When you are young, the need to express yourself is strong. You have, since childhood, most likely had your thoughts, your feelings, your most private inclinations, suppressed. Once you were a child and you were taught to see the world one way, to act one way, be one way — then, suddenly the years have flown by and you are almost an adult, you can express yourself.

And so you write, you sing, you paint, you draw, you make music, you pick up a camera, take photos, whatever. You do something and let your individuality show; through this expression, this lens in which you are seeing the world, you are proving that you matter, that in you is something true and unique and only exists because you say it is so.

Take a photograph, for example. On the whole, the photo as a singular thing means nothing. It takes no physical effort to produce, at least not in the traditional sense; one need only point the camera and click. This is the mechanical reproduction of life as seen through a lens, and whereas in the years before reproduction was possible one might need to paint the scene in front of them, with the camera all of that disappears. In essence, the art of photography is not the photo itself but the object inside the photo. The choice of subject, the point of view on it. By merely lifting the camera and pointing, the artist is making a value judgment — by snapping the photo, they are saying, this thing matters.

But let’s move forward now. Say you have been expressing yourself for many years, and what started in your teens has now advanced to your late twenties, maybe even your thirties…