2021 Goals, Plans & Stepping Back To Move Forward

Hi friends.

I hope you and yours are doing good after what has been a long & taxing 13 months. A time which has lead to a lot of change for many of us. A time of loss & grief, of challenges, and of growth.

Over the last 5 months I have experienced a lot of growth & change. From approaching Christmas not managing my anxiety, to being in firm control now. I even found myself getting into jogging and getting back on track with my fitness & wellbeing goals. It hasn't been an easy process but I am thoroughly enjoying it. I've gone from being able to jog no more than 500m to jogging over 5km without stopping, and even jogging 11km from my home up to Cnoc an Óir & back home with a short moment to catch my breath at the top. My left knee hasn't enjoyed the downhill elements much though. I'm grateful for this growth & feeling all the better for it.

For those of you who don't know, photography is a side project for me at this particular season of my life. I work a full time job that loosely speaking takes up about 42.5-45 hours of my week, and photography & video is something I do outside this. Last year I dove headlong into photography in the first quarter during my attempts to start a 366 project. I did this at the expense of prioritising exercise & minding my body & mind. When I finished work I grabbed the camera and hit out the door. It worked until later in March when things changed - as we're all aware. These days when I finish work I get out for a walk or a jog. It helps me clear my mind & work on my fitness. After this & other commitments/responsibilities if I feel inclined I'll grab the camera and get shooting photographs & videos. Not before it.

The Print Store

This logic goes for the print store. There's a lot of work involved in maintaining the site, ordering prints, and the logistics around it. At this point (April 2021) the print store remains closed. To speak freely, it is lower on my priority list in this current chapter of my life. I'm grateful for the support it has gotten over recent years, and for the many positive messages I've gotten about my photography work. This is not the end of my print store. I will get back to it in the coming months. I look forward to stepping up the quality & customisation of print orders when I do, but for now the store remain on hold. I am - in a sense - taking a step back to look at the bigger picture & my long term career and life plans. I'm doing this slowly & mindfully, affording myself the space to mull things over and free of any undue pressures.

Getting In Touch — Social & Email

The same goes for my social media accounts. These are now being operated more mindfully & more slowly. I'm sharing what I'm feeling & inspired by on my pages, & I hope you enjoy what you see. That said, I have been bad at replying to messages this year. I'm sorry if I missed yours or failed to follow up. Know that I will get around to this and will get back to you in the coming weeks.

This shift in how I'm looking at the balance between my full-time job, my creative work & my mental & physical wellbeing has definitively shifted where my energies go. My main priority is my physical & mental wellbeing, and - as things reopen - being with friends and family. With this in mind and as a guideline overall please note my intention moving forward is to check in on my emails once or twice a week, and emails will be the best way to get a hold of me if you have any queries. Facebook messages are a minefield with spam and notifications only working half the time. You can email me here or here, or if you’re on Twitter hit me up at @jrryln.

Stepping Back To Move Forward

I consider creativity a gift given to us all. Every one of us is creative. We may not see it, but we are. Forget what your art teacher told you, forget whatever anyone ever told you. Creativity is a gift that deserves to be afforded space for authenticity & play, and you need to check your ego at the door. Whether it's crafting an essay, writing a song, drawing a picture, painting a mural, capturing a moment in time through a photograph, or crafting a story through video -- being authentic & true to ourselves while playing with the different mediums is rooted firmly to the core of creativity. I lost sight of this for a time. Now, I'm enjoying making and creating when the time feels right and natural to do so. In doing it I'm finding my own artistic voice, and being true to myself. I'll be sharing my work still through social channels, but not at the whims of algorithms requiring consistent sharing to be able to increase followers and the like.

I'll be starting a bi-weekly newsletter in the coming months and you can sign up for it on the homepage of this site.

Thank You

I hope you and yours are doing good. I thank you for following along and for the kind words about my work, alongside the generous support of the print store & calendars. These will both return in the coming months when the time is right.

Mind yourselves & be kind to yourselves.