We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful CJ Draper. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with CJ below.

CJ, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

To me, meaningful projects are anything that makes me happy. It’s all about going from “I have this crazy idea” to “and here it is for you to experience with me.” I am very much a storyteller, but these days, I’m less literal in my process and outcome. It used to be about making a deep connection with someone and revealing who they are. Now it’s still about connecting, but we’re focused more on the more hidden, outrageous sides of a person’s personality. It’s very freeing to those on both sides of the camera. Success in my recent work is measured by the number of people I know who describe themselves as “camera shy” but who will jump in front of the camera to be part of my weird visual world.

CJ, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a longtime portrait photographer, always working solely in black and white. I entered the photography world as a children’s photographer, and as my own children grew, so did the breadth of my work and subject matter. I’m also a musician and singer, and those two worlds have always been intertwined; probably the best example of this has been my backstage images of the burlesque cabaret where I performed as a torch singer for many years.

After over twenty years as a portraitist, I found myself drained of creativity energy and focused on other aspects of my life. Eventually, inspiration found me again, and in a healthier state of mind. I’m at a point in my life where I can create freely, across many disciplines but with virtually no actual DISCIPLINE. I have always been drawn to all things old, dark, mysterious, eccentric, and abandoned. That comes through now in my photography, but also in garden design, interior design, repurposing old objects, painting, music, and any other project I fall into. I suppose it comes down to having visions in my head that I now have (mostly) the tools to bring to life, and enjoying other people’s reactions to them.

While I occasionally take assignments and book paid sessions, what brings me the most joy now is simply creating the strange things I create and making people wonder what is wrong with me.

Oh, and throwing a wild Halloween party.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I would have to reframe this question in order to answer it. I don’t believe there are inherently non-creative people. Everyone is creative in some way. Getting through life requires a certain level of creativity. In current society, we are programmed to equate creativity with “art” and that’s certainly one aspect, but only a small one.

There’s also creativity in communication, in solving technical problems, with fixing cars, raising children, addressing legal problems, in getting dressed in the morning. We each have our own unique past and personality, and the thousands of tiny decisions we make every day are evidence of our creative choices. I have never met a child who wasn’t creative, and I’ve never met an adult who wasn’t once a child. The creativity is there, just under layers of adult obligations and an overdeveloped self-edit function.

Possibly the distinction is in intentionally setting out to “create” and then put that creation on display.

All that is to say, a “creative” is just a person who acts on their wild ideas and is willing to throw them out into the world.

What is one lesson you had to unlearn?

I learned very early on that I’m a natural mimic. As a young child, three or four years old, my parents recognized that I was musically inclined, like my older sister. She would sit at our enormous old upright piano and dutifully practice her lessons. It took some time for my parents to realize that when she was finished, I would climb up and repeat everything she had played — listening from the other room, they thought it was still her. They decided I was ready for piano lessons.

So off I went to lessons, where my piano teacher would give me a new piece to learn, and play it for me once so I knew what it should sound like. After hearing it played, I could just play it back, and so it took some time for him to realize that I hadn’t learned to read music. I was just memorizing and repeating.

I knew going into my creative journey that I needed to avoid the imitation trap. If I allowed myself to look at what other photographers (and musicians) were doing, I would unconsciously follow suit. That’s not what I wanted to do. I learned to find inspiration from sources that weren’t so on-the-nose. Old movies, master paintings, sculpture, shadows, there was so much to pull from everywhere I looked. I learned to absorb the feeling of what I saw and heard, and find my own way to express it. I never wanted to be the second coming of anybody. Over the years, this approach has helped me find my own voice and follow my own instincts, and it’s kept the journey exciting. It’s continual self-discovery.
Every so often, I do get a comment about how my work resembles some other artist; I don’t mind that, because I know that I arrived there honestly and authentically.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I find it incredibly rewarding to get to live in a world of my own design. My home and garden are my sanctuary, and they reflect who I am very clearly. I’ve fostered friendships and relationships who embrace my weird and happily participate in my shenanigans. (You know you have found your people when you put out a call for people to participate in an grown-up pillow fight in a bar. So many, many feathers.)

My journey as a creative has really just been a matter of self-acceptance and recognizing how little I care to “fit in.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theeleganthaunting.net
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561436589140
• Soundcloud: https://ww.soundcloud.com/cj-nicolai
• Other: https://www.cjdrapermusic.com

Image Credits

My personal image (in color) was taken by Robin Fulton. All other images are my own.