While I am taking pause from editing my most recent photography session, I think it’s time I share a bit of some old work that outwardly may not seem important, but has huge personal value. There is a fair share of breakfast posts on Instagram that have hashtags like #breakfast, #yum, #coffeeplease, etc etc which I also use from time to time (who doesn’t, right?). I’ve got some too, but I have a story to tell you.
Last year, there was a time in my life that I was stuck at a standstill… getting older, needed a career shift, underproductive and simultaneously melancholy about simply everything. I craved an artistic community to be a part of and I needed to use my skills. I began thinking of how I could make opportunities for myself on a daily basis with ease.
Now, I am and always will be a morning person. Nothing jumps my day off like a bit of sunlight and of course, coffee. So I started there! I worked at a place that didn’t allow photography so it was easy for me to keep my camera near the kitchen, and I also was teaching myself a few new things in the kitchen. No way in any means am I the world’s greatest chef, but I’d like to think I could be left to my own devices in the kitchen and not burn down the house.
Some of the images created weren’t so much about what I was eating but more about who they were with.
At the time, I was living with my parents after college, needing to find my place in the world, and not finding it. I was fortunate enough to have shared many a morning with my Dad, Frank, and hearing his wisdom about his life as a young adult, how to balance my finances, and our shared love of debate, politics and movies. I have plenty pictures of what my dad looks like, but I think this project gave me a way to remember those conversations that we had. Even looking at this image, it reminds me of how he would often lean over the table to tell me that coffee and spicy things were going to come back and haunt me when I get older, and to not sass my Mom…..
Photography is so personal to me and I often look back on my work as a way to remember. Observing past projects (finished and unfinished) reminds me of how far I have come, and how far I still have to go. It’s fun to see how much one’s photographic style evolves as time goes by. During this mini-series, I learned a good many things about myself.
One of those things I will share… in order to make myself happy, I require balance. Balance of every kind. If that balance is, off, I suffer creatively. Without creativity, it’s hard to get back on my balance beam. I’ve come to realize that in order to maintain balance, I need to photograph on a regular basis. It’s a way that I can process my own emotions and actions of other people.
That being said, no matter how arbitrary these images may seem, they are some of my most favorite. I’m reminded that I’ve had an amazing journey both in photography and life; concurrently, I’m surrounded by my loved ones. What more could I ever want?
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