This editorial was published in Vigour Magazine in August, Issue 15.
Noel is a model with Alaeria Agency and also works at Aritzia.
He styled the shoot with his amazing wardrobe.
•Pants: Wilfred Anyway Pant
•Crochet Muscle Tank: Wilfred Peek Top in Light Birch
•Crochet Polo: Babaton Composure Sweater in White
•Belt: Babaton Hackney Belt
•Hat: Jacquemus cream Bucket Hat
•Hat: Lululemon orange Bucket Hat
I started working in the service industry during the pandemic. I needed to because I had to stay afloat and a friend of mine got me a job at a local hotel restaurant as a host. The job was a few blocks from my house and lasted for a year. I wanted to move on from Hosting to being a server but there was just no room for me there.
(I have learned more about myself and people working in the service industry than I ever have at school or in any kind of relationship I have had. This is not a negative thing by any means, it is very positive because what I learned helped me learn more about myself and how my actions affect others.)
So on I went and got another gig, at the encouragement of my boss. He gave me a glowing reference and I stayed at the next gig for 6 months working as a server/hostess and sometimes bartender until they went to counter service and laid off their entire waitstaff and trimmed their kitchen too. A decision they made to be able to keep the restaurant alive during very trying times after the government subsidy ran out.
From this gig I went back to another hotel, further from home, one with a long history, training manuals and a lot to remember and facilitate as a host. I work there 3-4 days a week and usually work in the studio 1 day a week and carry my camera and shoot on the street the rest of the time. I keep a sketchbook at home for evenings when I keep my continuous line drawing practice going. I buy sketchbooks from the dollar store and pencils and pens there too. Lately, I have been picking up some groceries there too.
Before the pandemic, I was keeping my creative pursuits afloat by working as a photographer’s assistant. I had my name on a couple of large rental houses in town and I would get gigs when photographers came to town and needed a hand. There is a small group of really great assistants here in Vancouver and I was really lucky to work with a lot of them over the few years I did it full-time. It also taught me a lot.
Some people assume a lot about my life but the truth is I have always kept a job that has supported my creative pursuits. A job that has covered all of my monthly bills and enabled me to focus on creating commercial photo work and mural work. The goal is to not need the serving gigs anymore and make my entire income from my photography and mural work. I choose not to assist anymore and focus on my goal of working commercially, the service jobs keep me afloat so I can keep this goal in mind. It’s my focus.
I submit to Vogue every week, stay up late every Sunday evening or set an alarm to submit at 11:01 pm. I do not get paid by Vogue, it is an open submission and I have only been accepted a few times in 2022. I am hoping for more before the year ends. I will keep trying, keep shooting and keep submitting, it is an evolving practice for me and so far I have 12 images published with them and I like that feather in my cap.
I live lean, don’t own a car, and don’t have any real vices except thrift shopping and often I don’t spend on that because the amount of clothing I find makes up for what I would have spent in a thrift shop. Even when I do go and decide to spend money on items I am very discerning about what I decide to purchase and at what price point. I take the bus, and EVO’s around town or ride my bicycle or walk. I take books out of the library and often shop from the day-old produce bin at Kins. The lady knows me there and knows she has been keeping me in smoothies for years. Old fruit blends great and tastes great too.
I took a spot in a shared studio space in January and when the rent went up an extra $100 a couple of months ago I offered to clean it once a month instead of paying the increase and that offer was welcomed. It takes about 3 hours to clean it from stem to stern but I like doing it, it gives me more of a feeling of belonging there. We are a community of artists in the space who all support each other and I really love being a part of it.
I don’t believe in being taken care of, even when I am in a long-term relationship the costs get split, dinners, entertainment, groceries, rent, and travel, split. I don’t believe in someone taking on the bulk of the cost of a partnership because of said partnership. If there is a large skew in earnings then we have figured out what the equal cost is and kept that as a guide until things changed because sometimes they do.
All of this is to say that I work hard to support my creativity and passion and saving money is something I do so that I can travel and take my camera and sketchbook to different parts of the world.
I thought it would be good to share something personal here on the blog. Each week I think about what I am going to say and sometimes the posts write themselves because I have a lot going on and sometimes it’s a grind to keep these balls in the air this week I just wanted to share how that juggling happens.
Community is key for me, it’s been my New Year’s word for the past few years. COVID sent me on a path of self-discovery and that path led me to connect. I was lacking it so much that I became depressed, or at least I think I realized my depression was a symptom of isolation. So this year has been a year of connection for me.
I have been renting space at Doris Land since January 2022. The studio is run by Alex Waber, an incredible photographer and creative human being. To further this net of connection I pitched the idea of an Art Collective to Alex. This week we hosted our first one and it was a huge success.
If you are in Vancouver follow Doris Land on Social Media, we are going to host these events once a month and I am looking forward to growing this community.
Hello, how is everyone doing during these crazy weather days?
I never thought I would be a part of the market circuit but guess what, I am and it is all happening so easily that I have decided to roll with it for a while.
I will be at the Lot 19 Market on Thursday, August 18th all day long, swing by and say Hi.
Lot 19 is located at 855 West Hastings Street. There will be a heap of local artists, so feel free to swing by to say Hi.
I will have my up-cycled clothing and denim featuring my designs and embroidery along with stickers and buttons.
Sometimes the season takes over and you get lost in the sunshine or the timeline of the day.
(I also spent a couple of weeks with COVID and heat exhaustion, so the end of July and the beginning of August have been a slowing down and healing time for me.)
I have been doing just that, and I know I have been talking about growth and change for a very long time now and I am feeling those a lot more lately. I know that sounds bizarre but I am in the middle of something big and trying to give myself some time to bring this change to life.
I am doing a lot of work on myself personally and those changes are reflected back in my work. I am not patient by nature, so giving myself time and space for this growth is tough. Learning about self-compassion is throwing me for a loop and that might sound strange but it is knit into a larger change I have been working on for the past year with a therapist. Mental health is just as important as physical health to me and seeing someone to help me sort out my feelings and aspirations is as natural to me as going to my Doctor to see for a specific health problem.
There were a lot of signs that I needed to reach out and when I did the can of worms opened so now I am working with those worms to see where everything wants to go so it can continue to grow.
So this is more of a state of the union kind of post and that’s ok. I struggled to discover what to say today so here we are, talking about personal stuff that may be uncomfortable to read. I can promise you I am very uncomfortable, doing the work and growth isn’t easy and I am finding ways to keep moving forward.
The thing with going through personal changes is that it is reflected back into your practice. Cameras don’t hide anything so using them as a tool to express or change it confronts what is going on because it reflects everything back to you. Each frame is a dialogue of what is going on.
I have more art to share in future posts. Right now I encourage you to visit Visual Space Gallery and enjoy their summer art show. You will find my upcycled clothing there and denim too, the gallery would love to see you.
A birthday for Canada, mine is in 4 days and a lot of mixed feelings.
June saw the overturning of Roe v Wade and a conceal carry gun law be enforced in the US.
Here in Canada we are still learning so much about the residential schools and the 60’s scoop.
I have been reading and doing my best to become an ally. It is really hard to wrap your head around where the world is right now, it’s hard to feel a part of it, hard to know where your community fits.
I feel like we need to trust each other again, see the good, believe in the good, random acts of kindness go a long way. Holding a door, offering a smile, showing some kind of acceptance of each other is something I want to celebrate other than the birth of this nation.
People are hurting as a nation and we are knee deep in climate change.
I spend my days looking for the helpers and doing my best to be one.
Fred Rogers said that, when you are in times of crisis look for the helpers.
Find a way to be one too, we are all in this together.
