Inspiration comes from the weirdest places [Mark N]
If you’ve known me for awhile, then you’ll remember me having mentioned this awhile back. If not, let me introduce you to one of the weirdest things I was ever a part of: WHISKERINO.
Whiskerino was an event of sorts that happened every 2 years. The originating concept was kind of like ‘no-shave-november’ on steroids… a couple of creative dudes in Nashville decided to promote creativity and beard growth by starting an online beard growing competition. The rules for ‘members’ of the online community were simple:
#1: shave your facial hair on november 1st
#2: don’t shave (or preferably, even trim) again until February 28th.
#3: post daily pictures of yourself and your ‘progress’.
#4: post the photos, comment on others, enjoy the community!
I started working at starbucks in Joplin in 2007, a few years after the thing had first started rolling. Somebody brought the website to the attention of the barista brotherhood, and if you ever passed through Joplin MO in late 2007/early 2008, now you know why every male that worked at the 4th street starbucks looked like a hobo….
There were members of the online community in Nashville, Joplin, California, the UK, Australia, and beyond. At the end of the ‘growing and showing’ time there was a big party in Nashville, with over 300 attendees.
(see if you can find me. I don’t think I have yet…)
So why was this a thing?
What made it fun?
Why did people even take part in such a ridiculous idea?
Two things…
Community and creativity. Two things that are never strangers to each other.
Any time you can set up a (no-pressure) community for creative folks, you are also fostering creativity. The setup of the website- with (healthy) competition, some loose deadlines, and a simple element of goofy fun- was the perfect recipe for getting a lot of folks to do something unique and original. Even if it was silly.
I still have fond memories (2009 was the final whiskerino, as it had outgrown its’ creators and was becoming a monster to admin). It got me outside of my box, and solidly gave me my first thoughts about creating a cohesive series of images. That kind of thinking and experimenting later led to ‘cold brewed’ and other projects (take a look at the list of ridiculousness whiskerino alum Lance & I have collabed on since, at Brothers-brothers).
There’s still so much to be learned from this ridiculous little exercise of growing a beard and snapping pictures of it.
Sometimes, as an artist, you have to stop taking yourself so seriously. Remember why creating is FUN (when you let it be). And be intentional about community, whatever the reason for its’ forming.
Don’t have such a community to join?
Make one. And if you’re not up for that quite yet, do some research. For every group of artists- writers, photographers, fine artists, and more- there is some form of online (or in-person) community inviting you to join, create, and be inspired.
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For fun, I’ve including a few images from my 2nd round whiskerino series here, from 8 years ago in 2009, when I decided I’d just take a picture with my (then) 1 year old son each day. I thought I could hold that up for about a week… but it went all 4 months.
You can see the whole 4 months’ worth of photos here.
