Hwhup The Deans List? The Jason Dean here, bringing an end to the Weekend like it was Julius Caesar with the senate in session.

Anyways. Let’s get into it.

The Gallery gallery show

Fairly big announcement here, folks- I’m going to be having my very first Gallery show in May!!!

It will be hosted at The Gallery as a part of their rotating Judy Sarosik Rotating Gallery series. I’d say I’m over the moon, but I might be closer to Mars even. More information to come, but if you are able at all to make it up/over/even down to Marquette during the month of May, please consider checking it out!

New Art in my own space

Here’s what I’ve been cooking up in the lab 😎

The photo above is the cliffs at the Black Rocks and represents the photography direction I have been moving into. It’s clearly…something, and for people in Marquette it might even be recognizable as the cliffs at the Black Rocks…but it’s not immediately clear. There is some tension, some uncertainty as you enter the photograph.

That is 100% intentional!

As an artist, I am trying to create experiences when you’re engaging with my work. I’m not trying to take ‘good’ photos- whatever that means- but photos that are interesting, unique, and make you ask questions. Pictures like this one are bread crumbs that let me know I’m on the right track.

One of my core tenets as a photographer is that the world is a beautiful place; even (some might argue especially) the things that are common or routine. It’s why I don’t follow many travel photographers on social media. Sure, they’re sharing pictures from beautiful vistas and gorgeous ocean fronts- but to me, they’re basically glorified travel agents (or worse)(Editors note: Don’t let the presence of a certain word fool you; the previous link is Safe For Work).

Now don’t get it twisted- if I become filthy rich, I’m going to travel and bring my camera with because it would be really freaking cool to take pictures of beautiful vistas and gorgeous ocean fronts. Until then, you can find me taking photos of common things like this pine tree at my parents house.

I didn’t intend the three pieces I shared today to have an ideological throughline, but they did and they do so I’m gonna talk about it I guess. This is a photo I took of one of the shutters outside of our house. It was a bright, sunny day, and I was struck by the shapes and the lines and the shadows.

It sounds kind of simple, I know- but that’s the way my brain works. I see something that’s interesting or beautiful or unique and I want to experience it and share it with those around me. My camera is how I do that.

March Madness Bracket Challenges

Selection Sunday is later today, which means that we will know all of the match-ups and potential match-ups for this year’s March Madness NCAA Tournament. But you don’t need to know those things before joining the first ever ‘The Jason Dean Invitational’ bracket challenge. That’s right, folks, I have created groups for the Men’s and Women’s tournaments this year that you can be a part of! Click the links, enter the password, which for both groups is TheJa$0nD3an, make your picks (when the match-ups have been announced), and then spend the rest of the week hating your past self for being so, so wrong. Winner gets a free photo (8×10; unless I win, in which case 2nd place gets a free 5×7)!

Limit one entry per person per bracket. No purchase necessary to win and you do not need to be a member of The Deans List or subscribed to my newsletter.

Live Streaming

Photo editing live streaming starts in a couple weeks- March 31st at 7:00 PM EST. I’m doing a soft launch on March 24th (same time). If you’d like to be a part of that soft launch, send me an email at [email protected]. Would love to see you there!

100 Day Project Update

Here’s where ‘We, The Songs We’ve Sung’ stands after about 7.5 weeks- AKA oh my goshness we’re over halfway through the project.

Waves are Wednesdays Preview

Behold, the wave image that I will be sharing on socials this coming Wednesdays:

Thank you again for being a follower and supporter of my work. It means the world, friends!

We’re Dreaming returns next week

I spent most of the week recovering from a whirlwind downstate trip last week and some unexpected (by which I mean, unfortunately, totally expected) snow shoveling this week so I was not able to devote time to my Dreamer segment. Sorry, fellow dreamers! We’ll be back on track next week.

In the meantime, enjoy a couple of photos from the Big Lake Theatre Co. promo shoot for Fun Home. I had a fun time editing these- the graphic novel that the show is based on has an interesting art style; black line art with a gray-blue wash, so the only color present throughout is blue. With the blessing of the directors and in homage to source material, I did a series of edits to create a similar esthetic for the promotional photos. I really like how they turned out!

Tickets are on sale now. Also, check out Big Lake on Facebook and Instagram to see more of these photos, as well as the other incredible things they’re doing!

There’s a ginormous winter storm rolling in today that may have already started by the time you’re reading this. If you’re in the blast zone, please stay safe!

See you around,

Jason