October Recap
Ahhh October...
One of my absolute favorite months because of the gorgeous colors in the trees, cooler temperatures, and otherworldly evening light.
Time is flying by on its constant march onwards and it's hard to believe the month of October is already over. But before I set my sight to the future and the coming days, I want to take a minute and look back over the previous month and reflect on the highs, the lows, the beautiful moments, and everything in between.
Welcome to my October recap.
My month started in the absolute best way possible: The Promotion Passion Convention. For those of you who don't know Brooke Shaden, by all means stop reading right now and look her up. Not only is she an incredible photographer and event host, she's incredibly kind and one of my all time favorite people.
Every year Brooke hosts this incredible convention with different speakers all centered around the theme of passion and creativity. Inspiring, motivational, and emotional, I wouldn't miss this event for the world. And it just so happens that last year I went from an attendee to a staff member, and I absolutely love the change! I was raised to love hosting and event planning and being able to help Brooke and the other incredible staff members put on this event fills my heart with joy.
This year PPC was held in a rural town in Georgia called Dahlonega. Besides the moldy conference center that made me sick for days, the bad food everyone eventually turned into an inside joke, and the invasive species of spider called Joro's that were EVERYWHERE it was a magical time!
My one moment of huh... during the conference was when I realized I didn't create a single image the entire time I was there. In the six years I've attended this convention, I've created some of my favorite images. Yet this time was different and I didn't try to force it to be the same as years previous. I was suddenly okay with not creating...it didn't sit right when I left, but as I was driving back home I was able to let it go.
PPC Group Photo 2023
Things never happen the same way twice and sometimes we need to let go and let it be. This helps us continue on without regret knowing it was amazing even if it didn't happen exactly the way we expected it to.
Once I returned from Georgia, I set out on my next adventure...recruiting dancers for an Opera that I was hired to choreograph. However, I had two weeks to recruit and teach the dancers the choreography before official rehearsals started with the entire opera cast. This left me with hardly any time to find dancers.
Choreographing a three minute waltz was pretty easy and a lot of fun to come up with (waltzing is one of my favorite styles of dance) and by the 19th of October, I'd managed to teach the choreography to the five dancers I'd found. This lifted a little bit of the stress off my shoulders, but we still only had a few weeks before the actual performance. This may be the fastest process for a show I’ve ever been involved in. From signing the contract to the final performance on November 12th, the whole process will be five weeks. But the process is going well and with the writing of this blog post, we’ve finished all staging rehearsals and are about to move onto the stage and begin the infamous tech week.
The 20th of October was a really fun evening because JoAnne Becker, a great friend of mine and photographer, held an open house in her studio and invited the art group that I run to put pieces up for the event. It was a great pop-up show with live music, art, and friends coming to support the space. I got to talk with fellow artists, listen to live music, and enjoy pouring into my artist soul.
It’s incredibly important for artists to take the time to nurture their creative selves by slowing down and doing things to feed it. That could mean putting work to the side for an evening and just playing or having fun.
Too often we get wrapped up in doing that we forget about simply being. Creativity, inspiration, and passion need a certain amount of freedom to exist in the in between moments without being crushed by the constant movement of life. I took a couple of moments during the month to just get away.
I escaped to the parkway to see the beautiful fall colors and just drove for hours, watching the world go by through the windshield of Lucille (my 2006 Toyota Tundra) and just being in the moment. Finding peace in the busyness is the best way to nurture the artist within us.
During this trip up to the parkway, I set out to create a “bad” image (I’ll explain more about this in a coming blog post). I had no intentions of what I would create and was not pressuring the image to be anything other than what it was. This allowed me to create an image that is both beautiful and freeing. I hadn’t created anything since August and it was fulfilling to create an image and exercise my photography muscles.
“Autumn’s Fall”
Self-Portrait, October 2023
Overall, the month of October was filled with quite a bit of stress and beautiful moments. I created an image and was able to post on Instagram pretty consistently. The opera has been a very interesting process with being the choreographer, recruiter, and a performer. I am both excited to perform and ready to finish the show.
Favorite Moment: Driving the parkway and taking in the fall colors without any pressure to do anything or be anywhere.
Lesson Learned: Expectations of perfection kill art before it takes the first breath of life.
Looking Forward To Next Month: Performing in and completing the opera performance process.
Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt
