Chasing Creativity

A new year brings the opportunity for new beginnings; many of us make resolutions to do things that we didn’t or couldn’t do the year before. Whether it be working out more or making more images, it is important not only to embrace what is possible during the coming year but also to allow ourselves to start fresh. By starting fresh, I mean forgetting about the failures or shortcomings of years past. While it is important to remember the things that those failures and shortcomings taught us, it is just as important to leave those things in the past.

To truly reap the rewards of new beginnings, we must learn to let go of the things and feelings that tie us to the past. We must learn to iterate and to carry only the best part of ourselves forward. Iteration in my working world is all about taking what works and improving upon what doesn’t. It is very much the same when it comes to finding our creative-selves. The only way we can make better images is to learn from the images that work and improve upon the ones that don’t. I know this may all seem simple enough, but it is sometimes harder than we think to let go of those images that simply don’t work; to let them move into our archives so we can move forward with our best and most promising work.

It has certainly been a year of new beginnings for me; professionally, personally, and creatively. I am looking forward to the things that await me in 2012 and I hope you all are too. Happy New Year!

Point of view and timing are two intangibles of photography that don’t get as much attention as they deserve. Without these two key principles, we end up with pictures taken from unimaginative angles long after a decisive moment has passed. What we’re left with is a catalog of photographs that look like everyone else’s; photographs that simply record what we saw rather than convey what it was about a scene that warranted capturing. If the purpose of photography for you is merely to record, that’s perfectly okay, record away. But if you’re like me, you want to make photographs that express your unique vision of the world, and that only comes from making lots and lots of photographs. So while you’re making all these photographs, why not take the time to experiment by putting your camera on the ground or waiting for that perfect moment to press that shutter.

Inspiration is likely one of the most discussed ideas amongst photographers, and artists in general. It is something that we say alludes us when we fail to create work we are proud of. It is something that we wait for to get us out of the creative ruts we all fall into. And its absence is something that we use too often as an excuse not to go out and explore our creativity.

The problem with this way of thinking is that inspiration becomes a crutch, rather than something uplifting. It becomes this mythical concept that we assume only the masters know how to find. It becomes a reason not to aspire to the level of the photographers we admire. The truth, however, is that inspiration can be found all around us. It can be found in those that we care for. It can be found at the park around the corner. And it can be found at the local museum or bookstore a short drive away.

The secret to inspiration is that there really is no secret. It comes from observing life around us, from seeing the work of others, and (most importantly) from creating work. It’s true that often times the work we create is not as good as we’d like. But that’s natural when we’re working to bridge the gap. The fact that our work is not as good as we’d like should be motivation to make more, and better, work.

So the next time you’re feeling un-inspired, go out and make some images. Don’t sit around the house waiting for inspiration to strike, go out and find it, chase after it with your camera and make the images we both know you are capable of.

I’ve been at home sick for the last few days and it has me thinking a lot about the creative ruts I get into. The ones that have me feeling like there’s nothing interesting to photograph around me and all the creativity has been drained from my body. Okay, maybe the medication I’m on has me feeling a bit dramatic but I think you get my point. As I thought about this more and more, I eventually came up with 3 things that I do consistently to spark my creativity to get out of these ruts.

1. Turning to Others

In his eBook, The Inspired Eye, David duChemin talks about increasing your inputs. The idea is to take in as much creativity as possible in order to give yourself plenty to work with. (I’m totally paraphrasing here and most likely not doing the idea justice, so you should really go and check out the eBook.) This, more than anything else, has helped me when I feel like I’m stuck creatively. I will spend time online looking at the work of other photographers, head out to a local museum to check out an art exhibit, or drive over to the bookstore to browse the art and photo sections. As I sit and observe the work of others, I almost always start to come up with ideas for work I want to make myself.

2. Changing Routines

Another thing I do when I’m feeling stuck is change my routine. This can be something small like trying to shoot at mid-day when the light is not what I normally prefer or something big like shooting at a single focal length for 30 days. The thing I’ve been trying recently to change my routine is to set the color mode on my camera to black and white. Since I shoot in RAW, the images show up in color when I upload them, but using this color mode means everything I see on my LCD is in black and white. It may not seem like a big change but I was amazed how different the world looked with the color taken away.

3. Revisiting Old Work

I touched on this one a bit in my previous post, The Digital Shoebox. The thing I’ve realized is that as I change, so does my photographic vision. When looking over my older pictures, I usually find things that catch my eye which I didn’t notice before. Images that I didn’t pay much attention to previously will now make me pause. And as I spend more and more time revisiting my old work, I also start to find themes in my work that I simply did not see before. Maybe it’s because enough time has passed and I can now see the forest from the trees, or maybe it’s because I’m learning to find commonalities in my work. Either way, revisiting my old work has not only help me find old images to work with, but has also given me ideas for new work that compliment what I already have.