For those who are reading, thank you for tuning in to Everything Positive first post. Our goal is to shed light on all artists and their style of art. As we see no limitation on what is to be considered art because it is a true form of self-expression. This post is focused on three artist who helped inspire the vision of Everything Positive through the art of photography in their cities. Every artist featured will share their inspiration as well as their advice to aspiring artists.

What inspired you?

Well I think everybody has had a natural interest or curiosity in cool cameras to a certain extent. I decided before my 18th birthday that I wanted to finally invest in a professional style camera, one with a "barrel" lens as I used to like calling it. I ended up getting the Sony NEX-5n as a gift from my parents and I started off using it pretty casually the first year or so. I bought an instructional book from Barnes & Noble specific to my camera and read a number of pages which basically allowed me to teach myself how to use it and when to apply certain settings. In the summer of 2013 I went to Maui on a family vacation and that's when I started realizing that I was developing a legitimate talent for creating photographs. Around this same time I started paying more attention to Instagram and got more involved with sharing photos and getting a closer look at other people's styles and the perspectives they offered. If I had to name 3 people that inspired me when I was starting out I would have to mention @benbabusis, @13thwitness, and @starvingphotographer.

What advice do you have for aspiring artists?

Find your own creative style and do it better than anybody else. Don't let the expenses of equipment or traveling ever hold you back from putting in work. Photography is very much like life itself and it requires patience, persistence, and passion in order to succeed in greatness.

Gallery by Brandon Van Zanten

What inspired you?

My uncle and a few of my friends inspired me to take on this artistic side of myself that I never knew I had. Growing up, basketball was my art, my way of living that's what I knew I was really good at it so I stuck to it. I honestly didn't feel like I was good at anything else that could make me good money other than a 9 to 5. My uncle would always shoot at our family gatherings, he's just so good and his knowledge for photography is mind blowing; and his work proves it. We've always had a really good relationship, but photography for sure brought us closer. We critique each other's work, we go on shoots together, he gives me pointers and teaches me any and everything I need to know. With him having 3 cameras I knew there was an opportunity for one to maybe be passed on. After I saw my friend Beezy's landscape picture on instagram I don't remember what it was, but it was one of those pictures where you're like ok... it's my time lol. Soon after that I asked my uncle if I could use one of his cameras and maybe a week after asking there was a camera bag, inside there was a Nikon D80 with a 50mm prime at 1.8, 18-55 sigma lens and a 75-300mm tamron lens. Pretty cool for a beginner, but I did not have a clue what all this firepower meant. So I went to shoot for the first time at the beach, the pictures were ok but I wasn't all that impressed. I went on a few more outings and it just wasn't clicking, so I set my camera down for a while; I want to say for a little less than a year. Until my friend Mo got one, and I think at this point I was like ok my friends can do this so can I, plus he was progressing so fast that it made me want to catch up. I slowly started hitting the streets more, I was living in LA at the time so there was no excuse. I didn't ask my uncle for help because I wanted to learn on my own. Eventually we all got really good, to where websites and calendars were being made, and people wanting to pay for shoots! I always go back to my pictures and my friends also just to see the progression, and to think that I thought all I was going to be good at was basketball, turns out I'm an artist as well and I'm pretty good at what I do. And I thank my friends and family for the support, without them I'd still be lost.

What advice do you have for aspiring artists?

Don't let people give you the impression that you can't be an artist, because at the end of the day everybody is an artist. There's an art to everything you just have to find the one you're good at, it's always closer than you think. You have to try, you have to want it, you have to believe that you can do anything. It's mental, being strong is an art, not a lot of people can deal with things the way you can. I'm 22 and 2016 was not my year at all. But giving up is an art too, I couldn't find "giving up" no where in my presence, you have to push through because the pictures are still coming, I can still provide a vibe that will impact you for the moment if not your life. Believe me, YOU can do it!!

Gallery by Jamil Brown

What inspired you?

I was originally inspired to start taking photos when I got my first iPhone. It was so cool to be able to document and take photos of everything so easily just on the go. I always loved traveling and exploring so the combination of that and the iPhone eventually grew into taking photography a little more seriously and figuring out how I could tell stories with my photographs.

What advice do you have for aspiring artists?

The only advice I have for aspiring artists is to just always embrace yourself and what feels right to YOU because I think that's what is most important when you're trying to truly create organic content of any medium. It's your art and sometimes you create it to share with others and other times you don't, but the common denominator is, is that you're creating it. It doesn't matter if it's music, photography, painting, drawing, graphic design or anything! If you're always true to yourself and your work you will continue to grow in the right direction. Embrace yourself, embrace the struggle and most importantly embrace the process.

Gallery by Michael Casatico

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