Check Out Trace Deaton’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Trace Deaton.

Hi Trace, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started my creative life after watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. The next day I announced to my kindergarten class that I was in a band and played guitar. I was 5 years old. The teacher told me to bring it in for “show and tell” the next day. Uh. oh! I went home and cried at the dinner table and told my mom that I had lied and told everyone I had a guitar! Being the superwoman that she was she called some musician friends and found someone to give me an acoustic guitar. I became a rock star the next at school.

I’ve been playing guitar and lying ever since that day. 🙂

I went on to have a 40year career in music and it was everything to me.

At the age of 16, that same wonderful mother bought me my first camera…,a nice Minolta 35mm and it opened my mind up to another world of creating. I started photographing my friends and that soon led to photographing models for modeling agencies. (Not a bad gig for a young man)

At age 40 I decided to get a “day job” (1 out of 5 stars…do not recommend) and leave the music business since I had not become Paul McCartney…. yet.

I ended up running a camera chain in Cincinnati called Pete’s Photoworld and then i began working for advertising agencies and eventually newspaper companies, developing internet marketing strategies for both small businesses and large corporations. It was the early stages of online advertising…even before Google and Facebook had advertising revenue models. It was the new frontier and the wild, wild west. And I loved it.

After 20 years of the hustle, I developed heart failure and actually died…twice! When I finally woke up in the hospital I hallucinated for a solid week. I later found out it was from fentanyl and propopol. I saw lots of crazy things that weren’t actually there and thought the nurses had kidnapped me and took me to live in my former residence in Colorado.. I was eventually nursed back to health and then retired early from the internet advertising hustle.

The hallucinations, I believe, opened my brain up and has led me to be super creative for the last 5 years. I am at my peak creative skills in my modeling photography work and have since become published in dozens of magazines across the globe. I have started to create digital art (which I hadn’t previously done) and sell a decent amount of that art as well as my landscape photography from across the US.

I have learned to create video in the last couple of years and work with a few different artist including Nashville resident Adrian Belew. Adrian is a virtuoso guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who has won an Oscar for his soundtrack to the Pixar animated short “Piper” he has preformed with David Bowie, Frank Zappa and Talking Heads. I love creating visuals for his fantastic solo records.

In edition to this, I started writing and recording my own music again and feel it’s my best work ever! Music is simply pouring out of me these days in many different forms and genres. Getting back to playing music has been a true blessing. I feared that music had passed me by. I’m so happy to report that it, like me, is still alive and well.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have been truly blessed and most, if not all, of my obstacles and issues were self-inflicted. Sometimes I allowed outside influences and self-doubt hinder me in accomplishing my goals but I have proven to myself that I’m stronger than I could have ever imagined and now try to help others as much I have the ability to do.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

Well…this is a difficult one because I do so many different things that even I am confused by it sometimes.

I used to be known primarily as a musician but over time, I developed a little recognition as a photographer and then digital artist, video producer, and then full circle back to musician.

I enjoy creating positive art that I would love to think allows people think and feel. Whether it be photography, art, music, or video. Positivity has become a central theme as I have gotten a little older.

I’m proud of the support that I receive from the people who seem to enjoy my work and that they allow me to explore whatever form of art I choose to express myself.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Kindness and positive energy go a long way. Even if I’m not exactly feeling my best, I still try to make others feel good and give encouragement. You never know what someone is feeling or going through.

Contact Info:

• Email: Traceartography@yahoo.com
• Website: www.Traceartography.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/Traceartography
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/tracedeaton

Image Credits
Traceartography
Trace Deaton