How often do you live in madness?

[Transcript of video] I was thinking about Alice in Wonderland and how they not only introduce, but unashamedly applaud crazy individuals. What if we lived in a world where that was also encouraged, where we could be as mad as we like and we were applauded for it. Well, the truth is, that we do live in that world, only it is a world of elitism. We don’t exactly applaud the mad adventures of creative people in all circumstances. It is easy to be labeled weird or strange or written off for prancing around in a nightgown in the middle of the center of Amsterdam (or is that just me?) because craziness without success is often labeled as sad. But if you are crazy, and you follow through with one of your mad plans, and it suddenly is successful either through fame or money, then you are suddenly not crazy at all, but instead you are a genius. And with that genius comes praise and acceptance and a shift of the status quo. The problem here is that many people, myself included, will have ideas that are crazy and will not succeed. We think big and we try our hardest yet still that plan doesn’t find legs, and we find ourselves back at square one. This is a natural phenomenon. This is human nature – to try and fail and try again. Yet with how easy it is to be influenced by social media and the opinions of others, how often do we really try again? How often can we say that we are making our dreams a reality through the repeated failure of said dream?

How often do we put money first, or our family’s security, or the protection of our good name in order to protect what is nice and easy and safe? How often do we blame other people for our dreams not panning out? And it is easy to do this! It is easy to say that it was so-and-so’s fault, that mean person online who told me to give up. But think back to when you were a child and your parent told you to go to bed, and you rebelliously said no. That child didn’t think twice about what was right or wrong, what was safest for him or her. No, no, you simply did what your heart wanted. Why do we lose that? We lose that sense of self because we are taught to abandon it for the betterment of everyone around us. So when Mr. or Mrs. Nobody online, who we do not know at all, tells us to quit for whatever reason they see fit, we tend to listen, because we have been taught to listen. And listen we should! But not to that person. When it comes to following your dream, it is not wise to listen to the naysayer or the person who wants us to be safe. It is important to listen to ourselves, because in our heart of hearts we know what is right and what is true. We know what makes us feel alive. And without that…if we let that slip away…we will be left with a sore heart, too full with dreams to let anything else in. And we go on with what makes us content and we fail one last time.

But what happens when we don’t. What happens when we try again, and we find new ideas to love, and we nourish those ideas until they are so big that we simply must act on them. They cannot be ignored. And they shouldn’t be, because an ignored dream can be felt by everyone around you, and it infects their minds just the same as it rots in your own. When you pursue that dream, you show the world around you that it is okay to be different, to be mad and strange and weird, and it is okay to believe in what makes your heart soar. You prove to yourself that you are worth it. And even further, you change the world by simply not giving up. It is true that people become successful in the eyes of the public because of wealth and status, but that does not make their idea any better or worthy of praise. Your idea, it is very likely, has merit of it’s own. But no one will ever know that if you don’t tell them. And you won’t tell them if you never believe in yourself enough to try.

The first little while went really well. The water was pretty clear and we were having a lot of fun. But then some boats started coming in and docking – not at our pier, as it was out of commission (I checked first!) but at a nearby pier. This caused the water to become quite choppy, and since we were near rocks, we decided to get our before it got worse. I swam while holding my camera in my huge ikelite housing and then navigated the slippery rocks out while helping my friends and continuously (per request from Kelly) checking for sea creatures underwater with my camera (I would shoot a few pics to see what we were surrounded by). I did see a couple – an octopus and an eel, but I certainly didn’t tell her that until later. Once we made it out we decided to get back in when the water calmed, and we shot a few more images before calling it a night and drinking a coconut.

Now I desperately want to go back to Hawaii. Oh, to re-live these experiences through photographs is something I do not take for granted, and I can only hope to better document my next adventure.

