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241: The Politics of Authentic Imagery - Jason Malouin
80 Plays2 months ago
Jason Malouin started his career as a Lighting Designer for live theatre and worked all over the United States for about 5 years. He was obsessed with creating these dramatic, shifting lightscapes for the actors on stage to move through it was replicating something as boring (and tricky) as office light or a laser-pointer-esque, dramatic spotlight. It was super creative and super technical.
Like many people do, Jason came to an unexpected crossroads. He says “One can only do the regional circuit for so long. It was time to move to New York City and commit to that career on a whole new level or do something else entirely. But I knew there was more out there for me.”
What followed was some twists and turns career wise including eight year as a Wilderness Guide all over the USA, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean. Later came photography which is how I know Jason through mutual peers. He has won awards and has a reputation for being a master of the craft for a decade now.
His images are more than art and smarter than a sharp headshot. It is about visually capturing the people he photographs as authentically as he can.
1. How do trust, authenticity, and integrity come together ideally in a photograph?
2. Are there some surefire ways to get to know your subject matter aka humans to capture their true self versus what social media often demands, the ‘vanilla but glossy’ version of ourselves?
3. Does imagery of ourselves need to find ways to evolve– so we can tell a story of our life versus seeking to rely on a single-moment headshot which can be a hero photo – great for LinkedIn etc - but often is staged to make us look more empowered or younger or less vulnerable? How can we do this better and get OK with that too?
4. Your favourite photo shoot ever and why?
Connect further:
(9) Jason Malouin - Superpower Portraits | LinkedIn
About Jason — Superpower Portraits by Jason M
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the politics of everything. I'm Amber Danes, your host and podcast producer. This is a half hour of power podcast dropping every week where I unpack the politics of everything from money to motherhood, nutrition to narcissism, startups to secularism, the environment, quality and much, much more.
00:00:22
Speaker
Our guests are seasoned in the field of topic of their choice, even if you've not heard of them yet. This is a nonpartisan show. So while I love exploring varied views and get a buzz from a healthy debate of ideas, this is not a purely blue, white, green program. Please subscribe, tune in and enjoy the politics of everything.
Jason's Career Journey
00:00:46
Speaker
Jason Malowin studied his career as a lighting designer for live theater and worked all over the United States for about five years. He was obsessed with creating these dramatic shifting lightscapes for the actors on stage to move through. It was replicating something as boring or as tricky as office light or a laser point to risk dramatic spotlight. It was super creative and super technical.
00:01:07
Speaker
Like many people, Jason came to an unexpected crossroads. He says, one can only do the regional circuit for so long. It was time to move to New York City and commit to that career on a whole new level or do something else entirely. But I knew there was more out there for me. What followed were some twists and turns career-wise, including eight years as a wilderness guide all over the US, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean. Later came photography, which is how I know Jason through mutual peers.
00:01:34
Speaker
He's won awards and has a reputation for being a master of the craft for a decade or so now. His images are more than art and smarter than the sharp head shops most of us are familiar with. It's about visually capturing the people he photographs as authentically as possible. And our topic today is this. So now I warmly welcome Jason to the politics of everything. Well, thanks for having me, Amber. I'm excited to jump on here
Using Zencastr and Special Offers
00:01:57
Speaker
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00:02:00
Speaker
Podcasting remotely can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Since day one of the politics of everything, I have relied on Zencasters all in one solution to make the process quick and painless, the way it should be for those of us who just love great content and want to get our ideas out into the world. If you know me, I'm obsessed with quality in terms of my guests, my sound, and everything about my show has to be great the first time. I'm Time Paul.
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Jason's Childhood Aspirations and Photography Discussion
00:03:10
Speaker
It's time to share your story.
00:03:12
Speaker
Absolutely. And look, we would love some visuals. We're just chatting about that in the preamble because it's what you do. But yeah, being podcast purist, I don't actually video these things, but um I've given you a little bit of a, I guess, an intro of what you've done career wise. But, you know, as a young kid, did you think you'd be working in this space? Is there kind of some kind of let's look back, join the dots and sort of see how we landed where we are? Or was it totally by chance or by life experience that you've ended up in this photography space?
