The trouble with muses....

... is that they never stop inspiring you. 

Okay, I guess that's not necessarily trouble. 

I don't even have a title for this one.

I had a dream. Literally. And in that dream was this photo of Marilyn Monroe:

I wouldn't say I'm a HUGE Marilyn fan. I do love her, I do admire and adore so many of her photos and images. I enjoy her movies. But I don't know much about her, and I certainly don't spend much time thinking about her. That's why this dream was so curious. What was even more curious was that as soon as I woke, I had a flash in my mind of my friend, professional Lindy Hop dancer, Nikki Marvin, wearing her Lindy sneakers while posing as Marilyn. Weird, right? I know. What can I say? Sometimes creativity comes from weird places in the brain.

Lucky for me, Nikki was down for the cause. She threw together a vintage outfit (all purchased at local vintage shopping mecca, Elsewhere Vintage) and spent all day doing her own hair and makeup. Commitment, people. That's why I love this woman.

Here are just a few of our impromptu shoot. Nikki does such an incredible job of capturing not just the look, but the energy and essence of what I love about the original photo. She's casual, but elegant, and even though she spent hours in hair and makeup, she looks like she just rolled out of bed looking like a superstar. I couldn't be more ecstatic.

Thank you so much, Nikki. Love.  

 



Dreams.

There are days when I wake up, and I know I've dreamed.

I feel as though I have been standing in a flowery field all night, the scent of grass still in my bedroom air.

I wish somehow I could photograph my dreams, to tuck them away in an album, to visit when I need inspiration.

I suppose this will have to do for now.

Real talk.

Listen.  There is bad photography.  There are bad photographers.  There are photographers with incredible technical skills and no people skills.  There are photographers with wonderful people skills who couldn't compose a shot with the rule of thirds printed out from wikipedia.  People have different skills, for sure.  But by FAR, the most important skill a photographer can have is self awareness.  To have the intuition to know yourself, and adjust your actions and you words accordingly.  If you think you're amazing, and you just plain aren't, well then that's a problem.  For you.  If you think you're terrible, but are actually quite good, that's also a problem, from a business sense. The same principle applies to business sense, by the way.  You cannot expect to run a business and act and speak as an amateur.  If you want to charge people money, you can't whine and complain about something your kids are doing to your PAYING CLIENTS while expecting them to take you seriously.  You can't do eight different things half-assed then wonder why none of them are successful.  If you are completely unaware, and have no sense about your own abilities, you will fail.  No question.

How do you obtain self awareness? Through a combination of humility, intelligent discussion, and being open. If you are incapable of any one of these things, your process will be stunted.  As will your artistic growth.

One of my biggest pet peeves with the portrait industry right now is copycats.  Everything looks the same.  And I think it's a symptom of lack of self awareness, on many levels.  For one, there are master photographers out there with a specific style and voice who are open and willing to share their knowledge and skill with those who want to learn.  This is a wonderful thing.  And the freeflow of knowledge is an important and vital thing in a creative industry.  The flaw, however, is that so many photographers are not aware of their own ability, and even more tragic, their own voice and point of view.  So they take classes, pay for seminars, read books, blogs, beg other professionals for tips and tricks.  When what they are really seeking is an actual voice.  Because they have none.  Nothing identifiable as their own. You wanna waste your money and your time and your effort trying to be a watered down version of someone else?  Go for it.  But don't expect anything in return.  Certainly not my respect.  Certainly not the label of "artist" or "professional".  There is a massive difference between inspiration and just plain copying.  And it's apparent.

Every day I get closer to finding my own voice, my own perspective.  But I can, at the very least, say that I am always myself.  I have never once, not ever, seen something incredible and tried to copy it.  (Oh, how do you do that? I wanna do that!)  Never once asked someone how to do something so I could try to do the same.  I am aware of my own abilities, my own point of view. And for that, I am proud.  

Vision.

The thing about vision is, you don't know if you don't have it.

By vision, of course, I mean an actual creative aesthetic, a premeditated purpose and intent with what you are creating. (Not just how your eyes see)

The same is true about style (see my previous post).

If you don't know you don't have something, it would make perfect sense that you believe you are operating under full capacity.  You plug along, playing with your little toys, thinking, "Oh, isn't that cute?", "Oh, I like the smile in this one."  All the while, never realizing that you are creating something with no emotion, no impact.  Sure, you can say you are, but then again, you don't have the vision, so your opinion is not fully informed.

 You can't learn vision.  You can't buy vision.  Vision isn't a Photoshop plug-in. 

Vision is having an understanding of who someone is, their tastes, how they see the world, and being able to create something in line with that.  True photos are not one size fits all. 

That's why I just can't believe how some people can buy all kinds of exterior crap, massive setups, fake backgrounds, silly props, etc. etc. etc. I'm not saying SOME of those things can't be an enhancement, at times.  What I'm saying is, that everything in a photo should speak to the purpose of the photo.  If you put a pair of bunny ears on a kid and tell them to hold a giant easter egg, what does that say about the child?  Absolutely nothing.  It says that you told them to put on a pair of bunny ears and hold a giant easter egg. And that's it.

But being with a new mother in her home, seeing how motherhood is changing her, understanding her view on the child that is in front of me, THAT informs a photo. Trying to create a photo that captures the intimacy and wonder of an ultrasound, and being successful. THAT is what I remember about good photos.  The feeling they exude.

As I mentioned before, I want to be a witness.  One of the things I love about photography is it's ability to capture.  And, if all you're capturing is something fake and forced, then what a waste of this art. 

I hope to always, ALWAYS be a witness to this artform rather than an outsider.