Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rose Chang. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rose, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I think it’s a day-to-day challenge to be happy as an artist/creative, but generally, I feel content as an artist because I get to create, experience, and play artistically and emotionally. I’ve struggled with many periods of creative inactivity and burnout is such a common and pervasive feeling among fellow artists, especially in such a technologically driven, consumer-based society. I have to appreciate and look for the areas in which my art brings me happiness, and in the end, it just comes down to expression. Being an artist or creative is how I express emotions and ideas, so, if I’m able to do that, I have an outlet for the energy that I have to flow through me. To create is to somehow contextualize, conceptualize, and translate the metaphysical into something physical, and most of the time, it’s extremely difficult and takes a lot of emotional and spiritual work. I think it’s very natural for everyone to be creative, it’s so innate in us and it’s unfortunate that creativity is not prioritized as a society in wellness rather it’s viewed as a commodity.

Yes, I have always wondered what it would be like to have a “regular job” — I’ve never had a typical 9-5 office setting job and have always worked odd jobs or freelance gigs so there are times in which I question or fantasize about how different my life and how I would be if I ever had a regular job. Sometimes, I find the idea of a regular job really enticing, in that it offers stability but I also find it to be rather limiting. I am a big believer in experiencing as much as life has to offer and the idea of changing your path, whether that be your career or job, whenever you have outgrown something.

Rose, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have always had a film/photography background since I was a young kid, I used to draw portraits of people and that turned into a love for photographing people and capturing moments in time. Photography really started as a hobby, until I started working with 35mm film, I really started to take it more seriously and appreciated working with the ephemerality of film. What started as favors for family and friends to take pictures of events or portraits turned into more of a service that I could actually provide. I offer event and private photography on 35mm film, which is a little different from digital photography since shooting on film isn’t always as forgiving and the photos can’t be immediately viewed after capture but the feeling and texture of the product/photos in the end, is that it really is an organic capture of the moment or memory in time, it might not be perfect or digitally precise, but it reflects the emotion of the moment.

Pole dancing is my other focus as a creative, I started pole dancing about 2 years ago and just started teaching introduction classes. I offer private and group classes for first-time students or early beginners interested in pole dance. I started pole because I was always fascinated and in awe of pole dancers, they are so strong and so graceful. It’s such an empowering and beautiful expression of movement and it displays so much strength and skill that our bodies are capable of so I started and have been hooked ever since.

I think the thing I am most proud of, in 35mm film photography and pole dance instructing, is that I aim to build a connection with the people I’m photographing and instructing. It’s so important for me when I work with people to build that emotional connection so my subjects/models or students feel comfortable in their skin and body and therefore, feel empowered and confident.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is feeling connected to yourself and what you create so that it connects with other people. If just one person connects to something I make on an emotional or spiritual level, then, I feel like all my hard work of trying to communicate or express something has paid off. It’s such a hard concept for me to be proud of things I make so I feel like I’m always striving to make something better but I’m learning that I am proud of everything I make, even if it’s not the best thing I make. For photography, it’s always so rewarding to see people’s reactions to the photos I take of them or of a special event because I can really see how it’s impacted the people that I work with and how they will cherish and have these moments I’ve captured for the rest of their lives, and that’s really rewarding. For pole instructing, it’s so rewarding to teach and help others find strength and confidence in their bodies, and it’s always a good time, so that’s definitely a gratifying feeling.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I studied film and television production/critical studies in both my undergraduate and graduate studies and really wanted to create stories and work in the film industry — I had a lot of conflicting feelings about the industry once I started to work smaller jobs and gigs. It was really difficult to accept the medium I was so passionate about caused a lot of feelings of anxiety and bred a lot of behavior and culture in the industry that I didn’t want to be a part of or perpetuate. I definitely shifted gears of how I am creative but ultimately, being an artist is to be a creator and I feel that all the mediums overlap with one another so I do find myself in and out of film production. I really wanted to be a storyteller and a translator of emotion/experience and I realized that there was more than one way to do it, I discovered that I didn’t need to limit myself to just one creative medium or endeavor. I think it’s a privilege in itself to create and express yourself freely, in whichever medium you choose, so I am grateful to have experienced all the creative outlets that I’ve found myself exploring in.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @rosechanggg

Image Credits
Rose Chang, Luis Reyes