00:03:41
Speaker
You know, it's it's kind of funny. This is a really good question because i having had to think about it for a moment, it's always appeared to be pure random chance, but it turns out there is actually a ah thread that I was able to to kind of follow as I pondered this. Look, as ah as a kid, I was 100% convinced I was going to be a brain surgeon.
00:04:07
Speaker
There you go. Wow, I would not have picked that as being you. No, not at all, really. But I don't know why. There was something just so captivating about about cracking somebody's head open and getting in there and digging around.
00:04:19
Speaker
And it kind of turns out that, you know, I'm not much of the ah the physical mechanics kind of brain work these days, but but really, you know, it's all, but everything I do is perception. It's yeah communication. And, you know, even specifically, like, for example, body language, you know, that that comes from the limbic part of your brain. you know We are meaning making machines and and every single part of our body language, the way we express ourselves non-verbally, you have to understand where that comes from, what that part of the brain is trying to do and and accomplish. and
00:05:04
Speaker
ah So yeah, I'm very much into the brain, just not with... No, with surgery and surgical tools and yeah so forth and scrubs. Look, this is a big question, my next one, but I think it's something I just want to touch on because you know people look at photographs and images and they create certain feelings, evoke certain ideas. What you do is obviously quite strategic. How do things like trust, authenticity and integrity come together in one image or a series of images, how do you actually get to that point? I guess is my question. Yeah, this is really, this is a really good question. It's a, it's a huge one actually. So let me start by saying look trust is probably like the most important factor in all this, but we kind of can't start there. We got to come back around to that one.
00:05:58
Speaker
I'm gonna break it down into the three things, the trust, authenticity, and integrity, because sure like first of all, all three of these things, trust, authenticity, integrity, these are are side effects, much like weight loss is a side effect of healthy living, right?
00:06:19
Speaker
These are not things that we can do on camera. So there's all the things that we want our our images to convey. There's all the things that we want to communicate with the world. But it has to be broken down into things that we can physically do, that we can physicalize and embody. So to take these massive ideas like trust, authenticity, and integrity and bring it into something that we can physicalize, it's taken a lot of of really defining this stuff, understanding it, and and coming at it from a very specific approach. So for example,
00:07:00
Speaker
integrity, right? You can't do integrity. And integrity itself is this, it's um it's a massive word. And it what means something slightly different to different people? I mean, I think it has a universal meaning, but, you know, people will interpret it differently.
00:07:16
Speaker
That's exactly it. So when you say integrity, integrity to you, integrity to me, it could be very different things. Sure. There's a ah shared thread of what we kind of understand that to be, but the parts of my deepest values.
00:07:31
Speaker
you know, show up in ah in a different way. So integrity is very much the the content of the image, right? Like by taking that idea and digging deeper, you know, at like say, if integrity, for example, in this case is like, I do what I say, you know, that's that's still a bit deeper, but it's not something we can literally do on camera. We have to,
00:07:59
Speaker
figure, find something that we can do. So if integrity in that sense becomes you know um a deep self-reliance and a deep self-esteem, and and you know like if we start to get to some of these more meaningful things, then we can start to express this on camera. So integrity will happen as a side effect of getting in touch with these deeper foundational aspects of that idea. And that's different for everyone, like you said. And then the authenticity, it's kind of like the alignment piece or even the context piece.
Techniques for Genuine Photography
00:08:46
Speaker
So like, because we have to do these
00:08:51
Speaker
qualities and attributes like integrity and and and other things that we want to express. We need to yeah we need the our our body to like kind of do these express these things in its most natural honest way. So it's a bit of ah a range of motion really. It is. And it feels like it's it's different things in motion happening to actually bring that all together. And I guess when you're working with people and you may not know them, that must be a bit challenging because you know if you've got a relationship with someone, you know someone, you've hung out with them, you get a good sense of someone. When you meet someone,
00:09:32
Speaker
in what is sometimes quite an artificial environment because they might be nervous about getting their photo taken or they're not sure what to do with their hands and where to look and what to wear and all those sort of superficial things if you like. How do you cut through that? I guess. well It's an entirely um fabricated situation that most people don't find themselves in in any kind of regular day-to-day thing so it is insanely uncomfortable, recognizing that people are showing up on the very cliff's edge of fight or flight, quite honestly.
