Australian photographer Josh Hedge models for also Australian photographer Carly Brown and comes to grips with the subject of competitive behaviour amongst artists, seeing others as a chance to grow and turning a work collaboration into friend for life.
“Creativity is one of our greatest gifts, It allows us to whole heartedly express ourselves, be unique. There are no boundaries in what we can do with it.
What I have found with the growth of social media is that there is this kind of competitive layer that looms above us, who’s got the most followers, who’s got the most likes.. that kind of thing. It’s obviously not completely gone but where has the support for fellow creatives gone? We aren’t doing what we do to compete!
We do what we do because we love to inspire, it doesn’t matter if you are a dancer because I’m a photographer and I find beauty in the movement you make, it doesn’t matter if you are a painter because the musician looking at your work hears the colours you have mixed, you are a writer and the model who travels the world in a busy rush stopped for a few minutes and shed a tear over the story you have written. You see the connection I’m making here? my favourite Pink Floyd lyric is ‘I am you, and what I see is me’ We are all in the same boat, making a living out of being creative is what we all desire and it is unbelievably hard at times, but we don’t give in because we all dread the robotic working 9-5 lifestyle. Instead of being jealous of someone else’s success appreciate where they have got themselves to and let it push you a little bit more!
“We do what we do because we love to inspire, it doesn’t matter if you are a dancer because I’m a photographer and I find beauty in the movement you make…”
Recently Carly Brown, a super SUPER talented photographer from my homeland of Australia and I both happened to be in Bali at the same time and we were organising to do a double shoot, where I photographed on film and she photographed with digital.. It didn’t quite go to planned as we expected so we decided that she would just photograph me instead and I thought why not? We had no set plan involved, just the luxury of being on a tropical island and the freedom to do whatever we wanted. Being the first time we had even met, it felt as though we had been life long friends, being around someone in the same creative field that has the same simple, laid back mind frame towards life as you, is such a comforting feeling.
The sun was sitting in that low late afternoon position where you can’t help but smile at the beauty of the world we live in, providing a soft golden glow everywhere we looked we simply explored on our scooters riding through farmland and along the seaside. Sharing laughs while Carly photographed me in my most natural state, we found some stunning farms to shoot in full of flowers (that are farmed by the balinese purely for the cause of them being used in their morning ceremonies) and of course being the animal lover I am I had to get amongst the field of cows near by, as well as the scenery of the ocean.
Having both been super busy with booked photography work as of late, Carly and I appreciated having this afternoon with no set plan in mind to both share what we love about creating art, to create moments that inspire, moments of freedom. Instead of being threatened by another photographer, thinking they were going to ‘take work’ away from me, I look at opportunities like these as a chance to connect, share advice, knowledge and grow as an artist. I can happily say that from this shoot I have made a friend I will have for a very long time, so to whoever reads this it doesn’t matter what you do, be friendly, get in contact with other artists and make some damn GOOD art.”
Images by Carly Brown and Text by Josh Hedge
Co-ordination by Eva Davidova
