Climate Change Is A Fashion Issue

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Yesterday marked a year since the first lockdown in the UK. If this year has taught us anything is that our relationship with the environment must change. In a previous post, I wrote about how the climate emergency is a photography issue encouraging fellow photographers to reassess their practices and get involved in bettering the planet. Today, I write about how those of us who have a direct or indirect role in the Fashion Industry, or anyone who consumes fashion for that matter, are also part of the environmental problem. The good news is that we all have the potential to be part of the solution. Small changes in our day to day lives can have a massive impact if we all apply them consciously.

There is no doubt that the Fashion Industry is one of the biggest polluters on the planet. For this reason only, anyone who supports the Fashion Industry has a duty to protect the environment. If your support to the industry doesn't come from your line of work (design, production, logistics, retail, wholesale, support roles), and you don't see yourself as a fashion victim, you might think that this article is not for you. The reality is that, when it comes to the clothes we wear, we are all partly responsible for how the Fashion Industry affects the environment. If you didn't make your clothes yourself using sustainable materials and processes, you are part of the problem.

When we think of the Fashion Industry, we tend to think of luxury brands and fancy designer runways. We forget that everything that we are wearing this very second (shoes, undergarments, clothes, accessories) was produced by a brand that is part of the industry and also accounts for a percentage of its environmental impact. So, when I say that Climate Change is a Fashion Issue, what I'm trying to say is that Climate Change is an Everyone's Issue.

In my post about how Climate Change is a Photography Issue, I wrote that at its most basic level climate change is a human issue. This means that if you are human, you are both affected by or liable for the climate crisis. And this includes both our consumer behaviour and our work practices.

How can I reduce my fashion environmental impact as a consumer?

As part of the efforts that we have to make to have more environmentally friendly habits, the way we shop needs to change. This doesn't only apply to the way we buy clothes, but learning to be a more responsible fashion consumer can have an impact on our shopping behaviour in every other type of categories of products and services that we buy.

Here are a few things that you can start doing as soon as you finish reading this article to become a smarter consumer:

  • Buy less: I know, this sounds counterproductive coming from someone who runs a business within the Fashion Industry. The sad reality is that the reductions that we need to make to counteract climate change go against the concept of capitalism and growth. If you don't buy new clothes, you will not contribute to the problem at hand. But I can't advise you not to buy new clothes ever again because this will unleash a series of other problems (economy, employment, waste) and it's very naive of me to think that you won't have the need to buy new clothes at some point. The correct advice is to buy less, to think twice before we buy a new garment and to consider the other points coming below when you really need new clothes.

  • Repair: cheap clothes damage easily. Also, up until now, they were seen as disposable. This has contributed to the massive amounts of clothes piling up in landfills all over the planet. I am aware that not everyone can afford better clothes even if it means that they will last longer. But, something that everyone can do is to try to mend the ones that we own if they have small, fixable damages. Fashion businesses will soon start to provide this service to consumers.

  • Repurpose what you have: we all have pieces of clothing in our wardrobe that we haven't used in ages. If you believe in trends, they do come and go so it is likely that some of those pieces are back in trend. If you don't buy into the trends nonsense (and you shouldn't), rescuing those pieces from the back of your closet will make you feel like you are wearing new clothes without the expense.

  • Buy second-hand: buying pre-loved clothes is an excellent way of repurposing other people's clothes while not contributing to damaging the planet. There are plenty of places that sell second-hand garments, but soon this will also be a service provided by most fashion retailers.

  • Buy sustainably and ethically: finally, if you do have to buy new clothes the best that you can do is to support brands that are sustainable and ethical. Sustainable and ethical are not synonymous concepts, they are two very different things even if people use the terms interchangeably. Sustainability refers to brands that use materials and processes that are environmentally friendly. On the other hand, ethical practices refer to offering good working conditions to employees and paying them fairly, for instance. A brand can be sustainable, but not ethical. Or the other way around. When you become a smart consumer, you get used to researching the brands that you buy from before checking out. Try to support brands that are transparent about where they produce their garments, which materials they use, who works for them and how do they treat their staff. Extra points for those brands that support their communities, that show on their websites videos of their facilities and that have made a commitment to treating their employees fairly. You don't want to give your hard-earned money to brands that don't respect the planet nor humanity.

These are just a few things that you can start doing right away to become a smarter consumer. But, beware of greenwashing. Saying that a brand is sustainable and ethical is not enough. There must be transparency and proof. Also, stay away from brands or products that claim to be 100% sustainable or 100% ethical. When it comes to ethical and sustainable practices, you must constantly reassess your impact. Stating that a brand or product is 100% of anything implies that they feel their job is done. Be wary of brands that use euphemisms like natural, or organic, or good, because none of these words means sustainable nor ethical.

How can I reduce my fashion environmental impact as an employee?

It wouldn't be fair to suggest that you quit your job in Fashion if you suspect that the company that you work for is not ethical nor sustainable. Times are tough and we need to pay our bills. What I ask of you is that you research your employer and assess whether they are good for humanity and for the environment. Having this awareness is a good first step.

If you feel like your employer could do better (going beyond the basic environmental legal requirements, for instance) raise your voice. Change comes from within. You can become a change agent in your workplace. Group with like-minded coworkers and share your concerns with management. No company within the Fashion Industry can be excused for not being aware of their impact on the planet, but the management might not be aware that the company could be doing more.

It is easier to change our behaviours than to try to change the way that the companies that we work for operate. Businesses, especially large ones, don't have enough flexibility to act quickly most of the times. There are many interests and policies that come between intention and action. But having a group of employees to keep them accountable goes a long way.

Yesterday was a day of reflection. Our lives have been changed forever. The pandemic has had a toll on lives, mental health and the economy and it hasn't been too generous with the environment either, despite what we might think. People's shopping behaviour has shifted online, changing the playing field for the Fashion Industry but also incrementing the negative impact that the industry has on the environment and on the local economy.

Let's use this period of reflection to examine our lives and learn where we can apply these small changes that have big positive impacts.

Photo credit: behind the scenes by Ferran Vergés.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

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Social Impact For Creatives - Workshop

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A year ago, we decided at home to go into self-isolation due to the Covid-19 outbreak. We did it two weeks before the UK government finally realised that in order to contain the virus they needed to force everyone to stay home. We were called naive, paranoid, and a very British, very pro-Brexit person told me that it was very unlikely that Britain would go into lockdown because the government couldn't do that to our economy. Always the "Money-Before-People" mindset. A year later, there are hints of things going back to some sort of normality very soon. You can see it in people's moods and behaviours, and also in how businesses have started their advertising campaigns with renewed hope. A lot has happened over the last 12 months, a lot has changed. But, with this feeling of things soon "going back" to normal, what will happen to all the lessons we were supposed to have learnt?

We clapped, we marched, we masked up, we turned our homes into online activism headquarters while they were also used for work or homeschooling. It has been exhausting. There are days when I don't even feel like opening social media apps because I'm fed up. And I have a fear of becoming numb and jaded. In a year when the Creative Industries has taken the hardest hit since probably WWII, the only thing that has kept me going is having a sense of purpose.

I assigned myself the task of helping as many people as I could during these difficult times. I've donated and I've volunteered, but I've also created tools to educate and empower other creatives to achieve their potential as change-agents. I will never tire of saying that our industry is only as weak as its weakest link. If we want a better and stronger industry, we all need to grow together.

In this effort to contribute to bettering the Creative Industries and supporting my peers, I designed a series of workshops aimed at giving fellow creatives the tools they need to run their projects more efficiently and with agency and help them be more productive. Good intentions are no longer enough, we need actions.

This past weekend, I ran the pilot of my workshop on Social Impact for Creatives where I taught a group of creatives what social impact means, how to design creative projects for social transformation and how to run a socially conscious practice.

I now offer these workshops, alongside webinars and one-on-one mentoring sessions to any photographer or creative interested in running their projects and businesses with an aim on improving the world.

If you are interested, you can find out more on this link.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

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Attention Students: These Are Tough Times But There Is Hope

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Every student of any age going to school or university during these difficult times, particularly those graduating this year, has to find a way to cope with the current situation and manage their mental wellbeing. Finishing studies and having to navigate a very uncertain world and job market is not the optimal way of starting off a career. Olivia Pinnock, a London-based fashion journalist and lecturer, and I discussed how the pandemic has affected students and their mental health. We focused on what graduating students can start doing now that they are entering the job market in such overwhelming and unpredictable times. You can listen to the full conversation on the audio version of this post.

