A Conversation with Harun Mehmedinovic

My friend and fellow Jack Kent Cooke scholar Harun Mehmedinović has started his second Kickstarter project, Persona. His first book Seance became one of the top ten Kickstarter campaigns for a photography of all time. His photography features amateur models wearing flowing gowns or costumes that inspire feelings of wonder and incongruity within the settings. The settings range from the coast of Malibu, National Battlefields, old farms, mountains and deserts, New York's Times Square and the L.A. County Museum of Art.

One of his many images of the day from Vogue Italia.

I've known Harun for a few years now. I first knew him as a student filmmaker who was in the process of making his future critically acclaimed film In the Name of the Son, which he made while working on his MFA at the American Film Institute. The film, drawn from his experiences as a boy surviving the Siege of Sarajevo, received the first exclusive screening for congressional officials for a short live action film.

I admired not only his skill with the camera, but his ability to connect to people through art and by extension to attract backers for his project. I myself was in the process of publicizing a book and had written a screenplay I had developed a budget for and thought about Kickstarter, so watched Harun's project with both the passion of a fan and professional curiosity. And like all good fans, when it succeeded, I felt as if I had succeeded.

When Harun started his second Kickstarter campaign I became curious about what he had learned from the first one to apply to the second project and also about his influences.

Harun Mehmedinović
The lesson of last Kickstarter is without at least 8-10 hours of work a day, nothing happens that day.

Jerry D. Mathes II
Wow. Good to know.

Harun Mehmedinović
Three days I took off in the last two campaigns. Two of them I had $50 for the day. The other day was $150. Without hour after hour of work, nothing happens. 3000 personal messages translates into maybe 100-150 donations or so at best

Jerry Mathes Author Reading at Rediscovered Books November 21st at 6 p.m.

Ahead of the Flaming Front reading and discussion Start: 11/21/2013 6:00 pm End: 11/21/2013 7:30 pm Join me on Thursday, Nov. 21st at 6pm at Rediscovered Bookshop located at 180 N. 8th Street Boise, ID 83702 for a reading, signing, and discussion about Ahead of the Flaming Front. Here's the write-up: Jerry Mathes is a local author published through Idaho's own Caxton Press who fought wildfires for fourteen seasons. He has taught writing at the University of Idaho and at the Southernmost Writers Workshop in the World at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica. From the book bio: In Ahead of the Flaming Front, Jerry D. Mathes II takes readers into the heart of wildfires from the forests of Idaho to the deserts of the Mexican border—and directly into the lives of the men and women who face the terror, beauty, and hardship of life on the fire line. His story testifies to their extraordinary camaraderie, forged by thunderstorms that scatter lightning and hail, high summer heat and shivering nights in which bears prowl through wilderness camps, and quiet days of reflection, waiting for what may come next. I hope to see you all there! - Jerry