happy new year + THANK YOU

(public post)

Patrons,

This is it. A new year...that thing..whatever it is... you know. Is it really different? I guess it's what we tell ourselves...It really is all in our heads...but

I wanted to wish you a very happy new year. A year of health to you, your family and friends. Full of joy and art. Full of everything YOU want out of life. Full of LIFE.

I made a series of InstaStories to conclude 2018. If you don't have Instagram I've pasted the text below. Everything I wrote had you in mind.

I love you all, thank you for all of your support here! Onwards 2019! <3

Text from the InstaStories:

2018 was tough but looking back, I’ve achieved a lot.

The headline for the year would be something like: Learning to Love Myself Again and Be Ok With the Present Moment.

Sounds simple right? I was surprised how complex it could be.

I finished a 7-month travel which I took after hitting the biggest low of my life while trying to deal with a couple of personal traumatic experiences.

After spending time in LA, Burning Man, NYC, Peru and Bolivia at the end of 2017, I spent 2 months in Chile and Patagonia to start 2018.

This trip was life changing. I wouldn’t exaggerate if I said it saved my life.

It brought back the motivation to create, to be here.

It made me stronger, retrieved some of the confidence I lost.

Revived me with purpose.

It was the first time I truly travelled by myself; backpack, tent & sleeping bag style.

I finished the trip in Israel with my family, spending 2 months there and for the first time in 10 years, successfully skipping the European winter.

Once back in London, I was motivated to work a lot and save some money but coming back into the city after all this spaced out time proved harder than anticipated.

I often asked myself why did I come back at all.

I also dealt with a lot of anxiety. The sort of anxiety that would sometime paralyse me for whole days. Most days I’d start around noon. Anything before that was just hiding in bed.

I went to see a psychotherapist for 2-3 months. An Israeli dude. It was fascinating and we had extremely deep philosophical conversations in Hebrew, about myself(!).

I learned a lot.

Still, I managed to hang with friends, see shows and attend Boom festival (Portugal), Wilderness, Green Man and Shambala (UK).

Boom was a mind-opener. Go here to check a post I made about it.

I was a part of 3 London exhibitions:

• PROTOCOL @ Cavendish Square
• MODERN PANIC IX
• ‘Individualised’ by @dotstolines 

I continued working on my Patreon. I’ve published 49 exclusive posts premiering a total of 362 images since Nov 2017. Currently with 46 patrons! 😍

I made a new online shop where you can buy affordable prints of my work.

I started The Ben Hopper Podcast which isn’t online yet but I already interviewed 2 of my fav people: Josh Whitehouse & Reeps One.

I published Hex 000000, a project I’ve been working on since 2013.

And I started working on new projects around the following themes:

• Shame 
• Phone addiction
• Depression
• Wars
• Deodorants
• Online nudity censorship
• Home
• Men’s vulnerability 

Looking back I did a lot of incredible things. I remember feeling so low and telling my psychotherapist how I have to do amazingly fun stuff just to feel ok.

It reminded me to not judge a book by its cover. People’s highlights on social media don’t actually mean they’re truly happy inside.

One of the things that kept me going and calmed me down is focusing on the good stuff, being grateful. Simply looking at a flower or a bird, or thinking about all the things that actually worked ok that day, for me to even be here - always made me feeling a lot less anxious. Hanging with friends was a big thing to keep me happy.

My current formula for happiness now made of these 3 foundations:

• Family and friends
• Compassion and kindness
• Physical activity

Life isn’t easy still, but it’s way better than it was 2 years ago or a year ago. I’m taking it day by day.

I’d like to thank everyone who’s been there for me. Everyone who got in touch and said nice things. A lot of you didn’t realise what I was going through so hey, it FUCKING helped! <3

Big thank you to everyone I photographed, to all the friends I shared a moment or more with, to anyone who supports or supported me on Patreon, anyone who bought art and anyone who’s been following my work.

Here’s to 2019.

Let’s be patient, let’s accept & let go, let’s be nicer to each other, let’s love.

Let’s make the world a better place, we really can.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I love you all <3

Ben x