Overcoming Creative Block

One of the biggest fears that we face as creatives is not being able to create better work than the last piece we were proud of, or not being able to create any work ever again at all. This fear that prevents us from creating new work feeds from the notion that we are not creating anything new. It’s a vicious cycle. It's paralyzing. And it can bring our creativity to a halt or even put an end to our careers. The good news is that creative block can be managed, and there are some proven techniques that I've used myself and I can assure you that they work.

The main cause of creative block is having high standards. Starting any project with the expectation that it will be the best work that you have ever produced sets you out on the wrong foot. If you approach your work with an experimental spirit, thinking of it as just trying out new techniques or as just letting the child inside you play freely, great things could happen.

Admittedly, if you are feeling uninspired you wouldn't even know where to start this experimentation process. And, even though some people say that procrastination is great for creativity, I am someone who prefers to take action.

So, here are a few exercises that I've used to get my creative juices flowing:

• Freecreating: ok, I may have just made this word up but I borrowed this concept from writers. I am part of a poetry club, and the lovely and uber-talented poet Erin Bolens taught us this technique.

  For writers, if you set the timer for 10 minutes and just write whatever comes to mind (it could even start with "I am forced to write for 10 minutes, this sucks!") after a few minutes of rambling your brain will start forming interesting ideas. It may perfectly be that you don't write your new novel in those 10 minutes, but there is always a chance of getting interesting lines that can feed your next writings. I do this almost every day and I'm really proud of some of the things I've written using contents from my freewrites.

  For the rest of creatives, just taking out your tools and creating freely for a set amount of time without restrictions can spark some inspiration in your mind. Take your camera and start photographing corners of your home, take out your paints and brushes and just make random strokes on the canvas, take your pencils and draw the contents of your kitchen cabinets, open your wardrobe and accessorize your clothes with bedsheets, towels or items from your bathroom cabinets, style your hair using empty cans or old headphones. The possibilities are endless. Just be playful and non-judgemental with yourself.

• Try someone else's technique: Is there an artist in your field or any other field that you have always admired and thought their work was fascinating? Is there an artist that has a technique that you find dull? Emulate their technique. I'm not saying "copy it", even if there is a whole book on how to copy other people's work. I say, improve it. Make it yours. Tear it apart. Try to bring new techniques into your practice.

  This project of mine came to life after years of experimenting with a technique that I learned from another artist and that I found fascinating.

• Use prompts: this is another technique that I learned from Erin Bolens. I've seen many exercises online for all sorts of creative disciplines inspired by this technique. Choose a random topic or look for online prompts (it can be any prompt for any discipline, just adapt it to your craft). Someone who does this brilliantly is Carl Burkitt. He offers on his twitter feed prompts for writers and poets, but some of them I've even found interesting to create photography projects from.

  For instance, on April 13, 2020, his daily prompt was "The trifle was surprisingly tasty". It is easy to take this line and start writing from it, but what do you do if you work in a different discipline? Well, if you are a photographer, how can you convey "surprisingly tasty" in an image. The same goes for painting or illustration.

  If you are a makeup artist or a hairstylist or a fashion designer or a stylist, imagine that the brief is "A Surprisingly Tasty Trifle". How would you develop this concept? Which colours would you mix? Which textures would you use?

• Limit your tools: this technique has been very effective for me as my style has developed over the years. We are so used to creating new work with the tools that we have, that we can arrange our work setups with our eyes closed. No matter how complex they are. I have a fail-proof 2-light setup that I use in the majority of my portraits.

  But, what if one of my lights failed? Or what if my whole kit was lost and I only had my camera to shoot? Would I be able to work? This technique forces you to experiment and try to create new work under very limited conditions.

  If you are an illustrator, painter, designer or a make-up artist, try using only one brush and one colour. Would you be able to create something with those limitations? For stylists or fashion designers, give yourself the challenge to work with only one colour or one texture. What could you create?

  For writers, choose one word and repeat it in every line, or every stanza, or every paragraph. Where would that take you?

These are just a few techniques that have worked for me whenever I've been on a creative dry spell. Do you have any others that work for you? Let me know in the comments below.

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.

You can also subscribe to my weekly blog posts here!

The Power Of Photography

When we take a photo or a selfie, the instant that we captured is gone forever and the photograph itself becomes a time machine. Every time we look at the image, it has the ability to take us back to a moment in our history that is frozen in time. It makes us relive in our minds the experience immortalised on it. Yet, an image can also trigger memories and emotions even if the picture itself isn't ours or about us. There is a powerful connection between our mind and what we see in a photo. In the times we are living, examining what photographs make us feel can help us reconnect with ourselves and with those around us.

Photography nowadays is so ubiquitous, available and disposable, that its significance is often overlooked. Our phones are full of images that we hardly ever look at. Only once in a while, when we are looking for something else, we run into an old image and we smile, or we cry, or we cringe by the memory it triggered. That is the power of photography.

Photographs are reproductions of reality. In the art world, reproductions have less or no value in comparison to the original. But, in photography, the value of the reality depicted on the image acquires a different dimension. No matter how many times you copy or print a photo, the instant in which it was taken will never be possible to replicate. That makes it invaluable. It is unique, it has attached historical, emotional and documentary value, but it also has a subjective given value.

Take for instance this image:

At first sight, it's an old image of two kids in a pool. I say old because of the yellow tone and the film feeling, but it could easily be a photo taken yesterday and aged digitally in Photoshop. It speaks of childhood, of summer days, of friendship or family ties, it awakens joy.

On closer examination, you can see the way the boys are dressed and try to infer the year when the photo was taken by the clothes they are wearing. It is still difficult to say because the clothes could be second hand, they could be a returning trend or they could have even been selected on purpose to portray a period in history.

The first real clue relies on the t-shirt worn by the boy on the right. If you Google what it says, you will find out that it is an advertisement for medicine that dates back to the late '70s early '80s. It still doesn't tell us if the photo is from that time because it could be a t-shirt made to look vintage, but it gives us a little more information.

However, I don't need to do all that forensic analysis to know exactly where it was taken, when it was taken and who are the children on the photo. As you may have guessed, the boy on the right it's me. That's my brother on the left. This photo was taken at a hotel where my parents used to take us at times on weekends. The hotel doesn't exist anymore. The photo was taken in the late '70s.

You don't need to have all this information to make a connection with the image. You might not even care about the details that I gave you about the photo because they still don't change the way this image makes you feel. You made the image yours and that is completely out of my control.

By looking at it, you may remember your own childhood, the places where you lived or where you went on holidays, your relationships with relatives and friends back in the day. Maybe you see your own children or grandchildren or nephews and nieces and it brings you feelings of joy, of longing, of grief.

I can tell you what this image makes me feel. It is one of the oldest memories that I have, and one of the strongest ones. It is a moment in my life that I constantly relive in my mind and I don't know why. Every time that I remember that day, I think of this photo and, just like today, I waste too much time trying to find it. I should have my childhood photos better organised and labelled so that I can retrieve them easily whenever I think of them. I will do that later today (I probably won't).

There were some other kids in the pool that day. Children from other guests. I started playing with them (can't seem to recall where my brother was) and the game took us around the pool area and into the rooms hallways of the hotel. Suddenly, the tables turned and the other kids stopped being friendly to me. I must have said or done something to upset them because they started chasing me around the hotel. They were yelling that they had to get me and kick the hell out of me.

I got scared and ran as fast as I could to our room. We had a cabin by the pool and, to my luck, the room door was open because my dad was just outside the room sitting on one of the hammocks. I entered the room, slammed the door closed behind me and hid below the bed. The other kids saw me go into our room and asked my dad, politely, if he could let me know that they were waiting for me outside. I could hear them from below the bed. I was terrified, petrified and my heart felt like it was coming out of my mouth.

