Oh hello darling, this month I want to reflect on the world of content creation, and my anniversary. If you have been with me a while, you will know that for the majority of my fashion shots I always wore sunglasses. Which for the last year I have actively moved away from, as I have become more at home in myself.
It was a conscious decision right from the get-go for two reasons. The first was eminently practical, and that was because I wasn’t that used to having my picture taken, so I didn’t want to worry about not looking the right direction, or being cross-eyed. The second reason is more personal, and actually slightly odd.
Eye contact is really important to humans, it is about trust, but in some cultures is considered rude. We can really get the measure of a person by looking into their eyes, this non-verbal communication can be key in ascertaining full meaning in someone's words. In essence, we can give a lot away with our eyes.
Using my own image to promote my words never really worried me, but I wanted to ensure that I didn’t give all of myself away, so I ensured that I always covered my eyes. They were my ocular security net and brought me comfort in the awkward early days.
Content creation is a Billion-pound industry, one that is VITAL but never forget the invisible layer of emotion, labour and trauma that creating content can cause. We are all open to criticisms (right and wrong) abuse, and thousands of direct (sometimes rude) questions at all hours. So having a security system in place seems sensible.
I’ve stopped wearing sunglasses, look me in the eye darling, I won’t flinch. However, I still need my security, and the way I currently work provides distance I can put in between my personal life and my content creator life. I can step away from my professional outputs because I have built a delay in the need for my content - like the broadcast delay used in live television to avoid mistakes.
If you are a content creator, then I urge you to seek a security system, that ensures you don’t burn out! I want to go into detail about how I do this, and I think I will bring you that next week so you can understand how to juggle the pulls of creating daily content, and actually having a life!
Thank you for joining me today my darlings, I will be back next week where I will continue the conversation surrounding content creation and my anniversary.
Shot by Rachel Pechey