Guess what? I'm doing that rarity where I don't talk about fashion. Not even a pinch of the subject. It's time for you guys to get to know me as an artistic photographer, not a fashion writer/connoisseur.
Lately, I've been rethinking my entire future after I got waitlisted from my dream of five years (it's no big deal...). This led me to thinking the terrible question of am I good enough? Then I realized that of course I am, because I got accepted to more than half of my queue of schools. Then that led me to thinking about my art, even though I only submitted it to one school. Is my art good enough? I feel like all artists ask themselves this question daily, and criticism is healthy until it gets to a point of destructive thoughts. And what does enough mean? Is there a certain threshold of quality that determines the overall greatness of a piece? I've come to realize that all art is good enough if it truly matters to you, which leads me to the cliché One Tree Hill quote of, "Your art matters. It's what got me here." Maybe Lucas said this to Peyton 100 times in season one so they ended up getting married seven years later but in this case it's not about getting the girl of your dreams, it's about getting the artistic mentality of your dreams.
I don't practice photography because I think I look really cool with a vintage Minolta film camera or because I want to be artistic but paint and I just don't get along. I do it because it matters to me. It gets me through difficult times (which I'm definitely stuck in), and, well, I love doing it. There are really no words to describe it. I wrote an entire essay about it which got me into where I'll probably be next fall, but now I realize it's not about the technique or the methods or the subject matter per se, it's about what it means to others but most importantly, you.
I use this mindset to create my work, and sometimes I literally call my photos my children. It's borderline creepy but it also explains how much they matter to me. The photos above are all pieces I've made this year, and most of them are going towards my AP art portfolio. The first five are all pieces from my concentration, which is about how an obsession with fears can manifest itself into reality. And I guess that's why I love photography -- I can create a different reality for myself and the people in the photographs. So scroll through those photos, and I hope that they matter to you almost as much as they matter to me.
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