APLoT.
When Kayla reached out to me to direct the visual component to her poem, “A Prayer List of Things (I Ask My Father For Daily),” I wanted to be sure that I matched the beauty and reflective nature of her writing. Having taken her portrait a couple years ago, she expressed that she wanted us to work again someday. At the time I wasn’t sure of what capacity that would be in, but to be trusted with a project such as this one was truly an honor.
Kayla let me know how vulnerable of an act this would all be as she’s never truly enjoyed being in front of the camera. With this in mind, I made it a point to affirm her in her decision to do this, especially on set.
The days leading up to the shoot involved location scouting, reading Kayla’s poem, as well as listening to her recite it aloud in an audio recording. Reading was one experience, but listening to her traverse these longings for a deeper relationship with self through her relationship to God was awe inspiring. Wanting more for yourself is a courageous act inspired by having lived a life where you didn’t understand the level of power you possessed.
Often times we give that power to situations, circumstances, and people who use it against us in hopes that we won’t ever realise our true value.
This realisation is the moment where we break free from false realities that we’ve accepted as our own. All the negative self talk, and ways in which we interact with ourselves and others, become positive affirmations and the healthy boundaries we set.
Here’s to growing even closer to our truest selves.