Olivia Pinnock is the founder of The Fashion Debates, a platform that she uses to promote a more sustainable and ethical fashion industry. She is also a lecturer at the London College of Fashion, the London Metropolitan University and Norwich University of the Arts.

During the conversation, we touched on how these are such trying times for students and how every single one of them has had a very individual experience coping with isolation and the pandemic. Olivia mentioned how some students haven't been able to produce the body of work that usually helps them create a portfolio that they can show to potential clients once they finish their studies.

She also offered some advice for people entering the job market at the moment. She said that, even though it's not great and wonderful right now, university is not just about the grade you get at the end of it. The university experience is about what you learn, the connections you make, and the experiences that made you who you are. And you are taking all of these things away with you.

She also said that students mustn't compare themselves to others, everyone has got their own timeline adding that for students with an entrepreneurial spirit, particularly in the fashion industry, now is the time to shine because the industry desperately needs solutions.

Whether you are a student, or someone interested in the challenges that students are facing these days, you can listen to the full conversation on this link.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

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On Queer Identity: What Does 'Queer' Mean To You?

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February is LGBT+ History Month in the UK, and this year I hosted on behalf of Out For Good an intergenerational community conversation and story sharing space about what being queer means to us as individuals and how we fit as LGBTQ+ people in our societies.

Out For Good is a charitable organisation bringing together LGBT+ people across the UK to celebrate LGBTQ+ visibility and work to break down barriers by making a difference in our communities.

The panellists shared what the word Queer meant to them and how has their identity been shaped throughout their lives. They also spoke about their coming out experiences and how long it took them to feel comfortable in their own skin.

It was interesting to learn about the most pressing issues in the community at the time when each of them came out as they belonged to very different generations. Prompting the question: Is being openly queer still an act of defiance in today’s world?

Finally, we spoke about how they imagined the future of the LGBTQ+ Community and what would they tell their younger or older selves.

Attendees said that hearing so many stories from different age groups was refreshing because there aren't many environments where inter-generational conversations like that happen. Panellists felt that it was very special and that it felt safe, explorative and warm. One person said that It was a great success and very empowering.

On behalf of Out For Good, thank you so much to everyone who was able to join in. I learned so much from this conversation and I hope you did as well. Thank you also to the unbelievable panel. I’m very grateful for the time they gave us and for sharing all their beautiful anecdotes and thoughts.

If you weren't able to tune in, you can watch the replay below:

The conversation took place via zoom on Sunday, February 21st, at 6 p.m. London time.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

Subscribe to my weekly blog posts here! You may subscribe to the audio version wherever you get your podcasts.

LGBT History Month Event: Queer Identity

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February is LGBT+ History Month in the UK, and this year I will be hosting on behalf of Out For Good a community conversation and story sharing space about what being queer means to us as individuals and how we fit as LGBTQ+ people in our societies.

Out For Good is a charitable organisation bringing together LGBT+ people across the UK to celebrate LGBTQ+ visibility and work to break down barriers by making a difference in our communities.

The panellists will be sharing individual experiences of growing up queer, with coming out anecdotes, finding love as an LGBTQ+ person stories, and dealing with society in general from family, to work, to our extended communities.

The conversation will take place via zoom on Sunday, February 21st, at 6 p.m. London time.

Register on outforgood.co.uk/events and you will get the Zoom link before the event.

Don't miss this necessary intergenerational conversation where we will explore our identity and our place in our communities.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

Do you like what you just read? Subscribe to my weekly blog posts here! You may subscribe to the audio version wherever you get your podcasts.

I Wish I Had Known... About Storytelling!

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This is the Twentieth-Third post in my series of posts where I speak with people in the creative industries and ask them questions about the things that “I Wish I Had Known” when I started out as a creative myself.

Eli B is a romance writer and she writes contemporary fiction as well as fantasy. Her novels focus on black women in interracial relationships, living in modern situations and mystical worlds. Eli B and I are both creators on Patreon, where she writes serialised fiction for her patrons and I share with my community how I create my work with behind the scenes and tutorials.

Last week, Eli B and I had a lovely conversation via Zoom where we spoke about our process and our storytelling techniques. This is a tiny excerpt from the conversation. You can listen to the full conversation on the audio version of this post or you can watch the video on this link.

1. Eli B: How do you find inspiration for your photography?

JC: I'm gonna say something really cliched. And this is something that may also resonate with you: I think inspiration is everywhere. And like, right now, this conversation that you and I are having is going to trigger so many other things in our own work. And in our lives. I think that you just have to pay attention to everything that happens around you. And sometimes when I hear people saying that they have a hard time finding inspiration, I feel like they're really not paying attention to what's going on in their lives.

Or they think that finding inspiration means taking a plane and flying to the other side of the planet to look for that perfect spot or learn that perfect story or research the perfect culture. But just look outside the window and pay attention to what's going on and you get all this information flowing in.

I know that it is a very cliched thing to say. And you and I also know that it doesn't apply to all the work that we do. Because it's not that we're just sitting on our chairs just observing our surroundings and our Muse comes and inspires us. It is a lot of work. It is a lot of hard work. When I create some of the shoots that I do, I spend weeks or months before I finally click on the button on the camera, putting everything together.

2. JC: Do you do a lot of preparation before you start writing a story?

Eli B: Ah, no. Sometimes I just literally just start writing. If I have a notebook, and stuff comes in my head, I will just write down characters, I'll just write down whatever dialogue just popped into my head. So most of my stories and all of the works in progress that I work on come from literally just me having a piece of paper in front of me. I don't do planning.

Lately, I have tried to become like a plotter. My characters tend to just talk in my head. And I go from there. I was writing a story, actually writing a story that I'm working on right now, called Me Too. And it was in like early stages, like the second draft, I'd been writing this forever. But while I was doing some revision and writing, I just had two characters that kept popping in my head, and one of them was a demon.

And this girl just kept falling from the sky. She had like, platinum white hair, and she just kept falling from the sky and I kept catching her and catching her. And I just had that vision over and over my head. So I stopped what I was doing. It's just really rude, you know, when characters do this. I stopped what I was doing and had to start writing their story because their image wouldn't leave my mind.

So with them, I just I started in a blank notebook and just started scribbling down things that I knew about them. And then the story of Magicks and Mortals just came out of that. It's just a wild story. And I don't really write a lot of Young Adult, so I thought it was weird that I got that vision.

3. JC: So would you agree that the story writes itself when you start writing?

Eli B: Yes, I would absolutely agree with that. They just write themselves, I am just a vessel. I say that all the time, I have no control over my characters, they do what they want to do. Even when I try to give them direction, it tends to go in whichever way they wanted it to go.

I think sometimes people might forget that you as an author or a photographer or a singer aren't what you are writing. Like, yes, a lot of myself is in the work that I write. But a lot of the times I'm just writing a story from someone else. And that's how I just get inspiration.

And again, as you said, it comes from everywhere. I don't know, I could just be looking out the window and this fantasy world just pops in my head. And I have to stop myself sometimes to write it down on a notepad or on my notes on my phone, and let it sit.

4. Eli B: Are there certain things that pop out to you that make you want to take a picture?

JC: For me, It's always people. If you and I lived closer, I would have already photographed you. Because whenever I see some something in someone, like a spark in the eyes, or a beautiful smile, or just like the way the hair falls on their shoulder, or how they turn their head, I want to capture that.

And, it's going to sound creepy in a "Silence of the Lambs" way. But you know how the guy puts on the skins of the victims as trophies? For me, those images of people, those are my trophies. I was able to capture that thing that I saw in you. And then that is my trophy. And I just save it.

Sometimes I just want to take photos just because I want to take the photo. I don't want to do anything with the photo. The photo won't go in my portfolio, I will not show it to anyone, I wouldn't sell it. It's just for me, I want to be able to shoot that thing I saw and just capture it.

It's very fleeting, because sometimes you just see that thing in that moment. And maybe I tell you, Ellie, when I see you, I want to take your portrait. But then the next time I see you, I'm not able to capture it, because it was in that fleeting moment when I saw that in you.

Maybe it wasn't anything that had to do with you in particular. Maybe it was the situation that we were living, and then you know, that inspired me, and then I can't recreate it. So there's always that challenge. But yeah, it's always people that inspire me.

