How I'm Going Into 2017

This is not an article supposed to inspire you. It’s not written to be thought of as something light hearted and full of heart-warming messages. It’s a call to arms. We’re heading into 2017. 2016 was a rollercoaster. We’ve had unexpected Brexit, US Elections, the death of icons who gave us music that gave us purpose. Musicians like Leonard Cohen, Dawid Bowie, Prince, and George Michael will never be again. That time has past. In the film industry we’ve just lost Carrie Fisher who played Princess Laia in Star Wars, and we also lost the great Mohammed Ali.

It's sad. Sure. If, like me, you were born in the 80s these artists played a significant role in your life. It’s not something to brush off lightly. But losing these people make us realize how much bigger-than-life they were. It can make us think about them and ask yourself what gave them the ambition that made them become what they were? It can make us want to be like them in a certain way. It can urge you to pick yourself up and do great work, to do something with meaning. To challenge yourself, not by shooting something you haven't shot before and going from product photography to food photography. But by doing work that says something, that shares an idea and leaves someone with wonder or sparks a thought.  

 It is our duty as creative professionals to guide the public, to show the possible ways forward and to oppose what can cause us harm, as human beings but also as living beings that shares the globe with the rest of it’s residents. I'm not saying we're at war, I'm saying you should start one within. Fight for what you want to see in the shopping wall windows and what messages you want to see in a magazine. Create videos you would search for when needing the vital information held within it. 

Make people fight for what they feel is important by doing the same for yourself. If you’re a photographer, go shoot with meaning, convey something deeper than the color rendition or lighting technique of the photograph. If you make videos, go shoot with purpose. We are the messengers. We’re the ones telling the stories and showcasing the current path of our and the people who share it with us's life. This also gives us the opportunity and responsibility to change this current path and show people new ideas, new possibilities and new ways of thinking. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

All this might sound rather abstract, but if you think of any image that made an impact on you personally, that image and what it contains as subject is most likely not relevant to what you took from it as inspiration. That’s the magical aspect of photography and video. The interpretation is unique to each and every one of us. The way we see the picture or film in that moment in our lives are as unique as each of the irises of our eyes. Go make those kind of images.

If the way forward is post-truth, tell lies that inspire greatness. If being politically incorrect is the only way to make a stand, be so incorrect that even Trump hears and fears your name. 

Albert Camus said it best: “The only way to deal with an un-free world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” 

Do not go silent into 2017.