Kristey Fritz-Martin of My Artistic Journey was the winner of last week's 'weather' challenge. We've featured Kristey's work here before (check out this post), so instead of the usual Q&A, Kristey is sharing some special letters (and more of her gorgeous work of course!).
Dear Photography Obsessed Teen Self,
Hey pretty girl!! I know you are so excited about learning every aspect of photography and wish you could just have the power of absorbing and retaining every little detail RIGHT NOW but please know this is a journey. You will totally get there and be proud of this time where you are just starting to discover yourself and your love for this craft. Be gentle to yourself, because everyone learns at their own pace. Don't ever, even for a second, compare your work or your journey to anyone else's because you are unique and extraordinary just being you. Reach out to people who share your passion and learn and grow together. Don't put yourself in this little box of being a small town nobody that has to bend themselves to be what everyone else wants them to be, because you ARE NOT, you just don't know it yet. . . but you will. Practice EVERY DAY and keep growing, keep learning and just do you because that IS enough. You don't even realize how much joy this art is going to bring to your life, so just keep plugging along. You are not defined by where you live, or what gear you own, or how many clients you can gather to make say cheese for you. . . you are beautifully you and people love that about you!! Just know that you are awesome and I wouldn't change a thing about you for anything in this world.
Dear Present Photography Obsessed Me,
You am constantly reminding yourself that every day does not have to be an award winning kind of day. . . Struggling with trying to force yourself, not just to take an image for the sake of taking it, but to create a piece of art and precious memory. Every. Single. Day. This is not a competition, and the only person you are challenging is yourself, so be kind to you. You know deep down that you shouldn't put such pressure on yourself because the moment this passion becomes a job, you aren't going to want to do it anymore. Slow down and breathe. Not everything needs to be perfect or even perfectly imperfect. Do what your heart tells you, in all things. When the day seems like it isn't going creatively, reach out and talk with other artists. Even a simple compliment can truly make a huge difference in someone's world and you know that spreading support and encouragement is one of your favorite things to do, maybe you should do that to yourself once in a while. How is it possible to feel like you are never going to get "there" when you don't even know where there is? Embrace the fact that not everything is within your control and that sometimes things happen for a reason. . . not to make you feel like you are drowning but to push you to swim harder. Someday you will miss these busy days and feeling like you don't have enough time. Just keep doing you and living for today. Embrace the moment and know that you are pretty awesome at being you.
Dear Future Hopefully Photography Obsessed Me,
Hey beautiful!! Don't even get me started on those wrinkles! I am sure they are twice as bad as they are now, but you know what?!? They are what makes us us. . . they are all the smiles we have collected over the years, so you rock them!!! I hope from the bottom of my heart that you are still doing what you love and loving what you do and that you have never for a day stopped learning and pushing yourself!!! I am so excited to see where your journey takes you and all the amazing people and opportunities you experience along the way. I hope you didn't forget to slow down and live in the moment though! Looking back on the memories is such an amazing reward but I hope we lived them as well. I know I always say "someday", and I hope all of our someday's come true, but I also hope we enjoyed the journey. Did we ever master getting in the frame with the littles? I sure hope you have images to look back on that say "I was there too" before these tiny people are all grown up. Did we ever get back into shooting film?!? I just know we would love it if we went for it! I hope beyond anything that through the years you remembered to stay humble and that kindness is contagious! I just know we are going to do great things if we stick with it and even if we don't DO huge things, we are following our passion and that is pretty darn amazing!
Find more of Kristey's gorgeous work here:
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