5. JC: what is the most difficult part of creating one of those characters when they start talking in your head?

Eli B: I think the most challenging part is making sure that whoever likes reading my story can capture them the way that I see them. And I think that is the challenging part, making sure that I have all those descriptions right and that they flow. Like, you know, you like Eyes Of The Beholder. I really hope you can see Niklaus the way that I see him or that you can see Miri the way that I see her.

Also, the tough part is making sure that I capture their personalities and not try to influence them with my environment or what I'm going through with my emotions. That their emotions and their personality are unique to them. And that goes for every story ever.

I'm trying to make sure that all of my characters have a distinct voice and distinct personalities and that they do things in a way that's unique to them and not like the other characters from my other stories. So with that, organisation does come into play again because I do have to sometimes make character charts or character boards just so I can keep their image in my head.

And I will go back to them and just say: "Okay, well, what are they into?", "what is Nicklaus into?". Nicholas is a complex character. Sometimes I don't quite know everything about him. And that's kind of the beauty of writing because he's very complex and disturbed. And I haven't touched upon that yet.

6. Eli B: One of my favourite photos that you've done used neon paint. And it just spoke to me. I can't explain how it spoke to me, but it was one of my favourite photos that you've done. How did you decide to use the neon paints and get your model in that position and know that was the position that was going to just make everything pop?

JC: I believe that creativity is the child of knowledge. And when I say this, I don't mean that you have to be an academic or you have to have studied. We are constantly on research mode, as creatives. And we're not always doing it intentionally, but we're always browsing the web to see what people are doing.

And then you see an image that you like and wonder how they shot that. Or maybe you see a story and you get curious about the techniques that they might have used to write that story. And then you fall down this rabbit hole of researching and trying to find out more and more and more and more about the things that you like. And those things, they start accumulating in your brain.

So years later, one day, you see an image like the one Dean showed me and you remember one time many years ago when you saw something that maybe it isn't similar at all, but it reminds you of that and you know how you are going to shoot that.

And for me, that's what happened when Dean showed me this work. I talk about it in detail on my Patreon, but when I saw this image, it wasn't even that he came to me with the image. He just posted it on Instagram. And I saw it and I replied to him and said: I want to shoot this with you. And he said yes, immediately. And he asked me the same question: how are we going to shoot it? I don't know how we're going to do this. But I know that I want to use neon paints because, in my mind, that's what makes sense.

I could have said let's use gold leaf or let's use whatever. But when I saw this image, I was like this could be done with neon paint. Maybe at some point in one of those rabbit holes of inspiration, many years ago, I saw someone do something with neon paint. And that's how the idea came about.

7. JC: How do you know when the story ends?

Eli B: I don't know where the story is gonna end until I'm halfway through a book and I've got to bring this to a close, somehow. With one of my stories called Mercatija, that is supposed to be magic realism in our time, the end of that novel is a massive cliffhanger. Because my main character needed to develop the other half of her side. So she has a light and a dark side and she hasn't touched the dark side. So I had to come up with a way for her to develop that side of her. So the end of the first novel is just basically her going into that space. And that's how it ends.

My contemporary romances get tough to end because I'll write until they've had like five kids and then I'm like "oh, okay, we need to rein this in!" With contemporary, it's hard for me to stop. The one I'm working on right now, Me too, that one I had the ending for and I didn't want to write it. Because my main character, the way it was going, was going to die. And I stopped writing it for a while because I knew that had to happen, but I didn't want it to happen. So I had to figure out a way for it to happen.

And when that happens, I know the ending before the beginning. And then I write to that. And sometimes I may not like the ending that my characters are debating with so I will put it aside and figure out how to fix it.

I guess, with writing that is serialised it's hard to find an ending. It's hard to not just keep going. And that's why a lot of my first drafts tend to be way over a word limit. A contemporary novel should not be 200,000 words, that's just not right and unheard of. But that's what happens to me.

And sometimes that hurts. And I feel like it hurts the creative process, especially when you want to be a traditionally published author. Because you feel like your story has an ending and there are reasons for the way that you have ended it. And then you've got to curtail it to the publishing industry. And sometimes I feel like that tends to hurt the way the story is told.

But you just find ways to work around it really. So I guess the point of the question, when do I know when a story ends, sometimes I don't know. Sometimes I just don't.

8. Eli B: How do you put a photography collection together?

JC: That is a very broad question. It depends on the use. Let's say that we're speaking about just one shoot in particular. I have two ways of working: I either shoot randomly 800 images and then I select the ones that fit the story that I want to tell, or I have a separate moodboard just of how the images are going to look like. So, if the result of the shoot has to be eight images, I would have eight inspirations for the images and we all work towards those results.

When Dean and I were creating that photo that we were talking about before, we just went on the first style of working where we shot until we got the image we wanted. We said this is the image. So I deleted the rest of the 800 images, and we just kept that image. And that's the image that works.

When I'm working, for instance, like on the image with Fabiola and Rachel, we had a posing moodboard so we knew that this is how the images are going to look like. We had six different drawings. And we shot six different poses with six different looks of clothes and makeup and hair. And that's what we did. So when we started shooting, and when we directed the model and we saw on the computer what we had on the drawing then we moved to the next one.

Usually, when I'm working with other people like clients I work this way because it's faster.

9. Eli B: do you direct your models? And is that tough? Or do they know what you're trying to say?

JC: When you're a photographer, you have to be a people's person because you are dealing with a human being and you need to be able to direct them if they're not a professional. If I were taking a photo of you and you are someone who's not used to being in front of the camera, it is even more challenging because then I have to sit down with you and really get you at ease and make you feel comfortable with the whole idea and direct you into showing your best self for the photo.

But when you're working with professional models, they obviously have a set of skills and they have seen themselves so much in images and they have practised their expressions and their poses so much in front of the mirror that they come with a toolbox that they show you when you're starting shooting.

It's not that there is an actual conversation, but it's a visual conversation. I start shooting and then they show you everything that they can do. You don't really need to direct someone who's a professional. But if you have a set idea of what you want to be seen in the image, it's always good for the model that you tell them "I'm expecting this from you." Because that way they don't have to randomly come up with poses and expressions that might not really show what you're trying to tell with a photo.

When working with regular people who are not models, it's just about directing them while making them feel comfortable and just trying to get the image that we all like.

10. JC: What do you think is the most challenging thing of your creative process when you're writing your stories?

Eli B: So for me, it's getting the right descriptions down of how I see it in my head and getting it on the paper. And that may take a couple of trials for me to get it the way that I'm seeing it because an image in your head is completely different to when you go to type the words to describe it. So that's really tough for me.

And not being discouraged about where I am as a writer and what kind of journey I'm on and where I'm going with it or what I want to do. Because, for the longest time, I really just wrote because I like writing. I didn't think of it going anywhere. I didn't think of doing anything with it. Really. I mean, that's kind of how a lot of my stories came about because I had been writing it. I knew it sounded like crap, but I thought "nobody's gonna read this". It's just for me, so just keep typing. So that's what I did.

So these past couple of years have been tough for me to kind of not judge myself against other authors or against what's happening around me. There is a lot of anxiety about what's happening in the publishing industry. And that a lot more voices are being heard. And, you know, black voices are getting out there.

And I'm really excited about this, but it also gives me a lot of anxiety. Because I don't write issue stories and a lot of publishers really like that. So for me, it makes me feel like, what I'm writing isn't good enough, because I don't write issue-based stories. I've always written happy stories.

Yeah, there are some that are not perfect. And they do come with drama, obviously. But I just don't write from this perspective that I've got to get out of like, you know, the slums, or that I've always got some sort of massive racial, systemic racism issue going on in my life. No, I'm literally just writing about 'this happened to this woman, she fell in love, and they're happy'. Because I think that the majority of us have those stories. And I want to see myself in just a cosy romance novel.

That's why I don't want to have to deal with the struggle that society thinks that we all go through. And that's why I'm so afraid that my stories will never get seen because publishers want those stories. And I will not write those, I don't write them. And I think black people, BIPOC, POCs, we all deserve to have happy stories, and they shouldn't be riddled with issues or stereotypes that everybody thinks that we all come from.

Thank you so much Eli B for sharing your storytelling techniques with me and for agreeing to spend your Saturday morning discussing everything that I wish I had known!

