The Mightiest of Swords

The Mightiest of Swords

A lot of times I get asked how long I’ve been a photographer. There are so many ways I want to answer that question, but usually I stick with the actual date that I first picked up my camera and started creating.

I could answer with when I became a full-time photographer, but that seems a little bit silly since nothing really changed on that day at all, except my stress levels.

I could answer with when I started honing my style, which was years and years before I ever picked up a camera. It was when I started writing when I was single-digits old. It was when I started making short films in high school and college. It was when I started writing poetry. And it was when I picked up my camera.

I could answer with the most recent time I reinvented myself, which is very akin to starting over entirely, questioning your process.

All of those answers are true. And in fact, I don’t even entirely consider myself a photographer. I am one, and I revel in taking pictures, but I am many other things as well – a director, a writer, a set designer… a cat lover? Lots of things.

Too many people have told me that they feel beaten before beginning because they just started photography and there are so many people so far ahead of them. I’ve met people who have decades of experience but feel disheartened by not knowing all of the current trends. The new photographers wish they had years of experience, and those with experience wish they could see the world with fresh eyes.

How long we have been practicing our craft isn’t always related to the way we create. The artist I am now is not the artist I was when I started. The person I was then is different, too. The only thing that remains the same is my intense love for creating with my voice, my vision, and zero compromises. As I piece together a new series, and reflect on how I have changed a huge chunk of the way I work and run my business, I find myself thinking of how scared I am. How, at times, I question what I’m doing, wishing I had years more experience on one day and on another, wishing I was just starting out with no pressure or expectation.

Yet other days I let myself soak into the reality that, each and every day, we are connected with the voice of our soul. We are compelled to create and so we do, and how long or short a period of time you’ve been creating is irrelevant. Every day we are reborn. Every day we give ourselves new opportunities. And every day, the fear creeps in with the light, and we must quiet that voice that tells us someone else has more experience, or that our tricks are old hat. The moment we listen to that cryptic voice is the moment we lose a sense of why we create in the first place.

It isn’t to measure the years we’ve been clicking a camera, or the consistency with which we have fresh ideas. It is to die and be reborn over and over, as all artists should do, to discover something so much more important than age or professionalism or value; it is to discover our worth, and our uniqueness, and to create with the most mighty of swords – our voice.

 

6 thoughts on “The Mightiest of Swords

  1. It is not always easy to answer that question! Each of us has a different view of what is photography. For simplicity, I usually reply that I am a photographer since the day I picked up a camera and the bell chimed inside me. Excellent post, Brooke! I fully agree with these words, especially the last paragraph. Wish you a great weekend! xo

  2. Thank you Brooke-
    “The only thing that remains the same is my intense love for creating…”

    I instantly drew a parallel to how art/creating can be put into a box. Wether by ourselves, the artist, or by the audience, the admirer. Changing, turning, valuing the movement toward another perspective seems integral, of upmost importance and barrier breaking lending itself to the true art- being moved and creating from that place. I am always looking for Spirit to move me, defying the natural propensity to do what is known and safe and easily understood.

    Always loving your shares. Been away for awhile- nice to read you again. Looking forward to your newest adventure and thank you for sharing with honesty and integrity and selfless acts of generosity. I mean that.

    Be well.
    xoxo

    ~Samantha

  3. This is so true Brooke! I have been doing portraits or in the ‘industry’ I guess you would say for 11 years (and 2 months to be exact!) and I do wish I could see some things with ‘fresh’ eyes, I try to always keep learning though and watching others and pushing forward, even if in my own snail pace 🙂 Thanks as always for sharing your awesome thoughts and insights!

  4. To die and be reborn each new day – what a gift! And what an even greater gift to realise this! Thanks so much for your inspiring thoughts and words, Brooke. Staying in touch with why I create, and steering away from comparison, helps keep me grounded. Thanks again 🙂

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