Model: Marsha Denill
Assistance: Kelly McGrady

I used to feel inferior if I couldn’t create an image every single day. Then I started looking at other photographer’s careers and realized that many artists limit how often they create. They don’t share a lot. They keep it under wraps. I started to feel inferior for putting out too much work. I started to feel like I had no concept of how this industry works. And that, right there, was my flaw. Somewhere along the lines I started thinking in terms of an “industry” instead of a “hobby”. I started to question what others were doing instead of living my life by my own rules. I had to distance myself, and so I have. I create when I want to create. I create because I want to create. And part of that creation process, for me, is sharing. And so I share when I want to share. Because your opinions add value to the work.

This year I have created 17 images. Is that a lot? A year ago I would have told myself to slow down. Is that only a little? Four years ago I would have been upset with myself for not creating faster. Now? I just don’t care. I love what I do. I love creating. And I won’t create based on anyone else’s standards.

I love giving myself regular check-ins, to make sure that I am making the healthiest choices for me and not for anyone else. I like to knock on my own door and ask how I’m doing. Because if not me, who? Now that we are almost into April, we have hit the quarter mark of 2015. So often people say that time moves too fast, but to me, it moves at just the right pace. I always feel like whatever time it is, it is the right time. And so, with it being March, I feel quite ready for a check-in.

These are some questions I ask myself:

1. How do you feel about the work you have produced this year? Quantity? Quality? Overall aesthetic?

2. Are you happy with how much time you have dedicated to yourself? Do you need to make more time for your passion?

3. Are you unhappy with decisions you have made this year? What specifically? How can you change course?

4. How can you take a more active role in pursuing your dreams? Look back at your New Year Resolutions and move one forward. What specific steps can you take?

5. Do you feel you have a good support system in place? Sometimes friends come and go. Make sure you are loved. Don’t have a community? Start one! Join a group. Create a group. Host a meet-up. Join a competition. Message someone you admire.

Top Tips & Exercises

A. Create a creation routine in which you set aside a certain amount of time each week to create. Next, create a routine for how you create so you can get more accomplished. For me personally, if I am stuck in a rut and simply want to break free, I begin with an inspiration exercise: 10 minutes of brainstorming. Next, I spend 10 minutes sketching and writing a description of a potential image. After that, I shoot, which will take roughly 20 minutes. And finally, I begin the edit. All of this can last 1 hour, and there is no pressure to finish. But once you’ve invested time into a creative project and you’ve gone through specific steps, you are more likely to come back to it and actually finish.

It doesn’t matter what your routine is, just as long as you have one in place. Knowing how you work best and then cultivating those circumstances is going to help tremendously in your personal progression.

B.  Have a night of fear & fun. Pick one night out of the week to do something that scares you, but could also be fun. A certain photo shoot, a social gathering, or something as simple as writing an email to someone you don’t know. Take a risk, set time aside for yourself to properly do that thing, and reward yourself once you have. Make it as fun as possible. Bring a friend to make a little party out of it. Challenge others to do the same. Define what scares you, and figure out a way to playfully address that fear.

 C. Reach out to someone in your community. I invite all of you to join my new Facebook group which is an extension of this blog. I will be posting weekly challenges, both personal and artistic, that anyone can participate in. Reach out to someone in the group. Tell them how much you admire them, or simply get to know someone on a deeper level. We are all looking for companionship from others who understand our struggles and triumphs.

I would love to hear your answers to the questions, any tips/exercises you may have to keep on the right track, or even your favorite/least favorite images from this year so far!

I hope you’ll join the Facebook group so we can grow this community further!

In my personal journey of discovering how I like to create, I formed habits and practices that not only allow me to achieve certain looks, but more importantly dictate how happy I am going to be shooting something. If I can be in nature, I am having a good day! So when I create, I love to be in nature, shooting as much as possible on location. I love having all of the details written out beforehand so that when I create, I know exactly what needs to happen. I would say, with some confidence, that patience is not my strongest virtue. So to be able to go on location and shoot what is needed, efficiently, is a great joy to me.

I have 3 more images from this shoot that I am currently editing, but wanted to share with you, start to finish, how this image was created. It is part of a larger series that I’m still shooting this week, but it is a good representation of the intentions of the series as well as technically how they will be put together. This video explains it all.