You can learn more about Eli B on her Patreon channel https://www.patreon.com/EliBeesBlurbs/posts her Twitter https://twitter.com/Eliseylouwamba or her Instagram https://www.instagram.com/elibeesblurbs/


Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

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Artists Are Never Old Enough

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Comedian Robin Ince was interviewed by Andrew Copson during a recent episode of the What I Believe podcast. He said that when he was in his twenties his fellow comedian Jo Brand told him that "you can’t really be a stand-up comedian until you are 30 because you don’t really know who you are." Robin said that he didn't take this statement very well when he was younger, but now that he is a middle-aged man he understands perfectly what Jo Brand meant. I agree, and I think that this is true for so many other things in life. My 20-year-old self, or even my 30-year-old self, had no idea of his place in the world. I felt lost and full of self-doubt and self-hatred until I was 40, and it took me living in 6 countries and working for more than 20 years in two very different industries to understand who I am and to know the role that I want to have in my community. I count myself as one of the lucky ones who got to understand this at such an early age. For some people, it takes longer.

We live in a world that sometimes feels like the upside-down world. We worship youth and try to slow the ageing process by all means, as if ageing was not inevitable or as if it were something bad. For sure, it must be linked to a fear of death which is often associated with older people but the reality is that we can die at any age and those who get to live to be old are actually the privilege ones. I for one have always wanted to be old. Perhaps because I was so unhappy when I was young and hoped that happiness would come with ageing. Or perhaps because I admired my grandfather so much and I always thought of him as the most intelligent person on the planet.

As an artist, getting old can be both the best and the most daunting thing that could ever happen to you. With age comes experience, and this experience enriches the stories that we tell through our work. But, as you get older, you also enter into the longest phase in your artistic career. The mid-career artist phase, as they call it, which can sometimes span almost your entire lifetime. It is in this ageing process that you get to know yourself, that you understand your worldview better and that you grow, not only physically, but also as a creative.

Everything that you are doing today will be part of the building blocks on which you are creating your future self. Time is not wasted, no experience is wasted when it comes to shaping who you will one day become. If you've only been in the world for a couple of decades and you feel like your work has no deeper meaning, that you have nothing to say, don't despair. That only means that you just have to live a couple of decades more. That is not to say that a young person's point of view of the world is not valid, but we can't expect to look at a 20-year-old's portfolio with the same eyes that we look at a 40-year-old's one. Both points of view are equally important but are infinitely different.

This is also not to say that anyone who has been on the world for more than 40 years has a fulfilled life and knows themselves well. But, 40 uneventful years do not equal 20 years filled with exciting adventures. For with age also comes maturity.

Dismissing someone because you consider them old is an act of self-sabotage. Before you know it, you will get to their age and you will have set an example for others to treat you the same way. We should aspire to grow older, to live more experiences and become wiser.

Avoid searching for the fountain of the eternal youth in order to live forever. Instead, grow as a human being into the skin that you inhabit with the urgency of knowing that time is running out and this is the only life we'll ever live. Maybe then, you'll start to see your work in a different light and you will be able to give your work and your life your own meaning.

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HELP ME PRODUCE MORE LIKE THIS

Patreon is a platform that enables me to offer you the content that you enjoy. Consider becoming a patron by clicking here. For less than the price of a cup of coffee a month you can support this blog and learn how I create my work. Also, 6% of my patrons' support goes to a different charity each month!

Coexistence Starts With Respect

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Coexistence is a fashion editorial that I shot for the cover of C-Femme Magazine back in 2015. The inspiration behind the shoot came from the question: how can we exist in harmony despite our different ideologies? The fashion story depicts the clash between cultures, in this case, humans vs out of space visitors, trying to find commonalities in spite of their differences. Back in July 2020, Chantal Miller and I discussed the idea of Coexistence and the steps that we need to take in order to live in peace within our communities. You can listen to the conversation on the audio version of this post or in your favourite podcast platform.

Chantal Olivia Miller is the founder of Island Girls Rock, a platform that champions women of Caribbean descent in the UK. She is also a producer/presenter (radio and podcasts), she runs digital storytelling workshops and curates exhibitions and panel discussions exploring Caribbean representation in mainstream media.

I shot this editorial at the end of 2015, a year that felt to me like the beginning of the wave of extremism that we have been living over the past few years. During 2015, Daesh radicalisation cost the lives of so many. Also, the attacks towards Turkish people in Ankara, French people with both Charlie Hebdo and the Paris attacks, and people in the US with the Charleston church and the San Bernardino shootings dominated the media.

Freddie Gray was killed in police custody in Baltimore and the case against his killers concluded with zero convictions against any officers. As if that weren’t enough, Trump entered the race for president of the US. And, to top it all, the refugee crisis of people feeling Syria sparked new waves of xenophobia that resulted in the success of movements in Europe like the Brexit campaign.

At the end of the discussion, Chantal and I agreed that the case for coexistence starts with respect. Equality doesn’t mean sameness. It means respecting our differences. We must acknowledge that we are different, but we must make the effort to find the commonalities that will bring us together as a community.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

Do you like what you just read? Subscribe to my weekly blog posts here! You may subscribe to the audio version wherever you get your podcasts.

Ideas Are Ridiculous Until They Work

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For any creator who has a social-conscious, the times that we are living present an interesting conundrum. Why create something, be it physical or digital, and bring new things into the world when the problem with the environment is that the planet is already overflowed with things? My friend Aksha and I were discussing this a few days ago and we both concluded that for creatives who care about the planet the problem is at the core of our practice. How to contribute to one without affecting the other? How to successfully be a business, an artist and a human being without ruining the world?

The first time that I had a conversation about these questions was with my friend Almudena Romero, a visual artist working with a wide range of photographic processes to reflect on issues relating to identity, representation and ideology. In her work, she uses plants to reflect on the idea of using photography to leave a legacy in the current context of permanent crisis (environmental, social, economic, political and now sanitary too). Her plant-based photographs grow, develop and disappear in a constantly evolving state that questions the spaces and forms where photography exists.

I asked Almudena for advice on which archival medium to use for one of my projects, and she made me reflect on what my legacy really is. In an oversaturated planet, do I want my legacy to be an archival long-lasting collectable artwork that adds up to the pile of objects that already pollute the planet or do I want to be remembered for my contributions to the world as an artist? The answer to that question could easily lie on her ephemeral art pieces.

I presented this problem to Zula Rabikowska in a recent conversation. Zula is a documentary photographer exploring national identity, displacement and belonging. Since the pandemic started, she has been experimenting with developing film photography by only using household products from her kitchen, such as coffee, turning her darkroom into an organic and environmentally friendly practice. Zula suggested reading about Ira Lombardia, a photographer who decided not to take images for three years until she could find an answer to the same conundrum.

My mere existence and my practice have negative impacts on the world. If I use analogue photography, even if I work in a sustainable darkroom, the image is captured on a plastic film strip. If I used digital photography, the image is saved as a file that lives on thousands of server farms that are consuming massive amounts of resources around the planet. If I write on my blog, I force you as a reader to access it in one of your devices that are probably produced by a brand with a planned-obsolescence strategy and that use up all the technological resources that are one of the main parts of the problem.

I am aware that by writing this I'm not presenting an answer but rather highlighting a problem. Maybe there is no answer, but it would be interesting to hear from others their thoughts around this issue. How can I be a visual artist and pay my bills while at the same time improving the world and not contributing to damaging the environment?

The solution to the conundrum might be something that in the present we might consider ridiculous. Such as the concept of de-growth proposed by the likes of Jason Hickel. But ideas are only ridiculous until they work. Think of all the things that in the past were considered laughable and today are an everyday occurrence.

So, in the spirit of brainstorming laughable ideas: is there a way to create visual art that doesn't have a physical form or support? Something that is ephemeral, that doesn't last beyond the instant when it is experienced by the viewer and that doesn't contribute to bringing more stuff into the world. Any ideas? Or have you got any ridiculous ideas of your own? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Do you like what you just read? Subscribe to my weekly blog posts here! You may subscribe to the audio version wherever you get your podcasts.

HELP ME PRODUCE MORE LIKE THIS

Patreon is a platform that enables me to offer you the content that you enjoy. Consider becoming a patron by clicking here. For less than the price of a cup of coffee a month you can support this blog and learn how I create my work. Also, 6% of my patrons' support goes to a different charity each month!

Bettering The World: Is It Someone Else's Job?

