Choosing Intention

My first post on a new platform probably calls for an introduction.
I’m Jedediah. I’ve been making photographs for nearly 27 years, and for the past decade my work has focused primarily on body positivity.

As a fat person, I spent most of the first 30 years of my life believing that my body was wrong. No — that’s not quite accurate. I didn’t believe it was wrong. I knew it was wrong. That certainty led me into a range of destructive behaviors that I’m still, in some ways, untangling. Somewhere over the last fifteen years, though, I crossed a threshold. I came to understand that my body is perfect as it is. That realization was profoundly liberating, and it’s something I want every person to experience. That desire is at the core of why I make the work I do.

So why am I writing here now?

Over the past couple of years, I’ve felt my work begin to stagnate. I’ve spent too much time producing content and not enough time making art. In subtle ways, I’ve drifted from the values that originally motivated the work, and I want to correct that course. This space is one way of holding myself accountable. By naming these intentions publicly, I’m giving them weight.

The first change I want to make is this: I want to be more intentional about the bodies I photograph.

I believe body-positive work can be made with any body, because nearly all of us have been told, at some point, that we are not enough. But if the goal is to truly challenge dominant beauty standards, I have to reach further. In the past, my desire to keep producing work — combined with my own social anxiety — often led me to photograph people who were already eager and comfortable being photographed. I’m grateful for every one of those collaborations, and I believe every one of those people deserved to be photographed.

But body positivity requires more than willingness. It requires seeking out people who are reluctant, hesitant, or even afraid to be seen. It means earning trust, creating safety, and showing people something about themselves that they may never have been allowed to see before.

That is my first goal here. I don’t expect it to be easy or immediately successful. But this is me naming the direction I want to move in — and inviting you to witness that effort as it unfolds.