A new year unfolds – and with it, the perpetual tension between expectation and reality. This time, I don’t want to set lofty, rigid goals. I want to focus on exploration, on rediscovering the art that once flowed effortlessly, or perhaps more to the point, never flowed at all. And, without the constraints of deadlines or deliverables.
2025 feels like an invitation to dive deeper into the unspoken, the unseen, and the untamed corners of whatever this is in my brain that I call creativity.
I spent so much of the last few years fine-tuning techniques, building tools, teaching, and producing work that aligned with external demands. But as I look forward, there’s an itch – one that’s been growing stronger – to create for myself again. Like, truly for myself. To return to moments of improvisation, where ideas bloom in the absence of structure. Photography has always been a vessel, but this year, I want to navigate it differently. I want to blur lines, embrace imperfections, and welcome the unexpected.
Moving forward, it’s not about renouncing structure entirely, of course, but rather redefining it on my own terms. I want to linger on the nuances – the interplay of light and shadow, the quiet moments that carry more weight than the loudest statement. I’ve been revisiting my archives lately, looking at projects I dismissed as incomplete or too experimental. Now, they seem like whispers of where I need to go next – if perhaps with optimistic trepidation.
Never mind exposing myself via other artistic expressions and mediums.
2025 will likely bring its share of challenges, as every year does. But I hope to greet them with curiosity rather than resistance. I’ve been asking myself lately: what does it mean to be authentic in art? And, perhaps more importantly, can authenticity and reinvention coexist? I don’t have the answers yet, but I suspect they lie somewhere in the act of simply doing – creating without pretense, following instincts – and letting go of the need to always explain.
As I type this entry, I’m reminded of how cyclical creativity is. It’s like breathing – inhaling inspiration, exhaling expression. This year, I want to pause in between, savoring the rhythm rather than rushing through it. I hope to find myself in the work again, unfiltered and unafraid.
Ever forward.