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This morning, as I was leaving home for work, I noticed that the hallways, lifts and reception area were covered in Christmas tree needles. Someone had obviously disposed of their holidays' decorations. It was as if whoever made the mess was expecting for someone else to take care of the clean-up. It's always someone else's job, isn't it? And the problem with this attitude and this way of looking at life is that it influences every other aspect of our lives. Why bother speaking out against injustices if that's the job of advocates? Why bother with the environment if that's the job of activists? Why bother with wearing a mask during the pandemic if someone else will wear theirs and protect me? In times when inactions make our problems worse faster than our actions can fix them, why do we choose apathy?

When I was growing up, whenever my father saw that I didn't feel like doing a task he would tell me: "combat laziness with action". With these four words, my father turned my brother and me into high performing people. And this, combined with a sense of consideration towards others, would have made me immediately clean up after myself if I had been the one bringing my decorations down this morning.

What could be the root of this apathy? Apathy is a feeling of having no feelings towards something. It sounds contradictory, but it is the emotion that lacks all emotion. It can be defined as a behaviour that shows no interest in something important, but it is also a lack of energy for everyday things. Being indifferent to everything that is going on around you can be linked to social determinants or in young people it can be part of the normal transition from adolescence to adulthood. In other cases, it can also be an early sign of a serious condition like dementia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, abuse of painkillers and cannabis, or a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

However, apathy can also be a symptom of an overload of information. When we are constantly told that there are so many things wrong in the world and that it is our duty to act on them our compassion can go numb. This can leave us in a state of empathy paralysis called compassion fatigue. This collective feeling of burnout and of lack of empathy has become very common in the times we are living.

Can we start caring again? If you are experiencing apathy due to burnout or if you think it can be linked to a more serious condition, seek help. Talk to someone you trust or seek professional advice.

Could this be the reason why my neighbours didn't clean up after themselves? Perhaps is not apathy and they are just selfish. O maybe they are lazy. Whatever it is, it's the same behaviour that I see when it comes to the problems that the world is facing right now.

Sustainability sounds like a lot of work. Righting all the wrongs can sometimes feel like someone else's job. If you are indifferent to the problems that you see around you the UN has prepared the Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World. They propose some simple things that we can adopt into our routines that, if we all do it, will make a big difference.

Cleaning up the mess we make is not someone else's job. It's our job. If humanity has made of this planet a mess, then humanity must clean up after itself. Maybe I personally didn't run a sweatshop, or enslaved anyone, or produced the plastic that floats in the ocean. But if I don't take action I become an accomplice. I turn into an accessory of all the crimes committed against nature and against humanity. In this case, the bystander is just as guilty as the perpetrator.

Photo credit: behind the scenes by Andrzej Gruszka.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

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I Wish I Had Known... About Retouching!

If you like reading my posts, consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

You can also subscribe to my weekly blog posts here!


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This is the Twentieth-Second post in my series of posts where I speak with people in the creative industries and ask them questions about the things that “I Wish I Had Known” when I started out as a creative myself.

Before the holidays, I had the honour of chatting to Sarah Tucker, a retoucher with over 10 years of experience who has worked for the likes of Rankin and Conde Nast, and we spoke about career options for retouchers, ethical considerations in retouching and the advice that she has for brands and photographers who hire retouchers for their jobs:

1- For most people, when they hear the word retouching they think of Photoshop and blurred skin. But, what exactly is retouching?

Retouching, broadly speaking, is simply editing or digitally manipulating a photograph. So a retoucher would generally be responsible for anything from cleaning in Photoshop a studio floor that got dirty on the day of the shoot, to compositing a subject onto a background plate, to colour grading an image, to ironing out clothing and making it fit properly, to recolouring products, all the way through to what is generally associated with retouching: evening-out skin and removing blemishes.

2- Why do we need retouching?

There are a number of reasons why we need retouching. It’s often not possible to photograph everything as needed on the day of the shoot. For instance, a brand might have a prototype of a product that was used on the shoot but the design has since changed. In this case, the retoucher would need to comp the new version of the product into the image or edit the details to match the finalised design. Campaigns often need different versions of an image with different aspect ratios and they need images extended to fit these. Those are some common practical requests.

Then, there are the details that become visible in a still image that simply are not usually visible to the human eye or in videos. One example of this might be the mesh of a wig that you would never really notice until your eye is able to rest on and study a still image.

I personally think that the human eye offers a lot of grace to what it's viewing in real life, but cameras with super sharp lenses and large sensors are able to capture and freeze details in a way that brings out distractions which we would otherwise not usually notice. Slight facial hair on an upper lip, nasal hair, etc – all stands out and becomes much more prominent – so retouching is a way to remove these distractions and allows an image the same level of “grace” that the human eye gives. Studio lighting usually enhances luminosity inconsistencies in the skin which retouchers commonly even out with a technique called dodge and burn.

Then there is just life, on the day of a big campaign shoot you wake up to a huge stress pimple. Retouching can remove these temporary blemishes for you. The problem comes in when retouchers overdo it and start to make people look like mannequins, change their actual features or try and reach for some unattainable level of perfection. Luckily the industry, especially in Europe, is moving further and further away from this kind of retouching.

3- How does one become a retoucher? Is this something that you study?

Most of the retouchers I have met learned retouching on the job being taken in as junior retouchers by studios and trained up. A lot of people have studied photography courses which included some retouching lessons, or design courses that introduced them to Photoshop. I haven’t yet personally heard of a retouching specific degree. Honestly, though, there is a wealth of knowledge online as well which makes teaching yourself quite possible.

4- What are the career options for people wanting to become retouchers?

There are a number of options. depending on the type of retouching that interests you. You can specialise in one specific field of retouching such as beauty, fashion, e-commerce, automotive or still life. You can work on set as a digital operator overseeing the capture and cataloguing of images on a shoot. You can also work in restoration for archive departments and repair damaged or faded images.

5- If photographers can edit their own work, what's the role of the retoucher?

Some photographers simply dislike retouching and choose to outsource it. Other photographers don’t have the time needed to give both shooting and retouching the level of attention they need. Then there are photographers who would rather get someone who has put all the years of training, experience, and expertise that they have put into mastering photography into mastering retouching. Trusting someone who does this as a full-time professional helps them reach their vision for a shoot or image.

6- Does the work of a retoucher have copyright and should retouchers be credited in editorials?

The retoucher does not own the copyright and most retouching studios will in fact get you to sign a contract specifying that you will not share or distribute the images in any way and may ask that you delete all work form your personal machine once a job is complete. I have actually worked in studios where mobile phones were not allowed in the retouching room in case anyone tried to photograph the images on the screen.

When it comes to crediting the retoucher, I personally think that the retoucher should be credited along with all the other creatives. Some photographers fear other photographers “poaching” their retouchers. Others, out of respect for the model/subject, don’t like to imply that the image was retouched at all. I think we all know now though that almost every commercial image you see online has been retouched in some way and this shouldn’t really be a concern.

7- Are there any retouchers’ networks?

There are, indeed. I’d say the networks I am most familiar with are Facebook groups such as Retouching Academy.

8- Are there any online resources for retouchers where they could learn and improve their skills?

There are many helpful retouching YouTube channels such as Phlearn which is a great free resource. Then you can buy courses from platforms such as Retouching Academy or individuals such as Pratik Naik (Soltice Retouch), or the late but very skilled Gry Garness, to name a few.

9- I love how you say on your website that you try to keep a natural-looking retouching workflow and that, if done well, your retouching should be invisible to the viewer. What ethical considerations do retouchers need to take into account when doing their job?

Unfortunately, the end call doesn’t really often fall on the retoucher’s shoulders when it comes to these considerations. We are generally following a photographer or brand’s brief and their call is the last one. You can try and suggest a direction or approach but it is ultimately up to the client. Personally, I do not like to change permanent features or liquify shapes or significantly alter skin tones.

10- We seem to be going through an anti-perfection era. How does this affect the work of retouchers?

I think it is actually a great thing as far as most retouchers are concerned. It takes more skill to know how to keep things natural than it does to overdo it. There is so much more to retouching than asking for perfect bodies and perfect skin, so I don’t think it’s a threat to our industry, really. A quality retoucher will usually prefer a natural approach and will work hard to preserve details and features and only remove small distractions keeping the realism and integrity of the image.

11- What advice would you give to brands and publications requiring the services of retouchers?

With retouchers, as with most professionals, you generally get what you pay for so I would prioritise adding an industry-standard budget for retouching and I would also highly recommend doing your research prior to hiring a retoucher. Make sure they already have the quality of retouch you are looking for in their portfolio. You spend and invest so much money on hiring the right models, makeup artists, stylists, studios, etc, why on earth would you choose to cut the quality when it comes to hiring the professional who is going to finish the images off.

