Where'd photography go in my life?

2015

It was a year of Reddit blowing up, Destiny receiving a story, something about Adele, Star Wars rocked the world, and I tried fancy cheese for the first time.

For myself, like many others, 2015 was different. I completed my degree, walked up on stage and shook hands with important figureheads in my school (whom I’ve never heard of prior to the arduously lengthy ceremony). This signalled a change in my routine of caffeine, commutes, and staying up till 5 AM to complete assignments.

lacking inspiration

Amidst the 5 AM nights, photography was something which kept my sanity in check. I knew I wanted to land a career in marketing, but I didn’t want to regret never trying to pursue photography as a profession. 

So I did. I photographed engagements, weddings, events, portraits, lifestyle, products. I dabbled in a bit of everything. I met some great people along the way. I gained invaluable experience.

It was awesome, but I wasn’t thoroughly happy with it. This year, I hit a creative a block. I became uninspired. I stopped making it a point to take photos. I began recollecting my thoughts as to why I loved photography. I was unhappy with taking photos and simply posting them.

changing it up

After graduating, I ditched my DSLR, loaded up my new Fuji X100T, and went on a trip for a month with some friends. It was a fantastic trip - I had a great time hopping on planes, getting lost in the Tokyo metro, and sweating buckets in Thailand. However, I never finished posting my series of photos from that trip.

During the summer, I started rock climbing, and played a profuse amount of Destiny.

I was fortunate to assist in a couple of weddings as well, alongside Fungke Images. Hot summer weather aside, it was another fun set of couples that helped remind me why I started photographing weddings in the first place.

Despite the big Asia trip and these weddings, I was never compelled to take photos for myself. A fading interest showed its claws once again.

becoming friends with my phone's clock app

Then I started work. My routine now consisted of caffeine, commutes, and barring myself from staying up till 4 AM playing Destiny. I began listening to Cortex, a podcast of the "two dudes talking genre", hosted by Myke Hurley (the hipster) and CGP Grey (the robot). These two dudes specifically talk about ‘the methods and tools they employ to be productive and creative.’ If you’re curious about having side projects alongside your main career, this podcast truly sheds some light into how these two personalities did so.

There are plenty of people who have been able to successfully juggle their main career with side projects to feed their creative void. Unfortunately for myself, it didn’t come as naturally to me as I hoped it would. 

I'm hoping writing about photography will rekindle a lost love, and spark something new out of it. And this time, I’m actually going to follow through with what I tell myself. (This was already two days late, whoops)

So, the next couple of weeks will be a series of short-form visual blogs about a review of my 2015, my experiences with photography, travelling, and the like.