My photography teacher, Bryan Petersen once told me, “every image you create is a self portrait”.
This simple statement landed on me powerfully.
I thought about it and realised my images represented an opportunity for the viewer to see, feel and experience my view of the world.
This process also revealed to me that my photographic subject, the context and the moment I trip the shutter revealed something about me.
I decided to apply this to magic and performance.
Every routine in my repertoire reveals something about me to my audience.
In my last post, I discussed my feelings about Darwin Ortiz’s outstanding routine The Unholy Three.
Consider for a moment; you have just presented one of the strongest routines ever to a lay audience. What thoughts do you think your audience will have about YOU, after experiencing this routine, or any high calibre routine for that matter?
Trust me.
Your performance, my performance is our SELF PORTRAIT.
It’s kind of funny.
We live in an era now of Likes, Thumbs Up, Selfies, Facebook and Instagram post. All of this is designed to do one thing – we are saying to the world,
LOOK AT ME.
Andy Warhol was right – 15 minutes of fame.
The world of online engagement has become very noisy with one post after another fighting for our attention.
Our performance of magic is part of this noisy world.
So, I am asking you to consider carefully, when you step out in front of an audience, that very act is a part of the LOOK AT ME world we now live in.
The magic we share, the words we speak are an indication, a reference point of our world. We are letting our audience into our FANTASY.
They trust us to come along for the ride.
It’s up to us to ensure that we provide them with an unforgettable experience.
The experience they have bends their point of view of reality, life, the view they have of themselves and how they see and feel about us.
This blog post is a short break from Classic Routines.
I just wanted to interrupt that conversation with this current train of thought that I am having.
Classic Routines will return with a discussion on a personal favourite of mine, Matching The Cards.
For now, think about these two questions;
What do you want your audience say about you after your performance?
How do you want them to feel?
How you answer these questions is the beginning of an adventure that can transform how you see yourself and others. Most importantly, how others see you, me/us.
Thanks for reading
Mike
Stay tuned.