I have posted frequently about my friend (and personal physician) Henry Domke. I learned this morning (by email and blog post) that he has decided to leave medicine and do art full time.
He cut back his medical practice some years ago to devote more time to his art but this announcement will be a shocker (I suspect) to his patients and the local medical community.
Just as Dodge City wasn’t the same without Doc Adams, Jeff City will miss Old Doc Domke.
“Over time, niche content will change the economics of television. Millions of Americans will add one or more Internet-connected set-top boxes to their living rooms. Once they do, look out. As they discover there is niche HD video content that matches their precise interests, the existing TV networks will see their viewers erode even more. Further, brand marketers will see they don’t need media to reach people in their living rooms. They too will produce their own content that will be distributed over the Internet for consumption on TVs.” — Steve Rubel on Apple TV:
For example: I’d love to watch a weekly 10 minute tour of the Prairie Garden Trust by Dr. Henry Domke. Just Henry walking and talking, sharing his love and fascination with the flora and fauna. Okay on a video iPod…great on Apple TV.
Henry says I first mentioned blogging to him in 2003. He let the idea percolate for a while and emailed me last weekend to say he was ready to start blogging (he’s a thoughtful guy). I stopped by his office a couple of days later for my Are You Ready to Blog lecture. By the time I left, Henry had lost his blog virginity and had a couple of posts up at HealthCareFineArt.com.
Along with his medical practice, Henry has built a very successful business creating digital images for the health care industry.
Where was I? I remember. While Henry has a beautiful website, he had concluded a blog would be a valuable addition. People he knows and trusts warned him “this blog thing” might be a distraction. And he came to Dr. Steve for a second opinion.
Aside: Have I mentioned smays’ theory that the first 48 hours are critical in the life of a new blog? At the end of two days you’ll wind up with one, sad little “toe in the water” post… or a dozen or so posts.
I’m proud to report Dr. D. comes down solidly in Column B. He is off…and..running. And, like all good blogs, he has focus. He’s writing for and about the health care fine art space (the oxygen is thin up there).
Like all natural bloggers, he didn’t need much help. He came armed with passion, creativity and something to say. And he hasn’t stopped saying it. He is… empowered!
(Throw up the Prediction graphic)
A year from now, a Google search for “health care fine art” will take you to Henry’s blog. Comments are open, so if I’m wrong… I want to hear about it.
If any smays.com readers with blog want to give Henry a little link love, he’ll appreciate it and so will I.
For some really amazing photographs, stop by the Rozier Gallery here in Jefferson City for a tandem show by Dr. Henry Domke and his good friend Vaughn Wascovich, a Professor of Photography at the University of Missouri. The opening is January 6 but their work will be exhibited through February 24. Henry has captured some beautiful images of lichen, while Wascovich “celebrates the power of photography and the land in our backyards.”
The Rozier Gallery (map) is located in the Union Hotel at 101 Jefferson Street. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Henry wants to know my ten favorite podcasts and blogs. I read a lot more than 10 blogs a day, but if I had to pick 10, they would be:
Scripting News, Boing Boing, Dilbert Blog, Doc Searls, Jeff Jarvis, Mark Ramsey, Micro Persuasion, Podcasting News, Seth Godin, and GrowLearfield.com + all of the Learfield blogs. Links to the right.
As for podcasts, I don’t think I listen to 10 on a regular basis, only because I don’t have time. I sample others from time to time bu the ones I listen to regularly are:
MacCast, Keith and the Girl, Podcast 411, This Week in Tech, Diggnation, NPR Technology, This American Life, Cutting Edge (Business Week).
All are weekly except Keith and the Girl which is daily. Usually an hour.
Henry shares some beautiful (a poor adjective in this instance) images from his recent trip to Colorado, where he concentrated on Lichen and of the Aspen trees.
“At first glance the colors of the skies, leaves and lichen appear to be too saturated to me, but that is the color they were.”
You’ll also find some amazing new images at Henry’s website.
My friend Henry Domke has produced and posted the first Prairie Garden Trust Podcast. Friends and supporters of PGT can now get regular updates via podcast. While I’m not exactly an “outdoorsy” guy, I’m stoked about Henry using this new technology. He invested a couple of hundred bucks in a podcast starter set (mics, mixer, headphones, etc) and is using GarageBand3 (MacBook) to produce. In a matter of hours, he had his first show online, ready for subscribers. His first show has a couple of rough edges but he’ll smooth those out as he goes.
In The Old Days, he might have tried to find a radio station that would give him (sell him?) some time on a Sunday morning. Today, he’s global. Anybody, anytime, anywhere. If they care about his topic, they can listen. Still another example of The Long Tail at work. No topic is too obscure. If one person cares enough to produce the show … and one cares enough to listen, the costs of production and distribution are so close to zero, there is no barrier to getting started.
I’ll explain the provocative headline, but first, a few words about smays. I don’t photograph well. Too much gum showing (or none). More grimace than smile. But I’m not self-conscious about it, as evidenced by the frequent images here at smays.com. Then, every once in a while, someone takes a photo that I really like. Henry took this shot and it nicely reflects my mental image of myself. Sort of “Keith Richards-without-the-guitar-or-the-money.” It’s probably as simple as: good photographers see things differently than the rest of us.
Speaking of really good photographers. One of the people working with Henry and Bernard on the tree house project is their long-time friend Nick Kelsh. I thought he was just a sweaty, middle-aged guy yelling instructions at me down on the ground. In fact, Nick is a nationally prominent photographer, co-founder of a successful Philadelphia design firm and the author of eight or nine books. What Nick is not, is self-conscious. This is what Nick called his “gay porn” pose, chosen to showcase his improvised safety harness. Nick’s son, who was on the ground with me, seemed neither embarrassed nor surprised, leaving one to wonder if this was the first time Nick has done this sort of thing.
If you only know Henry Domke from smays.com, he’s just my podcasting doctor buddy with whom I goof around each week. His passion for healing is matched by his passion for digital photography and he specializes in images from nature. I’ve linked to his work before and some of his pieces grace the walls of our home. A lot of his work winds up in hospitals, clinics and doctor’s offices where –like Henry– they calm and heal. From the comments section of Henry’s website (scroll down a bit):
“One of our patients told me how much inspiration she received from one of your framed pictures. She told me that while she waited for her name to be called to go back for chemotherapy, she would gaze at the picture. She said the way the sun shone from behind the tree made her think that the Lord was going to walk out from behind the tree.”
Tell me, how gratifying is that for a photographer? Henry recently added some amazing new images that make you want to spritz on the Deep Woods Off and grab your Nikon.
The local newspaper did a nice feature story on The Living Healthy Podcast, complete with some nice pix of Dr. Domke and his Faithful Indian Companion. The sub-head (“Domke joins growing number of doctors who offer advice via podcast”) seemed like a bit of a stretch. I’m unaware of any physicians in mid-Missouri who are podcasting. In fact, if you know of any podcasting docs anywhere in the state, send me a link.
The reporter who wrote the piece, Natalie Fieleke, was trying to find something of a trend here and had to reach a bit to find any medical podcasts (Johns Hopkins, Arizona Heart Institute, Mayo Clinic, etc). But that’s okay. I think Henry is just early to the dance on this. As of this posting, it doesn’t appear the article is on the News Tribune website. If I find it, I’ll add a link.
The goal of our little podcast is to provide information to Dr. Domke’s patients (and others) and a little MSM pub can’t hurt. Thank you, Natalie.