2021: The Year in Transition

Coming out of 2020, what was to happen in 2021 was so unknown, there were so many doubts if normal life would ever resume. What happened, in California at least, is that we did in fact get back to a somewhat "normal" life about halfway through the year. As this year draws to a close we are still heading into somewhat of an unknown, with some scares of a new variant of the Corona Virus being reported, but the overall feeling is that people are learning to accept things like mask wearing, the canceling of friendships, and a constant taking of sides as the new "normal". All of this being my opinion of course, but as 2022 is around the corner, I have hope of the life we knew in 2019 to be more present than what we've experienced the past 2 years.

As a creative this year I pursued a nostalgic dive back into the world of sneakers. As a child, around 1994/1995 I discovered a love for shoe design & the Nike Diamond Turf 2, endorsed by Deion Sanders who played for the San Francisco 49ers. This lead to years of drawing sneakers from my own imagination, often customized for my classmates, & a desire to pursue a career in sneaker design. However, this was not the career path I would eventually be on, but it would remain as a passion that would be rekindled by being invited to be on a sneaker podcast with friends from my childhood.

I also dived further into shooting photographs of my own sneaker collection and discussing the personal connection of those sneakers to my childhood or current passions for running, basketball & tennis. I did this mostly on an instagram account named after a nick name of mine that came from friends & the date of my birthday/number of the one and only, Michael Jeffrey Jordan. The "DC_TwentyThree" handle is one that I plan to continue to maintain, but the resurection of the "Creative Dad" projects is something I really want to dive back into this upcoming year.

I continued to shoot photos & videos for clients this year, but what I've discovered about myself the past few years is I must always be pursuing a personal project to keep me inspired. Many of these projects make sense in my own mind, but it is humorous to think of how scattered my mind may seem to an outsider. Travel is something that in years past has definitely been a bit of my constant artistic inspiration, but with the lack of travel the past couple of years, I do find my mind wandering its own creative space more and more. Luckily I know that personal art projects rest my artistic soul & this past year my children have been exploding with ideas. I'm truly looking forward to doing more "Creative Dad" projects with them in 2022, & I'm excited to learn how to hone their own creativity into art that they can be proud of.

Stay tuned :)