My dad came into the room. He called me while looking for me in the bathroom and in the closet. When he couldn't find me, he went back outside to let the kids know that I was no longer in the room. He then went to fetch my mom to try to figure out what had happened to me. I came out from below the bed and stayed in the room for what felt like the rest of the day. I can't remember anything else. Even at 45 years old, that photo still gives me anxiety. That's how this image makes me feel.

Why don't you try this exercise today? Take your phone and look for the oldest images. Pick one of them and examine how it makes you feel. Which memories does it trigger? How do you feel about the people, or the places, or the things depicted on it? Is it worth reconnecting with them? Are you still in touch? Do you recognise the place? Does it still exist? How does it look like today? They might have a website. Do you recognise the objects in the image? Do you still own them or know where they are?

If you feel like sharing, use the comments below to tell me how this exercise made you feel.

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.

You can also subscribe to my weekly blog posts here!

Meet An Arab Woman

As a species, human beings are inherently creative. Creativity is what we use to solve our everyday problems or to do things in a different way using our imagination. But, having this ability to create and actually creating something are two completely different things. That's why we are so impressed when we see people who create something which we consider beautiful. It makes us say "wow, they are so creative!" From the person who doodles on their notebooks, to the one who cooks imaginative dishes at home, to the aspiring Picasso's and the Beethoven's of the world, we are surrounded by creators.

However, for a creator to be considered what we call in the industry a "Creative", they require way more than just creativity. They require a constant awareness of everything that happens inside or around them. They require an unquenchable thirst to interpret life and present their view of the world to the rest of humanity. They must feel the need to create something every second of their lives without even questioning themselves why. That, for me, is a Creative. And I can count myself lucky for being surrounded by such talented ones.

One of those creatives is Sandy Abdelrahman. Sandy was born in Egypt and grew up in East London, where she is an activist and creative social entrepreneur. She is also the founder of Skaped, an organisation that uses art as an engagement tool to educate and raise awareness of human rights issues. She has a track record that includes representing the United Kingdom at the United Nations Youth Summit 2017 in New York and working with Amnesty International.

Sandy is currently studying for her Master's Degree in Art & Politics, for which she has devised an interesting project on the perception that the non-Arab world has of who an Arab woman is. 'Meet an Arab woman', is a project that invites us to have an open-minded conversation on the burning debate about being a woman and being Arab. The project is intended to answer all the questions that the rest of us have about culture, political correctness and stereotypes on gender in the Arab world.

Through online conversations via video call, Sandy wants to answer our questions on gender inequality, discrimination, and racism while at the same time challenging many of the prevailing perspectives. If you want to find out more about inspiring Arab women, or simply learn who makes the greatest falafel, sign up to her project and solve all the doubts that you may have about what being an Arab woman means.

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.

You can also subscribe to my weekly blog posts here!

I Wish I Had Known About... Content Creation!

This is the eighteenth post in my series of posts where I speak with people in the creative industries and ask them questions about the things that “I Wish I Had Known” when I started out as a creative myself.

A couple of weeks ago, I sat down with the fabulous Leena Norms, online video creator, podcaster, producer and storyteller with over 4 million views on her YouTube channel, and we spoke about creating a career out of the skills that you have and her advice for those who are just starting with their own channels.

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Note: As I was editing the interview for the blog, the world was going through one of the most challenging moments of our generation: the Covid-19 outbreak. For those of you reading 100 years from now, it is the year 2020, and a pandemic is putting humankind to the test. But, even in our darkest hours, there are people like Leena who, using her platforms and her online reach, is dedicating a couple of hours every day to help people cope with this new reality. Leena, you are one of my sheroes.

Other people doing their part in keeping hopes high who are worth mentioning are Erin Bolens with her #pennedup initiative or Linda Bloomfield with her campaign to support creatives in these uncertain times. One day I wish I could be half as amazing as you guys are!

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1. To me, you are the Quintessential content creator. You have a YouTube Channel, you have a Patreon, you are working on a book, you are Social Media Producer, you work in the publishing industry, and you are a self-published poet. To the question “what are you?”, is the answer “what are you not?”

I’m not a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker - no, seriously... there are lots of things I found early on I wasn’t great at, so I set about clearing a little space for myself where I could be useful to the world. I think by accident I’ve ended up creating a job out of the mish-mash things I am good at, all the things I at could work to be better at and things I love doing. Among those things are: overthinking, making friends, writing scripts, being gobby, persuading people to buy books, public speaking, noticing weird things, being outraged about injustices (this showcased itself early in more of a domestic, sibling-rivalry way, but I managed to redirect it to social justice), telling lies (I’ve now found out you can call these ‘stories’) and rhyming.

I am not: a driver, an athlete, a person who enjoys group work.

2. You recently celebrated 10 years on YouTube. Congratulations! And you celebrated in what I think is a very Leena way: you created a video where you shared all your learnings from those past 10 years. How has YouTube changed Leena from your first video to where you are today?

It’s made me more confident, but not in the way you might expect; I don’t think it’s people watching or others' praise... more the thousands of hours I’ve spent looking at my own face whilst editing, and all the time I’ve spent in my own thoughts writing. No one can tell me something about my face that I don’t already know, and I’m used to it now, it’s like an old friend. I also think having a long-term project that involves spending a lot of time alone making videos (for someone who has a lot of extrovert tendencies) has been really good for me; it’s helped me get to know myself independently of others and be really comfortable in my own company. I don’t think that would have happened without YouTube.

I’m also much more eloquent now than I was... my first videos were basically ten minutes of me going ‘yeah this book was good... sort of. And this book was not good. I don’t know why.’

I think that simply comes with practice.

3. How different is the medium today than when you started? Do you think it’s an oversaturated medium? Are there still opportunities for people who want to start their own channels?

Yes, definitely there’s still always room! Poetry has been going on thousands of years, and no one is turning around and saying ‘Carol Ann Duffy, we know you enjoy it, but I think we already have a lot of poets, don’t you? Have you considered TikTok?’

I’ve seen that it might take longer to grow than it might have before: but it’s also important to remember whilst there are more channels there’s also much more of an audience; millions more people are using the platform than they were ten years ago - you’ve actually probably got an even better chance of finding your tribe.

4. What is a Vlog, and how does it compare to creating content for a Blog?

A vlog is just a blog in video form; I guess for the viewer it’s easier to consume because you’re essentially being read an article aloud? But also most of the time vlogs are tougher round the edges and presented as more of a stream of consciousness than a blog? Maybe. Unless you have a lot of time and resources, it’s definitely harder to go back and edit - even if I script my videos, once it’s filmed there’s only so much you can go back and change. You can’t add more stuff in neatly really, without going back and re-filming. With a blog, the editing and how much of it was done is invisible to the reader.

© 2020 JC Candanedo

5. As if all these weren't enough, you also make podcasts!

Podcasts are my life’s joy, I listen to my favourites over and over again. They do something completely different from video, so I’ve always been interested in them. My first venture into making them was about 5 years ago with a joint project, The Banging Book Club. I then went on to launch my own one (which is coming back soon!) and currently I also produce two other podcasts for others - The Vintage Books Podcast and Mother Ship. For me, podcasts are an opportunity to go more in-depth on topics, to make more relaxed, conversational content and a great excuse to get to chat with incredible people.

6. Should content be created for monetisation, or should we be creating content for the love of content creation? When did you start monetising it?

