Covid Rebound and Creative Partners
Well, it’s the middle of June and I’m really ready to get back to work. After two years of stop/start work as a photographer, I’m looking forward to getting back to constant production and more importantly, continuous creative output. There’s nothing like forced creative stagnation to remind you how sweet it is to freely create art with no limits.
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to work with a dear friend and long time creative collaborator, Ahna Green. I had found a very cool, very unique machine boneyard that was begging for a photoshoot, and I wanted to share the project with a likeminded creative. Ahna has been one of the most incredible creative collaborators over the years, and I definitely try to keep the most unique concepts for her. Her creative mind and sheer artistic range make her a photographer’s dream collaboration. Not only that, but because she has become a very good friend, the trust that exists between us as creators makes for an incredible working experience. This makes any photoshoot together immensely enjoyable, but also made me think of something on a more serious note.
Over the past couple years, I’ve experienced what I like to call “creative stagnation.” While the lockdowns and social retreat of the pandemic definitely contributed to this, I’m not convinced that those factors are the primary causes. For several years prior to the pandemic, as well as during it, a dissatisfaction with the creative culture in Denver and the surrounding area had been growing in my mind. What I had started to notice was a growing culture surrounding the creative community, not one built around the pursuit of the arts and aesthetic excellence, but rather one built around social status and peer groups. This had started to create an environment of toxic, attention driven creatives that was very stifling for anyone not within the “in-crowd.” However, the more concerning part of this dynamic is the result for the community at large. When cliques replace the culture of the free exchange of ideas with a restrictive model, aimed at controlling the community, the people on the outside of the “approved group” are increasingly excluded. This creates the need for more isolated communities as creatives on the “outside” create their own replacement of the main community.
Now, this situation persists today, and while I do have several ideas of how to fix the issues within the community, that is a subject for a future post. What I do want to mention, is one of the good things to come from this pickle of a situation. That is simply put, the few like minded souls I have met in my journey on the outskirts of my community. These creatives, like Ahna, are characterized by a purity of artistry that is hard to inculcate within a restrictive community. These creatives are the types that are relentless in their pursuit of artistic excellence and are unwilling to waste the time to play the drama game. This makes them incredibly cool partners for a photographer who seeks a similar goal. Some of these creatives and artists have become fast friends as well. It is this most of all that allows for the incredible creative output that myself and those like me have been capable of throughout one of the toughest times we will probably ever experience.
Before I ramble on into eternity, all I would say in closing is to cherish those special creative friends and collaborators. You are not assigned an unlimited amount of opportunities with them, and they are way more special than you will ever know. I’m trying to live being conscious of that, and so should you.
