am i enough? // where my film journey started

Marlena, February 2015, Ilford Delta 3200

Last year I went away for a long weekend with some of my best girl friends from college. I was determined to start shooting film again: I needed a change of pace that would reignite my love for my craft. See, over time I had started feeling low. All of my work was felt uninspired. Or at least it did in comparison to other photographers. Whats that saying? ‘Comparison is the thief of joy’?

One year later and I still can’t say that I’ve learned everything I originally set out to about shooting film. I still send away my rolls of film with my fingers (and toes) crossed. What film has taught me though, is to let go of ‘perfection’. To stop pursuing that elusive bitch. Because in the end that doesn’t really matter anyway. I’m not perfect, so you won’t be getting perfect photographs from me. And chances are your not perfect, and your family isn’t perfect. But that’s what makes it beautiful, right? All those messy, imperfect moments.

Every day, every session, every wedding I just keep moving forward. Doing the same thing over and over and over again, and every few frames or so, the art of repetition aligns itself with circumstance and magic happens. So if you’re out there second guessing yourself, wondering if you’ll ever be good enough, here’s my advice:  ‘enough’ is a moving target, and that was never a question anyway.