So I started my Patreon about three years ago, but I’ve always collected the ad-revenue on the ads google runs on my videos. I think it’s possible to create content people really want and would pay for (which is what makes it monetisable) and make something that you love - sometimes I either manage that in one video, or you can manage that within a channel. So, for example, my Positive Panic series about climate change is something that I love that I wasn’t sure other people would, but made anyway. BUT I’m able to continue to make it and give it more time because it turned out that people did like it. If I hadn’t made the first one I’d never have known. I think to produce regular content you have to produce some light-hearted stuff as well

7. How different is it working with Patreon than YouTube? What is the business model?

Patreon is essentially a ‘tipping’ system with a bit more faith - I’m saying ‘I’ll give you this thing for free, if you like it, pop some money in the hat!’ and becoming a patreon is like are saying ‘I WILL tip you - and I’m SO sure I’ll like the next 3 things you make, that I’m going to pledge to tip you for those too so you can depend on me.’ That frees me up to not promise my time elsewhere, to give more time to the stuff I make and be more ambitious with the scope of my videos. And I even get to sleep a bit now too!

YouTube essentially use my videos to run ads on them - once the ad has run, they give me a small cut. There’s no dependability about how much they sell the ads for, how much of a cut I’m getting and if they will promote my video/show it to people at all.

So Patreon supporters are the ones that make the channel happen; YouTube Ad-sense make up about 5% of my total income from my channel.

8. Are you sponsored and, if you are, is there a clash between patronage and sponsorship?

The channel isn’t generally sponsored by anyone, but every now and then I’ll work with a brand to make a video, and they will sponsor that specific video. Because my patreons pay per-thing, there’s never a charge for patreons on videos that are funded a different way. In ten years I’ve done a grand total of... five sponsored videos, which means of the 585 on my channel, 580 were either sponsored by patreons or made by me without payment. I’m super fussy about sponsors - I generally only accept digital products, experiences or book promotions, and I check out how squeaky-clean a company’s ethics are before I sign anything. No one is perfect, and I will always judge it on a case-by-case basis, not worth it to me to work with an organization which totally contradicts the values of the channel and the other videos I put out.

9. On average, how many hours a week do you spend on your channels?

Between 15-20, but in the past if I’m working on a big video or I’m making multiple videos it can be much more - and obviously it’s a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string kind of situation - if I had 40 hours I’d be able to cut less corners and write more complex scripts, make more intricate stuff, etc etc - as I’m sure is the case with any project!

10. Do your channels pay for themselves?

Because I’m a one-woman-band (I research, script, shoot, edit, upload and do all the smells and bells around promoting a video), the biggest overhead historically for my channel has always been my time; for about 7 of the 10 years I’ve been working on it, I worked for free. Now I’m super honoured to have about 800 lovely patreons who ‘tip’ me per video, cheer me on from the sidelines and generally give me the resources to be able to spend more time on my videos. And of course, as the channel has grown, I’ve been able to work with a few sponsors too. That means that any equipment I’ve even bought to work on it has been covered, and now increasingly my time is being covered too, which feels like a dream and also a wonderful relief!

11. People say that one should write about the things that one wishes one could read. Do you follow this mantra when you work on your channels?

Definitely - my style has changed gradually depending on what I’m watching at the time and what gets ME engaged as a viewer. There’s so much out there, and it’s impossible to cover a completely new topic, but I try and cover it in a different tone or come at a topic from a different angle. When I’m explaining a concept in a video, it’s often drafted directly from the way I explain it to myself in my head.

12. What is the youtube channel, the podcast, or the blog that you wished existed?

This is such a good question! I would 100% watch a channel that just did film analysis exclusively of old musicals. I would devour that. There are loads of stuff about Marvel and Pixar films and new Oscar winners... where’s MusicalTube?

13. Lastly, any word of advice for people out there who are starting to think about Vlogging, Blogging or Podcasting?

Get stuck in, expect to get it wrong, enjoy the process and don’t be a slave to the algorithm! If making something is a chore, it will feel like a chore to the audience too. If you make something with love, it will show through your work, and that’s what really makes an impact.

I am so honoured, Leena, that you took a few minutes of your busy creative schedule to answer all my questions. It’s everything that I Wish I Had Known!

You can follow Leena and learn more about her impressive work on Instagram, Youtube, Patreon.

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If you haven’t read the previous posts of this series, you can check the whole series here. I hope you liked this new post and stay tuned for a different creative each month!

Photo credit: portraits of Leena © 2020 JC Candanedo. My portrait by Wayne Noir.

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.

You can also subscribe to my weekly blog posts here!

Out For Good

This past weekend, I went down to the City YMCA homeless shelter with other members from Out For Good to put together care packages to be given to anyone who comes seeking shelter when they first arrive. These packages contain simple, essential items that will help them settle into their new home and show them that there is someone out there who cares.

A massive Thank You to everyone who donated in the form of toiletries or cash, in particular to the extended community of The Trampery, to Lush UK and to the rest of the members of Out For Good. With your generosity, we were able to fill these packages with deodorant, perfume, aftershave, razors, shaving gel, hair products, sanitary items, combs, brushes, flannels, hand sanitiser, lip salve, toothbrushes and toothpaste. We also included handwritten personal notes and Easter Eggs as a little treat.

While we were there sorting the toiletries and filling in the packages, some of the residents of the shelter came to say hi and to thank us for the work that we were doing. They said that they really appreciate it when they receive one of these packages on arrival and that they are very grateful for them, even if it might seem like just a small gesture to someone else. For them, the content of these packages is essential.

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Not all of the members and volunteers were able to come on the day due to the restrictions and social distancing caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. The few of us who were able to make it decided to go forward with the activity because the residents of the shelter need to know that we haven't forgotten about them during these difficult times.

Also, due to the current situation, we weren't able to collect or buy all the toiletries from the donations we had received so watch this space for more information on the final number of packages that will be delivered.

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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Which Skills Do You Need As A Photographer?

Recently, one of the most searched topics on the internet, according to the Exploding Topics website, was the word Ikigai. Ikigai is a Japanese concept that refers to "what makes life worth living". It doesn't surprise me that, in the post-truth times we are living, where ethically dubious practices seem to be becoming the norm, people are looking into doing something fulfilling with their lives.

When I left the corporate world to become a photographer, I was also looking for my reason for being. And I think that after many years of trying different things, I successfully found it. My work makes me happy and gives me purpose.

However, as I was writing this post, I asked myself why is it that I do some genres of photography and not others. Is it because I don't like them or is it because I don't have the skills or personality to do them? Admittedly, one can always acquire new skills with enough training, but there are certain types of jobs that also require a particular type of personality.

I decided to write a list of the traits and skills that I considered that photographers need depending on the type of work that they are doing. It is a very subjective list, and not everyone has all of the elements that I suggest, but I think it's a good guide for those who are starting in the industry and have yet to decide for one genre of photography or the other:

• Fashion: you must love clothes and understand the inner-workings of the industry. This type of photography is all about how the clothes we wear make us feel. Fashion gives photographers a lot of creative freedom, playing with fantasy and the theatrical.

• Beauty: shooting beauty requires a lot of attention to detail and knowledge of lighting. Like with product photography and still life, it requires a lot of patience. But, because you are photographing humans, it also requires people skills and empathy.

• Portraiture: probably one of the genres of photography in which your people skills can make or ruin an image. Taking someone's portrait requires a lot of empathy and an ability to get people to share with you their real selves.

