2 Year Anniversary!
Today the Light Leaks officially turns 2 years old. 2 years ago, I stayed up all night in my dorm room monitoring social feeds, making sure the optimized photos for web were all in place and waiting. I was waiting for this very big different thing I’d never done before to come to life. I never expected the Light Leaks to take life how it did. I knew there were people both very similar but also incredibly different from me who needed community in the film industry. I thought it would be a simple website that I'd update every few weeks where you could see other filmmakers' work, follow them, and gain confidence that you could also thrive. I never expected the speaking events, the events I host, the online store, the patreon, learning business skills, starting a business before graduating from college, the messages of support, or any of what's followed. I wanted to keep things small, I never dreamed up any of this. My expectations were low but now, I really don’t think it's possible to hold the Light Leaks back. When I created it, I never realized how much it would change my own life. It's given me the ability to dream bigger for these voices kept out of the film industry and for myself.
The story behind the name based on the light leaks in film photography that occur when the film is prematurely exposed to light. They used to be seen as bright mistakes in a photo that disrupted the image. Light leaks are now accepted as a trendy stylistic choice in photography, now with digital filters recreating them on apps. Woman and GNC filmmakers are the bright, beautiful, and disruptive voices in the film industry. They still make headlines, they’re still not the norm, they’re still happy mistakes. But one day it won’t be like that, they won’t be mistakes. The Light Leaks works for these voices to be heard, stories to be treasured, and films to be championed as canon. Sometimes I get this disassociating feeling and I look at it and it's like it runs itself- it's the community it has cultivated online that keeps it going and I can't say thank you enough.
love,
