I guess it’s been a while…
Inspiration and motivation can undoubtedly be fickle things.
It has been a strange and challenging couple of months to be sure. Work has been the real hurdle. Taking on additional responsibility by managing two stores has really taken its toll. And a perfect storm of other unforeseen factors like worker injuries, employees quitting without notice and more, has made life increasingly complicated and exhausting. Just two weeks ago, at my store alone, I worked 70 hours on the floor which is the most I have ever spent in the trenches in my entire career.
I haven’t stopped taking photographs nor have I stopped editing photographs. But the motivation to upload anything has really been a struggle. I suffer from a severe case of imposter syndrome and I know this is definitely also a part of it. The knowledge that this website is a cathartic exercise for myself more than anything is a contributing factor as well. Overall exhaustion has been playing a significant factor. I mean, why spend any amount of time on something else when I can just sleep, right?
I know I don’t owe anyone anything when it comes to my work. Ultimately, my photography is for myself. It satisfies an innate impulse to create and to express myself. To capture the beauty around me whenever and wherever I see it. It brings me joy and that is all that really matters in the end. If others find joy in the work, hey, BONUS!!
The other day, my mother came to spend some time with us and take care of Ella (Peach) while Micah and I could went to go see a movie (Alien Romulus…Meh). The conversation of renting a table at art fairs came up in the hopes that I might be able to sell some of my work. Perhaps she is right and it is finally time to do so. Does it hurt to try?
Actually, so far summer has been pretty good to me creatively. In an earlier blog post, I stated that I was worried that I was going to suffer from the “summer slump” again this year but I have actually been very active. I have really been enjoying the foliage and trees as well as photographing the rural Midwest landscape even to the point where I am creating a page titled “The Glorious Midwest.” I kind of always thought of the Minnesota/Wisconsin landscape to be quite boring but I have really come to appreciate the beauty of it all. Farms, fields, wetlands etc, are truly mesmerizing and I have come to I really enjoy capturing that beauty in images.
And of course, one thing never changes. The inspiration and my absolute favorite subject, Ella. Always occupying my images on a near daily basis. She’ll have no shortage of images of her past and a visual record of her growing up.
I am going to create a new page for “Recent Uploads” since some of these pages are growing too large to navigate without being overwhelmed with what is new and what has already been viewed. Opposite of this, I am also creating an “Archives” page for me to move some of those photographs that have been on the site for a while so that I can keep things fresh as personal aesthetics can change often and I am certainly no exception.
Well, feels good to write some things down and get some images up. I certainly have enough…
~Cory