• E-commerce: it's a fast-paced environment, with lots of repetitive tasks. You need a knowledge of what type of images sell. A lot of people say that this type of work is where creativity goes to die, but it pays the bills. Bigger brands have their own in-house staff, but studio owners and freelance photographers also cater to this part of the industry.

• Still-life / Food / Interiors: photographing still-life, food or interiors might be the opposite of a fast-paced e-commerce environment. It can be a slow process that requires a lot of patience and attention to detail and a very good understanding of how light behaves in different environments and on different surfaces.

• Street: this genre of photography requires good reflexes and always being alert to what is going on around you. You must be physically fit, as you will spend many hours on the streets trying to find the perfect photo or waiting for the perfect weather conditions, a task that also requires a lot of patience. If you photograph people on the streets, you definitely require people skills to convince people to pose for you or to deal with them if they react negatively to being photographed in public spaces without their consent. You must be familiar with the local legislation and your rights as a photographer.

• Landscape: landscape photography is about capturing the essence of the environment around you. You must be someone very patient, capable of waiting hours for the right light angle or the perfect clouds, but also someone flexible enough to react to an unexpected change of weather. Someone who is good at researching and doing recces for locations and for perfect weather conditions but who also knows how to take advantage of a sudden shower.

• Press and Documentary: these two genres of photography are very similar in that they require storytelling skills. They are not so much about the technicalities of the craft but about telling a story with the utmost respect for the subject matter and the people you photograph. They require integrity and high moral standards, and in some situations, you must be willing to put your safety at risk. They differ mainly in the turnaround. Usually, press photographers are expected to have a fast turnaround, were documentary photographers tend to work more in long term projects.

• Sports: also a fast-paced environment, it requires good reflexes and a thorough understanding of the sports you are shooting. It usually involves expensive and heavy equipment.

• Advertising: this genre of photography is all about selling and trying to convince the viewer that they must have the product depicted in the image. It usually involves big clients with big budgets and large crews and the photographer is just a small piece in the whole production. Being able to coordinate with the rest of the areas involved to achieve the results that the client expects is essential.

• Weddings and Events: for me, this is one of the most stressful genres of photography. You just have one chance to get the images that you are hired for, and you are working on your client's most special occasion. It is fast-paced, requires nerves of steel, people skills, lots of equipment, very good reflexes and a love for weddings and events.

• Travel: this genre of photography is a sort of cocktail of other genres like documentary, street, landscape, food and portraiture. It is basically documenting the landscape, people, cultures, customs and history of a specific destination.

• Fine Art: this genre of photography is less about the photography itself and more about the vision of the artist and their creative expression. The artist uses the medium as a way to convey an idea, a concept or an emotion.

This is not a complete list, as there are many other genres of photography but it covers the most common ones. In general, photographers should be resourceful and must be able to solve last-minute mishaps promptly and with flexibility. Also, I believe that professional photographers should have respect for the craft, the industry (peers, crew, clients) and the subject (models, product). Only by respecting and understanding the industry is that we can contribute to improving it, but also we can benefit from its support.

Photo credit: behind the scenes image by Andrzej Gruszka.

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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A World That Others Can’t See… with Gabrielle Motola

Our role as photographers is to capture a world that others can’t see, and in this process we leave a little bit of us in every photo that we take. In a way, every single one of our photographs is also a portrait of ourselves.

In this series, A World That Others Can’t See, I ask fellow photographers to talk about an image from their portfolios in order to discover the stories behind their work and to learn about the person behind the lens.

For the eighth post of the series, documentary and portrait photographer Gabrielle Motola talks about her work in Iceland, where she produced her first book entitled An Equal Difference (2016), in which she explores the modern search for gender equality and shared humanity.

Gabrielle says: “I travelled to Iceland in 2013 and over the course of three years, photographed and interviewed one hundred residents from many walks of society. Politicians, educators, artists, scientists, people of different gender identities and lifestyles. About two and a half years in, I decided to consolidate my efforts into a book.

"A collection of essays, portraits and landscapes exploring the Icelandic mindset, An Equal Difference was published in 2016. It is inspired by our modern search for gender equality and shared humanity. It analyses Icelandic society, but it seeks to understand how we all could build more equal and benevolent societies that encourage us to be healthier in ourselves and towards each other.

"I was inspired by Iceland’s reaction to the financial crash of 2008 and wanted to understand more about a culture which sought to examine the over-masculinised behaviour that led to the crash, without blaming men. After all, women were involved in the crash too.

"Afterwards, Iceland called for measures like the feminisation of banking, Those responsible for the economic crash went to jail, and an openly lesbian prime minister was elected to lead a parliament that was 52% female. This parliament then proceeded to make prostitution illegal – by criminalising the buyers, not the sellers.

"Sounds ideal, right? But rather than project my utopian fantasies and idealise the country, I sought instead to get under the skin of Iceland through my network. I worked with locals to connect to, photograph and have conversations with what turned out to be a “who’s who” of Icelanders.

"My criteria for subjects was esoteric. I wanted people who could think for themselves. We tend to call it thinking differently, but in a monocultural country of 330,000 there isn’t that much room for difference. What I found in Iceland were humans. And human problems. No country is perfect. No system. Perfection exists only in the mind, and it is our pursuit of it that is most human of all.

"Idealism aside, I wanted to know about the kind of society Iceland had cultivated. Why was it topping gender equality charts year after year? Why did it have one of the Greenest energy programs on the planet? Was it because of gender equality that these models co-existed? What makes gender equality work on a practical level, and did it really exist in Iceland in a way that the people benefitted from it? More importantly, how might equality influence the way individuals think and operate in society and ultimately construct it?

"How did women and men see each other – and themselves? What was their character like, compared to other countries I had lived in? Were women more confident, men more open-minded, children better cared for? Was life there more balanced?

"We are all much bigger than our cultures, yet our personalities take the shapes of them to some extent. I did not find absolute equality, however, I did find a high concentration of evolved ideas and perspectives.

"The two images you see here are of two totally different kinds of imperfection, striving for perfection.

"Ólöf Arnalds is a singer/songwriter and indie musician. She is classically educated on the violin, viola and self-taught on guitar and charango, but it is her voice which makes her music stand out. Her distinctness may be thanks to the fact that she is a self-confessed weirdo. I had this even confirmed by a childhood classmate whom I also photographed who could never understand why she asked the complicated questions she did in bible studies. Ólöf was in her back yard in Reykjavik when I met her, explaining her eyes and how they do not perfectly point in the same direction. Neither do mine.

"Héðinn is a senior government policy analyst advising on mental health. He has the hard-won advantage of first-hand experience of the Icelandic mental health system, about which he wrote a book entitled Vertu Ulfur (Be a Wolf). He would not use the term bipolar to describe himself. He uses cold-water therapy to work on his mind. I trained for three weeks in Iceland’s cold pools to get up the stamina and courage to step into this near-frozen lake near Borgarnes in late November. It was 2 degrees centigrade.

"I still swim and shower in cold water and enjoy its many benefits. Whenever I am told I am weird – which is not an infrequent occurrence – I think of Ólöf."

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Ólöf Arnalds © Gabrielle Motola

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Héðinn Unnsteinsson © Gabrielle Motola

I couldn't be happier and more inspired, Gabrielle! I have no words to express how grateful I am that you shared the beautiful stories behind your images with me.

You can learn more about Gabrielle's work at www.gabriellemotola.com and if you want to purchase a copy of her beautiful book, you can visit https://www.anequaldifference.com/

Gabrielle is also on Patreon and her Instagram and Twitter handles are @gmotophotos

For more information about Ólöf and Héðinn:

Ólöf Arnalds www.olofarnalds.com Héðinn Unnsteinsson www.hedinn.org

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If you haven’t read the previous posts of this series, you can check the whole series here. I hope you liked this new post and stay tuned for a different photographer each month!

