Some people have asked me recently where I’m going with all this. I can see why they’d ask such a thing. The work on this blog, the reason it was created it the first place, was to exhibit this body of work which is simple, self styled, shot in the home and even somewhat repetitive. I didn’t fully understand why at the beginning I guess, but this is precisely what I set out to do. Its a personal and technical exploration. These are close friends and peers who say these things. I’m sure many more may have wondered over the months and years and not said anything. Therefore, whether it helps or not, I want to say a few words on the subject of direction, for those of you with an attention span sufficient to read it :).

Like so many starry eye’d jerkoffs I have a somewhat vague sense of what I want to do in fashion. Yeah, I said it. I have no artists in my family, I have not been to art school. I did go to a trade school for a while, but they weren’t able to teach me very much about being a creator.

So why am I into fashion, what do I know so far? I know that fashion photography has excited me since I was very young. When it connects I get the chills. I know that I can take a decent photo of a pretty girl. I know that I’ve committed my life to photography (read between the lines there, haha). I also know I’m not there yet. There’s a fourth dimension to all this that isn’t connecting for me. I know that my own sense of good taste and expression is rarely stimulated by my work. When I started to imagine why that is I was invariably led to begin the body of work that you see here.

When you just start out its too easy, too obvious to point out that you don’t have any money or access. ‘If I could only have that model, those clothes and that location, I could have taken that photo!’ For me, this is where I can choose to succeed or fail. For a little while, unsatisfied with results from shooting and not knowing how to improve I all but stopped. If I wasn’t getting what I wanted, or couldn’t afford to do it right I was just going to wait. This is so wrong. Additionally, I completely missed the point that all that truly great work I would see in a magazine or a book started as a good idea, then someone had to share that with others and bring some talented people together to accomplish it.

Upon realizing this, I knew I needed some ideas, and some friends. Shit! I didn’t have either, so I started shooting as often as I could, multiple times per week. I was thinking that when I stopped shooting I stopped developing my mind, my relationship with photo. In doing so again I want to grow creatively, force myself to deal with what I have in front of me, not what’s behind doors somewhere else. No money, no car? Invite people to shoot at my house! Truthfully, I’ve been so happy ever since. I know I use that doorway a lot, and the white stucco looks cheap and uninspired, but damn it, I’m moving again. I’m meeting so many people, the response has been phenomenal.

What’s next? I want to meet you. I’m bustling with ideas, I have access to the models I want, I think I’m about halfway there. I need stylists, makeup artists, and a few more years to publish and grow and maybe I’ll really be where I want to be creatively. Who wants to work?

-w