Is London calling or is it just the sound of a siren song?
London’s not where it’s all at, and it shouldn’t be. Now, literally more than ever before, it’s looking like our industry has the chance to become truly accessible and so much better for it.
It’s been over a month since I started writing these weekly newsletters and that little milestone completely passed me by. How exciting and also absolutely insane to realise it’s already been six weeks!
This week’s issue is the first time I didn’t have something already in mind when I came to write - I’ve generally been quite unmotivated and slow this week, and the nasty muggy weather has made me feel so uncomfortable in my own skin - I’ve never felt so affected by the weather before and I guess it’s just yet another side effect of being in lockdown. Luckily I brainstormed a bunch of topics back when my brain felt less tired and was working better, and it was just the one that jumped out at me.
A few weeks back I came across an article which I shared in a previous issue of this newsletter, ‘I lied about living in New York to fit into the literary bubble - not anymore’. The author, Rafia Zakaria, writes:
“Covid-19 has put an end to that “almost in New York” lifestyle. Catastrophe, I am learning, has the potential of exposing costs. Freed of travel and Fomo, I am aghast at the energy I frittered on it. With New York literary life paused, most of my anxieties have also dissipated. In the lovely silence of my study I can simply be a writer rather than engage in the performance of being a writer which is what New York is all about. I wonder now, why I did not free myself of New York sooner?”
I cannot tell you how much I just FELT this. Zakaria has put into words something I’ve been feeling and thinking about a lot in the last couple of years, just swap “New York” to “London”, and “writer” to “photographer”.
London is seen as the creative capital of the country. So many make the decision to uproot from their homes and cities around the country to come here - and really, there doesn’t seem to be room for any other choice. It’s almost forced on you; it’s not like the rest of the country sees the same funding and opportunities that the creative industry here gets.
Funding aside, there’s also this idea that you’re not relevant or that it’s just not possible to make it as a creative unless you’re in London. This idea permeated my university years especially, and there was constant talk about the importance of London. Even more so, I think, if you didn’t go down the university path.
I was born here, grew up here and still live here. It’s a privilege that many others don’t have, a privilege of access. However, with the pandemic shutting almost everything down and turning many of us to remote ways of connecting - meetups, talks, workshops, exhibitions, jobs, interviews, portfolio reviews, and pretty much everything else - all the same opportunities that you had to spend £££ for in rent, living costs or travel, by car, bus, train if you can afford it (and not in style, rarely on time, and don’t even think about it if there are leaves on the line), are now easily accessible from anywhere in the country. From anywhere in the world, for now.
There’s a lot to be said about the fact that the industry could have always been this accessible.
On one hand, it’s very true that opportunities are easier to come by, the majority of big events are here, and it ultimately makes carving out a career a lot easier. On the other, there’s the rising living costs, traffic, pollution, gentrification, constant noise, the soul-sucking commutes. And here’s a direct example: my old commute for four years, from Croydon to Shoreditch, was an hour and a half each way, longer with the slightest delay. Others who lived OUTSIDE of London had the SAME commute time, or more frustratingly, a shorter commute time (I’m not bitter at all, why do you ask?). Not to mention, feeling like a tiny shrimp in a raging whirlpool.
Since I went freelance I’ve been constantly thinking about heading to pastures anew. But I’ve been putting it off for several very real reasons, not least because as a new freelancer with little in the way of savings it’s simply not the best time. But also because I’m afraid about what it’ll mean if I go. What if my career does go to shit? What if it’s too difficult? What if, despite everything, it becomes boring? What about leaving all my friends and family behind?
Lockdown has made me realise that I don’t need to be so afraid or worry so much. There’s always alternatives and another way of doing things, and I just have to look to the people who are already doing so, from friends who are killing it in other cities to those who’ve had to move back home, out of London, because of the pandemic.
Like freelance journalist Nicola Slawson who wrote an article all about it, “My New Normal: I’ve left London for my hometown and I’m not going back”. (She also runs a brill newsletter, ‘The Single Supplement’).
