"Eden"

One of my oldest and favorite hobbies is photography. When I was young, my mom took a photography class and it sparked a lasting interest for me. I would walk around my backyard and use a little digital camera to take pictures of bugs, rocks, flowers - really anything I thought was cool. I liked to take pictures zoomed in super close to my subject. This has made for some weird and dynamic photos of little green beetles and flowers that I still cherish to this day.

In high school, I photographed content for my school newspaper and yearbook. I shot action at all of our major sporting events, I took individual stylized portraits, and I shot group photos of our clubs for the back of the yearbook each year.

In college, I joined a photo collective, but everyone was so into cameras and film and had such prolific portfolios that I felt like I was not supposed to be there - I felt like an imposter. So, I left that group and I started to take fun pictures of myself and my friends - declaring myself an occasional hobby photographer.

Recently, I have been feeling like I am blocked creatively. I wanted to create - to write, to crochet, to collage - but the inspiration was just too few and far between. I wanted to do anything - create anything - but I could not think of a single thing I wanted to make. I decided to reach back to photography to see if it would help me reset my creativity.

My wife and I bought fake flowers for props and sheets to make a backdrop. Before we even started shooting, I felt the creative buzz start to kick in. We got home, did our makeup, and set up my tripod.

Here are the results. I call this project "Eden".

This project was really exciting!

"Eden" allowed me to play with light, color, and texture within my shots.

This is the first time I have felt creatively fulfilled lately, so I will definitely be picking up the camera more often! Perhaps, you will even see more self portraits pop up periodically...

Have a great and creative week, friends!