In this pilot interview for Inspire Create, I get to sit down with famous celebrity french photographer Lionel Deluy. Check out my portraits of him as you listen to his story.
Check out Lionel’s work at www.krop.com/lioneldeluy/
What is Inspire Create?
Inspire Create is a passion project of mine. It is best described in this foreword I put together:
"Inspiration is the catalyst to purpose"
It is a powerful statement in so many ways. When someone or some creation inspires us, often purpose comes out of the woodwork. We are more driven and for a short moment in time there is pure clarity. Society holds no bonds on our minds and especially our hearts, for that moment we exist with purpose. Humans, or more importantly, one individual is so small in the grand scheme of things that we often feel like our contributions and impacts are minuscule.
However through inspiration we can instill purpose in those that have lost their way, or simply stepped off the path for even a day. Purpose is hard to explain, but if we think of purpose as a clean well-drawn path, we would find a skip in our step when walk down the path, our hearts and minds would be as one.
When we just step off the path we find gravel and smaller stones, nothing that would slow us down too much, it may be rockier, but we continue on. The farther we stray from the path the more difficult it is to carry on moving forward, we stumble, fall and sometimes forfeit our ability to keep moving forward. We become stuck, depressed and lost. We float, shuffle or crawl and cease to live, we merely,
exist.
This is the reason why this mantra must be held close to my heart and must drive my actions.
This brought me to asking myself, what inspires me. What are those moments in my life that I feel right as rain, that skip in my step.
The first is when I help others with my craft. They see that image of themselves that they never see in the mirror everyday, the true them. They cry, they hug, I can see it heal them from the inside out. That impact gives me purpose one individual at a time.
The second is when I watch others with purpose carrying out their dreams against all odds. So that brings me to the understanding that my mantra is reciprocating.Inspiration is the catalyst to Purpose, but one with purpose broadcasts inspiration to others. It’s a renewable process if you will. It shows how social of a species we are, how we are interconnected to each other for a common goal. To have purpose. To have impact. It all starts with the actions of one. A ripple is created.
This ripple may be caused by the work that is created by this individual or their actions. For me the ripples of inspiration that capture me most fall into three areas; still, motion and music. Still for me is photography, my chosen form to express myself. Motion through filmmaking, the works created by; directors, cinematographers and actors. Last but not least, music, the works of composers and musicians. When motion and music are paired seamlessly I find the path appear in front of me almost effortlessly.
Through these bursts of inspiration I have witnessed my own style of photography change, not to mention my understanding of the world and what I want to get out of my time here.
So one day I sat down and grabbed a pen and paper and started to write out the names of the individuals that have inspired my work, or have helped shape it whether or not they are aware of the impact of their ripple. To better understand the origins of my inspiration and to broadcast it myself I set out to interview and photograph these beacons of light, to follow the ripple back in time. Here are those stories. Let’s inspire and create.