For as long as I can remember, its has been a dream of mine to have one of my photographs featured in a magazine or a website other than my own. All personal attempts to make this dream a reality were met with temporary defeat and the outcome appeared rather fruitless. So what did I do? That's right! I did, what most people do, I gave up.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
COLLABORATION
A year ago, a friend and fellow community member approached me and asked if I would be open and interested in photographing the Puna Culinary Festival at Kalani Oceanside Retreat center. It came to my attention that this event was a non-paying gig however, it was a great opportunity to be of service to my community and to do what I love. I went on to photograph the event, handed over the images and moved on.
I went on to live life. I even met a pretty cool gal from Europe who I believe till this day is the most passionate Yogini in the world. We became really close and would spend lots of time exploring Hawai'i and learning together. We had so much fun. We jumped of cliffs, swam under waterfalls, and even went to Europe (my first time). It was a dream come true. One thing that caught my attention was that whenever we would be in the middle of experiencing something special she would stop, hand me her iPhone and ask me to take a picture. At first I thought it to be unusual and a bit narcissistic. I had never met someone who would so persistently share her journey and yoga practice (her passion) via social media. I later observed her followers gratitude as she was a persistent voice for their yoga needs. Eventually I became so inspired by her persistence and passion I offered to cordially photograph her with a proper photo shoot. Her eyes lit up. She loved the photographs we co-created and told me she was going to save them for a special occasion.
LETTING GO
“The concepts of faith and surrender and letting go are all essential to manifesting your desires, and yet our rational (conscious) minds are constantly fighting for us to do just the opposite.”
I'm sure you have heard of the "Law of Attraction." If you haven't let me enlighten you. The Law of Attraction is a New Thought philosophy that sums up the idea that what we think about we bring about into being. One of the most powerful aspects of this law is the act of 'Letting it Go.' You can think about what you want all day long, build as much desire as possible, cultivate all the energy in the world but if you can't 'Let it go' and have faith then you risk hindering the process of manifestation. I struggled with this concept tremendously but soon as I succeeded in embodying the 'Letting Go' philosophy things started to happen.
A little less than a month ago the same friend who asked me to photograph the Culinary Festival approached me while I was working. She shared that she had a surprise in store for me. She went on to pull out a magazine that contained my image and name. I was shocked. Was this really happening? The image below is what I saw:
Image of AAA's Hawai'i Magazine September/October 2015. Page 14 Island Style
Below is the original image captured at the Puna Culinary Festival in 2014.
Original Image © 2015 Asim Kaleem Photography. All rights reserved.
Thats not all folks. That passionate Yogini I mentioned above also contacted me and shared that one of the largest online platforms in Slovenia used the image we co-created. I was speechless.
Tinks Yoga in Lotus Pose
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Some of the most notable work I've produced was born on the principle of collaboration and of service to others. Yes, sufficient compensation for my time, energy, and work is the direction I'm striving towards but compensation doesn't always manifest in monetary form. Therefore to put pressure on your art with monetary gain as the main motivating factor places a lot of energy in the wrong direction and is the death of creation, the death of self expression.
What makes you come alive?