> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://journal.hellothalia.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What Photography & Creating Means To Me - URL: https://journal.hellothalia.org/what-photography-creating-means-to-me/ - Published: 2026-10-02T14:00:29.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-02T14:15:48.000Z - Description: It's more than comfort. It's home. - Author: Thalia Longchamp - Tags: THE FRAME ### Writing was my first real talent. Teachers noticed since kindergarten My mom noticed even earlier: > “Thalia is a creative.” If I had to guess why writing was the first talent to reveal itself, it’d probably be because of my mother reading to me while I was in her womb and as a toddler— a lot. She was so animated while reading books like The Golden Fleece, Ferdinand The Bull, and A Little Princess. The worlds we visited when we read together were so vivid, that I found myself feeling like I was a character in those stories… which were always filled with magic. I suppose eventually I wanted to create my own world which was filled with magic, too. That’s what writing is for me now, and that’s how its always been. With writing, I get to express myself with the help of voices from the greats, who informed my inner world growing up. Strong, beautiful, and intense literary voices, whisper to me from beyond the deep as I write. They encourage me to do my best to use the words which illustrate my soul. When I write, a spiritual observer within takes over. Then suddenly, I know how I *really* feel. I know what I really *think*. And I am told by these voices from beyond the veil, and my own spirit— to do what I need to write down exactly how I perceive the undercurrent of my emotions, perspectives, and impulses. The only way I can exhume what needs to get out of me- and it only can with the written word- is to paint a vivid picture with as much detail and references as I can muster. That way, I am never alienating my reader. ### When I discovered, out of necessity that I ought to write about another talent I love— therefore combining two loves— it changed something in my soul. Something dormant came back to life. Something that had been forced into submission, either by myself or unsavory experiences, had roared. **Loudly**. I needed to *create*. I needed to honor that I was first and foremost a creative, then an *artist* in this world. ### Photography started seriously for me when I was 29\. I always had a digital camera during my adolesence and teen years. In my early 20’s, I just used my iphone. But when I left living in Ocean Beach (a beach town in San Diego,) and came back home to live in New York, I was depressed. I didn’t know what direction I wanted to take my life anymore. I was working as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy practitioner, and intersected my work with New Age spirituality. And, it wasn’t enough. I didn’t feel creative. I didn’t feel like an artist. So I figured I wasn’t those things anymore. What I did with that, was enroll into a psychology program, so I could just get a Master's, become a licensed therapist… But, I realized that even with a steady plan and taking action on it, that it *still* **wasn’t enough.** Because of that, I was struggling with my faith, I couldn’t get out of bed, and I certainly wasn’t creating or writing. Then eventually, I got sick of my self-mortification, and I had a thought: > I’ll buy a camera. And that changed everything. I’ve owned: a Sony zve-10, Fujifilm XM5, DJI Osmo Pocket 3, and a Canon EOS RP. And now I have my main baby: a Sony A7RII w/ a 28mm vinatge Canon FD lens. I also have my film camera which my baby gave me on my birthday: a Canon FTBn w/ a 50mm vintage Canon FD Chrome Nose lens. I have been spoiled. *And I don’t mind.* Photography served as a window to the world outside of my bedroom, invited me to come play, and leave my depression behind. Doing street photography, which means so much to me for a myriad of deeply personal reasons, and intersecting it with writing— **which got me through the worst of the torrential storms of my life**— is the creative marriage I didn’t know I needed. And it’s a partnership I hope and believe will sustain itself, sustain me, and allow me to live in the colorful way I came into this world— with so much vibrancy that it was undeniable to my teachers and family. I will continue to write. I will continue photography. > And as an artist, I must. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/75/c3/75c33d21-2620-4875-a96c-af61a0c3b9ca/content/images/2026/10/21847.jpg) --- [Share](#/share) [Shop print edition](https://mixam.com/print-on-demand/6ab56def4f52e7d5f50aea02?ref=journal.hellothalia.org)