On Walking the Talk of Creativity
“Make the picture. You got the rest of your life to figure out what it means”
- Keith Carter
In my last blog I discussed my first creative block that stemmed from a lack of purpose or vision in my photography. I hadn’t figured out my why. This is apparently a big deal for not only myself but many other artists around the world, if not all of them. Until I could shine a light on this problem, I felt very much incapable of taking a photo.
I would love to say that I sat down one day, thought really hard about what I was trying to communicate with my photography, understood the meaning of life, and got back to work. But that didn’t happen. At all.
The only real thing that happened three years ago was the realization that I needed to find my voice, and that to find that voice I should wrap my photography into projects that attempt to say something important to me. This doesn’t mean that photojournalism is the only true way of doing photography. A photo project can be a collection of street photographs following a theme, geography, or time period. It can be a collection of abstracts, portraits, or landscapes. Anything that you can finish and accomplish that has meaning to you.
So I set off to work on my first photography project, which I won’t talk about today as it was far too ambitious and will probably take me another five years to finish. I spent the next year or so planning the concept and attempting to take the perfect shots. I was obsessed with creating THE perfect series of photos, and failed at the task more often than not. After two years I still didn’t have many new photos to feel proud of and began to feel like a failure.
I was succeeding as a freelancer and called myself a photographer, but didn’t have many photos that proved it to my eyes. I realized that I was looking at photographers claiming that “I could do that”, whereas my latest artistic photos were already three or four years old and didn’t live up to the standards I now set for myself.
So just over a year ago I decided that enough was enough and started a challenge, one that many photographers before me have taken up, to the point where it feels like a rite of passage to me: The 365 challenge. For a whole year, I would take photos every single day and post my favourite to Instagram. I also asked my writer partner to join in, who agreed and started her own journey of writing a “thought of the day” and post it alongside my photo every evening. Last week this challenge came to its natural conclusion, and I want to share this story with you today.
I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, and wrote myself a few questions in February 2020 that I would answer now, at the end of the challenge, to evaluate whether the challenge was beneficial or not to me. Right off the bat I can tell you that I, in fact, had no idea what I was getting myself into, and I also never imagined that this challenge would be the best thing that has happened to my photography since I bought my first camera over ten years ago. For me, this challenge was my attempt to get the ball rolling, to simply take photos for a year without pressure, and I would worry about projects and concepts and purpose after the challenge. Well after all of that thinking and planning that got me nowhere a few years ago, I can now safely say that I accidently finished and accomplished my first photography project. It’s nothing ground-breaking, but it’s a great start.
So without further ado, here is my 2020 self interviewing my 2021 self:
Was it a positive experience?
WAS IT?! I rediscovered my love for photography in mere weeks, bought a new camera, discovered street photography, gained a small and incredibly supportive following on Instagram, met amazing communities of photographers online, created an artistic zine of photos and texts of our local town during the pandemic alongside my partner that will soon be printed and sold in our local library, started a photography website and blog, and came up with dozens of new projects that I’m really excited about. I am now happy to say that I am a photographer, so yes, it was a positive experience, to put it mildly.
Did you learn new techniques or develop a new style?
Taking photos everyday meant taking photos wherever I happened to be. I forced myself to hold my camera in my hands at all moments, and naturally started taking street photos. I was immediately drawn to abstract street photography, to reflections in mirrors or small details like hands or feet. Having only ever been interested in abstract photography, discovering a true love for street photography was a shock that I never dreamt of a year ago. I still have plenty of techniques and styles to experiment with though, so I’m still just as excited as I was during the challenge and can’t wait for tomorrow.
Do you spend more time looking up now?
I SEE PHOTOS EVERYWHERE NOW. I can’t even remember what it was like to walk through the streets a year ago and not see the art all around me. It feels weird that I even asked myself this question. Now, wherever I look I see a scene worth capturing, I see colours and textures and shadows and details that I know would look great as a photo, so I’m constantly looking all around me, even in the middle of conversations with friends, to their great despair.
Did you come close to giving up?
A lot of friends were surprised that we didn’t give up somewhere down the line. It never occurred to us once to stop. Don’t get me wrong, it was ridiculously hard and I will probably never do it again. I may have cheated a few times and posted a few photos from the same outing on multiple days, but I was never going to give up.
Has this launched you into a new era of art creation? Have you grown as an artist?
I feel like I can never go back now, and this challenge has opened the doors of possibility for me. Working with my partner, I see that cross-media art projects are totally possible and that we can create stronger art in collaboration. I am very excited for what the future may bring.
Did something else happen that you weren’t expecting?
On day 22 out of 365 our country was FORCED INTO LOCKDOWN because of a virus that I had barely heard of 23 days beforehand. I had to take photos of my flat every day for two and a half months and was going insane. On the bright side, my partner had lots to talk about and I ended up documenting a historic moment in the world for a year. Who would have guessed?
We also developed a zine that will be published and sold in our local library, as well as exhibit some of the best pieces later this year in our local gallery. Such a simple challenge actually led to real opportunities, which also came as a huge surprise for me.
I honestly didn’t expect to take many good photos, and I’m happy to be pleasantly surprised with a good number of photos I took this year.
Did you buy any new gear?
When I started the challenge I was walking around with my Canon 5DMiii, which I now nickname “the beast” because of all the looks I was getting. I realized that it was stopping me from taking good photos because I was embarrassed by its size, so I bought the small Fujifilm X-T30 and it changed my life. I never want to touch the Canon again.
Did it help you gain visibility?
I never expected to connect with so many great people online or discover and join the Swiss Street Collective. I hit 1000 followers near the end of the challenge which is great, but I’m mostly thankful for those who take the time to comment and interact with me. I didn’t gain in visibility so much as I gained in a community.
How hard was it to find new things to shoot all the time? Did it make you more active?
Did I mention that I discovered street photography?
Have you found your voice?
No, but I care a bit less about that now. I think I can take photos for the fun of it without overthinking it… For now.
How many photos did you take?
35’000. Wow. Note to self: Never touch a film camera or you will go bankrupt.
What lessons did you learn?
- Being blocked is a state of mind, and there are actually things that you can do to get yourself out of it
- Always have your camera at hand. Always. Art is all around you and there is no excuse for missing a shot
- You are always learning
- It’s okay to want people to see, like, and give feedback on your work, as long as they don’t define you
- Take the photo. You have the rest of your life to figure out what it means
- Instagram is actually an amazing place to feel inspired and to meet incredible people
- Never say “I could do that” when you see art. It is one thing to think of an idea, and another thing entirely to actually turn that idea into a creation
- Putting yourself out there can lead to opportunities
- You don’t need to do it alone. Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and share my photos during this challenge. And thank you to Coralie for struggling along right next to me for 365 days. You made it easy to never give up. You guys are awesome.
As a closing remark for those of you who may want to embark on this rite of passage: It is not an easy challenge, far from it, but the potential rewards for those of you who stick to it could be life changing. It sure feels like it to me. Start the challenge with some goals and intentions. Remembering why you’re doing it will help you during the rough days. I also think that the perfect time to do the challenge is before you have a huge following or know what you are doing. The 365 challenge is a chance to experiment and try new things, and you will not create consistently good photos every day. You will post some pretty bad photos, and if you or your followers have certain standards already, you will likely not meet them.
That’s it for today. As always feel free to contact me on Instagram or by email if you have any questions or just want to chat.
Thanks for reading,
Jay
