I tend to have a lot of ideas/get inspired easily and sometimes they are better in theory than in practicality. These paint shoots were amazing, but they were a fucking mess. We went through 3 Costco-size packs of baby wipes, a full container of coconut oil, and the equivalent of a full roll of backdrop paper to create these images. But just like most of my ideas - I don’t regret trying it for a second.
One of the things I have heard multiple times in the last few weeks is some variation of “I really want to do XYZ but someone else already did it….” followed with a sigh of defeat. If this sounds like something that may have fallen out of your mouth - LISTEN UP. Do you know how many photographers have probably done a variation of a paint photo shoot? Countless, I am certain. What makes me execute on these projects despite that someone else maybe had done something similar is 2 things: 1) I am realistic enough to understand that I am not a unique unicorn with the magical ability to come up with a concept out of thin air AND 2) I know that despite that, my perspective is unique and mine. With this shoot, I had bought body paint almost 4 years ago and never executed the project because I was so busy working, so in this time of chaos, confusion and reschedules I decided to execute all the things I had put off previously. I don’t even remember what the original inspiration for this shoot was (I think maaaaaaybe it was the texture of paint on skin??) all I knew was that I had paint and I wanted to put it on the bodies in some form.
Something that I started to realize about what holds people back from taking a chance on doing something is holding themselves to the outcome. Saying “someone else has already done it” is code for: I am actually afraid that it may not turn out like I want it to or as good as the other person’s and that might be embarrassing. And then, if you are like me you you add in the possibility that you will have nothing for the other people who gave up their time to create - BUT THAT’S BECAUSE YOU ARE ATTACHED TO THE OUTCOME, THE FINAL PRODUCT - not the process of creating (also, there’s a bunch to uncover around worthiness vs. being an inconvenience, etc. but we don’t have time for that in this post).
With every creative project I get excited about the process. I get excited about seeing where we end up. I get pumped for the failures that inevitably happen. I smile the biggest when we fuck up and then learn from it. I love giggling while I nervously tell the model “I have no fucking idea what this is gonna look like fyi……” I literally go in with no expectations aside from deciding to have so much fun in the creation process and I realized why this has been increasingly easier for me in the last 2 years than previously in my business: I ACTIVELY PURSUE HOBBIES I SUCK AT.
It started with doing candle making with Jill - we were absolute shite at it (it requires patience which I do not have). Then I picked up the hobby of painting - which was messy and chaotic. My most recent endeavor is resin work (which is incredibly detailed and I have no patience to be actually good at it). I fall in love with the process and usually end up having to throw away most of the final product at the end, but the PROCESS is something I get to tweak and perfect every time I embark on a new project! This has helped me attack my creative projects with such fervor and possibilities: I basically taught my fear that yah, you might suck at it, but you will definitely have fun in the process! I built up enough experiences in so that when the voice in my head that says “If you do that it might suck” - I am able to argue back with “So what if it does? It’s a creative shoot. Plus I’ve sucked at stuff before, yet I’m still here AND how much fun was it to try?” The ability to remind myself of other experiences where the outcome was less than desirable but the process was an absolute hoot, allows me to have resilience to failure. Chalk it up as another lesson learned.
Can you imagine that if babies looked over and saw people walking and moving and were like “FUCK!! SOMEONE ELSE ALREADY DID IT…..” and therefore just never tried? I don’t think humanity as a species would have lasted very long. Instead, what babies do, is they develop their own swagger, their own method, their own perspective and vibe moving forward! Somewhere along the way we lose this persistence to learn, to try, to create, to tweak, to rebalance, and to challenge ourselves because our fear of being called a copycat by BUTTONANDBUMBLEBEEPHOTOG72 on Instagram is too loud.
