I believe in 'teachable moments' as i discussed in my last post. This is something I believe many 'creative' types do. We look back at our work. We don't do this for some validation that we were good all along (though sometimes we surprise ourselves) or that want to butter ourselves up in some way….we do this so we can learn lessons from our younger selves.
This is hugely important.
One thing learning robs us of is the freshness of discovery. Don't be fooled, there is so much more to learn and discover but as we age we tend to learn in seemingly smaller ways. Epiphanies are seemingly less because we have learned to grow in increments and understand the path of how we arrive.
But sometimes we need to step back and really look at what we have done and put ourselves in that time again so we can fully appreciate the vigor of youth and then couple it with precision of age.
I was chatting with a friend the other day about the box or bin theory that many starting out journalists and published photographers go through. When we start out doing something we save it all! Being published for the first 100 times or so is magic.
That first bin would be edited heavily if you went through it with a critical eye 20 years later, but you keep it because you do remember how it felt and it was your first of its kind!
When you live and work in one place for so long you begin to 'know' the place and its people. It's hard, because as you become learned about a place you tend to ask questions based on what you know---which can be good because you have an insight, but also sometimes less revealing and less chance of finding something more complex and real to write about or photograph. It's something to really work at.
My goal for this post was simple, we are capable of moving on, but we shouldn't discredit all that got us here!
I have met people who have endured the worst possible realities and have come out of it to help others--my god--- that is commitment to life and humanity. I have met innocence, I have met corruption and I have met everything in between and countless people for small moments that I don't know where they stand, what they believe or what they've done.