Last day in NYC overwhelmed me with unexpected tears of pure, unbridled joy.

Unlike my previous ventures to New York City, which invariably concluded with bittersweet tears of departure and sadness, this particular visit proved transformative on multiple levels, profoundly reshaping both my cherished friendships and my fundamental identity as a creative.

The creative landscape that once stretched before me like an impossibly vast and intimidating terrain has undergone a remarkable transformation in my perception. Now this vibrant community feels wonderfully accessible and welcoming, like finding a home I never knew I had. Through the deeply moving emotional journey and significant personal growth experienced during this trip, I can finally stand tall and declare with unwavering confidence: I BELONG HERE AS A CREATOR!

Now settled back in Chicago as I reflect and write these words, I feel an unprecedented sense of security and belonging in my role as a creator, even as I continue to navigate and explore the endless possibilities of where my developing artistic voice might guide me next.

YouTube Video of the Week

This weeks pick comes from a genre of YouTube that is more commentary esk. It is what is most played in the background of my home as I do chores.

This video in particular peaked my interest because, as someone who has made merch and getting deeper into that side of creating, people stealing merch designs you work hard to come up with your audience is ripped off. Not only that but merch helps support your favorite creators, so to find stolen designs out there and people buying them is a cluster ball of bad. Here’s why!

1. Google search SEO can become more popular than the actual creators merch site, which can mess with the potential sales that WOULD have supported the creator. Websites claim to promote rules to stop this kind of theft but hardly seem to enforce.

2. Most ripped off merch is created the cheapest way possible to make a profit. Hence…CHEAPEST. Quality takes a nose dive and that can look bad on the creators reputation.

3. These random websites that steal your designs require people to create accounts and put in a LOT of information, potentially scamming YOUR FANS and leaving them open to theft of their secure information. #identitytheftisnotajokejim

4. Where does the line of “Fair-Use” lie? Taking something from a video or even taking a design and making it a bit more your own is very similar to how Fair-Use is used for videos on YouTube.

As creators are scaling more than ever, standing alone as a brand without the security of access to lawyers for some of us, what will the state of security for growth of creators be in the years to come?

Does Gear Matter?

Casey Neistat spoke at the B&H/Sony event in NYC last Thursday. He has been known to use Sony cameras for the last few years now as his main camera. But he went on a surprising side tangent on how though he loves his Sony cameras, that he hasn’t upgraded since 2020, he expressed how much he loves his iPhone camera.

iPhones have become the modern day camcorder for families to capture their everyday life moments. And in the same fashion as the camcorders that we grew up with they have their quirks. The glitch between the focal lengths, the grain of the front facing camera, and the relatable factor of what we all know to be iPhone footage. Anyone that uses that phone can EASILY identify it.

So I know you are wondering, what is the ART in this? I love the art of nostalgia. It is a real and living thing that for some reason has been a catalase for old tech to resurface. Even the idea of the home phone!

Film photography, vinyls, cassettes, digi cams, and camcorders. These are so irreplaceable mediums to capture moments. Even though I sit here with my Ray Ban Meta’s #notsponsoredbutwouldlovetobe I still feel there is a real human experience missing with trying to create everything cinematic and not focusing on the realness of life.

As a fellow “On The Go Filmmaker” I crave weird cameras like the Ray Ban Meta’s that are a wearable camera, old digi cams, listening and collecting vinyls and that process of discovering music. I am a very tangible/analog person, and I love to live in a world where other creatives are feeling the same, and searching out old tech to make new stories.