Portrait & Fine Art Photographer

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I enjoy writing weekly about my personal adventures, projects, client work and random things I find interesting! I love to interact with the community and encourage conversation and welcome questions!! Thank you for being here!!

Re discovering creativity, how I keep the fire burning!

Times of darkness can be healing once you make it through.

Times of darkness can be healing once you make it through.

Here it is! I’m just jumping back in with two feet, and not really knowing where I’m going with this. “Blog”, that entry has been on my To Do list since I mentioned starting it up again a few weeks ago. The fact that this reminder sat there, not being address, was causing me some anxiety and feeling like I needed to come up with some grand reintroduction to have the blog come ALIVE again…. That’s why I’m starting here. This isn’t grand. This isn’t anything more than me taking action to get the ball rolling.

I know that all creatives have times of self doubt, imposter syndrome. We also have times where we flourish creatively, but then we wane again. I’m just like anyone else and I have experienced both highs and lows during my time, but I always come back to the passion when something, could be anything, reignites the fire inside.

Starting towards the end of 2020, I have found myself going on a deep dive journey of exploration. An exploration of self, my own self. I crave a more clear understanding of what drives my personal work. Where do I see it going? Why do I shoot? How do I speak through what I create? How can I create even more meaningful work in the future. Although I am referring more to my personal projects, I think some of what I am finding out about myself, transfers over to how I approach my portrait sessions. Its really exciting, but I can tell you in the same breath that I have felt like a complete failure many times during this process as well. It’s weird.

After six months of working with a mentor, well respected and highly accomplished photographer Aletheia Casey, I am feeling like I am getting somewhere. I’m not there yet, but I’m closer. For that I am grateful.

I have been shooting, quite a lot over the last 6-8 months. A smattering of paid sessions that really fuel my fire of portraiture, and also work that I am creating on my own, for myself, that maybe some day will speak to someone else too. It consists of a lot, from self portraits, to portraits of those I love and to those I hold close. It consists of the connection I have to my environment. We are all connected. In an assignment for Aletheia, I was supposed to come up with an elevator pitch on what I want to be saying with my work, what am I all about and where am I coming from? After having 3 days of some serious revelations, and a mad bought of writing down my thoughts, feelings and reflections, I came up with a first draft of what this is. My work is about: connection, communication, layers and feeling. Intuitively achieved and forever searching for a defining moment.

I expect I will be expanding on this, maybe really defining it even more succinctly, but for now, this is where it sits.

I will share some of my personal work today. Work I have made over the last little bit. This is a mix, from observing landscapes and how I connect to it, to my connection to self, and also the people around me. Its just a sample, with nothing more intended than a quick share. I am withholding some of my more favorite images, as they are highly personal and hold a lot of emotion to me. I’m not ready to put them out there yet.

If you are coming back to my blog, I so appreciate you being willing to jump back in with me, it means a lot. If you are newly visiting, I also appreciate you as well. As I used to say before, I love having a dialog about all of this. Reach out, I want to hear from you! Thoughts, observations, questions or just discussions, its all amazing to me.

thank you for being here…

Ok Phew, I did it. I just had to start. This is random. This may not be what you were expecting, but it’s what I had to give right now. Bringing it back to my title for this entry, the way I kept things moving was through the journey. I had to hit the lows to experience the highs. I had to keep shooting as that in itself, is my oxygen. My creative side needs to be fed, period. I hate the struggles, but I embrace them because I know what they mean. I’m forever a work in progress!!

I truly hope you come back and share in an adventure or two with me. I would be honored.

love to all,

see you next time!

Suzanne LopezComment