The point of this post isn’t to say oMg I wAnT tO moVe AwAy, although to be honest I don’t really have much of a point - more something to explore. London’s not where it’s all at, and it shouldn’t be. Now, literally more than ever before, it’s looking like our industry has the chance to become truly accessible and so much better for it.
Would love to hear from you guys on this one: do you feel pressured to move to London? Did you move and feel it was a mistake or the right thing to do? If you’re a creative outside of London, how is it going? Let me know in the comments below.
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End Notes
I lied about living in New York to fit into the literary bubble - not anymore
My New Normal: I’ve left London for my hometown and I’m not going back
Today’s soundtrack
Reads
Photos can show protests’ complexity—or they can perpetuate old lies
“Pictures from demonstrations around the U.S. can become powerful symbols, but some only tell one side of the story.”
The Impact of the White, Male Gaze
“We shape the world in our own image: our individual understandings of truth and reality, our personal experiences and backgrounds do play into the scenes we choose to capture, how we frame them and whether we find them deserving of public dissemination. There is so much more to the photographs we take, select, and publish than aesthetics and the reality of any individual moment. Rather, each frame captured is a single millisecond in a sociocultural, historical reality that predates subject, photographer, and viewer.”
Will The Protests Change Instagram for Good? Maybe. Probably Not.
“Just as 9/11 didn’t mark the death of irony, I doubt that this surge in the Black Lives Matter movement will mean an end to conspicuous self-promotion on the internet. But it has brought a level of criticality to something so many of us have done without thinking about it that much: sharing a highly aestheticized version of our lives with thousands of strangers. And for what?”
Opportunities & Resources
Sirius says…
“Pls find a space where you can go to relax.”
Hey! I’m a freelance portraiture, documentary and adventure photographer working in London. Community and culture are the cornerstones of my work, and I also run of the land & us, an online journal for photographers exploring our relationship with the natural world.
‘Notes on Freelancing’ is my attempt to make becoming a freelance creative a bit less scary.
If you like what you read and would like to donate a strong cup of tea, you can. This twitchy-eyed creative will thank you for the support and the caffeine.
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Hi Ameena, thanks for sharing. I left London in 2016 for the countryside but I was working in a full time Communications role. Now I am trying to develop a side hustle as a writer while in full time work to eventually have a portfolio career and I have been starting to wonder whether being where I am now will limit my opportunities. I do think, and I hope that our world will change in terms of remote working and flexibility. I intend to move closer to Bristol as I know it’s got a real start up / entrepreneurial hub and I do crave a bit of city stimulation just not on the scale of London anymore. Fingers crossed!
Wow, Ameena this article really had a ‘hit a nail on the head’ moment for me. I resonated and hung on to every word. Let me break it down...I’m not a freelance photographer. I have quite early on learned and accepted (albeit to mounting pressure from my peers even to this day) that the work i make, i need the kind of head space and a steady income from elsewhere (so i don’t have to take on the pressure of worrying about surviving financially) to allow me the time to create work that I am truly happy with. For my work, I choose to travel to places that cost a lot of money and that kind of money, for me, is made possible by having a 'regular' job or a side-hustle (as Tanya Houghton in convo with WorkShowGrow put it) if you will. And for this purpose, I have realised I do not need to be living in London to achieve that (I don't live in LDN btw) - in fact the complete opposite. I, to this day, constantly get questioned from the same people I have answered the same question to several times before, 'don't you want to move to london for photo opportunities?', 'surely there are better opportunities in london for you?'
The more I hear these questions, the more it is made clear to me that I DO NOT want to move to London to pursue 'better opportunities' because I shouldn't HAVE to move to London to pursue them. They should be widely accessible and far-reaching to every single corner of this country (world tbh). Because, this is what I think, when I am creating art, AM I moving to London every time to do that? It is a privilege to be able to create art in the first place, and even more a privilege that I can create that art from ANYWHERE in the world BECAUSE this world is so big and full of opportunities waiting to be explored. Then, WHY should I constraint myself to one tiny dot of a place on a map?
I'm not sure if I made any points here (LOL). I simply wanted to express my experiences and thoughts in relation to your article. Thank you for sharing them with the world with so much honesty <3