Foundation of My Creativity
Hello! I hope you are doing wonderful!
I am happy to announce the beginning of my journey as a creative entrepreneur! This has been a goal of mine for a considerable amount of time, and I am thrilled to announce that it is finally underway. While it may have taken a bit longer to begin than I originally hoped, I am extremely excited to hit the ground running and I cannot wait to see what this adventure has in store for us.
As someone who has created for as long as I can remember, I feel that there is no better place to start an introduction than at the foundation of my creativity. When I think about the foundation of my creativity, my mind immediately rewinds to my childhood where I let my imagination roam free. I frequently became lost in my own imagination, placing myself in worlds that I had created and allowing my creativity to take the reins. To me, however, simply placing myself in these imaginary worlds was not enough as I soon began to document these adventures and the worlds in which they took place.
My first iterations were no more than a jumble of thoughts in nearly illegible handwriting, but it was the first time I gave my creativity a true medium. Whether I created a fantasy world (cue my fascination with JRR Tolkien), or a new football league with teams from all over the globe (shoutout the Antarctica Snow Kings), I found immense satisfaction in giving these thoughts a home outside of my imagination. I loved building upon these creations and watching them grow. I drew maps for the worlds I created and developed tournaments for the football league. I wrote ludicrous superhero stories with my cousins (transcribed by my uncle since we could hardly spell, let alone type) and filmed hilarious yet horribly cringy crime dramas with old Flip cameras. While there were certainly no prize winners in my first bodies of work, I set in motion a creative passion that has grown and evolved in the years since.
Digging deeper into the bedrock of my creative foundation, it is impossible not to acknowledge the single pillar that I believe bears the lion’s share of my creative spirit: The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien. I admit that I am not unique in this perspective as Tolkien’s inspiration spreads far and wide, however, the way in which I have channeled that inspiration is unique to me. While harnessing my creative spirit, I explored many different artistic mediums from drawing to composing and eventually to writing and photography. Each artistic iteration, whether I tried my hand at composing an epic music score or drawing a scene of a fantastical world, bore the distinct flavor of Middle Earth. And while I will never let anyone read my first attempts at writing a story, trust me when I say I laid on the Middle Earth inspiration a little thick.
Most pertinent to the advent of Nicholas Nichols Photography, however, is the way in which JRR Tolkien’s descriptive prose was brought to life in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. The panoramic footage and incredible cinematography of the New Zealand countryside transformed Earth into a world previously reserved for the most vivid of imaginations. Peter Jackson perfectly captured the essence of an incredible world and the timeless tale it housed all while leaning on the beauty provided to him by mother nature. My creative ambition is to capture each location I visit, whether it be a mountain in Switzerland or a vineyard in western New York in a such a way that it transports the viewer to a world fit for such a story.
While it took many years to solidify the foundation beneath my creativity, I provided myself with the structural integrity needed to build upon my foundation and I am very excited to continue building, one floor at a time. I look forward to sharing my creations with you and most importantly, I cannot wait to hear which pieces led you to begin your own creative endeavors.
