When it came time to write this editor’s letter, the creative juices just weren’t flowing. It’s summer in Louisiana, work is slow and sporadic, we’re creeping into the height of hurricane season, and the increasingly intense thunderstorms keep frying our home’s electronics. Not to mention the completely sick joke that is our state and federal government (oops, I mentioned it). Underwhelmed by the fleeting ideas entering and exiting my mind, I thought about other sources of inspiration, then about the concept of inspiration itself—where it comes from, what it looks like when it arrives, and what it becomes when it’s released back into the world. Lots of things, small and large, inspire me: the gorgeous florals that only bloom in our hottest, most humid months; my neighbor Alfred Marshall, chapter organizer of VOTE (Voice of the Ex-Offender/Voice of the Experienced), who always reminds me of the latest initiative while offering me avocados from his tree; and, of course, the onslaught of support for our little-magazine-that-could in the last few weeks (shoutout to all our new advertisers and subscribers—we are humbled).
While I often take note of sources of inspiration, I also often proceed to do nothing with them. I shove them down or put them on a list to revisit later, but never do, because I’m… waiting. Waiting for the right time, waiting for the right mental space, waiting for the right collaborators, waiting for the perfect circumstances for that inspiration to grow. And let me tell you—this does not work. It never has and it never will because inspiration and perfection, I’ve come to realize, are opposing phenomena, particularly when you prioritize the perfection part. As you leaf through the pages of this year’s Photo Issue (ANTIGRAVITY #250 by the way), what you’ll see reflected are the moments of inspiration that our photographers dared to seize in photographic form. And whether they’ve documented a sweet opossum, an alien in a parade, a self-portrait, or snow in the French Quarter, the artist-documentarians behind the images shot them in the midst of countless other experiences and influences that come from being a living, breathing being. Let the things that inspired them in turn inspire you and don’t wait for the perfect moment. Instead, create art depicting the summer blooms, spend an extra five minutes talking to your voting rights activist neighbor, or submit an idea to your local magazine. Act on your inspiration—it may be more fruitful than you ever could have imagined.
Lastly, thank you to the incredibly talented roster of photographers featured in these pages. I adore being your photo editor and I love watching your growth and talent shine in this magazine. You are all inspiring to me. —Katie Sikora
Photo: The author, at six years old, looks into the viewfinder of her father’s Hasselblad camera in June 1996.
July 2025 cover by Leone Julitte
