Everyone has a gimmick; be it an inspiration, a dream, a conceptual...for whatever form of self-expression they like to share with others. For most general things, I like to keep it relatively simple. But for photography and writing, etc. as a whole, I am always looking to challenge myself. So I created a creative conceptual, entitled Changing L.A.N.E.S., which is an abbreviated acronym for Changing...Like A Neverending Story. These next few paragraphs are for those of you who have just stopped by for the first time and are new to me as a writer, a photographer, and an artist of any sort.
But I'll try to keep it brief.
For you to better understand Changing L.A.N.E.S., I must first clarify: it is NOT about, meant to be associated with, or even inadvertently linked to any film with a similar title, neither recent or past. Yes, I am sincerely a fan of the 1984 classic most of us know and love. However, please don't formulate theories that I'm ripping off a classic fantasy-book or a film with the same name, because honestly? I've heard it all before--in fact, more than a few times, from people with such...stubborn conclusions. I don't have a clue how you arrived here, and/or why you've chosen to stay this long. I won't either, unless you decide to write me a comment to say hello. But if not, you can [at least] allow me to introduce myself more effectively, by first clearing those preconceptions from your collective thought process. Changing L.A.N.E.S. Photography, and my creative conceptual as a whole, has NOTHING to do with Samuel L. Jackson or Ben Affleck, Bastian or Atreyu, The Childlike Empress or a particularly big and furry, friendly white Luck Dragon...as interesting as each [respectively] may be. Really. That said, here is where my conceptual does draw much of it's inspiration: You. If you are a photographer, a blogger, or an artist of some sort, perhaps looking for a unique perspective, then please, read on...you may soon find you're in the right place, after all.
I don't presume to call myself an artist of any particular innate talent. But I do see the art in me. Artistic minds are never the same, but we all enjoy a similar process of creating, and generally, with similar ideals in mind. If you share the mindset of an artist, then you agree to understand one constant: our lives are always changing lanes. Sort of like a never ending story. This is a reality most-especially inherent in those of us with the mental aptitude for creating art, simply due to the good fortune, and seemingly boundless, vastly open-ended capacity that we have [take for granted] for pulling ourselves into another place. Another time. Another realm of fantasy-existence. So that we can escape ourselves, albeit for a short while. But often enough, the results are spectacular. If only someone else had been around to see it.
So that's the reason--my reason anyway, for the existence of an idea like Changing L.A.N.E.S--OUR existence. It's a truth, depending on how you approach it--though often a fiction. But such that I feel it can [ideally] represent...me, you, and all our inspirations. It's an expression of the dreams which we would dare aspire to. Perhaps, on a more unadulterated note, the pain [or pleasure] of our experiences [sudden, or enduring] that cause existential changes; wherein we are sometimes smoothly, but more-often forcefully re-directed into another lane, of life.
My ideas, I have discovered, can often sympathize more with fiction than non-fiction. At times, more than I will admit. But, by that admission, perhaps Changing L.A.N.E.S. is just a silly [albeit somewhat creative] idea. However [and in my defense] my goal is, more-or-less, to connect with my own life. Discover in me, and in the lives around me, whatever there is to see. Something beautiful I'd like to hope, if it exists. Yeah. As simple and as complicated as all that. But, it just, amazes me. How it all can happen...as we write it. Draw it. Photograph it. Compose it. Destroy it. How we are constantly changing it's shape and form. And it, us.
Changing L.A.N.E.S. is about that goal. Can I provide even a small amount of introspective insight and inconsistency, into our otherwise [unfortunately] assuming and replaceable lives, and our far-too accepting mind's eye? If I could accomplish this via a measure of fantasy, then I think I will have helped in sharing something important, in fact. I face the way the world is, daily. But I love to dream about how I'd like my world to be. It helps me feel. And I will never let anyone steal this away from me. Because I require surreality, in order to exist in reality. And I don't have to go out on a limb to assume most of you share this sentiment.
Now, I am NO paparazzi. But I guess the core components are there, haha. What constantly attracts me, is life. My life. The lives of others. I love life. But a sad, and very real truth: The media. Your local news channel. The entertainment industry as an entire entity. Has done nothing, if not prove that it's primary goal, is to watch the lives of others. The motivation to capture and obsess over people's lives in today's society borderlines on the absurd. The fueled, almost crazed intent, to let nothing stop the signal. A truly digital age. But [unfortunately] a world, a life, in which privacy is no longer respected. In which we are blinded by lies, and to the truth of what [who] is really out there, scheming to manipulate, and inevitably gain total control over our world, and our life, as we thought we knew it, never knowing what power we had, and how we could have changed this life for the better, had we simply used our voices, and spoken out.
I just want to make a difference. I want to show the world for what it should be, or how I wish it was, perhaps. And I don't want to lose control of my power to choose to be me. To be beautiful, but on my terms. Granted, it's a HUGE assumption that I could ever do anything of this magnitude through a little bit of creative writing, or a fancy photograph. It's no small task to effect change...in our own lives, much less in the lives of others. But, isn't it better to believe in something, and potentially be right about it, then to believe in nothing, and absolutely be wrong?
I'll close with that question. And I hope this has helped you, to understand me better. Changing L.A.N.E.S. is the conceptual I use to keep myself grounded, inspired, and further aspiring to a higher state of creative mind. A mind that is aware of my surroundings. Aware of the dangers we face. But also aware of the beauty that is still left in this world, and all around it. Even if we can't see it, or hear it, or otherwise. I believe in faith, a word that means the evidence of things unseen. As you continue to view my work; IF you continue to view it, I can only have faith that you will see these words I've written, and the pictures I've photographed, persevere within me. Thanks for reading, and may the story never end.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Keith M.