00:10:06
Speaker
i mean people have ah you know the yeah A person shows up to a photo shoot with very little certainty, very little control of the outcome, so they perceive in in that moment.
00:10:20
Speaker
You know, they're they're kind of hoping and dreaming this might actually work for me and it's very confronting. So it's it's really a matter of managing. the fear, the deep like fear of ah everyone that's about to to do this. Yeah. I know. I always feel like that. And I look, I've done lots of photos and I've had a ah profile for a while and I had a career in the media and I still get nervous when my photo is being taken. I don't mind in a group, like a team shot. It's just that individual stuff. And particularly if I haven't worked with a photographer before, even though if I love the idea of what they do,
00:10:56
Speaker
You know, how do you get, I guess, so some what are some of the surefire ways that you get to know your your humans, your subject matter to capture that, I guess, best and true version of themselves versus I guess sometimes it's just that people feel like it's about posing and looking very vanilla in the power shot and the blue steel from, you know. yeah movies. And I just think sometimes being told what to do is actually worse in my experience when they go stand like this, cross your arms, look over here, look like you're laughing. Like I hate those photos. I just yeah yeah can't do fake laughter. No, no. And, and you know, as, as audiences are more and more savvy to the bull. Can we curse here? I don't know. i don't know Maybe, maybe apple iTunes or banners, but yeah, I i hear you.
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah, like any any insincerity I think is picked up on far more quickly these days because we are so used to being bombarded with imagery. We assess, you know, like I said, we are meaning making machines our brains. That's literally what we do. And we we say yes, honest, no bullshit. ah so You know, like it's just it's automatic.
00:12:06
Speaker
yeah So yeah, being put in a position where you're trying to recreate something real is is pretty tricky. The way I like to do it is by, first of all, giving somebody some quick wins, right? Like you just, and I think this is probably useful in any ah scenario, whether it's in a photography session or or anything that you do with your clients, like, or potentially, you know, people that are showing up needing to trust that you're gonna be able to get this job done, you know being able to give someone a quick win where they go, oh, okay, this might actually be all right. That little bit of confidence is literally what pulls people back from that cliff's edge of like the uncertainty and fear. From there, I find I have far more permission
00:13:02
Speaker
in that moment to kind of take people through a bit of ah a range of motion. So we do fabric. Well, first of all, I need to kind of see how somebody moves. like yeah Because everybody holds their tension yeah differently. People have injuries and other kinds of life things affecting the way they hold themselves, move themselves. So really understanding how somebody holds themselves, how somebody moves and and how they can begin to express what they really are.
Purpose and Audience in Photography
00:13:35
Speaker
ah From there, it becomes like this range of motion where we just kind of see what
00:13:40
Speaker
Kind of means what? On camera. And do you have often work to a brief? Is it often the idea, like my experience has been, you know, these photos are for this purpose or we want a series of photos we can do that cover these aspects of their business or their interests or whatever it might be. Like, is that how you're working?
