The Way I See it!

Adulting has a way of sucking the fun out of life. Bills, work, finding that beeping fire alarm whose battery decided to die in the middle of the night.

Simply put, YUCK!

Hobbies are meant to be a reprieve from all of that. An escape from reality. A way to break free from the rules and responsibilities of the day-to-day. But what do we do when our hobby becomes more serious and even turns into a source of income?

There are undeniable similarities between transitioning to adulthood and maturing in our hobbies. There’s an eagerness to reach a certain stage. Once we achieve that status however, the reality isn’t always as rosy as anticipated.

Photography and artistic expression have been a gift. I enjoy the world in a new way. I find beauty in unexpected places. It's as if my eyes were open before, but now I am truly seeing.

On the flip side, with progression and recognition comes adjustments we often don’t foresee. Heightened self critique. Chasing the next amazing image and opportunity. Keeping up with the Joneses. In essence, the ‘adulting’ of the artistic experience.

I’ve been working on finding a better balance between maintaining a high standard for my work and giving no F’s. Easier said than done though.

My best work comes from a sense of play. It comes from working without expectation and embracing the unknown. Keeping that spark alive must, therefore, be the priority above all else.

I’ve recently set out some guidelines for myself in an effort to accomplish just that. The goal is to produce images I can be proud of, without sucking the life out of the process.

1. Learn new techniques, but have fun breaking the rules. The unexpected outcomes are often the most rewarding.

2. Take pride in the work, but don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good. Not every piece shared needs to be a showstopper. Art is so subjective. There’s often a surprise audience for the work you don’t think meets the mark.

3. Share the work in hopes of it resonating. At the same time, understand that the value comes from the creative process making life exponentially better, and not the outcome.

4. Pre-visualization has its place. But spontaneity and being open to what the moment has in store, leads to opportunities beyond the imagination.

5. Enjoy perfecting a niche, but know that variety is the spice of life. Branching out of the comfort zone is challenging, but it is also incredibly rewarding.

I’m not reinventing the wheel here. All this stuff seems obvious as I put it all down. But how often do we actually put adulting aside and just have fun on our day off? How many times have we prioritized the 'to-do' list instead of the ‘for me’ list? Sometimes we need those reminders.

In life, we unfortunately have to put responsibilities over frivolity more often than not. In our passion projects however, the inverse should be true.

Moving forward in this creative journey, I therefore plan to….. wait for it…… STOP PLANNING. I will embrace the uncertainty and have a blast! I will stop taking my artistic outlet so damn seriously. God knows I have enough to worry about.