Moving to France I had to face a lot of fears. The fear of leaving New York, fear of failing in France, fear of discovering the limits of my potential, fear of becoming irrelevant, fear of being homesick. For those of you who follow along with my creative adventures in France, you know with the making of this Cinemagraph I had to face a fear of water to get the shot. The funny thing about photography, and any art form, is that when you get an idea in your head you become obsessed with it until you create it. I didn’t care that I knew I would going to have mini freak-outs to do this, my imagination was certain snakes and toothy creatures would devour me in a heartbeat…. BUT creating the thing was more important. What it means to me, what it represents, what it communicates about my human experience is more valuable than being afraid. Which is exactly why I got on the plane through a stream of tears and came to France.
This cinemagraph is a bit of a French baptism, a creative cleansing. I am no longer who I was before France. I have let myself wash away all my preconceived notions, and now, no matter where I end up on this earth, I will always be able to remember this version of me fearlessly floating weightless in the water that summer evening in the South of France where I met and drowned so many of those fears.
Where the currents will take me I’m not sure of, but the view looking up is lovely and the creatures out to get me are now just friends…
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