Images that matter

As I continue to grow and learn… and ask questions…

I just realized what a moment that was, the one above, where I had a “said-the-title-of-the-movie-in-the-movie” moment. Anyways,

As my photography grows and I am inspired by new people, new artists, new musicians, and new photographers, I realize those who are the most inspirational to me are the ones that are able to, through their photography, elicit something.  That something really can be anything, but I have been left feeling nothing even from some of the absolute best photography out there. There are enough amazing instagram, okdothis, 500px, flickr, facebook, imgur, and all of those kinds of feeds that it’s bound to be flooded with amazing photography, and I’m another person out there with a bio and a little profile picture flooding it as well.  And on those sites it should come as no surprise that they are flooded with sex, selfies, and food, the three things that popular culture capitalizes and obsesses over.

And I’ve always been conflicted with how to both take pictures that matter, and have pictures that matter be seen, I’ve always wanted it to be transformative and restorative. But lately I’ve noticed that photography is not much different than any passion. Those who want to change or grow or be challenged often seek it out, both the artist and the one who is changed. Those who want to see images that matter will seek them out, those who want images of sex will seek it out.  So really, there is no competition, but rather, how can I genuinely show the world to those who see it, or those who seek it. If it’s not a genuine reflection and manifestation of who I already am, then I am again trying to convince someone of something, and conjure up emotions that I don’t even truly believe.  My path of photojournalist pursuits is one that is developing, and rightly so, in my heart first.  I’d love feedback on what images make you feel something.

This picture was one of Catalina that I skipped over last year even thinking it had anything to it, and now that I see it it makes me feel something where most of the other “cool” pictures were just, and only, that.