My passion is not LEGO, it may not even be photography, it’s music. I have been pretty clear with friends that if I had to choose between LEGO and music, I would choose music.

Weird, right?

I love my LEGO mini figures, I love my camera and what I can accomplish with it, I love the community that I have created out of all of this. But honestly it doesn’t make me feel the way I do when I listen to music. When I listen to music, to a particular piece or an artist that I truly connect with, it makes me feel alive. I mean truly deeply connected to this earth, to myself, to my emotions, to the human condition, in a way that nothing else does.

When I attend a concert by a band / artist that I am particularly enamored with, it can be a spiritual event. I enjoy being part of a crowd of like minded individuals who are having a shared experience. I love to feel the music course through my body and while I let my brain disconnect from the everyday, I simply exist in the moment.

More often than not I have to hear the music in person, rather than a recording, to truly understand music. Its like I need to see the music before I can really feel it. Maybe this is what ultimately connected me to KEXP and my weird long time (read six years) volunteer position with their video department. When I am videoing a band  I want to somehow translate that intimate experience to the viewer through the shot I am framing . Obviously most of the creative process lies with the editor, but if he doesn’t have good material to work from, how can he do his job?

It is important to have a variety of interests and passions to feed your creativity.  Our passions and our art are all connected. For me the tie that binds all this music, video and toy photography together is one word: emotions. Music is my creative release and inspiration. I want the passion I feel for music to resonate in my photography. I want the viewer to have an emotional response to my work. It is a lofty goal and one I know I fall short of, but it is good to have goals.

I share all of this with you because I want to know what inspires you! I am currently reading Sally Man’s memoir and she mentions that her creative inspiration is long distance horse racing. Maybe it is the opposite, maybe your photography inspires your work?  What ever your passion is, I hope you cherish and nourish it. The world can be a brutal place and its important to have a passion that helps to energize and fuel you going forward.

So what is YOUR passion?

~ xxSJC