Hi. I've been sitting with this for a while, and I'm wondering if you can relate. The thing that stops most of us from picking up the phone to record in the studio isn't fear of the camera. It's more often this small, exhausting question we ask ourselves: "what am I even going to record?"

That question is what kills the habit, even when it sounds like fun to record your art.

I believe decision fatigue is the real culprit. By the time you've decided what to work on with the studio time you have that day, whether the lighting is okay to record with, whether anyone wants to see this part, you've already spent the energy you needed to record. So the phone stays down, again.

The fix is might sound too small, but it works: Write a shot list once for your art practice that attracts and immerses the right people into your world, and you can stop asking yourself that question.

Here are the five immersive shots I'd start you with so you can start looking around your studio before we meet -- in case you decide to join us on Sept 30th for the Record Your Art to Immerse workshop session. And these five are intentionally boring because boring is what survives a real life week:

1. Hands. Your hands making art your way. Loading the brush, wedging the clay, dragging the dip pen, heating the metal, threading the needle.
2. Materials. The art supplies before it becomes part of the work. Spools, pigment, slabs of clay, palettes, color swatches.
3. Space. The wide view of where you work and spend your time. Not staged but lived in. The corner, the desk, the window, the stool, the pile of paper, the plants, references pinned to your wall.
4. In-between. The moments between that aren't the finished works. Mixing, waiting, sitting, organizing, observing, cleaning a brush, tidying a surface, undoing a stitch, looking closely at a layer.
5. Pages. Sketchbooks, your notes, the back of an envelope where an idea started.

That's it, our five immersive shots. Every bit of recording you'll ever do when you want to document your art in an immersive way can fit inside one of them. Now I'm not supposed to have favorites...but that fourth shot is mine, and it's the one few of us record. I believe it might be the most honest footage we could ever have of ourselves as artists.

In the Record Your Art to Immerse workshop, we'll talk through these five one at a time. I'll show you a real example for each, and then we'll pause so you can write your own version. By the end you've got a list of five immersive moments that are yours, plus you'll pick the one to record next.

Join us for the next workshop: It's on Wednesday, September 30 at 2pm ET, and the replay is included. Early bird ($77 USD) is open through Monday:

​https://readytorecord.com/immerse​

Reply with any workshop questions you have! I'll be here, ready to answer.

Keep creating,

-Zach

P.S. If you already know which of the five you'd record first, reply and tell me! I'll write back to you and it helps me plan the examples I'll include at the workshop. ☀️