Photography, lethargy, and new ideas - Why Am I Making This? Issue #14
Hey friends!
It’s Julien! This is my newsletter! I send it once a month with my creative updates, and since my last newsletter, I’ve been feeling... nostalgic, a little sad, bored, uninspired. In case you forgot who I am, I’m an artist, newsletter-writer, (maybe regular writer?), and I kind of feel like I start every newsletter this way. When am I not a little sad, bored, and uninspired? Should I really be telling you this in my publicly available newsletter, or should I be putting up a more put-together, organized, and productive appearance for the world? Who can say.
A few specific things are probably getting me down. In the last few weeks of July I replayed Hollow Knight (a challenging indie video game), blazing past the boss I got stuck at the first time I played the game (watcher knights), about a year ago. I went on to reach the very end of the game, although I haven’t tried the final-final boss yet. Hollow Knight must be one of my favorite games of all time, and I’m grieving my coming to the end of it. I wish I could spend more time in that world, but I should probably wait a little while before going through and playing it yet again.
I also saw a whole bunch of faraway old friends in late July, who were visiting home in Maine for the first time since the start of the pandemic. It was so wonderful to see them, but after they left I felt both tired out from seeing people and also sad about how infrequently I see these people I love.
I’ve been poking away at photo editing, participating in more photoshoots, and doing some event photography. I’ve also been letting my mind wander to more long-term, narrative projects... which may or may not go anywhere.
Photography
Even recently when I’ve been uninspired, I’ve had some photography to do, which I am very thankful for. It was only a year ago that I started trying to organize photoshoots with friends with any regularity, so I’m proud that I’ve built up a network of friends and acquaintances who reach out when they need a photographer. Here’s a few things I’ve done...
Product photography for Tender Table
You might remember the interesting photos of food and mirrors in my last newsletter - those were for a group called Tender Table. Recently, I also took photos of some promotional magnets and tote bags for them! More info about them, the merch, etc, on their Instagram page.
Baby’s First Wedding Photography
I shadowed my friend Ruby at two weddings she shot in July - it was very instructive and a lot of fun! I took some Polaroids...
A handful of 120 photos...
And some digital photos too!
Wedding photography is notoriously stressful, but it is also a lot of fun to photograph a theatrical event like a wedding - I might end up doing a bit more of it in the future!
Film photos from the fashion photoshoot with Loquat
You might remember my photos from Loquat Shop’s summer collection photoshoot in my last newsletter - I have a few supplemental film photos from the shoot, including my first go-around with psychedelic blues film. I liked it a lot.
I’ve also updated the photography section of my website with more photos and even - gasp - some limited information about pricing and hiring me as a photographer! The guidelines are very general, and often I’m still happy to take photos for free for people or causes I care about. Still, I’ve now been asked more than once what my rates are for photoshoots, so I thought I’d come up with something to have as a ready answer.
Long-term projects
I mentioned the video game Hollow Knight at the beginning of this newsletter. I’ve been moved and charmed by a lot of fictional worlds lately (Hollow Knight’s Hallownest, Ace Attorney, The Locked Tomb, The Owl House...)
I have mentioned wanting to create something from a world of my own in the past, and that wish has been bubbling up once again. I’ve drawn a few video game UI mockups that I might try to turn into a tiny but interactive “game” soon.
I’ll let you know next time if I have any updates on these kinds of projects... but I have quite a lot of photoshoots/etc planned for the coming weeks, and my delicate emotional disposition isn’t allowing me to do too too much lately, so you might be waiting a little longer. Hopefully not forever, though.
Until next time!
Julien