made to the photographic community.

5. We have to find our own way.

Things have changed in the last few years and the new generation of photographers have embraced the open web - Billy Kidd being one of them. They publish their own work on platforms like Tumblr and share their work freely.

We have to find a way of supporting the artists we love because the model that exists now sucks balls. Advertising is fucking bullshit, it is antithetical to artistic endeavor. I don't want to ever see another beautiful image flanked by some nasty gonzo shit. Even innocuous ads for car insurance or the like are bad because they rely on pageviews and tend to cater to the lowest common denominator.

We need to change.

I don't think Kickstarter is the whole answer but it is a good start - we as a community of people who love art need to find a direct way of giving artists our support.

We can start now with this project.

6. Heather Huey.

This is my first exposure to the work of Heather Huey. Her body cages are beautiful and their form adds another dimension to Billy Kidd's photographs. This is a great collaboration.

7. It's a beautiful project.

Besides all of my reasons for backing this project, the most important and most obvious is the project itself. It deserves our backing entirely on its own merits. And for that you should go check out the project yourself:

Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.

Promoted Work: Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.

Billy Kidd has an amazing Kickstarter project!

What is Kickstarter?

A lot of people really don't know what Kickstarter is so I thought I would give a brief description of how it works so you understand what I want you to get behind.

Kickstarter is a way for individuals and small independent groups to find people to fund their creative projects. Anybody can contribute from as little as $1 but the beauty of this crowd-funding is that even small pledges accumulate and can collectively make a really big difference. Many of the projects offer great rewards for your contribution - it's also safe and easy.

The one catch is that if a project does not meet it's funding goal before the time runs out then they get nothing - that's a big reason to make a contribution if you feel strongly about a project.

I like the idea of Kickstarter but no project has compelled me to actually put down hard cash - until now.

Why you should support Billy Kidd's project.

I am not going to try and describe Billy Kidd's project here - he can do that much more comprehensively (and eloquently) himself. I am just going to tell you why you should support it.

If you are a regular reader of The Quiet Front, you will know that I'm a big fan of Billy Kidd. His work is warm and deep. His site I was shot by Billy Kidd is a fantastic resource for his photography and you can find an entire archive of his work - all of it brilliant. He also gives freely of his time and advice to answer questions asked by the public.

Billy Kidd deserves our support - he has earned it before we even get to his actual Kickstarter project which deserves our support entirely on it's own merit - it is a fantastic project:

Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.

Billy Kidd is offering great rewards in the form of prints, books and some of Heather Huey's beautiful textiles.

I really care about this because this is not just about Billy Kidd - it's about all of us. If we can't push this over the line then we all lose and we lose in the worst possible way - capitulation. Cheap, plastic, mindless, ad-supported, content-farm bullshit will win. We can't let that happen.

Support art. Support beauty. Support talent. Support love.

Support Heather Huey was shot by Billy Kidd. A love story.