Photo credit: portrait by Sean Tucker

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Fish Don't Know They Are Underwater

I set myself the task for 2020 to try to find common ground with everyone with whom I interact, even those with opposite points of view to mine. It has proven to be a challenging task, one that requires a lot of deep breaths, a lot of counting to a million and a lot of letting go of prejudices and personal beliefs. But, reminding myself that I might be wrong has helped me bring my anxiety levels down whenever I'm faced with an uncomfortable conversation.

We all live our lives with a set of beliefs that influence everything that we do. Some of those beliefs come from our upbringing (family, place of birth), while others have been acquired through the experiences that we have lived so far. Our brain makes every decision based on those beliefs and builds a set of assumptions. For us, that is how the world is.

I read somewhere that fish don't know that they live underwater. For them, being surrounded by liquid is the way the world is. Like fish, we walk around making the assumption that the world is how we see it. Until we meet someone whose views of the world are opposite to ours, someone who doesn't live underwater, but above it. And our first reaction is to say: "No, that can't be possible. They live in the wrong."

The truth is that, even if sometimes we might be right, the rest of the world can't possibly be wrong 100% of the times. There is a chance that sometimes we will be the ones in the wrong. What's more, on some occasions, we could all be partially right, and those are the moments when we need to focus on our commonalities.

What I'm trying to say is that no matter how right you think you are, listening to what others have to say and seeing life through their eyes can only expand your horizons and help you understand the world better. If, in the end, you prove to be right, treat others kindly as they assimilate their new reality. If you are wrong, be humble enough to admit it, and be grateful that you have learnt something new today.

There is a quote that has been running around the internet for some time, and that has been attributed to Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. I haven't been able to find the source. Whether it's his or not, I like what it expresses because it is a lesson on handling disagreements with others: “Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.”

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The Secret Formula For Success

When people ask me how did I go from working in a different industry and in a different country to starting a photographer career in the UK, I always feel like they want me to share a secret formula that will make all their dreams come true. The reality is that there aren't any formulas or magic tricks. You just have to want it as if your life depended on it. But, even if there are no secret formulas, there is a very powerful tool that you can add to your business skills toolset that will definitely have an impact on the success rate of your projects. Networking.

When I arrived in London at almost 40 and without knowing anyone in the business, I knew that I had a significant disadvantage in comparison to other fellow photographers. I didn't have a history in the UK, I was new, and I didn't know anyone from school, uni or from being brought up here. So, my solution to that lack of connections was to network like crazy. I literally typed in Google 'networking events for photographers in London' and started going to as many events as I could possibly fit in my diary.

Armed with a set of freshly printed business cards, I went from event to event introducing myself to as many people as I could. To this day, some of those connections that I made are still active, and I've made some really good friends from those interactions.

Apart from going to networking events, I’ve also joined professional communities and trade organisations that have helped me grow my network and strengthen my connections within the industry. Here are some of the communities that I’ve found the most useful:

• The Freelancer Club: in 2008, Matt Dowling unsuccessfully spent his last £300 on a lawyer to recover £11,000 that was owed to him from an unpaid invoice. Not long after, Matt met Nina, a freelance model who had her own set of freelance challenges. They shared their experiences and wrote a list of all the things they wished they had access to when they started out. They always wanted Freelancer Club to be more than just a jobs board and vowed to dedicate their efforts to freelancers who felt helpless, lost or frustrated. Today, Freelancer Club is a creative network that campaigns to end exploitative unpaid work and has become one of the leading voices in the creative freelance community.

• The London Creative Network: LCN is a development programme for creative practitioners in London. Delivered by SPACE, with Cockpit Arts, Four Corners and Photofusion, and part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund Programme from the EU.

• The Association of Photographers - AOP: The Association of Photographers is one of the most prestigious professional photographers' associations in the world. It aims to promote and protect the worth and standing of its members, to vigorously defend, educate and lobby for the interests and rights of all photographers, especially in the commercial photographic industry.

• The Trampery: The Trampery is a London-based social enterprise, specialising in shared workspace and support for entrepreneurs and creative businesses. They run Pathways, a learning programme designed to provide the space, resources, tools, time and support network for entrepreneurs who are doing pioneering work. The programme is funded by the European Regional Development Fund from the EU.

• The Societies: The Societies of Photographers is a group of organisations that encourage high professional standards and ethics in photography by providing continued training programmes for experienced professionals along with the newcomers to the business. The Societies of Photographers annual Convention is a four-day action-packed programme where brands and peers show the latest in trends, technology and design.

• The Boxed Community: the newly formed Boxed Community is a curated online community and virtual co-working space that provides support and development for entrepreneurs (startups, freelancers, and their teams) through ongoing learning programmes, business and personal development support as well as access to fellow members internationally. For more information, or to get on the waiting list, contact nicole@boxedcommunity.com

As Isa Rae, the producer and actress known for Insecure, says: we have to build connections with the people around us who are as hungry as we are. So, go out and meet them!

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Showing We Care

When I left home at 19 years old, I was very lucky to have a strong support network that took care of me until I was able to get back on my feet. I couch-surfed from friend's house to friend's house for weeks, which admittedly was very distressing, but I never had to sleep rough. I don't think my friends were fully aware of how much they were doing for me at the time but, looking back, they unknowingly prevented me from ending up on the streets. I feel like I would have to live a few lifetimes before I am able to repay them for their kindness.

In the UK, approximately 1 in 200 people are homeless and, according to figures from City YMCA, 93% of those who seek shelter in their facilities are aged 18 to 24.

I am a member of Out For Good, an organisation formed by LGBTQ+ people who want to make a real difference in their communities, and we are collecting donations to put together care packages for a shelter for young Londoners affected by Homelessness. These packages will be distributed to young people by the City YMCA.

With your donations, we will be able to fill these care packages with items such as deodorant, perfume, aftershave, razors, shaving gel, hair products, sanitary items, combs, brushes, flannels, hand sanitiser, lip salve, toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Donations will be accepted from February 11 to March 13, 2020, and the care packages will be put together on Sunday, March 15.

Please make your donations on this link: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/care-packages-for-homeless-young-londoners?utm_term=z8j4465Rx

City YMCA London is an independent charity affiliated to the YMCA movement, that works across some of London's most deprived boroughs to give every young person the opportunity to build a future of their own choosing. They have helped over 30,000 isolated, homeless young people struggling with family breakdown, school exclusion, poor mental health and drug and alcohol problems. Their accommodation offers a safe place for young people experiencing homelessness to piece their lives together.

Out for Good is an LGBT+ organisation for people with one thing in common, a willingness to make a real difference in their communities. Members dedicate their talent, time and commitment to help everyone in their community thrive. They act as role models, breaking down barriers in the wider community.

JustGiving is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the Payment Service Regulations 2017.

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I Refuse To Be One-Dimensional

Long before I started writing this blog, and even before becoming a photographer, I lived in a very different reality. It is difficult to remember a time when I didn't work in the Creative Industries, and some days it feels like I have been doing this forever. But, I used to live a very one-dimensional life where my career defined me as a person, and I wasn't involved in much else other than what I did for a living. From 9 to 6, I worked in the office, and after work, I would hang out with my friends and colleagues from the office. I spent almost a decade growing up professionally, but as a person and as a human being, I became stagnant.

