The American Dream for the typical millennial looks completely different from that of their parents and grandparents. The white picket fences have started to feel like prison bars and the coveted high paying career is now a 40-year prison sentence. My generation dreams of an escape to the simple life, where they work less and spend more time focusing on things that bring joy to their everyday existence such as: family, gaming, thrifting, grilling, book clubs, whisky collecting, pickle ball and a host of other millennial past times. For me, my American Dream became a reality the moment I chose to fully commit to an artistic journey.
While I had my moments as a kid, my art journey officially started in 2018 when I first picked up a camera. And that journey started with a very fast sprint. For the first three years, I captured everything and everyone that stepped in front of my camera. I averaged 3 or more shoots a month, organized large photo meetups, and even published a short run magazine for creatives in North Carolina. I had found my lane to operate in and created a lot of great initial work. But from day one, that journey was extremely hindered by my career.
My career at the time was not a place that was conducive to the imagination and creative thinking required to create art. It stifled and snuffed out the creative spirit within me. Fortunately, I was at a point in life where I was able to take advantage of a career change. So I jumped into the corporate sector thinking that the slower pace and shorter hours would give me the time to renew my drive to create. I’m sure there is a meme out there to match how wrong I was in thinking that.
Even though I was now living the American Dream that people told me to chase after, I was even further away from my goals as a photographer. For a year and some change, the camera sat untouched. I don’t know if it was the 45-minute drive to and from work that caused it or the 8 mind rotting hours of cubicle work but I had no desire to create. Even after forcing myself a few times, there was absolutely no joy or fulfillment while doing it. I was very close to accepting that the end of the journey had come.
But it’s funny how great ideas often come at benign and random moments. While sitting in my nice 8 x 6 cubicle prison, watching the world below from my great upper floor view, the realities of “my” life hit me. I had spent the past 20 years taking a life-or-death gamble on myself with my first career and instead of cashing out, here I was still sitting at the table asking to be dealt another hand. If I truly wanted to pursue my creative side, I would need to fully immerse myself in the world of art. So without hesitation, I committed what Baby Boomers and Gen X considers the unpardonable sin.
I quit my job and enrolled into art school!
I realized that the career chasing did not kill my desire, it only stopped my growth. I had been capturing the same concepts over and over again and that had become monotonous. While my photos and the people I was capturing were esthetically pleasing, they lacked depth beyond beauty. And because the rat race is so demanding, there was no time or space in which I could experience artistic growth beyond that surface level beauty. So, like any millennial experiencing a mid-life awakening, I handed in a three-day notice and on my way home I enrolled into college to get an art degree.
But this was the middle of May and the next semester did not start until August. There were three long months of waiting ahead and me and I had to do something to past the time. My body needed a break after years of physical demand from work. My mind needed to heal from years of stress and mental fatigue from work. So I followed my millennial intuition and bought a plane ticket out west. An artistic reset was happening!
I had spent years watching others capture amazing images of mountains, forest, and landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. But I needed to see this for myself. Often times in history, great leaders have great moments on a mountain top. So What better way to reset yourself than to spend time in the mountains. I quickly put together a travel itinerary that took me across 5 states in 6 days in order to create my own experiences and hopefully gain new inspiration along the way. And the moment I stepped foot off the plane in Utah, I knew that those experiences were about to be life changing!
