Brooke Shaden

The time has ended that I can answer “less than a year” to those who ask me how long I have been doing photography. I suppose now I’ll say “about a year”, and then soon after “two years”, until I can no longer remember how long it’s been. I joined flickr one year ago, on Decemeber 19, and consequently I began photography at the same time. In fact, it was my desire to join flickr that pushed me to start creating images. People seem to think that a year is a very short period of time to learn an art, but in my short twenty-two year life, it seems like a substantial part. Perhaps this is because I have spend the past year, without fail, thinking daily of photography and studying the craft. I cannot think of a single day that I have not put my mind to work, creating new images (if sometimes only in theory) and trying to push my limits. In fact, when on my recent vacation, a point came where I was “staring into space” and my family wondered what I was thinking of, to which my husband replied “Oh, she’s just thinking of photography”.

I dare say this year has been the most influential year of my life. I have made decisions that will follow me from here on out – first and foremost my decision to pursue photography as a career. Yet I almost feel as though I never made the decision; instead, it was made for me. The thought of sitting in an office, or doing something that I do not have an absolute passion for, is last on my mind. What a waste of a life if we cannot be happy. It is my ultimate goal, and nothing makes me more whole (save, perhaps, my husband) than photography. I am ready to push forward.

From the first time I created an image, no matter what my idea, I knew it was possible. Whatever it was I was thinking, I knew there would be a way to translate it into photography. Certainly I have not learned nearly all of the tricks, but I think that mindset has helped me this year. I uploaded five images to flickr a year ago, and each one tested my skills (especially as I had next to none back then).

"If I Should Die Before I Wake"

This image was my first clone image. I remember being so excited when I produced it, I was so proud that I actually figured it out and it was there, right in front of me, complete. Now I look back on it and I see so many flaws and I think “I should have waited to share this with everyone”. But the amazing thing about sharing is that I can learn and grow with people. You can look at that image, see the same flaws I see, and hopefully see that I’ve grown past that. It has been a year of growth.

In part (a large part) I thank those who have followed my work on flickr, those who have commented, emailed, and generally mused at my images. I’ve received over 18,000 comments in this last year on my flickr site, not all have been polite, but so many of them have been honest and have taught me about how to make better images. Without that support I might not have continued. It is almost a safety net for me. When I feel like leaving photography behind for a while, I think of everyone on flickr and I don’t want to disappoint. I have this nagging urge to produce, produce, produce in order to satisfy the status quo on flickr, which is producing nearly an image a day! I certainly do not churn out photos that fast, but it is that thought that helps me pick up my camera and create. There was a time when I felt inadequate for not producing photos every day; however I realized (quite recently) that the amount of images makes no difference. I limit myself. I have created 144 images that I have shared with you. I have created so many more that I have not. I’ve gotten emails from people saying “you consistently create good images”…well the truth is, I don’t. Does anyone, really?

It has been a year of learning, making mistakes, triumphs and false starts. And for those who ask…

I am creating a book right now, which will be out in 2010. No, it is not a compilation book…it will be all new, never-before-seen photos that work together to tell a story. I also have a solo gallery show set to open February 4 in Los Angeles, also with never-before-seen photos.

To end this, I am posting below a series of images, beginning with my earliest, that each mark a time when, once created, I felt as though I had pushed past a hurdle and made real growth as a photographer. These are, to me, milestones in my year-long photographic journey.

"The Light Collector"

"Spin Cycle"

"Retention"

"Freezer Burn"

"Spill"

"Deceasing"

"Wreckage"

"Tally"

"Fetus"

"Bathe"

"Depth Perception"

"A Story in Older Terms"

"An Asylum for Metamorphosis"

Thank you for reading…and for absolutely everything. I owe this year to you.