“As a photographer who has unwittingly drawn their value from the metrics presented to them on social media, I’ve found myself in recent years with a fading sense of direction and lack of confidence in my creative abilities. I realized every social media post had been conceptualized as if it were a marketing campaign.”

“There are few as honest and open to share every facet of their story as Eric Smith. I had the pleasure of speaking with Eric late last year and enjoyed our conversation about everything from photography, creative processes and mental health.”

“After the public release of Open AI’s beta project ChatGPT, the reality of just how intuitive (and almost human in response) this software is really hit home for me. So I decided to test just how “human“ it could be in it’s responses.”

“It’s important to ask ourselves, if social media were to disappear tomorrow would we still be as creative? If the answer is yes, it might be time to loosen our grasp of those pressures that provide little value to our creative processes.”

“The X100V allows you to steal moments you may have otherwise interrupted with a larger camera body, with it you’re an innocuous passerby. I’ve adopted a different creative mindset since using this camera, instead of trying to stage a composition, I’ve found myself documenting moments.”

The work itself named "Kuya" (translated in Tagalog meaning "brother" used to address an older male as a term of respect), was compiled and curated as a tribute to family in Manila whom he'd met for the first time. Documented in his debut photo book.

There is a universal truth for many people, particularly creatives, that we separate our interests from our commitments. Like the masses, spending more time consuming rather than creating, I felt a certain disdain for the endless cycle I found myself in. Self critical of the work I produced, and never truly satisfied by my own creativity.