Nostalgic about now.

Day 261 of 365

Over the past few weeks, I have been on my phone way too much. Mainly looking at photos on Instagram and watching some stories. There is really so much amazing work out there but there are also a lot of imitators. I will try and be careful about how I word this because I don’t want it to come off as negative. There is a market for imitators for example sketchers. A huge thing I see with imitation is that it’s nostalgic of the past. Looking back in a desired field, subculture, or style and trying to reincarnate it in a new way. Like skateboarders now with 90’s clothes, everything resurfaces. It is a beautiful cycle. Although it is beautiful to pay homage to the past it someone pains me to see us forgetting the now. I want to be nostalgic about today 20 years from now. I don’t want to be nostalgic about my parent's childhood. Yeah, the music was great but so is ours. I want to progress in the now.

If you’re a photographer don’t look for inspiration from past photographers, if you’re a dancer don’t look for inspiration in old dance, and if you’re into fashion don’t look for inspiration in past fashion. Everyone is already doing that. What inspires you is totally up to you but I feel that if we look around us and get inspired by the world we live in rather than reference photos on our phone we can see a shift from work looking extremely similar to discovering our inner voice and seeing original ideas surfacing more often. I know the above may sound a little condescending but it’s more of an open discussion. There are positives on both sides of what inspires me vs what might inspire other people. I’m just looking to try new things and if you’re here reading this I hope you are too.