“Kill Your Darlings” is an experimental photo narrative about my life as a creative. As a highly ambitious artist with limited resources, my work is often sidelined by technical limitations. As much as I’d like to, I can’t do every project on my own, and collaboration on massive, high-concept projects like the ones I pride myself on requires massive commitment from collaborators that is difficult to find or expect, even on an art campus. Because of that, so many incredible creative ideas go unfinished, often left in the ideation stage or early production.

The photoset itself is exemplary of this unfortunate fact. When tasked with creating a unique photo narrative, I started with an entirely different idea—one involving multiple actors, heavy equipment, and a committed crew. But on the day of the shoot, my volunteer photo crew backed out. Frustrated and needing to pivot fast, I came up with the idea for this project. A narrative where I am the only actor, facing the expectations and limitations that only I can expect of myself.

This was a zero-budget, one-person photoshoot. Each shot was achieved by placing a camera on a tripod and moving to position before the shutter clicked. The tripod was kept still to allow for seamless compositing of multiple shots. The final product is both visually stunning and haunting.

- Colby Wygal