Questions and Reflections on Creativity & Joy

For the Month of May

Paradise, by Alex Elle — 2023 (Fujifilm XE4)

We are five days into May, and I’ve been thinking more about how I want to show up in the world. There are so many questions that I’ve been coming up for me—and I want to take this month to answer them honestly and with authenticity.

1. What do I want to share?

2. What do I want to keep sacred?

3. What do I want to make?

4. How do I want to feel when I choose to share?

5. What do I want joy to look like in my life this season?

Walking in LA, by Alex Elle — 2023 (Fujifilm XE4)

For the last six weeks, I’ve been exploring what it looks and feels like to be intentionally creative in my life—and not for anyone else but myself. I’ve been taking my cameras out more and playing with them. I collect Fujifilm cameras, and I recently got the X-E4 model, which is an absolutely beautiful device to shoot with. Every time I get a new camera, excitement and creativity wash over me like waves. I’ve been taking pictures for 15 years. It’s a hobby of mine that I love dearly. It has been a sacred act of practicing presence for me. Someone recently asked, will you sell prints? I love these photos! I’d totally be a customer. I immediately wanted to say yes, which led to brainstorming new business ideas: Oh! Maybe I’ll open an Etsy for my prints and then an art gallery, and then, and then, and then…

By the end of it, I’d thought of a million new ideas for a photography business that I didn’t even want. I had to reel myself in and pump the brakes.

Joy at Union Market DC, Alex Elle - 2023

We live in a world that creates this idea that we have to monetize our creative energy. I’m letting go of the idea that just because I make things and enjoy being creative in different ways, that that’s an invitation to sell everything that I love to make. It’s not.

I can find deep joy and purpose in simply making the things that create happiness in my bones.

This month, I want to focus more on finding joy that has no strings (or business ideas) attached.

6. What do I want to make more of?

7. What do I want to make less of?

8. What brings me the most joy?

3 Tulips, Alex Elle - 2023

This month, I want to focus on nourishing my creativity. I’ve been feeling really grateful for my photo walks with friends and family. Moving my body and being present with my surroundings enough to capture the quiet moments in time reminds me that joy isn’t just about the big things that make us elated. More times than not, it’s the micro-moments that softly breathe life into our souls, reminding us that we don’t need things to be grand for them to be impactful and life-giving.

9. What gives you life?

10. Who is a source of joy in your life?

11. What does happiness feel or look like when you’re creative?

12. When was the last time you made something just for you?

13. What’s scary about creativity?

14. What’s something new you’d like to learn?

Family Photo Walk, by Alex Elle - 2023