Model: Kyna Lian

Assistant: Kelly McGrady

Music by Cyra Morgan “Hummingbird”, licensed from SongFreedom.

It was a heck of a 7 days, and while I’m happy to be home now, I had a really happy time. I think that’s the right word – happy. I was just happy. Every. Single. Day.

Here is a little overview from my creativeLIVE class. I started with some basics of how to dress a model with ace bandages, creepy cloth (freaky fabric), and bed sheets. Shooting all on a dark background for drama, to make the baby powder stand out, and to more easily add a new location into the background, I photographed many different setups using these simple props.

I went out to pick beach grass (could be anything that has structure) in order to put the grass/flowers into some Styrofoam that I purchased the night before. This created a field effect that anyone can use in any form they wish – shooting children, seniors, portraits, etc…all with the convenience of being inside your home or studio. Also wonderful for those who are not around a lot of nature.

The first image in this post was shot during the “baby powder” portion of my creativeLIVE class. I decided to take the simple image of a girl wearing a blue bed sheet further to create a night sky, moon, and strong red flowing dress.

We ended with some cobweb and paint to show how painting someone’s body (any color) can add interesting texture and transform them into a character. I didn’t have enough time to finesse that image (when your producer is holding a “5 minutes!!” sign, one tends to listen). So I’ll give that another go at home and share how I would love for it to turn out. In the meantime, I hope some of these techniques prove fun and useful…and have an inspired weekend!

 What is your favorite $10 or less item to use creatively?

I am the first person to say that my images do not reflect my personal life. Yet in a way, that is not wholly true. I do not take personal experiences and translate them into images. I do not take an emotion I might be feeling one day and turn that into an image for a release. I do, however, internalize all of my emotions as life goes on and I turn those into inspiration for images in the future.

This picture that I did recently is a great example of this. I learn from my life and I turn those lessons into visual ways of connecting with others. I did not create this picture to heal myself; I created it to show that we all feel this way sometimes. “This way” is not one specific thing. Being able to understand our emotions and turn those into symbols is a powerful way of relating to the world.

Now, an emotion I once felt is no longer simply an abstract emotion. It has physical representation: form, color, location. By assigning those identifiable, physical attributes to an emotion, the emotion is now translated into many languages and cultures. We can understand our collective feelings by looking at images that reflect those emotions.

To have wings. To lose wings. To use someone else to lift us up. To allow others to help. To demand help. To hurt others to help ourselves.

All of these ideas went into the making of this image, and depending on your world view or state of mind, any of them could equally apply. There was a time when I felt that I couldn’t fly any higher, that I was about to fall. I wished for wings then. There have been times when I needed someone to lift me up, and I found them. There were times when I felt my well being was more important than other living creatures and so I used them to serve me. More and more I try to be like the butterflies, lifting others and myself all the while.

What does the world look like from your point of view? How can you get others to understand that through a visual medium? What symbols are important and present in your life? What do you want the world to understand?

I took that inspiration, and one of the birds that I photographed that morning, into a story idea. I felt, so much that morning, like my imagination was being freed. I felt as though those birds symbolized so much, and I wanted to put that into a photograph. I went to work creating this picture with origami birds.

I had never created origami before, which is very challenging, and even more so when using thick construction paper, but I made it work after twenty minutes of frustration. When my little blue crane emerged, who I lovingly named Cranium, we went shooting. The shoot itself was very calming. I kept finding myself staring into the distance smiling at nothing in particular. I was just happy to be creating.

The song in the video (Conquering Heights by James Dooley, courtesy of Song Freedom), seemed the perfect fit. It matched what I heard in my mind that day. I love how birds can be such a symbol of freedom, and the vibrant color of my little bluejays felt like a fairytale. I always equate that color blue with a serene and magical fairytale, and so I too felt like I was part of another world. Even shooting, in that less-than-glamorous location, I could feel I was somewhere else entirely.

I hope that you enjoy the video and that you feel inspired to free your imagination.