These days, I sometimes feel that there are so many dimensions to me that it's hard to keep track. I find it difficult when others want me to define myself in just a few words. I work as a photographer, yes, but I am so much more than my work. And I am involved in so many different things that I have to tailor my introduction depending on the person that I am talking to. For my community projects peers, I am a photographer exploring social issues. When I'm in commercial environments, I work in Fashion. For my poetry club, I'm a writer. When I'm at the Ethical Society, I'm a fellow humanist. And for my mentees, I am sometimes mentor, sometimes project manager. To name a few.

Admittedly, we can't possibly go around introducing ourselves by saying the long list of things that we are involved in. But, sometimes, introductions can feel very limiting. Like when I have to introduce my work to someone who has never seen it before. Having just one online portfolio that shows a range of everything I do can sometimes get confusing. In this industry, you are supposed to be one-dimensional. Unless you are really famous, then you can do whatever you want. Otherwise, your portfolio must reflect the type of photographer that you are trying to sell yourself as.

Some types of photography are complementary. You can be a Food and Travel Photographer, or work at the same time in Fine Arts and Portraiture. But, when I try to explain that I am interested in exploring current social issues but that I also shoot commercially as a fashion and portraits photographer, it sometimes feels like I'm talking about two contradictory things. It might be because you are not seen as ethical when you work inside an industry like Fashion. But, like I always say, change comes from within, and it is us who work inside the industry who have the power to change it for the better.

What all the things that I do have in common is me. I am so much more than one thing or the other. I am the sum of all of them and so many more that I don't have enough space to mention. Like the founder of the fashion brand Sabinna, designer Sabinna Rachimova, said today: I like "taking on too many projects at the same time, forgetting that the day has only 24 hours". But we wouldn't do it any other way because this is who we are, right Sabinna?

Photo credit: behind the scenes taken by Diana Buntajova.

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Ceci N'est Pas Un Drill

This is not a drill. This is happening for real now. This coming Friday, January 31st, 2020, the United Kingdom starts the transition period to leave the EU. After 3.5 years of uncertainty on whether this might actually happen, on December 31st, 2022, the UK will officially be out of the EU. Funny enough, the Brexit campaign was based on vilifying immigrants, but anyone who has ever emigrated can tell you that migrants might be the only ones with the skills to navigate the tough times ahead. Adapting to this new reality is going to take a lot of resilience and a lot of sacrifices.

Leaving the EU means closing the borders to free movement. The Government has introduced a points system for those who want to immigrate to the UK as of 2021, which is being advertised by saying that the UK wants to welcome “talent from around the world while reducing low-skilled migrants.” The PM also added that “the UK is open to the most talented minds in the world.”

Admittedly, if the country is closing the borders as of 2021, a migration system needs to be put in place. But all those words that are being used like “most talented minds” and “reducing low-skilled migrants” send a clear message: the immigrants that we have nowadays are low-quality, and we need better ones. We want diversity, but we want it our way.

Defining what “most talented” and “low-skilled” mean will have a significant impact on many industries, including the Creative Industries. Lately, one of the criteria used to filter out the wrong type of immigration has become very controversial.

Currently, most skilled workers from outside the EU coming to the UK must have a job paying at least £30,000 a year. If nothing changes, this threshold will also apply to EU immigrants as of 2021. When you look around you, you might think that these low-skilled immigrants occupy jobs like cleaning staff, caregivers, security guards, to name a few.

The reality is that many skilled jobs nowadays, especially in the Creative Industries, don’t make it to the threshold either. The Creative Industries rely heavily on freelance workers, and according to a study conducted by Glassdoor, the average freelancer in this industry makes less than £30,000 a year.

I’ve written extensively about how the Creative Industries contribute to the economy of the country. One of the secrets of such success is the creative immigrants who come to enrich the industry. If we filter out those creatives, we would not only weaken one of the pillars of the UK economy and the UK branding across the world, but we would also leave many a position unfilled.

Some might think that it is an opportunity for UK nationals to have access to those jobs. Still, a study by the Creative Industries Federation shows that a third of creative business agree that there aren’t enough young people interested in creative careers in the UK. So, with these immigration regulations, we will not only have fewer people to fill those positions, but also the people available would only speak among themselves and not receive valuable influences from people from other parts of the world.

And this is only within the Creative Industries. Now take those figures and think about the whole of the UK economy. There aren’t enough UK nationals to do those jobs. Either because there aren’t enough UK nationals in the first place, or because they are not prepared, or they are not willing to do those types of jobs.

From freelance photographers like myself to multimillion-pound productions of the likes of Game of Thrones, being labelled as a creative from the UK makes us a referent around the world and adds immensely to our brands. And that reputation comes from the diversity of our industry. Why would anyone want to change that?

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Ego Can't Exist When You Start All Over Again

When I arrived in London 7 years ago, everything was new to me. I was starting again in a new country, in a different language, in a different industry and at a very different age than the one I had when I started in my previous career. This time, I was about to become 40, and I had left my former industry, in which I had 20 years of experience, to pursue a career in photography. All the odds were against me, but here I am, still working as a photographer and now writing about my life as a creative on this blog. As they say, 'hunger is a good kitchen', and I can tell you that I was really hungry for becoming the person that I am today.

Uber-talented singer-songwriter Erika Ender was interviewed by Erika de la Vega last year. During the interview, she spoke about her beginnings in the US market and about having to start from zero in a different country. Erika said: "Ego can't exist when you start all over again." Only when you free yourself from all your baggage and all your preconceptions, and you are open to learning from others and to accepting new opportunities is that you are ready to start anew.

This past weekend, right at the end of a shoot, the client asked the person who was assisting me what had he learnt from the experience that day. He immediately replied that he had never seen anyone use an old bedsheet to cover the model while they were changing during an outdoor shoot (a trick I learnt from a stylist many years ago).

His answer got me into thinking that, apart from going out to meet people like crazy, one of the things that I did when I arrived in London was to assist other photographers in order to learn about the industry and the craft. I worked with many photographers in anything from unpaid portfolio updates to properly paid client work, and from those experiences, I gathered a wealth of knowledge.

Today's post is to pay tribute to all of those photographers who let me assist them when I didn't have a clue of what I was doing, and to their crew members because every single one of them taught me invaluable lessons, some of which I still apply today:

• Chris Streule: he was the first person in the industry that I met in the UK. From him, I learnt how to put together a crew for a shoot.

• Sam Gyang: the first photographer who I ever assisted, he taught me that the best lens for portraits is an 85mm.

• René August: the first photographer who I assisted in a studio setting. She taught me how to set up lights, install modifiers and contact model agencies.

• Andrew Clark: during his shoot, I met a person who would become one of my long-time collaborators.

• Andrew Hiles: I assisted him many times at the very beginning, and every opportunity was an invaluable lesson on how to produce a shoot and deal with clients.

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On Identity: Where Am I From?

Benjamin @ 2019 JC Candanedo

Ancestry and identity are two different things. Ancestry speaks of your predecessors, of the people who mixed up to create the gene pool in you. In this sense, we are all mixed, and we are more similar to each other than some are happy to admit. But, identity speaks of your tribe, your community, your cultural heritage, and how you fit in with those you identify with. Some people have very defined identities, but for the rest of us, especially those who come from mixed ethnical backgrounds, trying to fit into one single group can often lead to an identity crisis.

Throughout my life, my identity has often been defined by how others perceived me. Growing up in Panama, most people knew that I was from European descent even if they really didn’t know where in Europe was Catalonia located. When people asked me “where are you from?” and I responded saying “I’m from here, I’m Panamanian”, people would often ask me “yeah, but where is your family really from?”.

