I remember the night after visiting family. There were bonfires, fire dancers, and fireworks exploding overhead.Up until then, so much time had been spent trying to deprogram me when it came to photography.
“Perfect results were not what was wanted. Realistic is not always good.”
I heard those words over and over again, but I just couldn’t see it. My brain was spinning, trying to change the way I looked at the world. Then, that night, I looked through photographs I would normally have binned, and suddenly I understood what they had been trying to teach me.
It wasn’t about saying perfect photographs were wrong or that realistic pictures didn’t matter. It was about creating art through photography. It was about the way light, shadow and blurred lines could create something completely different. It felt like a watercolour, where the edges blur together. Painting with light and shadow instead of a brush, and letting go of all my preconceived ideas about what photography should be.
When I look back at those photos now, I can almost see the change happening. As the light changes, the way I see the world changes with it. Maybe the darkness of the night finally let me stop fighting it, even while the voice in my head was still screaming, “This is so wrong.”
There were many sleepless nights when I wondered if I had made a huge mistake coming to an Arts University. I simply didn’t understand modern art, and if I’m honest, part of me didn’t want to understand it either.
But that was the night I started to change.
Cheryl Nelson Costumes 