Let Go of Legacy

Your legacy is not for you to create.

The myth of the legacy haunts all of us, especially artists. Yet there is nothing we can do about it. We don’t get to write our biographies after we’re dead. We don’t get to choose how our work is interpreted in 50 years, if it’s interpreted at all.

Most of us (even the rich and currently famous) will be relative unknowns to future generations. Just ask the average person on the street who the president was a century ago and what his legacy was. Good luck with that.

And even if you do become memorable to history, the future of the human race may not be all that long. We don’t know.

Legacy doesn’t really exist the way we think it does. I take great comfort in that. It’s freeing to know that I can exist just for the moment. That’s exactly what photography is for.