There is infinity in the blank page. Before you write the first words, your story has endless possibilities of what it could become. And sometimes when you write, you don’t know what you are writing until you finish the story and someone else interprets it for you. The same happens in photography. Before releasing the shutter, the image only exists in our minds. There is an infinite amount of ways in which that image can be exposed to the photographic medium. And, more often than not, we won't know how our work will make other people feel until they see it. That is why the minute we bring a photograph to life the meaning of the image stops being ours and it belongs to the world. Photography, like writing, is meant to be shared.
Bringing art to life is a very intimate process. It's intimidating and scary. As an artist, you are always self-conscious about how your work will be perceived. Will they like it? Will they know what it means? Will they want to hire me when they see it? Will they want to see more?
Stories and images coexist in our minds long before we give them shape in their physical form. And, when we finally bring them into the physical world, we must accept the limitations of the medium that we have chosen to represent them. We have to make compromises, there is always a trade-off. For photographers, images in our minds speak louder than words but there are limitations to the photographic medium that prevent us from telling the whole story in just one photo.
Every time that we look through the viewfinder of our cameras we start a journey, and unknown journey in which the photograph that we envisioned takes a meaning that we have no control over when we release it to the world. And that's ok. It's part of being an artist. Your creativity gives birth to work, but its interpretation doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the world.
Almost every photographer that I know is self-conscious about letting other people see their RAW files, their negatives, their unfinished and un-retouched work. We don't want to show others our work in progress because we don't want to misrepresent ourselves. We fear that we just have that one chance to show that person what our work is about and we don't want to be put in such vulnerable position.
However, I've recently discovered that learning to accept that vulnerability has made me stronger. By opening up my practice on Patreon, explaining my creative process and talking about how I put my work together I've actually felt more reassured and self-confident. And not necessarily because of the feedback that I get from others, but from learning myself everything that I have to offer. I am less afraid to talk about my work and I am more confident about the impact that I want to have with my practice.
Admittedly, at first it wasn't easy. While I was recording myself in my first videos talking about my ideas and showing the inspiration for the project that I'm currently working on I felt like everyone was going to see what a terrible photographer I was. Meanwhile, another part of my brain was telling me that in every video I was basically begging for someone else to come and steal my ideas and come up with a better project.
The truth is that none of that has happened. Supporters on my Patreon channel are there because they are interested in what I do mostly because I'm the one who is doing it. In the end, anyone else can try to copy what I do and probably create something better than what I can create but it will never be exactly the same. Because they are not me. They don't have my motivations and they are not moved by the same things that inspire me.
This year has been very challenging in ways that are unfathomable, but something good that came out of it is that I made the brave decision of showing my work on Patreon. I hope that everyone who comes over and signs up for the ride can perceive that. You might see me at my most vulnerable, but you will never see a more real version of me.
Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.
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