Hello, mes ami.e.s!

I think now is a great time as ever to break down my art philosophy. Why do I do what I do? With the medium that I choose? What is my creative process? What can you, the client, expect during a session?

With this introductory post, I want to break down what photography is and means to me.

It is, first and above all, how I practice and receive joy. I think I’ve always been a little bit “creative,” but when I was younger, I thought the word implied a certain set of criteria, and I definitely didn’t meet it. My drawing repertoire consists of a whale, penguin, perfect heart trios, and possibly a minion , and I am being generous.

Since I’ve arrived in Paris, I’ve learnt much about what it means to be an artist: PRACTICE. So I do. I try to create something every day and at least every week. Whether it’s one photograph or just admiring beauty. Art is a lifestyle, and in my opinion, we call all choose to live it.

I know that this is how I practice joy because I feel unsettled without it. One of my favorite little lines is la beauté dans le quotidien – “the beauty in the every day.” It’s something I think Paris does so well, and it brings me joy to admire it. Photographing is, for me, also a deeply sentimental way to preserve a feeling – the feeling I felt when I stumbled across a beautiful thing.

Photography is also about observing, about being slow and being intentional. Look up! Look down. Look back. They say you should never look back…except to see how far you’ve come. Maybe true, but I will also add: Look back for a different perspective. Have you ever walked down a street and then turned around? The view is completely different. For me, there’s a sense of wonder to realise that I thought I knew the way…only to turn around and realise all the beauty I had blazed by.

The other part is quite inexplicable. You know when you do something and it just makes you want to dance? Or feel like everything is alright? You can’t stop smiling and you think of it all the time. I guess it sounds like love, maybe. That’s how I feel when I have my cameras, Norman and Cecil, with me.

That’s why I have a passion for the photograph. The series will continue with why I choose my medium, 35mm film.