12/11/2019
R E L A U N C H | 2019/20
I WAS going to wait till the new year, but I was able to get to this sooner than I thought (which is GREAT), so you all get to share my excitement with me as we move into the new year together!
So what's the big news I've been sitting on? Well, I'm making a very big change to my photography practice in the new year that came as a series of revelations over the past year when my commercial practice really started getting a lot of (unexpected) interest. I was so humbled over the summer at how much people were enjoying my photography, I was approached by many people, friends, families, strangers and their families, 2 departments at the university I go to for grad photos, aspiring models, other photographers wanting to collaborate, head-shots for local entrepreneurs, and even local art legend who is now a dear friend of mine. This was kind of astounding as someone who just 'officially' launched my freelance business and website in the spring; it was a huge learning curve. I learned a lot about my relationship to photography, strengths, weaknesses as a 'businessperson' and a creative. I wouldn't trade my experiences for the world, but it was challenging to see something I cherish as such a personal and expressive process as photography becomes something commodified and capitalized upon.
I began to dread inquiry emails because I knew I'd be doing things that don't excite me or bring me joy, I turned down multiple organically-generated clients out of just not wanting to do their event, their catalogue-style family get together in the leaves, and their modelling shots. People want a specific experience, they have expectations of modern photography that is shaped by social media and pinterest, and I loose control of the 'product' and end up conforming to another person's vision. It all felt too produced, inauthentic, and uninspired. Granted not all experiences are like this, I've made some amazing and even life-changing connections through freelance. But what I love the candid, the imperfect, the human , culture, and what I call "the sacred of the everyday".
Regrettably, I lost sight of who I AM in developing myself as a freelance artist; I conformed to ideas of how a photographer should present themself, what kind of aesthetics they should engage with, and how to market themselves on the internet. I stopped seeing myself as person with a vision, but a product to be improved upon. I hated this, to put it frankly, I loath the idea of being "marketed" to people, to have me as a person be a "brand". This goes against my understanding of human nature, of creation, and what it means to have a good and balanced life and relationships. I wanted to get in-touch with who I really am as a photographer, as an artist, as a storyteller and a creative. I want to evoke and reference my culture, and not sterilize my identity for capitalistic means as to appear unbiased. There's too much at stake in that.
This is all to say, I realized I am not cut-out to be a freelance photographer, I cannot sell my passion (as trite as that sounds) because then it becomes impersonal, I don't want to shoot weddings, and engagements, and graduation ceremonies. I want to shoot people doing things they love, I want to photograph people laughing so hard they cry, I want to photograph people the moment their head turns away from the camera to reposition. I love those in-between moments, those imperfect moments.
Lewis Wickes Hine, a Social-Worker turned Activist Photographer who played an integral role in ending child labour, once said, "with the photographer, we have the light-writer" and I have burned that into my understanding of who I am, I am a light-writer, I am a storyteller. I want to tell stories, and I don't think the kind of photography the average person is looking for accomplishes that.
SO, I'm no longer doing hire-work photography, I am shifting to an art-minded, creative photography practice. I am still going to leave a ( very small) door open for case-by-case inquiries, but I have decided doing events and work for total strangers, or corporations is making me creatively miserable and I have found little joy in doing this.
I hope you'll all stick around to watch me grow and do the things I REALLY want to do.
Thank you, Miigwetch, and Aniikaniz,
-Keegs
