For the last three month I was living in Hong Kong; the craziest, most chaotic, and insanely inspiring city I think I will ever get to experience. Then my world seemed to stop when I packed up and moved to the almost empty tourist-based city of Nice, France, in its off season. Little did I know that when I moved again to Lacoste, France that everything would actually stop.
I didn’t remember what quiet sounded like or what the world sounded like without screaming monkeys and loudly spoken Cantonese. Not to say this tiny town is boring but it’s certainly less stimulating. I had every idea in the world all the time and all at once when I was surrounded by people but now I am struggling to visualize one.
Hong Kong was the home of some of my most creative and fulfilling projects I’ve ever done. It was also home to the first teacher who seemed to take an interest in me and my work. I generally shoot very commercial based projects and he pushed me to merge my technical skills with my more artistic side. He wasn’t going to take bad work or bullshit so making anything less than incredible wasn’t an option. I worked harder than I even though possible and felt fulfilled.
Less than two weeks sense I was in the insanity I am now thrown into a world filled with quietness and fine art/ documentary students who all shoot film and enjoy discussing alternative processes, a world I am very unfamiliar with. Maybe the silence will be good and maybe I will recharge. I hope that stepping away from the studio helps me slow back down and remember why I fell in love with photography in the first place.
Lacoste is gorgeous and certainly unlike anything I have ever experienced before. The classes I am in here allow for me to explore and travel in places and ideas that are new. So here’s to a quarter of rediscovering what inspires me and allows me to tap into worlds I am unfamiliar with.