This experience repeated itself in other parts of the world where I’ve lived. In Barcelona, I wasn’t Catalan enough. I was always deemed as Latino or sometimes southern Spanish. In New York, I was Latino and, more specifically, Mexican. For the people who I met while living in France, I was Catalan from Barcelona. While in Sydney, I was from London. And now that I live in London, the majority of people see me as Catalan even though I always say that I was born in Panama.

After the question: “Where are you from?”, there is always an internal dialogue: “Where am I from?”. When my friend Patricia told me about her son’s potential identity crisis, I couldn’t help but feel completely related to his story. Patricia and her husband are first-generation Brazilian immigrants in London, but their son Benjamin was born in the UK.

At home, they speak Portuguese, trying to keep their Brazilian culture and heritage alive. But Benjamin speaks Portuguese with a strong British accent, and when in Brazil, some of his relatives call him the “little Briton”. Patricia worries that Benjamin will never fully feel Brazilian, but, like me, it’s in his hands to define his own identity.

You can learn more about my projects and personal work on the Projects section of my website.

Photo credits: Benjamin © 2019 JC Candanedo

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When The Student Is Ready, The Teacher Will Appear

I first heard this ancient Chinese proverb about a year ago: "When The Student Is Ready, The Teacher Will Appear." I heard it from someone when we met after I offered to help them when they told me that they had been struggling with a personal project for months. That person said to me that the major challenge that they were facing was acknowledging that they needed help to develop the project. It wasn't until they realised that they needed to look for help that I appeared in their life. We now have a mentor/mentee relationship that has lasted for almost a year.

It wasn't by a miracle that we met on that day, nor crazy coincidence nor luck. I'm sure they had met many people before me who would have made excellent mentors. They just weren't ready to be helped and thus missed out on those opportunities. When they finally acknowledged that it is OK to ask for help, they seized the opportunity they saw when I offered it.

Since then, I have started mentoring both students and established professionals to help them develop their projects using my experience of 20 years working as a Project Manager in my previous industry.

At the end of last year, I joined the Beyond Barriers Mentoring Scheme from Kingston University as a student mentor. The programme was developed to achieve equality, diversity and inclusion in graduate employment and improve access and opportunity by offering support to under-represented and disadvantaged students. Who wouldn't want to be part of such a beautiful endeavour?

I've also been helping out students from the University of London who have reached out about learning what it means to have a career as a photographer.

As I've said in previous posts, our biggest challenge as a society for the new decade is bringing people together. What better way of creating connections than sharing my expertise with others. If you find yourself with some spare time in your hands, why not offer advice and support to younger generations or even peers and help them overcome their challenges.

I can assure you that you will not only learn as much from them as they will learn from you, but you will also create new connections, expand your network and contribute to making your industry and your community stronger.

Photo credit: behind the scenes shot by Tori Dance.

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The Day After

I wrote this post a couple of days ago after coming back from having lunch with friends. During the meal, one of them asked us not to talk about politics because they didn’t want to feel sad all the time and politics made them sad. This political climate has caused too much division and too much pain. We need to find a way to fix this.

Adam King, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software engineer, came up with a tool called Talk To Transformer that generates coherent paragraphs of text one word at a time. The AI software predicts the next word in a text using neural networks to complete the text. I asked Transformer: “How can we bring people together?”, and the software generated an answer that suggested an “interracial alliance”.

We definitely need more allies, and if a piece of software can come up with that conclusion on its own, I don’t see why an intelligent species like the human beings wouldn’t be able to achieve it.

The holidays are over now, and today marks the first day of a new year, a new decade and a new challenge. In the words of Diane from Bojack Horseman: “every happy ending has the day after the happy ending”. Today is the day when we have to start bringing people together.

Photo credit: group shot of the participants of The Trampery’s Pathways Programme.

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An Experiment For The New Decade

In recent posts, I have been advocating for more inclusion and less divide and for finding commonalities with those who are different from us. This includes those with opposing points of views. Before the year ends, I propose an experiment: let's start the new decade by giving inclusion a try. Miranda Dempster, the Editorial Design Director of the New York Magazine, said in a recent interview: "Sometimes you have to try things just to prove why they are not right, but you might discover something else along the way you hadn’t anticipated." Let's keep an open and non-judgemental mind towards other people's opinions, and see where that takes us.

With this, I am not saying that we should condone abuse or hate speech in any way. But it might actually surprise us to learn that, at the core, we all want the same things no matter how different we are.

Someone who does this brilliantly is model Rain Dove. She receives so much abuse online that someone else would have ended up crawling under a rock and disappearing from the face of the planet. However, with kindness and an open mind, she takes the time to listen to her haters and has honest and open conversations with them. Most of the times, she turns haters into allies.

One thing that we must always keep in mind is that others also think that they are right. They also have evidence that we are mistaken. They might be as manipulated as we are. They believe that their point of view is what's best for the world, too. And, you know what? They might be right. Have you ever considered that you might be the one who's wrong?

This is a dilemma that's been on my mind for a few years now. And the election results in many parts of the world over the last few years have made me continuously ask myself that question. How is it possible that over the last decade, people around me are voting for governments with completely opposite views of the world to mine? Am I one of the bad guys?

I think that, just the fact that I am reassessing my views of the world and my stand on the issues that I care for makes me a good human being. A bad person wouldn't even consider that they are wrong. So, my resolution for the next decade is always to try to find common ground with people who have different points of views to mine. As Miranda Dempster said, we might both discover something new.

Happy Holidays 2019 and have a wonderful new decade!

Photo credit: behind the scenes taken by Chloe Rosser.

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This Is The Time For Inclusion

For a society to be truly diverse, it must also include people who look, act or think differently to us. A diverse community must welcome any ethnicity, any political, social, or economic background, any creed or absence of, any gender identity, or any sexual orientation. It must embrace differences and rejoice on the richness that comes from welcoming others. If you look around you and everyone looks and thinks the same as you, even if you consider yourself to be part of the "good ones", you don't live in a diverse community. Sometimes, that's a painful pill to swallow.

Two years ago, after the Brexit referendum when Fashion Week was deemed as “too political”, I wrote a piece on why this is the time when creatives must create. Our role as artists is to look around us and try to make sense of the world we are living by studying it, interpreting it and presenting it to society to offer a different perspective on the issues that we care for. We have a powerful and effective way of engaging with our audiences, and we must use it to encourage others to question their own realities.

Also, as creatives, we have a duty to integrate those who are different to us because, if we don't, we end up just talking amongst ourselves and our work becomes stagnant. Only by being open to others and to new experiences is that our work achieves its real potential.

Today, I find myself writing this post after a General Election in the UK that has torn the country apart, and that has left people on all sides with a feeling of unrest. Even the winners are not really sure of what they have won. The aim of those in power is to rip this country apart, tear it to pieces, leaving us vulnerable and easy to control. Divide and conquer, one of the oldest tricks in the book. But, no matter which side you stand on, we mustn't let this happen. We gain so much more by sticking together, even if it means going out and having tea with those with opposing points of views to us. Now, more than ever, we need to integrate others and fight against hatred.

But how do we do that? Where do we start? Well, I know it's easier said than done. Still, there are many things that you can start doing in your communities (family, friends, neighbourhood, workplace, school, religious group, etc.) to become an integrating force. Love and hatred both have a ripple effect, so the only way to fight against the latter is to infuse more love and inclusion into our everyday lives.

Change comes from within, and if we are not comfortable right now with the current situation in our community, we can't just sit down and wait for politicians to come and change it for us. We must start doing something ourselves right now.

