Does your photography stand up to the courage of your convictions?

Does your photography stand up to the courage of your convictions? If you really think about it, you know. That’s the esoteric thing about creativity that inspires. You may not be able to define it, but your gut tells you when it works. It's often lyrical, hard to define and inexplainable, but you'll know it because you can feel it.

When you find it, hold on tight ... even as the pace and breadth of photographs taken and shared speeds along at an incomprehensible, ever-increasing rate.

Against this backdrop, some may tell you that standing out from the crowd is an art form. On the contrary, it is a willingness to listen to your inner voice that is most important. That inner voice will tell you when you are speaking with originality and authenticity.

Forget about fame, likes, fortune or celebrity (it is photography after all). Photography that is derivative, stale or is missing the passion of the photographer, fades as it is lost in the hidden-away, forgotten shoeboxes of time. 

When you find your voice and photograph what matters most to you, your images will reflect your curiosity for and willingness to connect with your subjects. Learn to trust what you feel.

So again, does your photography stand up to the courage of your convictions?

If it doesn't, it’s time to dig a little deeper.

If does, the act of pushing the shutter will never be easier. 

Harnessing All Of Your Creative Superpowers

In photography, the effort you make in defining your own creative vision can have a substantial impact on the end result of your images … 

Attaining a fresh approach is equal parts … observation … inspiration … and application.

A strong creative photographer works to continually fine-tune his senses, filling his utility belt with the strategies and techniques necessary to return to that place where inspiration resides and application is achieved.

No matter who you are or your experience with photography, creativity is your opportunity to share your unique vision. In a world inundated with photographs, images with a creative flair resonate. 

With that in mind, here’s a list of creative superpowers that you can continue to refine to keep yourself at the top of your game:

• Focus – Find the right environment or situations that provide you with laser-like focus
• Vision – Insight is gained by seeing through the eyes of others; spend time in the environment you are photographing and the people with which you wish to make a connection
• Knowledge – The broader and deeper the vein of information you mine about a setting, situation or subject, the more potential insight you have to deliver to your audience
• Fearlessness – Don’t be afraid to step out on a ledge, peak in a doorway or step into a dark alley. Get out early. Stay later. Shoot from a lower angle. The risks are higher. But so are the rewards
• Tenacity – Be willing to push forward, past what is easiest and most obvious
• Observation – You can’t comprehend the big picture until you are willing to grasp the details
• Communication – Understand that communication is the key component in getting your idea, concept or photographic project off the ground and eventually conveying what you see to others in the form of photographs
• Passion – We’re so much more committed to the things that we love to do; make all of your efforts something that you love to do
• Faith – The leap of faith metaphor is a strong one. There’s a reason why it resonates
• Implementation – Learn to love the execution as much as the ideation and your creative ideas and images will soar

Early Morning Shots

If I were to drink all of the shots that were offered to me on a daily basis while wandering through the neighborhoods of Manila, my images would be tilted at a permanent 45 degree angle. Plus, 7am is a little too early for Emperador Light.

Three cheers for Filipino barrio hospitality and thrill of meeting and connecting with all the new people that you meet on a daily basis while wandering the streets with a camera in-hand.

Drink-up all you early risers.

Tearing Us Apart

Rapid urbanization occurs in developing countries like the Philippines as people from the countryside move to large cities like Manila with the hope of finding jobs that will provide them with an income that can lift the economic status of their families in their home provinces. 

However, once they migrate to Manila, which has one of the largest population densities on earth, they soon discover that it is difficult to find a place to live.

With little or no income in hand or relatives that they can impose on, many are drawn to the only housing that they can afford. Often they end up in one of the many squatter villages that populate metro Manila.

Thrown together with cheap construction materials and little sanitation, these little villages spring up wherever their is undeveloped, abandoned or government property. Most end up being located in undesirable and dangerous locations that are subject to floods, earthquakes, fire or crime. 

Metro Manila’s newest residents send most of the money they make in their new jobs home to their families in the provinces. With the little left-over money that they keep for themselves as drivers, maids, vegetable sellers, laborers, etc., they soon find that it is difficult to raise their economic status enough to move out of the squatter villages. They soon become long-term residents building tight-knit communities with their new neighbors.

Over the past several years, the Philippine government has been trying to relocate some of the residents that live along the most dangerous waterways that become flooded during the rainy season. 

Many deaths each year during typhoon season can be attributed to informal settlements that line the city’s waterways.

Today I wandered into one of my favorite neighborhoods near JP Rizal Avenue and discovered that after giving the residents several weeks notice, their former homes were burned to the ground and demolished to eliminate the safety risk. 

The residents were in the process of being relocated to government housing that was being built for them in Cavite nearly 50 kilometers away from Manila.

As some of the former residents scrounged through the rubble for things they might have forgotten, scrap material that could be resold or simply stared at what used to be their neighborhood, most communicated the sentiment that they would be back in Manila … most likely in another squatter village. 

With few jobs in Cavite, they voiced their need to be back in Manila as soon as possible to continue to earn the money necessary to support their families that depend on them in their home provinces.