00:14:00
Speaker
Yeah, knowing knowing where these images are going to be used how and why what you're trying. Yeah, for sure. I mean, um you know, certain certain images need to go to certain audiences a lot of times, like within a regular photo shoot where we are communicating with multiple audiences. So we are making sure that you know, there is ah something appropriate for a potential client versus a speaking gig. You know, those would be yeah potentially very different kind of images. So yeah, under understanding what they're trying to accomplish is, um is super important. And sometimes I guess people often they say one thing, but they really need more than that. Have you ever had that experience where they go, I just had some headshots for my LinkedIn and for my you know business. And then it's like, well, actually,
00:14:50
Speaker
There's much more to this now. And that, that's all, that all needs to be done upfront. That needs to be a, you know what I mean? That's, that's a matter of like just good customer service. Yeah. Not just bringing one outfit, for example, you know, I've had that happen. I have had that happen. oh It's tragic. I always say to people, just pretend you're just going to spill coffee on that outfit. What else have you got? You know, like, because, you know, you just don't want to be limited by color or all those sorts of things. And in a very pragmatic sense, like if,
00:15:20
Speaker
One is going into a photo shoot. You know, I've had people bring the most their absolute power suits, you know, the stuff that makes them look and feel amazing on stage or whatever. And ah in a particular setting, in a particular lighting, a particular background, if you're it just doesn't work. If you're certain fabrics that if you're sitting versus if you're standing, it just falls different. It doesn't work.
00:15:49
Speaker
So you need to be able to go, all right, this is the shot, but we need to go find something else that works better in here. So always bring a suitcase full of clothes. You can never have too many options. I agree. It makes everything a lot easier. And I think if it's a static image, people might think that they have more control, but I think in a static image sometimes,
00:16:08
Speaker
Yeah, there's like there's so much scrutiny. So like you look back at it and you go, wow, those pants are a bit tight or that just doesn't allow me to move or it looks crushed when I stand versus when I see it. And, you know, there are things which I think you become a bit obsessive with in a still photo, which if it's a video or something, it could be a little bit more forgiving because that's exactly right. I mean, a still photo is kind of brutal because it's frozen in time when you're in a conversation with someone.
00:16:36
Speaker
There's all this like live context and you don't, you don't, you don't notice all these weird little details. So yeah, I always, we always talk about how retouching actually works during the photo shoot itself. And for me, it's more about getting it real rather than getting it right.
00:16:54
Speaker
you know And I would rather take something away that is not relevant to the experience of you as a human in time and space.
00:17:06
Speaker
ah and getting it right is more of like the the photojournalistic version of that, that you cannot be changed. It cannot be altered. It must be 100% truth. And that's that's a fine balance. you know ah The honesty versus the truth. there's this kind of It's a bit of a scale and then those are two very different things.
00:17:32
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's very interesting. It's such a process which people kind of probably don't sometimes realize until they're in it as well. How do you think imagery needs to find ways to evolve? So, you know, we tell a certain story, clothes can tell a certain story, lighting environments that you might do your shoot in versus I guess, you know, people often want that hero photo, that thing that looks great on their LinkedIn profile or they might use to get speaking gigs from their website, things like that.
00:17:59
Speaker
but I reckon sometimes it's so staged you know we try and look younger we try and look more empowered less vulnerable less kind of i guess human which one of the best version of ourselves but i do think i have a time you need to have a variety of images so how can we get better at doing this without it you know being stuff that we are uncomfortable with you have to love your photos i agree but i do think you get reliant on those one or two.
00:18:25
Speaker
magic shots, which, you know, have a purpose, but everyone's got the same photo. I feel like sometimes does that make sense? The CEO of the arms folded in the suit and the, you know, the corporate crotch cover with standing there holding your wrists straight out and from, Oh my God, I can't do it. I know you can't do it and that's why we're having this chat and why it's you that I'm speaking to because I think people don't know how to deviate from that without it feeling like oh and this is terrible. In all 100% honesty, it is not their freaking job. It is not as you as a client stepping in front of a camera. It is not your job to know how to do this. yeah It is the job of the photographer and anyone that tells you otherwise is
00:19:08
Speaker
full of it or they don't know what their job is because honestly, it that doing this is far more about like directing something ah rather than ah any expectation that you should know what to be able to do.
Photography as a Transformational Experience
00:19:26
Speaker
But really, I mean, this is a kind of a chicken or an egg question almost because yes, the imagery needs to evolve, but I think This is a much bigger question or a much bigger answer maybe, but yeah I think our vision of ourselves needs to evolve before the imagery can. That's interesting. so how Just explain that a little bit for people because I think it's hard to look back at yourself. An image is almost an outward outward projection, but really what you're saying is it starts with us reflecting before we get to that point.