Then, I would say make use of your retoucher before the day of the shoot. They can help you give them the best images to work with. A simple example might be that if you are changing the colour of the background to various different options in post, a retoucher might suggest that you shoot the images on a mid, neutral grey backdrop which would mean that both darker and lighter hair colours will be easy to separate and there won’t be any colour cast on the model from the background. There are much more complex cases where comping is concerned. For example, where a retoucher might be able to help you capture the plates that they will need when putting everything together.

Being clear with your brief and supplying references for the grade or level of retouch you want can be helpful when first working with a retoucher before they learn your personal style and priorities. Giving direction always ultimately helps getting the first round closer to where you would like it and can avoid multiple rounds of retouching with a lot of back and forth.

Then, lastly, always allow time for amends. They are a normal part of the retouching process and the best work is never rushed. So build rounds into your timeline.

12- Where can we find your work?

Unfortunately, most of my work is not publicly available. You can however visit www.frecklebeauty.co.uk to see the images I have both taken and retouched myself, or you can visit @sarahtuckerretouching on Insta to see some of the work that I am allowed to display.

Amazing! Thank you so much Sarah for taking the time to answer my questions and for explaining with such care what Retouching is all about. This is everything that "I Wish I Had Known"!

My 2020 Yearbook

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When I was in high school, I remember that one of the most expected events of the year was the moment the yearbook was released. The excitement of seeing your photo on print and reading what the people important to you had written was something to look forward to. However, I don't remember my school years to be a particularly good phase in my life. My memory of those years is clouded by a feeling of always being sad. There was too much going on in my personal life to be able to enjoy what were supposed to be the most enjoyable years of my life. I came out as gay in the late 80's amidst the AIDS epidemic and the fact that I grew up in a very close-minded country made things worse. It was definitely not an easy time for me. Nevertheless, I made it through. The same way that I've made it through this very challenging year. There is a lesson on resilience somewhere in there.

It has been a horrible year for humankind, but I refuse to let the pandemic stain the memory of the good things that happened this year that are worth celebrating. Thirty years from now, I don't want to look back at this year and only remember the sad moments. That's why I'm reclaiming 2020 by writing this post in the form of a yearbook. A post that I can look back to in a year, or ten, or in three decades and realise that in spite of everything that went wrong this year we managed to find a way to keep going.

These are some of the things that I choose to remember from the year 2020:


Mentor: As in previous years, in 2020 I continued mentoring both students and peers. One of my proudest moments this year was when one of my mentees scored an A+ in the project in which we had been working together.

Mentor: As in previous years, in 2020 I continued mentoring both students and peers. One of my proudest moments this year was when one of my mentees scored an A+ in the project in which we had been working together.

Volunteer: in early 2020, I volunteered at the City YMCA homeless shelter with other members from Out For Good to put together care packages to be given to anyone who comes seeking shelter when they first arrive.

Volunteer: in early 2020, I volunteered at the City YMCA homeless shelter with other members from Out For Good to put together care packages to be given to anyone who comes seeking shelter when they first arrive.

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Guest Writer: during the first lockdown, I partnered with Partnership for Young London to write a piece for their blog which highlights the innovative ways we’ve been supporting our own and others’ mental health during the pandemic.

Creator: at the end of the first lockdown, I started my Patreon channel to share with my followers how I put my projects together. 6% of my patrons' support goes to a different charity each month.

Creator: at the end of the first lockdown, I started my Patreon channel to share with my followers how I put my projects together. 6% of my patrons' support goes to a different charity each month.

Supporter: during Pride month, I ran a photography workshop for Say It Loud, an organisation committed to providing support and advocacy for LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

Supporter: during Pride month, I ran a photography workshop for Say It Loud, an organisation committed to providing support and advocacy for LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

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Facilitator: I ran several workshops on photography and project management for the AOP, The Trampery, Republic and the Boxed Community.

Award-winner: I was awarded Silver in the AOP Photography Awards 2020 in the Fashion and Beauty category with my image entitled Spring Cleaning.

Award-winner: I was awarded Silver in the AOP Photography Awards 2020 in the Fashion and Beauty category with my image entitled Spring Cleaning.

Documenter: I am currently working on a project with the Prince's Trust documenting one of their youth support programmes at the Waltham Forest College in Walthamstow, helping young people aged 16-25 to develop transferable skills that are essential…

Documenter: I am currently working on a project with the Prince's Trust documenting one of their youth support programmes at the Waltham Forest College in Walthamstow, helping young people aged 16-25 to develop transferable skills that are essential to pursue a successful career in education or employment. Photo by Thais Verhasselt.

Moderator: a month ago, I moderated a panel discussion about what it means to work in the Creative Industries in support of the Aldridge Foundation, a charity that aims to inspire and equip young people with the skills they need to take control of t…

Moderator: a month ago, I moderated a panel discussion about what it means to work in the Creative Industries in support of the Aldridge Foundation, a charity that aims to inspire and equip young people with the skills they need to take control of their futures.


What good things happened to you this year that you want to remember in the future? Share them with me in the comments below.

Photo credit: I don’t know who took this photo of me but it was the year I graduated from high school.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

You can also subscribe to my weekly blog posts here! You may subscribe to the audio version wherever you get your podcasts.

A Self-Reflection At The End Of A Tough Year

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When I had my first job back when I was 19, I had a conversation with a coworker about happiness. I can't really remember how the conversation went but her remarks on what happiness meant to her stayed with me forever. For her, happiness was not a constant state but a sum of moments. When she looked back, if she was able to count more happy moments than sad moments in her life then she felt content. Whenever I am going through a tough time in my life, I always remember her words and count the happy moments in my life. It never fails, I have a lot to be grateful for.

I have everything I need. And, even if this statement is not entirely true it does feel that way. Not long ago, I read that happiness is the difference between what you have and your definition of enough. The less you need, the more you have. Maybe this is why I feel that I have it all. But, in the words of Michelle Obama, if you have it all that means that someone else has nothing.

This has been an important lesson in times when so many inequalities have come to light. People who work as hard as I do and who have the same set of skills that I have are not given the same opportunities. And this realisation has given me a purpose and a mission to help others via mentoring, skills share and peer support. You climb and then you lift others with you. It is the only way our communities will thrive.

I am aware that this self-reflection is a difficult exercise, especially in times like these when we are going through a prolonged period of instability and collective grief. The experiences that we've lived over the last year can easily cloud the view of everything that we have that we should be grateful for. My only wish for you at the end of 2020 is that, by looking back and reviewing your life, your happy moments outdo the not-so-happy ones. Happy Holidays and may 2021 be everything that you wished 2020 would be.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

You can also subscribe to my weekly blog posts here! You may subscribe to the audio version wherever you get your podcasts.

I Wish I Had Known... About Fashionable Dumplings!

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This is the Twentieth-First post in my series of posts where I speak with people in the creative industries and ask them questions about the things that “I Wish I Had Known” when I started out as a creative myself.

This week, I had the delicious pleasure of talking to Jessica Ly, a food entrepreneur slash fashion stylist slash marketing guru, who at the beginning of the pandemic started her own food service called Fashion Bake. We spoke about reinvention, immigration and how vulnerability is not a weakness but a superpower:

1- This year has taught us how brilliantly resourceful and resilient we can be. You lost your job at the start of the pandemic but then started an incredibly successful takeaway service. How did the idea come about?

It really has! Before this, I was working at an FMCG food startup (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) working in marketing. When I was made redundant in March, I threw myself into my first love, food. Growing up at home, we’ve always gathered around the table and made dumplings as a family and as a coping mechanism (I was going through lots of emotions at the time - fear, anxiety, rejection).

I started making and testing dumplings recipes for pleasure. Creating and making dumplings became my therapy and meditation. I started posting photos of my creations on Instagram and people were asking if they could buy some... I’ve always been a feeder and the penny dropped... maybe I could sell frozen dumplings?! We had 5 weeks of our tenancy left at our flat in London and I was “jobless”... so I decided to go for it and test out the market in our neighbourhood to see if there would be any interest. I sold out every week for 5 weeks!

2- Your life story represents the success of the immigrant. Your family left home and established in the UK during very difficult times and were able to make a living for themselves and raise the entrepreneurial machine that you are. Do you think about your family’s history when you are going through challenging times like these?

