JenniI’ve crossed the threshold of capturing human experiences through a lens for ten years. As a primer, allow me to share a few facts and some lessons I learned at the beginning of my journey.
Lessons Learned in my First Photographic Year
- Starting with Digital: Having never mastered the analogue camera before digital, photography became an entirely new skill set for me. Learning digital first and analogue second gave me a deep appreciation for the hours of labour it takes to produce quality images.
- Learning from Peers: Many of the foundational techniques and technical skills I learned came from a community of peers who became some of my best teachers.
- Connecting with Strangers: Connecting with a local group of amateur photo enthusiasts who were also complete strangers was both courageous and difficult.
- Community Involvement: Being involved with communities who share your interests and passions can be fulfilling and enjoyable but also comes with disadvantages, such as others’ self-admiration, self-importance, and aspects of divisive competition.
- Gender Inequality: It remains true in creative communities today that female artists and their works are not received as equally and seriously as their male counterparts. I continue to experience this.
- Proud Beginnings: I created images I was very proud of in my first year, based on skills I had cultivated through other disciplines: composition, perspective, form, and structure. My technical skills came later.
- Access to Resources: Without the means to afford a camera, my journey wouldn’t have begun. One’s socio-economic status has a direct impact on access to tools, skills, and opportunities to develop one’s craft.
- Capturing vs. Creating: There is a world of difference between capturing an image and creating one. Neither is greater than the other.
- Unique Passion: Few people will share your specific passion as you do. Even fewer will share your unique purpose, intent, and motivation for creating compelling images.
- Motivation: Some people want to create cool-looking images for acclaim or notoriety. Others wish to create meaningful images that speak for those who cannot. Whatever your motivation, be honest about the work.
- Infinite Space for Creativity: There are many ways images can make an impact. There is infinite space for others’ work and their unique voice.
Reflections
Reflecting on this journey, I continue to have mixed feelings about what it has looked like and those whom I have encountered along the way. I think of the many starts and stops to new and failed opportunities. I look at these positively. The lessons I learned were vital to growing. Failed opportunities helped redirect my journey. The experiences were challenges to know myself better and remain true to my values and beliefs in my skills and my work.
Experiences
I have loved the new experiences and adventures that photography has afforded me. I have had the courage to travel and venture to new places. I have found a deeper gratitude for our created world and the kind people who have been placed within it. As a means to document life, I now recognize the advantages of photographs as being a memory-keeper when our human memory fails.
Curious Play
Photography has also allowed me a deeper joy in becoming ever more curious and childlike about the world. I can play, create, learn, and sit in awe and wonder with different eyes. I have also learned that not every experience is a “photo opportunity.” Some experiences hold more meaning when received and cherished deeply in one’s heart and soul.
As I reflect on this decade-long journey, I see a tapestry woven with new experiences, challenges, and personal growth. Photography has not only been a tool for documenting life but also a means of exploring the world with childlike curiosity and wonder. It has taught me to find joy in the simple act of creation, to cherish moments both captured and experienced, and to stay true to my unique voice amidst external pressures.
The Creative Journey and Self-Discovery
This journey has affirmed that photography will remain a lifelong passion. As I continue to evolve as an artist, I look forward to the adventures, the learning, and the endless possibilities that lie ahead. Ten years in, I am genuinely, absolutely, and passionately proud of where I am today and excited for what the future holds.
Photography is not just a profession or a hobby for me—it is a way of seeing, experiencing, and celebrating life. And in that, I find my greatest fulfillment.