00:20:03
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. Over the years, I've had far too many people show up to record an album without knowing how to play their instrument. And it just doesn't make any sense. And is that because of lack of experience in doing it or a kind of pre-described way that they think this is going to go? Like, how do you build that confidence, I guess, to really get there quicker, I suppose?
00:20:27
Speaker
Well, I think for anybody's, for any business to be relevant, I'm just going to go kind of like 30,000 feet on this one real quick. Like it's about creating a transformation yeah rather than creating some kind of information. You know, there has to be some kind of outcome. There has to be the thing that you get when you, you know, sign up to buy the thing, right? But knowing that this is a transformational opportunity to realign and redefine and recommit to who you really are. like It's so much bigger than just getting some pictures. So in a very practical sense, right understanding that
00:21:11
Speaker
i like I say it's ah it's like communicating in 3D. Everything that I do in my pictures visually, I try to make the images feel more 3D. That's the way I like to try to communicate um my through my images more in 3D. But for the person standing there,
00:21:32
Speaker
knowing that there are really only three things that we can communicate to create a three dimensional perspective of of us, our our businesses. There's your skillset that you can communicate. That's very much what you do.
00:21:52
Speaker
And then when you get really good at it, there's what you really do. And then there's what you really, really do. yeah ah those layers It's like peeling back, you know, all those layers, I guess. A hundred percent. And the better you get at communicating what you really, really do, you know, that's going to start to inform how we show up.
00:22:11
Speaker
But that only comes from the second one, which is mindset, how you think, how you want to think, you know what you think about, what you spend your time with your brain on, and heart set, how we feel, what we believe, our deepest values, like the place that we really come from when we go out to do the doing.
00:22:36
Speaker
So that communicating in 3D, when you can step into any situation, not just a photo shoot, um this is literally anything. Like when you are more aware of your heart set, more aligned with your mindset, changes the way you communicate your skillset. And this very ah profound process of of like kind of getting in and having a real look at this stuff before you go out and communicate with the world and your audience in other ways, like photography, like the copy on your website, like an email that you're sending to a potential new partner or potential new team or new clients. It changes the way we communicate everything.
00:23:29
Speaker
it completely changes the conversation. So that's kind of the way I recommend people approach it. And that's the approach that I take with people in preparation for coming into a photo shoot, because until we have some of these, this box full of parts, uh, you know, we, we don't really have anything to draw from when you walk into a photo shoot and it's like, all right, just do what you do. It's like, well, I can,
00:23:57
Speaker
But that's going to be my version. Yeah, exactly. That sounds like a bit like, you know, paint by numbers almost. And it works because my vision of people, the way I see the world and the people that stand in front of me, I see people as incredibly powerful, intentional beings who are on this planet to have an impact and make a difference. So my filter on the world, you know, comes through in those ways, but there are very real subtle human nuances that you need to own yeah that I can not really create for you.
00:24:46
Speaker
When I know what you want to do, I can create that for you. And I think this would come from, I think this would be completely applicable if we're talking about ah a marketing
Jason's Notable Photography Projects
00:24:56
Speaker
plan. You take your stuff to a marketing pro who is the top of the pile.
00:25:02
Speaker
and they're gonna say, who are you? What are you about? What are your vision and values? They want they need to know, they need the box full of parts yeah before they can start assembling it. Yeah, that's some great analogies and ideas in there for people to mull over. A very pointed question, ah your favorite ever photo shoot and why? Oh man.
00:25:24
Speaker
Is it like choosing like favorite pets or children or something? Maybe, but there's got to be some, at least one that stands out. It may not be the top favorite. There might be a few, but you know, things that just worked and you're so happy with it and you love looking at that work.
