There, and Back Again: A Retrospective

It’s not that I take my life for granted. Or, maybe I do. But in any case, it seems like some things I can only see through the passage of time. I ‘gave up’ photography as a means to independent freelancing back in 2020. Even then, I hoped it was temporary. But I was so burnt out, and so focused on the comparison game, and so bogged down by all that comes along with ‘capitalism’ and ‘marketing’ myself. I didn’t think I was “good enough” to really do anything significant with a camera. I didn’t know, or didn’t believe, that I had any unique storytelling ability that could set me apart from any other white woman with a quote, “nice camera”. [I’m just being honest.]

But I’ve been looking back at my old images; the ones that at some point I did deem “good enough” for the public. I’ve been looking at them with eyes a decade older, and hopefully, wiser. I can see that storytelling nature, and I can see the foundations of what I can understand now is going to be a lifelong pursuit. So here I am, looking back on images 15 years+, and very ready to continue what I started. Here are some of my favorite images I’ve come across this month; ones I still want to preserve. The storytelling images, the ones that remind me….don’t take this life for granted.

These images are quite literally and graciously from around the world.