Every day. When my parents came here, they had nothing and couldn’t even speak English. Not only did they manage to survive, but managed to thrive. They are my daily inspiration. They created something from nothing. They’ve made so many sacrifices i.e pursuing their own dreams and ambitions (my dad wanted to be a mechanic and my mum wanted to be a hairstylist) to put food on the table and survive.

I’m a proud daughter of immigrants. Our story is a journey that represents resilience, grit and survival.

3- I am also a descendant from immigrants, and an immigrant myself. I often say that immigrants might be the only people with sufficient skills to navigate such difficult times. I’m a proud immigrant son of immigrants and something that I like from your brand is that you are proud of your heritage as well. Did you know that this was going to be an important part of your branding right from the start?

Yes definitely! I don’t think you can decide where you’re going until you know where you’re really from. Fashion Bake is me telling my story. Being a daughter of immigrants is part of my identity. I’ve always been a storyteller - first it was via my blog (Fashion Bake started off as a blog years ago!) then it was via fashion styling, now it’s via food. We ALL have stories to tell and I think it’s so important to tell our stories because you never know who you might inspire and how much somebody might have needed to hear your story - we never know who we’re giving hope to!

4- Did you have a business background before you came up with the idea for this venture?

I used to make bespoke cakes - it started when a friend asked me to make 100 cupcakes for a charity event. At the event, everybody loved the cupcakes and asked if I travelled around selling cakes and I laughed because I didn’t think it was possible. The next day I made a website, wrote out my brand mission and started off selling cupcakes.

I didn’t expect it to take off the way it did - people started ordering cupcakes, birthday cakes, wedding cakes. I then got a job as a Fashion Stylist at Harvey Nichols full time and I started making cakes after work in the evenings. I just love creating! I think my entrepreneurial spirit comes from my dad - he’s always finding new ways to create and even now at 59, he’s always thinking of the next business idea and venture.

5- Which skills do you think were transferable from your previous industry?

Every single skill I learnt has been transferable! My eye for detail as a fashion stylist. In my roles in marketing for the two food start-ups I worked at, I dabbled with food styling, branding, marketing, social media, content creation, community management. Relationship building. I’ve taken all of those experiences and skills to build and create my own business. Every single one of those skills I’ve needed to create my own business and brand. From my branding to the messages I deliver and the way they’re delivered, to the customer experience.

6- And do you think that has been the secret ingredient to your success?

What is success?! I mean I’m nowhere where I want to be yet - everybody’s definition of “success” is different. Success to me is the number of lives you have impacted and touched and contributed to. It’s loving what you do, how you do it, and who you are.

I give a shit. I love what I do, I am authentically me and I show the good, bad and ugly. I think authenticity and vulnerability are really important, that’s what people really connect with. People think vulnerability is a weakness but it’s a superpower! I would also say compassion and gratitude.

7- Speaking of success, it must have been scary to see that so many people opted for selling food during the lockdown. What made you keep going?

I really believe in my products (I truly believe every household needs frozen dumplings in their freezer) and I am uniquely me, and that is my superpower! What keeps me going is seeing how happy it makes people and hearing amazing feedback and making people smile, that is the biggest reward!

8- Any advice for other people thinking about starting their own businesses?

Make sure you really love it - don’t just do it because you’ve seen somebody else do it with success. There will be long nights and days and you’ll have to make sacrifices to build your business.

9- Just when you started your business in London, you made the decision to go back to your hometown. How has moving north impacted your business?

I was worried that nobody would buy dumplings here or get it - but my Northampton community here has been so supportive! COVID-19 has really changed people’s behaviours and for me, the challenge was to change people’s eating behaviours. Most people here hadn’t really cooked dumplings at home, but I think delivering clear messaging and content really helps!

My dumplings come with simple cooking instructions, you can scan a QR code which takes you to a video cooking tutorial and I have lots of content on Instagram.

10- I am a big believer in supporting the local economy because I’ve seen entrepreneurs like you who, with our support, have the power to change people’s lives. Keep calm and buy local, the slogan should say. How can people buy your tasty creations?

We’re currently only available locally in Northamptonshire, but watch this space! World domination is the plan ;)

Follow our journey on Instagram @fashion.bake !

Website: www.fashion-bake.com.

Jess, I have tried your delicious dumplings many times and they were always a success at home. I'm sure that soon they'll be in every home in the country! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions and for sharing with me what your fashionable dumplings are all about! It’s everything that I Wish I Had Known!


If you haven’t read the previous posts of this series, you can check the whole series here. I hope you liked this new post and stay tuned for a different creative each month!

Photo credit: My portrait by Wayne Noir.

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What Do Human Rights Mean To You?

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December 10 is International Human Rights Day, and to mark the date this year I am happy to announce that I will be one of the judges of an art contest held by Skaped. This art contest is open to all young people age 16 - 30 years old living in the UK responding to the question "What do human rights mean to you?" By creating artwork and bringing awareness to issues you care about, together we'll stand up for human rights and carry on!

The art forms accepted for the competition are painting, drawing, photography, collages, fine art/sculptures, illustration, fabric art or digital art. The winner will receive a £100 voucher worth of art supply.

The winner will be selected by a panel of 4 judges::

  • Nigel Twumasi, co-founder of Mayamada, using manga to inspire a new generation of creatives and entrepreneurs to make a social impact.

  • Shajna Begum, founder of The Film Bunch, improving access for deaf and hard-of-hearing people to mainstream short films.

  • Kirsty Reynolds, visual artist bringing people together to connect through play and creativity.

  • JC Candanedo, visual artist using photography to explore Human Rights, Mental Health and Identity.

Submissions are open from the 3rd-22nd of December, with the winner announced on the 30th of December.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

You can also subscribe to my weekly blog posts here!

8 Things I've Learnt While Working On Photography Projects

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Photography projects are an integral part of a photographer's career. As a commercial photographer, you want to show your potential commissioners not only what you have been paid to do in the past but also the type of work that you like doing. However, I've met photographers who don't believe in personal work or who tell themselves that they don't have the time to embark on it. What if apart from building your portfolio you could also learn something new?

Every time that I shoot a photography project, I learn something new about me, about my craft and about the people or the topic that I'm working on. Here is a list of 8 things that I've learnt from working on my photography projects:

  • Brexiters. This was the first portraiture personal project that I worked on. Before embarking on this project, I had been working on personal projects where I didn't involve other people (i.e. urban landscapes, abstract). When I saw on the news that the Brexit vote had won, and how the white uneducated elderly rural population of England was blamed for it, I immediately wanted to find out if what the media was saying was true.

    • Lesson number 1: personal projects challenge your assumptions. On this project, I learnt that not everyone who voted Brexit fit into the profile described by the media.

    • Lesson number 2: Just be honest about your intentions and people will support you. I learnt that if you need people to take part in your projects, just by placing an ad online explaining your project and what you are looking for you will find people interested in sharing their experiences with you and taking part on your project.

  • Crisi. This was my first personal project. I shot it before I even became a full-time photographer. I was really proud of it when I shot it and I had it on my website for many years, until one person who saw my portfolio told me that it didn't fit with the rest of my projects because it didn't involve people. Thus, I took it off my website for many years.

    It wasn't until a couple of years ago when I realised that, even if the project didn't involve photographing people it portrayed how businesses were shutting down in a domino effect in my local high street and the absence of people (footfall) is one of the reasons. So, I put it back on my website and since then many people have praised it. I also use it as an example when I have to run workshops about creating personal projects.

    • Lesson number 3: a project about people doesn't need to show people. I also learnt that the absence of people on a project that speaks about humanity and human issues makes for an interesting visual narrative.

    • Lesson number 4: putting off your project because you don't have the right equipment is just an excuse. From this project, I learnt that you don't need fancy equipment to shoot a personal project. I shot the whole project on an iPhone 4s.

  • Catalonia: A Work in Progress. This was my first project that involved photographing a high volume of people living overseas. I was lucky that I knew the country very well because I lived in Catalonia for 14 years. But still, photographing so many people in so many different cities and rural areas took a lot of time and planning.

    For this project, I didn't place an ad looking for people interested in posing for me. I relied solely on my network. I wrote a template email and sent it to everyone I knew asking them to forward it to people they knew who they thought would be interested in taking part in my project.

    • Lesson number 5: our networks are bigger than we think. There is always someone in our networks who knows someone who in turn knows another someone who is willing to give us a hand.

