something burnt me a few years back when i was heavily shooting weddings. all the competitive back stabbing, the omnipresent mediocrity growing each day, the quality and authenticity suffering and cheapened, the world of “friends” and “likes” determined your value…all the bullshizz.
i turned the station off and unplugged.
i wanted to create, but not play with others. i wanted to focus on my path and not get pulled into the knives out world that caused me such anxiety. it was a form of self preservation. if i wanted to survive i had to unplug. i poured my energies into my work and not the negativity. it was good and bad.
and it has become my double edged sword.
because i still have my lone wolf tail in a dark cave.
thankfully over the last year or so as i have heavily shifted my work into commercial photography directions i have been handed some light. i am moving more to it each day. just last night i read an article in PDN titled “all together now” and the opening lines cut through my protective cave and stuck on a nerve. it says…
“the archetype of the photographer as lone wolf, more likely to be fiercely competing with peers than collaborating, remains strong in our collective imagination. yet that archetype was never more outmoded than it is now. the rise of the internet, and accompanying ubiquity of social media, has helped a new generation of photographers to pool their talents and knowledge like never before.” (dzana tsomondo/PDN)
and i want to embrace this light, the “us”, the “we”, the community. fully.
i want to grow.
i see more.
and now i stand in the light.
exposed.
barking.
calling for community.
with an opened mind and heart and desire to grow.
do you hear me?
…
[ let’s connect ]
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