It’s January 13th, and we are just a couple days away from being half way through the first month of 2026. The holidays are over, most of us have returned back to work, sending emails, working on to-do lists, all so we can earn money, and then use that money to pay bills.
I’ve never quite understood the nature of it all, the clanking, whirring capitalist engine that we’re all strapped to from birth. And I can’t help but wonder what the world might look like if the basics of being human were not something you had to earn. Housing. Food. Clean water. Power. Internet. Healthcare. Imagine what we could build, write, photograph, paint, or dream up if survival was not a full time job. What kind of species might we become if living was not gated behind invoices, follow-ups, meetings, and paychecks.
I’ve carried a small, persistent fantasy for years now. One year without the need to work. One year where money is not a background hum of anxiety, where the bills are paid, the lights stay on, and the only real obligation is to make things. A year of photoshoots and half finished ideas. A year learning to paint badly, then slightly less badly. A year of travel, unfamiliar streets, good coffee, and the quiet click of inspiration settling into place. I think, truly, I would happily work for the rest of my life if I were granted just one uninterrupted year to live and create. But alas, I too am shackled to the same system as the rest of us.
Still, while I work, I imagine. I think about the images I will make this year, the projects I will pour myself into, the collaborations that will surprise me. I wonder what my work will look like come December 2026, and that curiosity keeps me moving. Even without the luxury of being just an artist, I will keep making art anyway, out of stubbornness if nothing else.
For now, enjoy these beautiful images of Austin, from a recent ATL Shooters event, here in Atlanta. Quiet, intentional, and exactly the kind of work that reminds me why I do this at all. I am looking forward to creating more with Austin in the coming year, along with so many others.
Until next week, Happy New Year to all of us. May we keep finding ways to create, notice beauty, and add a little good to the world, carefully in between pointless meetings that could have been an email.
Cheers.