But I'll try to keep it brief.
For you to better understand Changing L.A.N.E.S., I must first clarify: it is NOT about, meant to be associated with, or even inadvertently linked to any film with a similar title, neither recent or past. Yes, I am sincerely a fan of the 1984 classic most of us know and love. However, please don't formulate theories that I'm ripping off a classic fantasy-book or a film with the same name, because honestly? I've heard it all before--in fact, more than a few times, from people with such...stubborn conclusions. I don't have a clue how you arrived here, and/or why you've chosen to stay this long. I won't either, unless you decide to write me a comment to say hello. But if not, you can [at least] allow me to introduce myself more effectively, by first clearing those preconceptions from your collective thought process. Changing L.A.N.E.S. Photography, and my creative conceptual as a whole, has NOTHING to do with Samuel L. Jackson or Ben Affleck, Bastian or Atreyu, The Childlike Empress or a particularly big and furry, friendly white Luck Dragon...as interesting as each [respectively] may be. Really. That said, here is where my conceptual does draw much of it's inspiration: You. If you are a photographer, a blogger, or an artist of some sort, perhaps looking for a unique perspective, then please, read on...you may soon find you're in the right place, after all.
I don't presume to call myself an artist of any particular innate talent. But I do see the art in me. Artistic minds are never the same, but we all enjoy a similar process of creating, and generally, with similar ideals in mind. If you share the mindset of an artist, then you agree to understand one constant: our lives are always changing lanes. Sort of like a never ending story. This is a reality most-especially inherent in those of us with the mental aptitude for creating art, simply due to the good fortune, and seemingly boundless, vastly open-ended capacity that we have [take for granted] for pulling ourselves into another place. Another time. Another realm of fantasy-existence. So that we can escape ourselves, albeit for a short while. But often enough, the results are spectacular. If only someone else had been around to see it.
So that's the reason--my reason anyway, for the existence of an idea like Changing L.A.N.E.S--OUR existence. It's a truth, depending on how you approach it--though often a fiction. But such that I feel it can [ideally] represent...me, you, and all our inspirations. It's an expression of the dreams which we would dare aspire to. Perhaps, on a more unadulterated note, the pain [or pleasure] of our experiences [sudden, or enduring] that cause existential changes; wherein we are sometimes smoothly, but more-often forcefully re-directed into another lane, of life.
My ideas, I have discovered, can often sympathize more with fiction than non-fiction. At times, more than I will admit. But, by that admission, perhaps Changing L.A.N.E.S. is just a silly [albeit somewhat creative] idea. However [and in my defense] my goal is, more-or-less, to connect with my own life. Discover in me, and in the lives around me, whatever there is to see. Something beautiful I'd like to hope, if it exists. Yeah. As simple and as complicated as all that. But, it just, amazes me. How it all can happen...as we write it. Draw it. Photograph it. Compose it. Destroy it. How we are constantly changing it's shape and form. And it, us.
Changing L.A.N.E.S. is about that goal. Can I provide even a small amount of introspective insight and inconsistency, into our otherwise [unfortunately] assuming and replaceable lives, and our far-too accepting mind's eye? If I could accomplish this via a measure of fantasy, then I think I will have helped in sharing something important, in fact. I face the way the world is, daily. But I love to dream about how I'd like my world to be. It helps me feel. And I will never let anyone steal this away from me. Because I require surreality, in order to exist in reality. And I don't have to go out on a limb to assume most of you share this sentiment.
Now, I am NO paparazzi. But I guess the core components are there, haha. What constantly attracts me, is life. My life. The lives of others. I love life. But a sad, and very real truth: The media. Your local news channel. The entertainment industry as an entire entity. Has done nothing, if not prove that it's primary goal, is to watch the lives of others. The motivation to capture and obsess over people's lives in today's society borderlines on the absurd. The fueled, almost crazed intent, to let nothing stop the signal. A truly digital age. But [unfortunately] a world, a life, in which privacy is no longer respected. In which we are blinded by lies, and to the truth of what [who] is really out there, scheming to manipulate, and inevitably gain total control over our world, and our life, as we thought we knew it, never knowing what power we had, and how we could have changed this life for the better, had we simply used our voices, and spoken out.
I just want to make a difference. I want to show the world for what it should be, or how I wish it was, perhaps. And I don't want to lose control of my power to choose to be me. To be beautiful, but on my terms. Granted, it's a HUGE assumption that I could ever do anything of this magnitude through a little bit of creative writing, or a fancy photograph. It's no small task to effect change...in our own lives, much less in the lives of others. But, isn't it better to believe in something, and potentially be right about it, then to believe in nothing, and absolutely be wrong?
I'll close with that question. And I hope this has helped you, to understand me better. Changing L.A.N.E.S. is the conceptual I use to keep myself grounded, inspired, and further aspiring to a higher state of creative mind. A mind that is aware of my surroundings. Aware of the dangers we face. But also aware of the beauty that is still left in this world, and all around it. Even if we can't see it, or hear it, or otherwise. I believe in faith, a word that means the evidence of things unseen. As you continue to view my work; IF you continue to view it, I can only have faith that you will see these words I've written, and the pictures I've photographed, persevere within me. Thanks for reading, and may the story never end.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Keith M.
