I’ve been thinking a lot lately.

One of the things I’m really good at is staying in my head, constantly thinking and contemplating.

Everything but doing the work or creating images. And I’ve come to realize that I need to have a narrative to my work. Putting images up on social media is where everyone's eye and attention is. But bite-sized likes and comments aren’t fulfilling me at the moment.

I want to start a conversation, to dive deeper into this thing we call photography, the 'why' more than the 'how.'

Why take photos?
Why buy another camera?
Why get that lens?

How will that add to my story or the story I’m trying to capture? What is it that makes us push forward, print or upload that next photo? If we are doing it purely for the likes and recognition, then our photos become soulless. And I think that’s where I currently am. My images are just images.

So how do I make you care?
How do we make anyone care?

To care, we need empathy, and to get that, we need to invest, we need to give, attach, and share our story. This is where my work falls flat. I have yet to give it a narrative, a story. I have a style. I have a philosophy. I have my past, and I know who I am. But is that enough? What's your style? Why are you taking photographs? What's your reasoning to push the shutter, apart from the innate urge to create something, anything?

What I’m trying to say is that I want my work not to just be art for art's sake. I want it to have a higher meaning or purpose. And I’m struggling with that. I’m going around in circles. Maybe I just need to create a book or zine or just have an exhibition or something. Social media just doesn’t satisfy me. We always want more, and I want more of myself and my work. This power meaning struggle.

I’d love to know why you take photos. What makes you want to push the shutter button? Thinking about it now, it gives me peace, stillness, and I think that’s what my photos convey. But is that a story?

I guess it is. I must just be thinking too much again, which is something I’m good at – staying in my head.