Sweater – vintage | Pants – UO | Socks – Adidas | sneakers – Nike Cortez*
I was recently watching some i-d videos on youtube one morning when it dawned on me that it has been a very long time since I have simply created art. Although I am creating things I am passionate about through my work on LFB and as a freelance photographer, neither of these paths have much to do with creating fine art. The content and imagery that is associated with Love from Berlin, while being entirely creative is not art. And my professional photography, while also visual, has more to do with aesthetic story telling than creating pieces of artwork.
So then what is art? Well in my personal opinion (I am definitely no expert!), when it comes to photography, it is about exploration of visual motives as well as an exploration of themes and emotions through imagery. It is about trying to say something through showing rather than through speaking or writing. While all together personal and intimate for the artist creating it, photography that I deem as art is just as personal and intimate for the viewer. Which is why I would not call the images I take for LFB or the images I take as a professional photographer art. I would say it is content creation and recording.
Now don’t get me wrong – I love creating imagery for LFB and I love taking photos of weddings and don’t even really mind shooting events. Both of these chosen career paths allow me to constantly create new things and continue to develop my eye and grow as a photographer. The photos I take for LFB and the freelance photography work I do IS inherently creative and this is why I love what I do. But I would not consider it something worthy of being hung in a fine arts gallery.
Now I would argue that some of my work straddles the line between content creation/documentation and art – there are several shots of buildings and cityscapes for example that I have taken which veer more in the direction of art as I am trying to explore and understand the visual world around me through these images. And then there is my meagre collection of portraits of other people which straddle the line between lifestyle portraiture and art.
But when it comes to my own artistic process, I want to pursue this and actually work towards the exploration of certain themes rather than document already existing beautiful things or create content for something already understood. I want to challenge and cause people to question and want to explore what they visually see even further.
There are so many photographic projects that I have rolling around in my mind completely unrelated to LFB or wedding photography. Some date back all the way to high school, but have been placed on the back burner ages ago. I know that part of being an adult means having to prioritise. But I want to prioritise some of my time not only for creation but for the consumption of art created by other people as well. After all, some of my most cherished time spent alone has been the company I have kept with paintings in different museums all around the world.
I am proud of what I do, even if there are still scores of people who do not understand blogging and think of it as a purely egotistical and self-absorbed endeavor. Because I know better. I know that bloggers work very hard at what they do and are constantly stressed out because they are worried about creating the best content possible for the benefit of not themselves but their readers. Still, there is something I need to do as an artist at heart that is arguable entirely selfish, and that is to start to create again; create things that mean something and create things that mean nothing. Bleed it out of me with the click of a shutter but with pencil and paper and with as well. I have yet to sit down for a retrospective of this past year as NYE approaches. I have yet to draw up a list of resolutions. But I can say this – in 2017 I will be striving to create outside of my work life – whether it is photographic or with other tools available to me. My ultimate goal is to exhibit something anything by this time next year. And I hope you guys will be along for the ride.
Photography: Sara T Photo for Zalando x Nike Cortez*
Join the LFB community! Use #theCLmovement on instagram and twitter
to have your content featured on LFB!