Personal | My Inspiration | Making Life My Art
When you make your art your living, it can be really hard to be inspired – to feel like an artist instead of a business owner.
I loved photographs way before I loved being a photographer. When I would go to old antique and thrift stores with my family, I would love to shuffle through vintage photographs.
The older I got the more I loved to turn the pages of high fashion magazines. I fell in love with Annie Leibovitz portraits. The story, raw beauty, and emotion each one had. However there is one particular session that planted a seed to change my view on photography.
It was the photo session of Angelina Jolie and her adopted son Maddox. It was really the first time I saw family portraits done this way. There was something so powerful about seeing her not as the celebrity I was used to seeing, but the mother. It was relatable, something that is foreign feeling when going through these magazines.
Remembering how you developed your artistry can really help you when you are experiencing creative block or feel lost in your purpose. However, this quote taught me to take a different approach to how I see the world around me:
“I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel. Life is art.” -Helena Boham Carter
5 Things I Do to Get Inspired
1. Make/Drink Coffee
There is something about the art of making coffee that I love. Paying attention to boiling water on the stove and pressing coffee. I love taking time to appreciate something that can become so easily mundane.
2. Scroll through my Pinterest board
Pinterest isn't something I use nearly as much as I use to. But one day after pinning 1000's of pins on various boards I learned how much things coordinate. I learned my likes, how the photos of people I like coordinate with the kitchen designs. My style doesn't look like the photos that inspire me, but I think the detail and the over all feel is there.
3. Read
I love reading, I read a lot and actually don't feel like I read enough. Anything from re-reading my favorite fairy tales to educational non-fiction books that inspire me to run my own business. I can easily get lost in a good book, and love to let my imagination run wild.
4. Photograph something not client related
Being a photographer sometimes can make me lose the art of photography. I will sometimes associate the camera with work, and not want to hold it when I'm not working. I've gone on several beautiful locations and won't even take my camera with me! It took me a while to start pursing and scheduling my own personal projects. This has changed everything on how I approach a client session to how I feel about myself as a photographer.
5. Get out the house
I am SUCH a homebody. I love my home and actually find it to be one of my most inspiring places to be. But on the rare occasions I get stir crazy, getting out the house can be inspiring. My favorite places to go is to a coffee shop, Anthropologie (I mean the plates there inspire me!), and spur of the moment trips an hour away to New Orleans.
Taking time to appreciate the little moments in my everyday life, inspires me to capture moments in the everyday life of my family portraits and even documenting the smallest yet meaningful details in weddings. It's about noticing that so many little things compose who you are as a person. The little things are what tells your story.
