Restarting a Passion

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my site and reading my blog. It means a lot that you can join me here and support my journey reigniting a spark I thought was gone forever.

Yes, I didn't think I'd ever restart photography, a passion my late husband found in the last year or so of his life.

Being neurodivergent, I have never established routines or habits that benefit my life, so most of the time I don't get anything done and become a bit lazy. One thing I know though is that I have a passion for a few things: theatre (specifically stage managing), cosplay, and photography. Losing any of those makes me fall into a burnout feeling, and sometimes the only way you can fight burnout is to just get up and do something else you enjoy. Thinking in this vein with photography specifically, I had been doing everything else other than photography.

But then, I asked myself... Why are you ignoring a passion?

In a later blog, I'll introduce you to Miguel, my late husband, whom I inherited this name from, and how I overcame imposter syndrome to get back into the passion he loved. Long story short, I stopped solely because of one client not understanding my constraints and lost motivation to even pursue photography beyond taking photos on my phone of friends or cosplayers at conventions. My biggest hurdle was the imposter syndrome and seeing friends and other photographers I've worked with do so well. Then, at the encouragement of both my partner and my best friend, even though I'm slated to begin my journey to a BFA in Photography and Print Media this fall, I decided to take a leap of faith and dive deep into preparing my portfolio and prove not only to family and friends, but also myself, of one simple phrase that knocked out the imposter syndrome this time:

I CAN be the photographer Miguel wanted to be.

I'm not in any way wanting to BE Miguel in that sense. I am my own person, and I will be my own photographer. I bought a new camera bag, as I was still using Miguel's, and I'm ready to hit the ground running. I'm thankful for my support system; I don't think I would have ever restarted this passion without them.

Thank you so much for joining me on this road! I am hoping I can keep up writing one blog per couple of weeks to start as I develop new habits (which is hard to do for my neurospicy brain) and increase as needed. These blogs will tackle some different experiences I have - both as a neurodivergent person and as a photographer - such as things I've seen and learned, the lessons I learn, the mistakes I make, and even some things that have molded me into the photographer I am now and what could mold me in the future. I'm not super eloquent of a writer, or I may be very inconsistent with this and with social media posts, but I'll get there as I develop new habits!

I look forward to sharing more with you soon!

With courage, wisdom, and power,

Sage