00:25:38
Speaker
there There's the ah the kind of the classic artistic answer to that question, which is like my next photo shoot is my favorite photo shoot because I'm always trying to top what I've done before just in terms of the impact and the connection and the meaning and all that good stuff. But quite honestly, the stuff that stands out is the work that I had have done for Oxfam over the years.
00:26:04
Speaker
i was I haven't done it for a few years now, but um we used to go out on these ah adventures all over Australia. It was for the Close the Gap campaign, which is closing the um indigenous life expectancy healthcare care gap. And I would go into these communities. Very remote sometimes, ah very urban other times. So I'd either be like in town camp somewhere out in the middle of Kakadu, or I'd be speaking to the CEOs, photographing the CEOs of ah indigenous organizations in Canberra and everything in between. And that experience of
00:26:48
Speaker
being asked to step into a community of which, you know, I am very, not part of, you know, I'm not even from this country, let alone, you know, ah have really much connection or or experience with indigenous folks at all, because this was kind of the early days that I was here. and Yeah, but that sounds like it stands out in your mind, which I think it was pretty special. And yeah, like, for example, this one time, ah you know, men and women are are a little bit separated in in the communities. It's not really your hey crossover. You could go talk to people and take people's pictures. But there was this group of women who were sitting under a tree just chatting. I was way where were we were on Palm Island, I think.
00:27:40
Speaker
And I was like, this is just so cool. And to walk ah over there and take their picture would have been the most disgustingly rude, inappropriate, like just wrong. Yeah, wouldn't it wouldn't have. Yeah, you wouldn't have got what you wanted, I guess, as well. Oh, I could have got what I wanted, but it would have been like paparazzi gross, okay you know, and it would have left an ill ah but would have left a foul taste. And so I was like, what, you know, I'm all I love people.
00:28:08
Speaker
I could communicate with anybody. So I walked over and sat down and opened up a giant map that I had just bought at the the gas station next door. And I didn't even say anything. I just said hi. I just opened it up and asked them to kind of show me. And then this whole conversation, all four of these women started talking about the map and showing
Authentic Engagement and Communication Hacks
00:28:30
Speaker
me stuff. And it became this real, honest, simple human conversation that didn't require pretext or and anything forced. And from that moment, I was I had the permission to lift the camera and you know, it it became something real. Absolutely. right And I think that's that's the point at the end of the day, right? That you're really getting to something as real as possible that everyone is happy with.
00:29:02
Speaker
changing tack a little bit, your number one favorite business tool hack at the moment and how is it helping you? Look, I mean, this is this is as much of a business hack as much as it is a life lesson that I'm really kind of, this has changed everything that I'm doing, the way I'm doing everything, the way I'm communicating me and myself right now.
00:29:30
Speaker
recognizing that we are literally communicating a hundred percent of the time, yeah communicating nonstop externally and internally, right? and The internal obviously being the more significant of the two, but just becoming so much more aware of that inner monologue or dialogue, whatever it happens to be, so much more familiar with that voice and the things that are being said internally, thought, the feelings. So by being able to curate that,
00:30:13
Speaker
inner monologue, that inner dialogue. And by training the mind to be first, a little bit more aware of what we're thinking and how, what it is we're feeling. And then second, making really specific choices, I would say, like powerful, meaningful, intentional,
00:30:36
Speaker
fully aligned choices, like what do I want to be thinking? How do I want to be thinking? What do I want to feel? How do I want to feel? All of this comes from the portrait.
00:30:50
Speaker
session. Like this is how I get the images that I get. But by taking this stuff and kind of reverse engineering it into my life yeah and into my business in order to be able to communicate what I really, really do, that has been the single thing that has changed my business communication as well as my personal communication. Yeah, absolutely. It's so much more aligned. It's so much more... It makes sense though. It just makes sense. And I think that that's often what you realize um once you've had... Look, it makes sense. And I think we all know this ah you know on on paper. You can look at it and go, why, yes, of course, that's 100% correct. but
00:31:35
Speaker
the The thing is that the time and effort it takes to to do this is significant. And it often just gets put off till later because there are other more pressing things in life that must be attended to now. Like it's the truth. Yeah. But yeah taking this time or some time to revisit this, the more you can find little ways to put it in your daily experience, just to remind yourself, what do I want to be thinking right now? How do I want to be feeling? Like, what could I communicate differently? It starts to change how you show up and it really starts to change the conversations around selling, you know, because when a potential client is on the phone,
00:32:26
Speaker
And I'm talking about photography and you get this many photos and this is what it costs. It's like, that's not that's not the transformational experience that I wanna create for my clients. um It's really about, you know when I start talking about communicating in 3D, for example, it's like it's just a very different conversation and it's a very different value.
