Regardless of where you sit politically, this is one of the greatest Presidential images of all time. Damn, I wish I took this photo.
©Evan Vucci/AP

With all the tension and fallout surrounding the recent US Presidential Election, I thought I would touch briefly on politics and where it comes into play as an artist. For myself and otherwise.

My belief is that your political views are your own and you have the right to have them whether we agree or disagree.

I know, a novel concept in the age of outrage simply because someone sits opposite of the political aisle. My political beliefs as well as my religious beliefs or beliefs about having children, or having a family, or parenting, or paying taxes, or vaccinations, or space travel, are all my own.

Same goes for you. You have the right, as an American, to believe whatever you chose. That’s the beauty of living in a country that gives you those freedoms. Where we have gone wrong as a country is trying to force others to share the same beliefs we have. Or else!

US Vice President, and Presidential hopeful, Kamala Harris.
She didn’t win. But it’s not the end of the world. Calm down folks.

As many actors in Hollywood have meltdowns over the result of the election and continue steering Hollywood into the abyss of irrelevancy, I think about how much time we’ve all wasted bickering over politics. Shunning our friends, family, lovers, etc. Over their own personal views.

How frail as a people have we become?

I also think how we’ve embraced oversharing our personal views as a society. One only has to look at TikTok to see some young Gen-Z girl sitting in her car about to deliver a diatribe(put her foot in her mouth more like) on whatever social/political issue she’s somehow, all of a sudden, an expert on. These people don’t want discussion, no. They want to dictate the conversation. For they are the enlightened. The virtuous even!

Think like them or you are a: {insert liberal word used to both insult but also to avoid debate}.

As an artist, politics and social issues generally don’t factor into my work. Shocking I know. Not only that, but I will never allow myself to be pressured by whatever social movements are the hot trend of the moment. Especially if I don’t agree with them. In other words, I will not work on projects, causes, or with people I don’t particularly care for. It’s a business, not a charity. And an empowering part of being an artist is deciding what you want your art to be about. If I choose to cover a social/political issue, I do so at my own discretion.

If I want my work to simply be about beautiful women in swimsuits(or even without clothing), that’s my prerogative. If you, on the other hand, wish to photograph, say people in poor rural communities, that’s your prerogative. For example, I don’t shoot weddings. Absolutely hate them for work. No one can pressure me into shooting one. And even if they threw a ton of money at me, I can’t be bought. I’ll keep an open mind of course, but I use my own judgement if I’m willing to accept a project or even work with someone. If you’re independent, you too, have this power. It’s different if you work for a company where the pressure comes from the top and you have little choice in the matter. With that in mind, I’d rather be independent any day.

In the age of DEI, ESG, diversity mandates, social/political pressure from companies, artists have the right to create the art they want to create. External pressure be damned. But so many have caved to this, hence the bland landscape we have in terms of modern entertainment media, particularly in the west. Films used to be unique and interesting, tv shows used to have gripping writing, and literature used to challenge you. But when those in positions of green-lighting this stuff started prioritizing social/political stances over entertaining the public, the art suffered severely as a result. Joker 2 anyone?

In closing, I’ll add a bit of optimisim if you’re someone facing these challenges and find it all frustrating. The world is much bigger than New York or Los Angeles(and the US). There are other markets where you can find people with similar views or at least where your art/ideas will be embraced. Where you can flourish even. If they put up a wall, you go around. And if they don’t like what you do, fuck ‘em.

Till next time.