This week’s theme was chosen by Sabrina Muelenbergs and her choice of word was quite perfect for me and my life. Perspective.

Of course the first thing I thought of was using interesting perspectives or forced perspective or trying to use creative depth of field, but then I started to think about what else perspective meant, especially in relation to where I was at the moment.

This week I traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina to speak and teach at Motivacion LatinoAmerica, a yearly fine art based photography conference. I had the days marked in my calendar for almost a year and as the numbers crept up I became a bit more anxious and a bit worried. Not so much to teach, because I love to do that, but to just be in a new place with people I didn’t know. But I was so wrong to be worried.

Instantly I was brought in to an amazing group of new friends. Friends who may speak different languages but who spoke our language, creativity and art and freedom of expression. One of the things I love most about travelling and especially in having friends dotted around the world is that I’m able to learn so much from them, to hear their stories of their country, of their foods, of their traditions.

The first real evening we spent in Argentina was Pride and we were swallowed up in the crowds that were marching through the streets to the parliament. It was electric and unlike any other pride I’d been to in my life. And it was amazing. It was such a beautiful new perspective.

What I felt during my short few days in Beunos Aires was an opportunity to see so many perspectives. To watch artists different than me, create art that was their vision and expression and still feel connected. That’s what perspective means to me, the opportunity to see through another lens, to relate to someone through their experiences even if they are different than our own. And I was so lucky to see so many new perspectives there.

One evening a small group of us walked through the city to photograph each other, along the way we saw these giant doors and I loved the way they looked. Commanding and decorative and closed. Like some people’s minds to other perspectives, keeping them apart. I wanted to shoot a photo of my incredibly talented friend Ronny Garcia and so quickly I built this idea in the space.

I wanted him holding a magnifying glass, a symbol of ideas and searching for new perspectives. I wanted them to be big, to show how important it is to see through new lenses sometimes. And surrounding Ronny I wanted butterflies, a visual of change, to show that it’s important sometimes to hold on to someone else’s perspective, to change and grow and feel something new.

Big ideas come from experiences new perspectives.