Sometimes this idea of sharing images through Instagram can become a bit belittling. Don’t get me wrong, the platform has provided me not only a small community to share my work but also an outlet to further refine my craft.
This feeling stems from the idea that with Instagram, comes this shared product that I feel never realizes its full potential. So many times I find myself cropping images that, at least in my regards, deserve more than a 4×5 crop and a cheesy caption alongside it. Pictures that I love, associated with long-winded stories and rambling sentences, often set aside or tucked away in my archives; rarely shared to their full potential.
I’m trying to find ways to push my boundaries, my current limitations. So that I can start to become all that I dreamed of as a naive 20-year-old flipping through Patagonia catalogs and watching all the surf and ski films I could. I longed to see the snow-filled mountain peaks, point breaks along the coastlines, and even the silly moments captured in between. Beers on bikes, a bachelor pad hoisted hundreds of feet in the air in the trees, even the moment around the fire; where right before your eyes the story begins to unfold.
I didn’t know how to put it into words at the time, but I wanted to be a part of those “good old adventures” as they say. The mundanity of a college lifestyle was boring me and more importantly, bringing me further from this feeling that resonated with me so strongly when I viewed these pieces of work.
I wanted to be the one behind the camera, or whatever the medium for that matter. I wanted to paint the picture of life’s most vivid moments.
I didn’t pick up a camera to only post to Instagram, and I certainly didn’t come back to this app almost two years ago at the start of the journey to get caught in an algorithm and forget why I started in the first place.
That isn’t to say that the way I have told stories on the platform in the past is wrong in any way, it isn’t. Rather, merely a fraction of what I dream for myself and what I hope to share with the world.
I’ve been posed with this idea by a friend of mine and artist, John Paul Zarba through conversation and his work, it has become evident we have battled similar resistances in both our creative work and life. What I believe JP most articulates through his work is that he was created to create art, to use that medium to bring him closer to people and the realized state of his wildest imaginations. John has worked tirelessly on this journey to continue to push the boundaries and limitations of his work.
Which inherently begs the question, what on earth was I created to create? I see that we don’t necessarily create stories, stories write themselves and you piece it all together, through written or verbal words, even moments frozen in time.
But what has rung true for many years is this idea of creating lasting connections with others, places, things. A connection deeper than Instagram posts and flash drives. That is what I believe I was created to create. Without connection, my job as a storyteller would be nearly impossible.
And that’s what this outlet here is. A place for me to write, to create, and to tell the stories that I believe in. The stories that I believe and feel have a bigger place on this earth than a 4×5 square on a social media app. A space To build a community around the experiences I share with others.
In other words, I suppose this is my proclamation to continue to step outside of my comfort zone and begin to share what I dreamed about producing all those years ago. To tell stories and use the camera as a means to do. To continue to use Instagram as a tool and to leave behind what I feel is limiting or disheartening. To continue to grow as a storyteller and a person. One who not only points a camera or gets the words on paper but also creates long-lasting connections that blossom into a community.
Chad Ripley 