Sometimes you have to just go out and do it!

That winter rut... Let me tell you one thing about it. Its REAL. It happens to the best of us. I'm pretty sure it applies to the non creatives as well.  What is it about the winter time that slows down the creation process? Is it the extremely long months of dark and dreary weather? Is it the sub arctic temperatures(if you live in Chicago)? Or is it because you've consumed an obscene  amount of comfort food and just really don't feel like getting off the couch? What ever the reason is, it happens to everyone at some point. I've felt like this for the last 5 months and i couldn't find a way out of it. I was almost at the point to where i wanted to say fuck it. Maybe this is just a hobby and It's not meant for me?

That was my mind set for quite some time, At least until i left for Vegas to see the rest of my family for Christmas. I knew i had a long day ahead of me. for some odd reason i decided to book a flight for Christmas eve and had a 4 our layover in Denver. What do you do when your stuck at airports for pretty much the entire day? Most people would probably say grab a beer and start enjoying vacation? No no, my first extinct was to walk around look for things to photograph. An hour or so went by and i had nothing. I was still completely depleted and finally ended up at the closet watering hole and grabbed a beer. I sat there for awhile and thought, whatever I'm just not feeling inspired. Its feels like its something i've just gotten used to the past few months. 

I sat there and started to read some other people talk about what inspires their art. There was one blog that i read from Zack Arias. He posted a blog titled "Get the fuck to work" . If you haven't read it, i suggest you do. It's great to see someone strip themselves down and find the very core of who they are. One thing that Zack mentions is that inspiration happens in the process and what he means by that is, Sometimes you're not meant to just sit there and wait for lighting to strike you. You need to go seek out the thunder storms. So i finished and paid for my beer and started roaming around again. This time camera in hand and just started snapping. No thinking, planning, or preconceptions of any sort. I just started making photographs. 

I'm typically not the type of person that likes to spray and pray. I typically live by the concept of quality over quantity, But then i thought more and more about it. Mediocre work or content is better than ZERO work or content. Do you wanna hear something crazy? Something so outlandish that it'll make you slap the person sitting next to you?  It really does work. What an insane concept huh? Working sparks more work? The process of creation can spark inspiration. Now I'm off to go make more work. I don't know what it'll be just yet. I don't know where it'll be. I just know i have to go do it. I HAVE to create work. So i'll leave you with that. Stop reading this blog and go create something.

You need to be your own worst critic!

Who are you photographing for? I often times find my seeking the approval of other people, whether it be from friends, other photographer, or social media likes and follows. I know I've sat at a coffee shop a few times just after posting up a new picture on Instagram or Facebook and incessantly refreshing the browser or phone for new likes. i mean who doesn't like admiration from others? I don't want to make accusations but i think anyone who says they don't like appreciation or the approval of others is lying. 

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I recently had an image featured on an Instagram account and boom 1500 likes later i was obsessed. I started posting up more images to try and repeat my so called success. Success... What does that mean to you? The word is most commonly correlated to your financial status, the brand named cloths your wear or the the type of car you drive. I don't want to sit here and say i never yearned for any of these things, because i did. There were times when i used to put all the money i had from working at my 9-5 into car parts for my car. I would buy the newest phones and electronics. 

This last year as been different though. I've spent a lot of my time reflecting and trying to understand myself better. Part of this process i've found one thing i really desire the most. My own happiness. As selfish as this sounds, I think you need to be happy for yourself first before you can pass this on to other people you interact with. The one person you should aim to impress is yourself. So i decided to go through ALL of my images. I'm not sure if people understand how many images i actually have that no one has ever seen. lets just say its nearing the 50k(not including film negatives) . I'm still in the process of narrowing it down to my favorite images but it's going to take some time.

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I'm slowly whittling down my collection of images, but its taught me something in the process. I'm starting to learn and see a common theme between them all. I'm getting a better handle at who i am and what i enjoy. Before i end this blog post, I'll leave you with this. Do things for yourself, Create to make yourself happy and everything else will follow. 

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