How I became a photographer and an artist with marketing background…
FIELD NOTES: Entry 001
Travel photography is where I feel most in my element. For as long as I can remember, there was always a camera in my hand—or my father’s. As a kid I got a disposable, then a film camera (I remember it was silver-colored) and eventually I bought my first ever digital camera with the money I earned from my first student job, before travelling to London – also for the first time – at the age of 16. A metallic red Lumix. I never left without it after that, until it stopped working. (2 years ago I had it repaired and it is still working perfectly.) Since then, I’ve upgraded a couple of times and also studied academic photography. However I spent my uni years without a camera as smartphones took over the world – and it was not the same. After my studies (economics and fashion design) I applied for a photography course, then for an MA in art photography including a semester in Valencia. Some of the best months of my life.
I’ve been an entrepreneur for more than five years now, working as an online marketing specialist and consultant, but I needed time to find myself in all this and realize what I want to actually do with my life after all. So at the age of 32, I reinvented my life again – for like the 4th time. I finally settled on the thought – or accepted it – that I don’t have to be good at just one thing, I don’t have to do just one thing and I definitely don’t have to categorize myself into just one thing: “photographer”, “fashion designer”, or “marketing professional”. When people ask what I’m doing, it’s a bit complicated to explain. I usually choose the short and simple version.
I think travel photography is one of the hardest forms of photography to monetize. The line between professional photography and hobby camera or phone photography became blurry. It’s a beautiful thing that photography as a hobby is now available for most of the people, however it does not and should not mean that everybody is a professional photographer. Yet still, as a professional photographer, I sometimes experience impostor syndrome. My perfectionism kicks in, along with doubts about what’s good and what’s bad (which is really a very subjective thing), and I compare myself to really famous people who spent way more time doing what they’re doing than I did. Of course learning and developing is never ending, but I pretty often give myself a hard time and not enough credit.
For a long time I thought I should shape my brand, my ideas or business thinking around other people’s expectations, but one can never truly know tho, what others think. So I created my brand according to my vision and abilities. I’ve been experimenting with combining two media – photography and textile – for a while now. During my MA studies I printed on white curtain-like textiles, I intervened in nature with an 11-meter-long golden organza fabric piece, I xerox-transferred images and also did a lot of cyanotype on textiles and hand-woven creations. Fabrics as image-bearing mediums are fascinate me, it is really exciting to work with them.
Photography is kind of escapism for me, especially during my travels. When I have time and peace to look around and just take it in. I look at my pictures and I am there again which is a bittersweet feeling. I feel the sun on my skin again, I smell the wind, I know if I was happy or just wanted to switch off. Evoking memories like this is my favourite thing. Certain scents or music can activate brain networks and bring back past experiences and the feelings associated with them. Photographs can do this too, furthermore they can also evoke a sense of familiarity without even knowing why it feels familiar.
That warm feeling of something familiar, yet unknown, is the inspiration behind my brand, the boegre archive. A carefully curated collection of wearable art pieces to elevate everyday fashion.
