No More Ideas c.2010
Whenever I walk through the streets of L.A., I often ignore people that walk by me. This might have originated during my upbringing. My mother was a very young when she had me and was in her early twenties by the time I started school. She's very pretty and received a lot of unwanted attention in her youth. One of the first social lessons she taught me was how to ignore men. Anytime she received an inappropriate cat call she would instruct me not to look at the person and to simply keep walking. As I grew up, that tip evolved to apply to everyone. I've walked right by old friends and even celebrities because of my tendency to look straight ahead or to look down.
Looking down as I walk has had it's advantages. Aside from finding coins and avoiding dog shit, I've also noticed artwork that can be missed quite easily. I was walking in downtown one day when I saw the following message stenciled on the sidewalk. "No More Ideas". I'm sure this is intentionally vague, but it got me thinking about my own love of photography. As time progresses it seems that everything that can be done artistically has in fact been done. Have we really gotten to a point where every style reminds the viewer of someone else's work?
I believe every person brings a different perspective to their work, visually or technically. This can be true even when intentionally duplicating a style. Whether the end result is any good is another story. In a time when Hollywood studios keep filming remakes, TV has been swarmed by the reality programming, and new artwork looks familiar, it's understandable to think we're out of ideas. Many like myself try to prove that this isn't a fact, and at the end of the day, we all hope we're right.
Lonely girl c.2010
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