A Storyteller With A Camera

Special thanks to Serena from Italy for this beautiful illustration!

It has taken a significant amount of people telling me the same thing the last couple of months for me to finally get it. I'm a storyteller.

My brother wrote a comment on one of my blog posts:

"Is wonderful how you write, you've always had the 

gift to show the world in a beautiful way regardless of  

the medium."

- "Fela, didn't you know this already?! Is kind of obvious!".

I know, I know. But first let me explain why it took so long to hit me. I'm a bit of a weird combination; I can be very creative (out of the box) but at the same time be IN the box, full on. Which I've been told is rare for an artist. My head is processing storytelling and portrait as 2 different things:

- Storytelling goes in my procrastinated box of "Writing"

- True Beauty goes in my current box of "Photography" 

Therefore, since it has been categorized, in my head, Storytelling is not part of the same box where Portrait goes, so is dismissed. I can be non-artistic like that...

But put me inside the Writing box or the Photography box and my imagination and creativity goes wild, jumping into an infinite world of possibilities; kind of a Narnia effect (the world inside the wardrobe).

So, I was completely oblivious to it, but people kept saying it and Storytelling started planting a seed in my Photography box and a lot of things started making sense, and my Photography world expanded more; kind of the world of Fantastica in "The Never-ending Story": the more you imagine, the bigger it gets (yeah... I'm applying my book geekiness right now if you have noticed...).

"If you were doing this unconsciously already, what's the difference now and why should I care?"- You may ask.

Well my friend, it makes a HUGE difference! 

First, it's a conscious decision now, which makes me more attentive to telling your story when I photograph you. I'll be able to discover and reveal more of your amazing self.

And second, but most importantly, I'll be able to tell YOU your story. I'll be able to tell you how amazing, strong and smart you are. I'll be able to tell YOU how, despite all the hardship in your life, you have been able to conquer it all and stand victorious in front of me with the courage (that is not found so easily) to make yourself vulnerable to me and my camera so that I may see it all and show it to you so that YOU may look at yourself and FINALLY realize, that you are standing pretty good in life, that God has shaped you into an AMAZING woman, that your body is just the shell that contains all your awesomeness and THAT my friend is not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all.

Making Sense of these Piles

Photo by Fela Photography

I can say I'm an organized person. Give me a messy room and you'll be impress with what happens after. My methodology is piling everything by "category" while throwing away the useless trash; then I proceed to place each group in the right spot organized by size, color or alphabetically and finally if necessary, I'll tag the the storage box or drawer. Yes, I am very good at it and it makes me feel good to see the final result after all that work. Is not a huge life achievement but is the achievement of the hour and I celebrate it with my own not-seen-by-other-eyes happy dance.


But I'm bad at keeping the personal and intangible tidy. It is always said to make a list of your short, mid and long term goals; create plans for your life. I have tried all these by going by the book and guess how many have gone exactly as planned... none. And then I find myself buried in piles of worry, frustration and fight for what I wrote down vs. what's really happening. Nothing makes sense and it becomes this big mess in my head which I cannot understand plus the shame of not being at the level of society's "aspirations" even though I DO try. 


But I also have clarity moments when my mind is able to pile them in categories and trash the useless thoughts and behaviors. Then the incredible happens: I'm able to make art out these piles; shape them and transform them into beautiful creations I make tangible for people to see, for people to connect with thanks to my photography, and that just feels amazing! Then everything makes sense and I know it be alright. Yes, everything WILL be alright.