Reflection on Success and Personal Values
00:32:49
Speaker
How do you define your own version of success?
00:32:53
Speaker
What? Okay. It's broad. Do you want to talk about images or do you want to just generally, so this is more about you and you know, I guess for some, like a lot of my guests, you know, depending what stage of life they're at, they've discussed the idea that when they were younger, it was about having an awards and external validation and a nice car and all those things. And you know, sometimes it's about different things now, or at the moment it's very consistent. And you know, I guess for you, when you reflect on your week, your day, whatever it might be, how do you know you've had a good one?
00:33:23
Speaker
That external validation is very interesting. I've kind of just noticed, just as a subplot, I've kind of noticed that we are often reaching outward to create more impact in the world when at a certain point you must go within.
00:33:44
Speaker
Re-engage, re-energize, re-alight those fires because it changes your doing. you know your're Your to be list changes the way we do our to do list. So that that external thing is really interesting because we tend to look outward.
00:34:02
Speaker
when it really needs to come back in before it can go back out. um But anyway, that's a bit of an aside. Look, I think success, it's kind of like I just injured a disc a bunch of years ago, right, in my back. And I wanted to start running again.
00:34:20
Speaker
and i I went out running a couple of times and it was felt like I was starting over again. It was very frustrating. And and I was getting getting frustrated with the fact that i I didn't feel like I was able to do the thing that I used to do. And I felt like I was starting over and it was so I kind of had to like go find this like ah to go re look at the values, like what am I really trying to do here? Am I trying to run or am I trying to express myself, my body in ah in healthfulness? Am I trying to move my body in a joyful, playful way?
00:35:03
Speaker
because I genuinely enjoy running, but couldn't really do it. So like when i when I was able to go, oh no, what i'm not I'm not actually trying to run, running is the side effect, I wanna be able to run, but what I'm here to do is move my body in a joyful, playful expression of healthfulness. That is one of those examples of a moment by moment choice that gets me to a real result.
00:35:32
Speaker
I like that. The success and the for me, it is a moment by moment choice. Yeah. Because I might not be seeing the specific result that I want right now, but if I am fully committed to my values and fully aligned with the actions, it changes the value of all of it. It's a complete shift. And it's in those moments that I am running, even if I'm not running, if it means stopping and stretching, if it means walking, if it means jumping up and down for a second, that's what running is right now. And if
Conclusion and Invitation to Connect
00:36:15
Speaker
that's the successful expression of what I deem healthfulness to be, then that is success in that moment. Just a final wrap up message for us on the politics of authentic imagery.
00:36:29
Speaker
Yeah, look, there is a famous French comedian who I found a quote of his a few years ago and it just gets truer and truer every time I think about it. He said, you aren't responsible for the way your face looks.
00:36:50
Speaker
but you are responsible for the face you're making. Gosh, profound. It is, isn't it? Uh, it's very, um, there's a, there's a huge layer of self responsibility on that. And again, it just comes down to the moment by moment choices that we're making. And you know, we, we come into a photo shoot, for example, thinking of all the ways that we don't necessarily like how we look.
00:37:16
Speaker
but we do have a choice how we choose to show up and who we know ourselves to be and how we can express and embody and portray that, not just in our images, but in everything. I love that quote. Such a great conversation. Of course, we do want to connect further with Jason. There are some details on the show notes. You've been listening to the politics of everything with me, Amber Danes. Until next time, take care.