The Courage to Create

I started my journey with photography over a very long and slow process of self discovery. I had no idea how personal and meaningful some of the work I would do could become to me. Over the last year life has side swept all of my perfectly planned organized excel sheet - "master" plans....so many things and moments have taught me that not all things are guaranteed, predictable or controllable. I have had some deep personal losses this year as well as some incredible exploding moments of joy.

This past year I have been forced to grow and push myself in my faith, my priorities and shown that having a sense of control is NOT the same thing as having control. I LOVE black and white choices, options and outcomes. However, photography has been an expanding sea of grey for me. The first of which is, there is no PERFECT to photography. 

I have found over this last year, that my photography has morphed into a creative process versus an exact science. It has become my art. I never thought or considered myself an artist....always a some one who took pictures. I never saw what I did as art, I saw it as a photograph, much the same way you could see a beautiful painting and only notice the canvas...not the story painted.

Maybe it was the deep heartache or the lost moments of day that slip away...but it made me work hard to push myself, learn, grow and truly challenge myself. It has been a painfully hard process to work through. I have put up so many walls to protect, control and defend myself and to hold on...that in order for me to create...really create I had to find myself and let go...I need to be fearless.

So here is my leap....I have fallen in LOVE with b/w photojournalism and composite fine art photography. I love the stories they tell and the personal connection they can create. They are such different creative processes that require skill and patience. I hope as I move forward in this path that I continue to wake up everyday and choose to be fearless...choose to be myself...and choose to be open enough to create.

Thank you to all of you who have helped me through this last year. I know I can be a bear at times, isolated at others, and a big bowl of spaghetti when you don't expect it. So thank you for sticking it out with me and helping me find the courage to create!

Skye