    • Lesson number 6: timing is everything. The project was appealing to many publications, but it got rejected several times because the situation in Catalonia changed every other day and it was difficult to keep an editorial angle.

  • De-Stress. This was the first project in which the idea for the topic to be explored came after years of experimenting with an alternative photographic technique. Prior to embarking on this project, I had been experimenting with distressing negatives with household chemicals. I loved the randomness of the technique and the striking results.

    When I was approached by The Trampery to work on a collaboration with the members of their community and explore Mental Health in entrepreneurs, I immediately knew that I could use this technique to speak about stress and the de-stressing effects of working in supportive environments. Hence the name.

    Also, after the project was published, I was approached by other organisations that liked the concept and visuals and who gave me opportunities to work on other projects.

    • Lesson number 7: experimenting with different techniques can inform your future projects. Playing around with different techniques until you master them can eventually lead to starting a new project.

    • Lesson number 8: personal projects open new opportunities. Commissioners pay attention to your personal work to see what motivates you and how you develop your own ideas when there is no brief involved and you are in control.

I am a strong believer in working on personal projects. They have opened so many opportunities for me throughout my career but, most importantly, they have taught me so much and I've met so many interesting people while working on them. Are you stuck with an idea that you don't know how to develop? Let me know in the comments below.

Photo credit: behind the scenes by Tori Dance.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

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Reclaiming, Not Claiming

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I've always liked studying history. Back in my school days, it was one of my favourite assignments. Not every teacher made it interesting, but those who did took us on a trip through time showing us how life used to be and how far we have come as a species. However, I had classmates who despised it. They wondered what contribution did studying rocks and tales of dead people had in their lives. I didn't have a smart comeback for these remarks back then, but these days I would tell them that if history weren't that important there wouldn't be people trying to change it to suit their needs.

I mentioned in my previous post how when I went to school our history books painted the European invasion to America (the continent, not the country that has borrowed its name) as the saving grace for Aboriginal people. History has always been written by the winners, and nowhere in those books could you learn about the genocide and the appropriation of resources that made European empires so rich.

Since I wrote that post, I have thought a lot about human rights and the way we've had to fight for our dignity and the recognition of our humanity in recent history. It is still surprising to me that The Universal Declaration of Human Rights had to be signed and published in 1948. As if before that declaration was signed we didn't have that humanity. As if before we fought for those rights we didn't deserve them.

The Suffragette and the MeToo movements, albeit separated in time by almost a century, are two examples of these fights for the recognition of rights against conservative groups that have tried to make us believe that women have never had those rights. As if, historically, there hadn't always been societies where women were not only treated equally but also shared positions of power with men. I was born in a country where many Aboriginal cultures are still matriarchies to this day (The Ngäbe, The Guna and the Bri Bri people, to name a few).

The Abolition of Slavery, The Civil Rights Act and the Black Lives Matter movement are also separated by a century between them, and they represent the fight for the recognition of the rights of black people. As if before they were kidnapped from their hometowns four centuries ago by the European empires they didn't enjoy those freedoms.

The Indigenous Civil Rights movement and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Australia are examples of fights for the acknowledgement of rights and the humanity of Aboriginal people in Australia. Pause there for a second and think about how the British didn’t consider the Australian Aboriginal people as humans. They thought of them as cattle. They had to fight for the right to be considered human, as if before the British came to what they called the Antipodes the people living there didn't enjoy their freedom and their rights in their own land.

This list could go on forever, but I will finish with LGBTQ+ rights. We have been made to believe that it wasn't until Stonewall in 1969 that queer people gained our rights. As if before Stonewall we didn't have the right to identify whichever way we deserved or have sex or fall in love with whomever we felt attracted to. The truth is that, for centuries, religions have tried to take away our humanity and our rights because if we don't procreate we are not useful to them. It's a war of power, control and numbers between religions and they need humans to be born into their cults to win this war.

This is why it's not only important to study history to prevent ourselves from repeating the errors of the past but also to learn that we are not fighting to gain a set of rights that we feel that we deserve. We are fighting to reclaim the rights that have been taken away from us.

The past hasn't always been fairer nor kinder, but those who are trying to strip us of our rights these days are basing their arguments on a version of history that they have created for their advantage. And if we don't correct the way history is being taught today, we will have to continue reclaiming our rights for millennia to come.

Photo credit: portrait by Sarah Tucker.

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Art Helps Us Challenge Our Own Assumptions

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Divide and conquer. The oldest trick in the book. In the times we are living, the powers that be have torn our communities apart with the complicity of the media and the aid, willingly or not, of the social media companies. Our societies are so divided that being nice to other people before knowing their stance seems like the ultimate challenge. And it has become very frustrating to see this happening around me and not having the power to make others realise what is being done to us. I talk about it, I write about it, I create photography about it, but sometimes it is evident that my efforts are not enough. I need a better strategy.

I know I can't control the things that happen around me, I can only control how I respond to them. And this knowledge is what has been driving me for years to reach out to my community and encourage them to work together to make the world a better place. I wish that others would follow, but I can only control what I do. I knew that I wanted change in the world, and that is why I started by changing myself.

I've always been a very empathetic person, but over the last few years I've also tried to become more compassionate and to hide less my vulnerabilities. And since the pandemic started, I've come to realise that these things are urgently needed in the world right now. If only our leaders shared these ideas with me they would show more empathy, more awareness and more compassion towards those they represent.

We are all in this together, but if we don't work together we are not going to get very far. We have many lessons to learn from recent events but we are stuck. Honestly, soon enough we are going to have to realise that it doesn't matter if you think you are on the right side of history and the others are not. If we don't create bridges and find common ground with others, we are not going to move past this. I know it won't be easy, and I can already hear the arguments from both sides but it has to be done.

The wrongs need to be corrected, the history books need to be rewritten. Perhaps not as tools of punishment but as factual sources of knowledge.

When I was in school, history books taught me that the Spaniards came to my country to finally give us civilisation, religion and language. Things that, according to history books, we were lacking. It took me decades and living in a different continent to start questioning these ideas that were planted in my brain when I was a child. I can only hope that children in my country today are being taught about the atrocities that were committed during the European invasion.

Therefore, I have to understand that some of the things that I believe to be true today might have also been planted in my brain to trick me into believing their veracity. The same way that other people who think differently to me might be under the influence of the groups that are trying to divide us.

My solution to this is to make myself reexamine my personal beliefs often and to engage in conversations with others who don't share my point of view. Whether we agree or not, just listening to what motivates other people's actions and choices will be a good starting point towards building those bridges.

And this is why I think that right now it's crucial to get artists not only involved but also supported. Historically, our role in times like these has always been to engage and collaborate with our communities to explore the world we are living in and offer a creative interpretation of our reality. We force those who view our work to engage in the conversation and question their own realities.

Art is more than just a mirror of society. It is a prism through which we see life from someone else's perspective. Whether you agree with the artist or not, just by engaging with art you also engage in an inner-dialogue that encourages you to question your assumptions. And these days, we are in desperate need to challenge everything that we assume to be true.

Photo credit: behind the scenes by Andrzej Gruszka.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

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I've Been Doing This Every Week For Six Years!

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This month of November my blog turns 6 years old! I have been writing on my blog every Wednesday over the last 300+ weeks about my experiences working in the Creative Industries in the UK. In my posts, I talk about what it's like being a photographer working commercially in fashion and portraiture in London but also how I use my work and my platforms to raise awareness of Mental Health, Human Rights and National Identity.

I also interview other creatives and fellow-photographers and ask them about their roles and careers so that people who want to start a career in the Creative Industries know what to expect. Thank you to everyone who reads me, whether you are subscribed to my newsletter or whether you read me on my social platforms. YOU are the reason why I do this every week.

In my blog you will find:


Posts about working in the Creative Industries


Posts about working as a Photographer


Posts about the social issues that I raise awareness of


Interviews with other creatives about their roles and careers


Features on fellow photographers exploring images from their portfolios


Also, I have a Patreon channel In which you will find videos where I explain the projects that I'm currently working on, like my project where I am raising awareness of neurological diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's:

Posts with explanations of how I shoot my images and behind the scenes:

and Tutorials:

6% of my patrons' support goes to a different charity each month:

This way together, my patrons and I, can contribute to making this a better world.

Do you like what you just read? Consider becoming a patron on patreon.com/jccandanedo where you can learn more about my creative process and the stories behind my images. I’d love to have you as part of my Patreon community.

You can also subscribe to my weekly blog posts here!