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I've been thinking a lot recently about evolution as it pertains to developing a visual signature in our work. I believe creative evolution is essential to us growing into the creative space that we aspire to live and breathe. This evolution is the key to avoiding creative burn-out. It's the key to staying curious and keeping a healthy wanderlust which allows us to approach each project with a fresh perspective & excitement for what we do. But how do we creatively evolve as artists?
Creative evolution can come in many shapes & sizes. It can come out of taking the time to travel, to try a new food, to push ourselves to try something new for no other reason other than it sounds "interesting." The evolutionary process has a natural way of forcing us to know ourselves better... it allows us to explore those things we like & dislike & develop our creative "pallet" of sorts. In doing so, we weed out those things we don't like and move closer towards the things we do. This evolutionary process helps draw closer to knowing our unique visual signature that we strive to achieve in our work. Having a visual signature is crucial to the success and longevity of any person in a creative field. Ultimately the journey to "know thyself" is one that never ends for any artist seeking to leave a mark on the world with their work.
I believe we must always be looking for those beautiful opportunities to expand our ideas about the world. This year I am making a very intentional effort to create space in my life to welcome lots of new endeavors, to challenge myself, to try new things. All of it in an effort to draw closer to that thing that is deep within me... that thing that makes me wake up and want to create. I must know this "thing" better to continue evolving and growing. I still have a long way to go towards really truly reaching the apex of knowing the depths of what my visual signature is. But that excites me. It gives me a great hunger for continued exploration in my craft and that is something I hope to cultivate for the rest of my life.
This is an exploratory shoot I did a few weeks ago. I grew up dancing about 25 hours a week, I was trained by a prima ballerina who was incredibly strict, but instilled in me a great love for dance.. I miss it. This shoot really pushed me to look at something from a different angle, to see the beauty in the small wrinkles in an ankle and shoot something that was 100% for my evolution as an artist.
Thoughts
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Love!
Gorgeous photos. So inspiring.
I think you're still dancing.
I think you're still dancing.
beautiful words & photos.
beautiful. visual signature....thank you for encouraging me to push myself.
Lovely lovely lovely. Thank you this morning.
Sarah, you're an inspiration to me! Your photography pushes me to think in new ways and look at life differently!
Just beautiful, Sarah. I grew up as a dancer, went on to college as a dance major, and am now a photographer. :) I think it's funny how creativity manifests itself in different areas of oneself at different times. I miss dance a lot too; I don't think that ever goes away. :)
Your photography makes me so happy, Sarah. I enjoy following your journey as an artist/photographer.
Thanks for this Sarah. Have been thinking about this process myself recently. And you put it so elegantly and succinctly.
incredibly beautiful. visually stunning. ;)
incredibly beautiful. visually stunning. ;)