Continue with any craft long enough, and most every artist is eventually confronted with moments when the dreaded and tortuous question arises: What if my best work is behind me?

We understand that at some point, this will in fact be true; our greatest success, our most gloriously inspired work, will have been created in the past. So how does one go forward while at the same time accepting this uncomfortable inevitability? Why get out of bed at all? Why put yourself out there and risk humiliation not to mention potential rejection? Safer to stay within the comforting glow of yesterday’s shining moment than create again and achieve less than perfection.

I am learning to not be quite so afraid of these moments, and have decided that they present within them the opportunity to ask oneself the more important question: Why do I do this work? Is there still heat beneath the desire to create in this manner, even if only a smoldering ember? Can I imagine a better, more fulfilling vehicle of expression?

So much we do out of habituation and obligation, never bothering to consider the why. And yet what internally motivates us is what makes us unique and gives meaning, richness, and value to our conscious choices. I may never be the most gifted photographer on the planet, but there is this ever present desire within me to seek the divine in faces and relationships of regular people, and tell the story of this divinity in photographs that are accessible and seemingly ordinary. This is why I am a photographer: I want to subtly elevate the ordinary into the realm of the divine. Whether I’m successful at this is always a question, but as long as I can still feel the intense fascination and heartfelt intention to create in this way, I will continue to try.

Perhaps my best work is behind me, but by failing to show up and give it my all once again, I only guarantee this to be true.



~Cynthia