Becoming HeyEmmaJaye Chapter 1
When the lights go down, and the speakers start to rumble - it sets my soul on fire. We search our entire lives for our purpose here, but I found mine in the countless venues, the tours, the hours of editing, the music of the people I love and the feeling that I get every time I am behind my lens. I get asked so often why I chose the music industry. And the truth is, I didn't. The music industry chose me.
I was twenty-two years old and lost as much as any twenty-something young woman could be. I had changed my major at least three times, changed my job double that and after completely losing myself in a terrible relationship, I was still struggling to figure out who I was as a person. But it was the fall semester, and I was ready to start brand new. I found myself in Franklin hall Room 339, sitting in a visual storytelling class that I was only taking because it was required in my broadcast journalism curriculum.
I remember the first day of class, I sat dead in the middle. That way I didn’t look too eager, but I also didn’t look like I didn’t care. My professor Gary Harwood made us do the typical college class icebreakers - your name and what your major is - you know, your college identity. I wasn’t the only student in the class that wasn’t some type of photo major, but I was definitely the only one in class that wanted to throw up when our professor said that we would be completing a full photo story by the end of the semester. It wasn’t the photography part that scared me. I had taken multiple photo classes, and I considered it a hobby in my spare time. Honestly, it saved my life in a terrible relationship. Because even as I lost myself, I found myself again every time I picked up my camera. That little lens flare of hope happened every single time, without fail. What scared me about the class, was finding something that would hold my interest for an entire semester. But I decided to give it a chance anyway. A little later on in the class, our professor placed a white sheet of paper in front of us with “QUOTE” written across the top. It was a quote from David Allen Harvey’s piece “Wear Good Shoes: Advice to Young Photographers”. As we started reading, I don’t think that I was prepared to read something that would change my entire life forever.
…today’s emerging photographers now must be “visual wordsmiths” with either a clear didactic or esoteric imperative. Be a poet, not a technical writer. Perhaps more simply put, find a heartfelt personal project. Give yourself the assignment you might dream someone would give you. Please remember, you and only you will control your destiny. Believe it, know it, say it.
You see, I had written poetry in secrecy for the past two years. Any chance that I got to write freely and passionately, instead of technically, my heart was overflowing. So this comparison alone, held my attention. Gary went on to explain what photography meant to him. He crossed the lines of it being an art form, a piece of literature, a way of life and honestly I had never heard someone speak so passionately about anything in my entire life. That Tuesday evening, I was motivated in a way that I had never been before. I found myself waking up every Tuesday morning with the drive to make it until 5:30, where Gary would inspire me yet again. On the third week, I had already taken over ten pages of notes during his lectures. It was like he speaking directly into my soul and recharging my spirit every single evening. During this third particular lecture on story structure, I scribbled a few things into the margin.
- Be good at lots of things, but be known for one of them.
- You’re as good as your weakest photo story
-Step outside of the core character development if you have to…in fact, do it often
We were supposed to have been studying story structure, and character development, but I was studying Gary’s passion. On that third class we were given our very first assignment, called the “10 in One”. It would consist of turning in ten photos from 1 location, 1 subject and 1 meaning. I had no idea where to begin, but Gary reminded me after class that I should start with something that made me “feel”. The only thing that I could think of in that moment was music.
TO BE CONTINUED
