Wednesday, April 3, 2013

And in these costumes pretending, we find ourselves.





Finally another shoot. And this one was worth the wait. A while back I took a photograph of Britt dressed as a circus performer smoking a cigarette in front of some elephants and since then I've been slowly putting together ideas for more odd circus photos. So here's the next one of the series. 

There's something about the circus that I just love... The strangeness and impossibility of things is captivating. It's a place where misfits are welcome and peculiar things are the norm. It sounds like home to me. I can't imagine my life without a bit of smoke and mirrors. What would I do? Get up each morning, robotically shower and get dressed, go to work for a company that only cares about reality. Come home, have some dinner, maybe watch some tv or go for a walk. And then sleep again. Instead I let myself sleep in when I can and wake up from strange dreams that lead to strange inspirations. I have several part time jobs that I love and that pay the bills, but I'm forever grateful for the flexibility that they offer so that I can spend my time with my imagination, and make moments of reality out of it.

In a sense, I guess my life is like a circus. I live and breath the make-believe. It's who I am. But sometimes I'm just a person looking silly in a costume.. Drinking tea and reading books.

Yesterday I was talking to someone about my photography and she asked if I get many people wanting creative photos from me. And the truth is that I don't. People see my creative work and love it, which I'm happy for. But then they ask me to shoot some family portraits or if I will do weddings. Don't get my wrong. I'm happy to be behind the camera for just about any reason. But sometimes I wonder why people fall in love with my work and then shy away from it. Maybe they don't know how to imagine like I do.

Hopefully coming soon is a video of this photo shoot, thanks to my dear friend Mike. Although I'm honestly a little nervous that his film will be better than my photos. He's that good.