Kick Start My Future

OPINIONS NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:

I am not asking you for money. I just need your opinions. I am considering asking for crowd funding that will enable me to start making money (even if it is just a little) from both my music and my photography . I am asking that you please read the following information, and tell me if you think asking for crowd funding in this case is a good idea.

Retirement Sucks!!!

I want out of retirement. It was forced on me almost 3 years ago to begin with. But, I am healthier now than I have been in the last 25 years.

I am a self-taught photographer of some minor successes in event, travel, industrial, and nature photography. But, my primary photographic goal is to produce photographs for my own projects such as e-books, books, calendars, and my web sites. When you visit my blogs you will get an idea of what I want to accomplish.

In retirement I have also become a fair to good (singer, songwriter, guitarist) musician. The only thing that stops me from becoming great is time and a very mistreated body. My fingers do not always cooperate with my mind. But, I do not seek to be a star, only a player. My goals are to travel, photograph, play music as a busker (street entertainer), and pay my way in this world. And, I would not turn down an offer to play a scheduled gig. I cannot do that on my Social Security disability check. It would please me immensely to turn that check over to the Wounded Warriors Project, or other organizations that I would like to help, on a monthly basis.

My Plans.

Travel, photograph, play music, post and sell. I want to turn my personal blogs into commercial projects. I want to take the time to visit the people and places that I had to pass by as a trucker. I want to photograph the people, places and things that I see, and post stories, reviews and articles about them on MadDadKeith, my travel and photography blog. I want to photograph trucks and truckers at work. Trucking was my profession for 35 years. This will be my payback to the profession that I love in spite of all of it’s faults. I want to meet, photograph and tell the stories of the street entertainers that I will search for wherever I go. And, I want to post their stories on Tunesmith Tavern. And, I want to try my hand at busking (street entertainer) as a guitarist/singer.

Repaying Those Who Invest In Me.

I am taking this project one step at a time. If this project is approved helping me get this van will help me Kick Start extended projects in music and photography. Currently, I am asking for small investments that can be “made by you” and “repaid by me” through the simple purchase of my stock photography. Essentially, I am sticking with my lifelong motto: Keep it simple. Keep it fun. Get it done. I am in the process of rebuilding my SmugMug photography website to match the directions of the plans I am describing here. Through crowd funding my first photographic publication will be a calendar of street entertainers from Las Vegas. More info on this calendar will be posted very soon, along with the minimum amount of investment needed to get the calendar. When my web site goes back up you will be able to get immediate repayment by purchasing special offers from my photography site. I will furnish a link to my site where you can “immediately” download different sizes of my photographs for possible personal or commercial use. It will take far more work and time to get e-books and books ready for market.

What I have, and what I need.

I need something similar to a conversion van. I have a 2002 Acura (in good shape) that I will sell ($6,000 or best offer) to help me buy the van ($8,000 to $12,000 minimum) that I need. I can live in a decently equipped van, but not a car. I lived in the sleeper of a truck for 35 years, so I know exactly what I am in for. I do not need a fancy or new van, but it needs to be a mechanically sound van. And, it needs to be equipped with an “Auxiliary Power Unit” to keep me warm or cool without the need to run my van. The APU will also run my electronics for music, computer and photography. I can install the rest of what I want or need, or I can do without it.

I have most of the photo equipment that I would need to do any project that would interest me. Like every other photographer I know of, there is always something I want. But, for now, it is not necessary. I shoot with Nikon equipment.

I have a Fender CD140 accoustic/electric guitar, a Fender Acoustisonic Junior amp, and a Roland Micro Cube buskers amp. If my busking starts making money I would love to purchase a Fender Strat and a Tele, a Gibson Les Paul, and a higher quality acoustic guitar. First I need to find out if people are willing to “tip” me as a busker.

A Typical Road Tour for Me.

I am not soliciting for money to travel on. What I am asking for is help to get the “motel on wheels” transportation that would enable me to keep my expensed down to a minimum. The following would most likely be my first trip.

I would plan to spend about a month at a time on the road with the possible exception of favoring (perhaps) Las Vegas for my busking work, and travel only as a photographer. An typical extended (photographic)  trip would take me north out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, into what is known as Little Switzerland in Southern Colorado.  I would work my way through southern Colorado into Utah visiting and photographing historic and natural landmarks before dropping down into Nevada to photograph Las Vegas, concentrating on street entertainers. Eventually I would wind up busking in Las Vegas. When I leave Las Vegas to return home I would travel back across I-40 with side trips do photography work in the Sedona and Grand Canyon areas.

A side note: I am currently in discussions with a long time friend of mine who lives in Las Vegas. He is shopping to buy a hope there. I am discussing a relocation to Las Vegas to try to build a reputation as a permanent street entertainer in that city. My only hesitation about doing this is the current financial crises this city faces.

And, if this works?

Much will depend on the response to my music. I look on the photography as a source of revenue to look forward to receiving in future sales. Busking, if my music is accepted, will create immediate travel expense money where I can continue to work as a busker and a photographer. What I am hoping is to find that Las Vegas can be my central location. I have lived there before. I do not gamble. It is the energy that the city creates that attracts me. Future road trips would depend on acceptance of my music, photography sales, and my health.

Future trips would include both busking and photography. My photographic specialties would remain travel (including the R.V. lifestyle), event, industrial, and nature photography. All of these specialties would fit well with my travels. My music covers rock and country from the 1950’s through to today’s hits, some songs that I have written, and songs that are primarily enjoyed by people in the trucking industry.  I concentrate on music that sounds good as a solo guitarist/singer.