If you need concrete examples, I can tell you some of the things that I do to improve the communities that I belong to in the hopes that you can find inspiration in at least one of them:

• Respect: I try as much as I can to treat everyone with respect. This is a simple thing that you can start doing right now that won't cost you anything but will go a long way. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone, even those who don't respect you back. It's difficult, I know, but you can't fight hatred with hatred. Count to a million if you must whenever a situation is trying to get the worst out of you.

• Speak out: I use all the platforms available to me (social media, blog, everyday informal conversations, photography) to speak out about the issues that I care for.

• Volunteer: I volunteer my time and skills to help others. There are a lot of groups out there that are in desperate need of hands to be able to deliver the beautiful work that they do to improve our communities. Just type "volunteer work" and the name of your community in Google and you will find many to choose from. Also, you don't need to become part of an organisation to do volunteer work. You can just pay attention to the needs of those around you, and you will find many ways in which you can contribute to improving their lives. Maybe a neighbour who lives alone and doesn't know how to cook could benefit from your kitchen skills, or you might know someone who is unemployed and doesn't know how to write a CV who will definitely benefit from a helping hand. Imagine if we all did these small things for each other... there wouldn't be a politician who'd be able to divide us.

• Reduce waste: during the summer, I wrote this post about the changes that I’ve been implementing in my life to reduce my waste. Some of these changes were no-brainers and easy to implement, while others took a lot of deliberation and compromise. Not only with myself, but also with those who live with me. It’s not an easy feat.

• Donate: some organisations need volunteers, but others also need money to be able to function. And the problem with money is that we need it ourselves too and it is often scarce. But, if you have spare change in your pockets or you find yourself with a little left at the end of the month, consider supporting organisations that work on the issues that you care for the most. At home, we give every month to the following ones:

  • Help Refugees: we donate every month to this organisation that since the summer of 2015, supports a network of over 25,000 volunteers that provide food, clothes, shelter, medical care, psychosocial support and informal education to refugees across Europe and the Middle East.

  • Humanists UK: I am a part of Humanists UK, an organisation that champions Human Rights (LGBTQ+ rights, Women's Reproduction Rights, Non-religious people rights) and that supports lasting change for a better society. I am also a member of their LGBTQ+ chapter which campaigns for equality and diversity, particularly relating to sexual orientation and identity – both in the UK and internationally.

  • Stonewall: we donate every month to this organisation that works with institutions (including employers, schools, healthcare providers, sports organisations and religious institutions) to create inclusive and accepting cultures, to ensure institutions understand and value the huge benefits brought to them by LGBTQ+ people, and to empower institutions as advocates and agents of positive change.

  • Food Banks: we donate every week to food banks through programmes like The Food Vouchers, which double the amount that we put in and donate food to homeless shelters across the UK.

  These are some of the small things that we are doing at home to contribute to the improvement of our community. I know that when you put it in writing it doesn't feel like much, but what for us might feel like a small contribution feels like a massive amount of support for those who need it.

  Finally, there are other direct and indirect ways in which you can contribute to making the world a better place to live:

  • Personal projects: Starting 2019, I am looking for ways of giving back to the community whenever I work on a personal project, in ways that are more than just raising awareness for a cause. The work that I'm doing with Art Sense Studio and Skaped comes from that commitment that I made to myself. You can read more about it on this post.

  • Pay it forward: I feel like the best way to be grateful for what others have done for you is to pay those acts of kindness forward. London welcomed my family and me with open arms, and I know how lucky I am to be able to live and work in this city. That's why I try as much as I can to pay forward all the good things that other people have done for me since I have arrived here.

  • Play the lottery: I'm not an advocate for gambling, but some organisations rely on the funds that they get when people play the lottery. Only for that, I think it might be worth to play the lottery from time to time:

    • The National Lottery: they retain just 1% of revenue in profit, while around 95% of total revenue goes back to winners and society, including support for the Arts.

    • Postcode Lottery: a minimum of 32% of the ticket price goes to charities and good causes.

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope that, even if we might not agree 100% of the times, you have been able to find this post useful and gather a few ideas on how to help make this a better world.

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Go For The Yes!

This morning, before writing today's post, I was listening to Chantal MIller's Island Girls Rock podcast. Her podcast series is a beautiful source of inspiration that shines the light on Caribbean women and women of Caribbean-descent across the globe. During the last episode of season 2, Chantal interviewed journalist Sherry Ann Dixon, and one of the thoughts that came out of the interview and that resonated with me was how sometimes all we have to do is ask. How many opportunities do we miss just because we were afraid to ask?

Over the last few months, I have been helping out students, peers and other entrepreneurs guiding them in their career paths. This is not something that I planned on doing. What all these people have in common is that they approached me and asked for my help. They either sent me an email, messaged me on social media or straight up asked me face to face. And because I know how much courage it takes to ask someone else for help, especially someone who you think has the knowledge or the experience to guide you, I accepted without a second thought.

After a few weeks working together, two of them confided in me that they almost didn't contact me because they thought that I would say no. In their minds, the possibility that someone who they considered to be a very busy person would take the time and make an effort to sit down with them and help them was very remote. The truth is, I am very busy either with jobs or with personal work, but I strongly believe that the industry is only as strong as its weakest creative. If we all grow together, the industry becomes stronger. You climb, and then you lift others. That's my motto in life.

In Spanish, there is a saying that goes something like "you already have the 'No', so why not go for the 'Yes'?". There is no harm in asking others when you need answers or help. No matter how established or busy you think they are. If they have the time, they will get back to you, but if they don't, don't take it personal. It might be that they are just busy and they don't have the time to get back to you. However, it may also be that they are not ready to help others. Maybe they are at a stage in their careers where they still need to grow before they can lift others with them.

Photo credit: behind the scenes taken by Diana Buntajova.

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Let Your Voice Be Heard

On December 12, 2019, the next UK Parliamentary general election will take place. On that day, British Citizens eligible to vote will select the 650 Members of Parliament (MPs), who represent a part of the UK called a 'constituency' or 'seat', and who debate the big political issues of the day and proposals for new laws. After the general election, the leader of the party with the most MPs is asked by the Queen to become Prime Minister and to form a government that will run the country. The leader of the party with the second-highest number of MPs becomes the Leader of the Opposition.

Why is it important to vote?

There are the obvious reasons:

• making your voice heard in the matters that you care for the most and electing like-minded politicians,

• getting politicians to work for you locally because change happens from the bottom up (MP’s represent your local area).

• not letting others decide for you.

And there are not so obvious reasons:

• even if you think your candidate or party won’t win, your vote gets the winning party one vote away from an absolute majority. Having a balanced parliament, even if it’s not ruled by your candidate or party, helps keep democracy working.

• the rights that you and I enjoy today have been won for us by those politicians that we have supported: women’s vote, civil rights, same-sex marriage, equality laws, women’s reproductive rights, etc. If you don’t vote, you are denying yourself and the future generations the possibility and continuity of having those rights.

For more reasons why to vote, visit: votingcounts.org.uk

Who is eligible to vote?

To vote at the UK general election you must be registered to vote and:

• 18 years of age or over on polling day

• be a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen

• be resident at an address in the UK (or a UK citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years)

• not be legally excluded from voting

The following cannot vote in a UK Parliament election:

• members of the House of Lords

• EU citizens (other than UK, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus and Malta) resident in the UK

• anyone other than British, Irish and qualifying Commonwealth citizens

• convicted persons detained in pursuance of their sentences, excluding contempt of court (though remand prisoners, unconvicted prisoners and civil prisoners can vote if they are on the electoral register)

• anyone found guilty within the previous five years of corrupt or illegal practices in connection with an election

Source: www.electoralcommission.org.uk

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