As I prepare my images for the opening night of my exhibit "REEL | LIFE" for next week, I find myself reflecting on what it means for 'me' to share my personal work with others.
The exhibit REEL | LIFE is a play on words of 'real life' situations captured on 35mm black and white film. It has nothing to do with TIK-TOK or fishing, to everyone's surprise.
Naming my shows has always been hard for me. How can I put in one or two words all the time, energy and efforts I have put into my work for the past few years.. so I felt that channeling in the main objective of life and of film helped me narrow it down to a word or two.
Now that the images have been captured, printed and framed.. the hard part is sharing it with others.
I think I know how it feels to be a song writer now. It's something that you have deep down inside of you and you get to share your take on life with complete strangers. Not knowing if they'll like it or not and not knowing if they will get it because the majority of people I come across when I tell them I am a photographer, they instantly think of postcard perfect images.. sunshine and colors.. bright and airy.
When did photography become about being perfect anyway?
I feel the more I share my personal vision with a public audience, the more I help to bring awareness of the different genres of photography out there. It's not about people liking it or not liking it. It's about educating others about how to see life and experience it.
Not all photography needs to be a facade of perfection as we've been conditioned in believing. I would like to see more people embracing the reality of images in the future and hopefully, by putting my work out there, it will motivate others to do the same.