ramblings on life and taking the creative path

Last night I was at a Cinco de Mayo party hosted by one of the sweetest couples I know. They had everything a good party needs to be a hit, starting with some pretty incredibly company.

Being photographers themselves, it turns out these two happen to have lots of creative friends. I met maybe a quarter of the group and I still met a fashion blogger, a branding strategist, a graphic designer, a writer, and many other photographers. It just got me thinking while I was there and as I left, how sweet is it that we live in a time that all these creative people actually get to pursue what it is they love and are gifted in, and even more, how cool that so many of these people are crafting their career as they go along, myself included.

But what also struck me was that almost everyone there was a wearer of more than one hats. I love that we not only live in a time when creatives can make a real living doing what they are gifted in, but that people are able to learn and experiment in other creative mediums without formal training. And actually do well at them.

I feel like more and more lately, there have been little voices reminding me of this amazing and terrifying reality that exists for creatives. We almost have the world at our fingertips, and while that is exhilarating, it’s also enough to make you want to hide under your covers and never get out. But Lord knows we don’t have time for that! We value craftsmanship, working with our hands, and we want to try it all, but often feel bogged down by titles and categories. I have a friend who is dabbling in photography right now but thinks she just realized she wants to do event planning. Another photographer who loves photography still but loves to write, and uses her blog as an outlet. There are other photographers and designers I know who need to work with their hands and are trying out calligraphy, painting, watercolor, pottery, and woodworking. I know the feeling of thinking you finally found your niche, especially in the creative world, and then feeling completely turned upside down because you realize you might have other interests. I don’t know when this mentality began creeping in, that creative careers had to be mutually exclusive.

It’s so interesting, because people reinvent themselves all the time. Look at Madonna. Or my friend’s dad who went to law school after his kids graduated high school. Or the working woman who becomes a stay at home mom at 40. Or my husband, who has worked for a cereal plant, a church, and a tech company. Yet for myself, and so many creatives I know, the freedom of figuring out what we want to focus our energy on can often turn to stress.

Recently, I added “creative direction” to my instagram profile description. I just went ahead and added it, after a little bit of fear, but thought, what the heck. I’ve offered creative direction officially or unofficially more times than I can count, and I love it. So why am I so afraid to call it what it is? I think a lot of it has to do with lacking any formal training. I remember being so afraid to call myself a photographer even after I had been legitimately doing it for 2 years. People were paying me, I had a website, I was even doing halfway decent work, but I had no formal training and I thought that completely delegitimized me in this field. You would think I’d have learned my lesson, but still…I find myself too embarrassed to admit that I have other skills besides photography. Believe it or not, while I was once scared to call myself a photographer, now describing myself as one feels like the easy route, because trying to explain what else I do is just vague and confusing most of the time.

But I love writing, And styling. And fashion. And design in general. And home styling. And it turns out, I don’t have to be boxed in. Sure, there’s the phrase “jack of all trades, master of none,” but I don’t believe that to be true. I also remember hearing when I first began shooting that I should really hone my niche of what I shoot because in a similar vain, you would just be mediocre at everything and not amazing at any one subject. Now that I have a few years of experience under my belt, I can confidently say that is a bunch of boloney. I guess if you’re trying to shoot everything under the sun, your work will suffer, but I’ve found that as long as I am passionate about the subject, the work speaks for itself. I love food, and interiors, and people, and people in love, and unique locales, and traveling, and stories…when I shoot all of these things, I feel like I am doing what I am supposed to do. And when I insert myself in the situations, by assisting with styling, or cooking, or working with my hands on a set, it feels natural. But I also want to add that I didn’t pick up these skills overnight. I fudged my way through high school art classes making pretty atrociously weird things, all the while knowing I had deep seeded creative desires, but didn’t discover photography until I was 21. I’ve always loved writing, but that is a skill that needs continued, constant practice. I don’t think I would have had an inkling of what styling could look like had it not been for my involvement in the wedding industry, paying attention to the smallest details as I documented events for 6 years. I have a better grasp of marketing and social media strategy because of having to grow my own business primary through these avenues, and I definitely did not figure that out overnight.

I guess the point of this whole post is the encourage people out there who are trying to figure it out. Even if you don’t consider yourself “creative.” (Though I bet you are in some way or another, even if it’s just how you pick out your outfits in the morning!) Start the journey, or continue the journey, and let yourself figure it out. Start a blog. Get on pinterest. Organize your thoughts and ideas. Do work. Don’t stop doing work. Create work even if you’re not getting paid for it. Often, it’s the best type of work since you’ll do it because you really love it. And once people start coming to you and asking you to do what you love to do, charge them. And be confident that they are asking because they think you are good at something.

Lastly, I will leave you with this talk from one of my favorite bloggers and creative inspirations, Bri Emery of DesignLoveFest…if you have the time to listen to a 20 minute talk today. It was pretty fascinating and encouraging to me to hear that someone I consider to be successful in the creative field, didn’t always know where she wanted to end up. She seems so put together and like she had her career mapped out for her, but really, she followed her gut and kept doing what felt right, and now is basically in a career she invented herself, all the while utilizing a variety of skills she developed and picked up along the way.

http://creativemornings.com/talks/bri-emery/1

Thanks for reading and have a lovely Wednesday!

xx

Jasmine