Like many creative people, I am always trying to improve my skills. My eye for visuals, my feel for story, my ear for sound and my own priorities are always changing.
Unavoidably, this creates a problem. The work that I did in the past does not live up to my current skills. Problems that did not bother me when I originally created things become glaringly obvious with the passage of time and my own improvement. Also, artistic decisions can seem questionable as my experience grows. Sometimes, this is evident at a technical level: equipment improves, software improves, results improve.
The result of this phenomenon is that I am increasingly unhappy with my work as time goes on. Yet, I don’t want to delete my past work or banish it to the abyss.
On my death bed, I would like to look back and watch through my life’s work and see the progression and improvement.
My solution to this is what I call “the vault”. I routinely backup my previous work on hard drives. I have taken thumbnails of my work and placed them on this page in chronological order. This way, I can show off “the best bits” of my past work and acknowledge that it exists but not have it front and center. If anyone has a burning need to see any of my past work in full, they can contact me – otherwise, it stays in the vault.
2015
2014
2013
2012
2008
2005
2004
2003
2002