Well... where to start? Maybe by going back to where it all began, which is roughly about 14 years ago. When I was a kid I got my first laptop and found out I loved making graphic design (which I had to drop because the laptop no longer was able to handle the load). Soon after that I also finally got my first camera - I believe my biggest inspiration at that time was my uncle who has been into drawing & photography since as long as he can remember. I loved seeing the characters coming alive on the paper and the photographs bringing the reality back to life but through different, much more personal lens.

There are people who will point in front of themselves and will argue what they're looking at is the object it clearly is. Then there are others who will say what you see is what you make it.

I discovered dA soon afterwards and I was way more involved with the community back then than nowadays (esp. on my old profile that no longer exists). Providing constructive critique and featuring promising artwork was my very enjoyment. I learned a lot about critiquing properly thanks to the helpful guides made at that time by 3wyl, and had she not ended up coming across my work, who knows if I'd end up giving back to the community as much.

I also tried to photograph starting-out TFP alternative models soon afterwards, which I had to drop out mainly due to how heavy it was on finances - I longed for models who are into alternative fashion & make-up and for some reason, my city seemed void of such models - which meant I had to spend expenses on traveling to reach the capital. Or occasionally renting a photo-atelier. Not exactly a long-term sustainable option for a teen with no income of their own yet /o\

Soon afterwards, "life happened" and my attention got swayed by personal problems as well as way directed at less productive activities. You might argue I developed an art block of shorts.

There are people who will use art as a healthy way to channel their negative emotions at all times, and then there are also those who will shut out all of their imagination and lose discipline and will to get things done.

I sold my camera under an impression that I will have upgrade anyway as some people were dropping DSLRs for mirrorless cameras - and to be fair, I hated how heavy the DSLR was, I wanted to have just any handy tool that would let me capture moments in any situation, not caring much for the picture quality of way higher-end cameras - as long as I am shooting for myself and not commercially, anything goes.

Nevertheless, it took me almost 4 years (or was it less?) to bother buying a camera again as I wasn't really longing to make art at that time anyway. All it took was getting a friend abroad to visit and my passion for city exploration got revived.

Another 4 years forward, I still can't say I am exactly engaging with art as much as I feel I should.

I don't like the city I live in, and I am not likely to branch off from the main roads for exploration as many places give off a negative "please, don't enter" vibe.

My city is covered in way too many huge shopping centres, half of them empty. Garbage on the ground. The local majority doesn't seem to care about what the urban spaces looks like - or maybe they're just not the type of people who would be the ones to try to actively do something about it, which is fair enough. It feels like all the artists head for the much richer, cultural cities. Maybe I am focusing much more on the negative and the reality is slightly different. But I found a longing to contribute in a meaningful way and I hope to come up with a plan to make it happen, maybe partially with the help of my art.

And about dA, which is my most (if not only) active art account, I hope to continue at where I left at years ago - providing critiques and featuring art from time to time. But first and foremost, I really should do something about this infinite amount of old photo work sleeping on my HDD D: Well, let's see if I live up to my words.

Regarding my own photo-work progress, the main change I see lies in my perspective having adjusted itself over time: I value B&W aspect so much more and I feel like it's the right "suit" for most of my photos to wear in comparison to my old (and occasionally recurring) habit to aggressively "paint" my work only with colors - which might not work given the way I view the world due to the fact that I discovered that I value shapes, lines and texture so much more.

A good way to drown the meaning would be how else than by prioritizing colors with no respect to the desired outcome.

And for the last point, if my math is right, I've been around dA since about 13 years. It delights me to see that one of my photograph recently received my first ever DD award and I thank JUSTACAPHARNAUM for featuring it.