July update and Imposter Syndrome.

Hello Wonderful people,

It has been a very busy last few months with lots of updates to this website, since my last blog post I have added 26 older packs from the archives and two new ones.

One new addition has been the introduction of the COLLECTIONS page.  If you are tired of sifting through an endless sea of amazing options, fear not! My collections page is here to the rescue, offering perfectly curated themed packs that will make finding your next character a breeze. 

I will be adding more collections like male models, locations and backgrounds, textures and objects over the next few months.

What kind of collection would you like to see more of?

Green Fantasy Adventure

 

 Emma Posing

IMPOSTER SYNDROME

For July, my main focus was creating a new set of fine art portraits to enter into the ORLOFF awards, a rather prestigious photography competition in my city.

It meant a lot of mental energy to come up with the concepts, these images needed to stand out, they needed to WOW people, which is a lot of pressure. I ended up creating many images under this pressure that I felt were not good enough, that were merely 'pretty' and I found that disheartening.

Typically creating self portraits is a cathartic and playful exercise for me. With no client or specific outcome needed, I can be loose, self indulgent  and quick to pivot. This new mindset, however, changed the experience. even though the images appear in the same style as previous work, they mark a shift for me. It pushed me to approach self-portraits differently and step out of my comfort zone, which was a good challenge.

I am also a Judge in these awards, so I have been looking at my own images and scrutinising them as I would in the competition, which means looking for flaws and grasping to find merit more savagely than I usually would. 

It's easy to feel like an imposter when I see so many beautiful works uploaded to social media every day. It's both inspiring and intimidating. Watching artists I admire create works similar to my ideas, but executed flawlessly, often makes me second-guess my own concepts. Seeing the locations, resources, and retouching techniques I don't have access to can be discouraging.

My comfort zone and imposter syndrome have been holding me back, but it's something I'm determined to address in the future.

 

Using one of my fathers favourite quotes to sign off with...

"Persistence, persistence, persistence"

Jessica