Pride = You Can't Please Them All

Newsletter + Video + Vintage Photos

Recently, I’ve REALLY got into colorizing black-and-white vintage photos. It’s both an art and a craft. One that I’m still learning.

Thankfully, with the help of a handy-dandy app called PhotosRevive, the process is relatively fast, easy, and customizable. The results? Judge for yourself.

The Stonewall Inn

Marsha P. Johnson + Sylvia Rivera

Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE black and white photography. I subscribe to the philosophy that any image that doesn’t work without color doesn’t really work. For me, color is seasoning and spice…but the lights and darks are where the real meal truly is.

Since it’s officially “Pride Month” I decided to put my new interest in colorization to good use on some classic images from LGBTQ History. One of the videos is above. More are below.

JUST ADD COLOR PLAYLIST

While making these videos, a few things kept popping in my head that I’d like to share.

1. Pride isn’t about making anyone else happy. It’s about finding your own definition of happiness.

2. Pride isn’t about doing things because they’re popular or trendy. It isn’t about getting more clicks, likes, and/or money. It’s about following your heart and doing what’s right for you and your life.

3. Pride isn’t about artificial intelligence, bits, bytes, and/or computers. It’s about irl emotions and expressions. It’s about blood, sweat, and tears. It’s about history and humanity.

All of that may be self-evident to many. But many of us, myself include, can get swept up in trying to figure out how to please external things like the “algorithm” instead of connecting with internal things like hearts and mind. Starting with our own.

What’s my point? Well, since starting on YouTube, I’ve been trying to figure out how to grow the channel, how to “optimize” it, and how to make my “garden” grow. I’ve also been learning a lot about what I do like and what I don’t like about being a YouTuber.

While the Analytics are interesting, they aren’t why I create these photomontages.

I make these because I love making and sharing LGBTQ history and stories. All of LGBTQ+ history and stories. And not just the videos of affectionate guys Al/Algorithm seems to prefer promoting. Maybe our current audience prefers them.

But it’s not all I’m interested in making. And as lovely as the audience we have now is, they will like what we do…or they won’t. Oh. Well.

So going forward, I’m express my creativity and Pride how I want, when I want. Al/Algorithm be damned.

This may end up “hurting” the channel in the short run. But it may also help broaden the audience by connecting to the other branches in the Family LGBTQ+.

Grethe Cammermeyer

Sylvester + Harvey Milk

To that end, I’m currently working on three colorization videos. These are the working titles…and hopefully will be premiering in the next day or two:

1. Affectionate Women Colorized

2. Affectionate Men Colorized

3. Gender Splendor Colorized

Based on experience, only one of these will do “well” for the channel. At least for now. Who knows what might happen later.

Also based on experience, Pride can have a Butterfly Effect. Its initial impact may be felt in the moment. Or not. But its ultimate impact can only be measured much later, through a lens of time and space.

Pride is a part of human history. And we’re all part of it…we’re all Making History!

Thanks for reading!
Clint

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