Newsletter #162 - Where do we go?
When we don't know where to go.
Working in the creative arts as an independent freelance photographer and artist, 99 percent of what I do leads to rejection.
The work might not resonate.
The vision might not translate.
Clients change direction… It's an endless cycle of losses, each one echoing the last.
There are a million reasons to stop, to turn back, to give up.
"Expect the worst, get the best" – that's been my mantra. A shield against disappointment, a guard against hope. I've always thought positive thinking and manifestation were nonsense.
Yet I still defy my own rule, time and time again.
And I get let down, as I have been, countless times before.
I won't dismiss reality with empty promises that it will be okay. It might not be.
This might just be how it is.
I'm lucky enough to have had some wins, but the losses still outnumber them.
I really don't want cynicism to become my compass.
I don't want hopelessness to be my home.
We just have to keep moving through the fog.
All photographs in this letter were made on November 11, 2024
If you want some of my thoughts on the election, check out my latest Hotline Show.
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Thank you.
I take comfort in the fact that even you get rejected... that sounds weird but I appreciate you talking about the real experience instead of lying and pretending that everything is a big success.
I don't know where we're going but at least let's go together