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10/25/2007 11:45:07 AM · #1 |
....( a subject I thought was interesting brought forth by a talented photographer, Erica McDonald (blog), and one I would also ask here on DPC.)
"How about a little discussion of where you go when creatively you are on the edge, when you want something deeper or different and you don̢۪t have a clear sense of what will bring you to the next space.
Or what you do when you are dissatisfied and blue about your photography, when you need to source not just superficial inspiration from without but access to transfiguration in your creative self?
Can you turn to mentors, books, workshops? Are they enough of a catalyst, or is something else for you that aids in the birthing of the next period?"
Message edited by author 2007-10-25 11:46:02.
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10/25/2007 12:13:38 PM · #2 |
What I've found over the last few years that brings me those breakthroughs or returns to creativity is working out the thing that scares me the most about photography.
Then going and doing it.
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10/25/2007 12:36:40 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by Man_Called_Horse:
....where you go when creatively you are on the edge, when you want something deeper or different and you don̢۪t have a clear sense of what will bring you to the next space.
Or what you do when you are dissatisfied and blue about your photography, when you need to source not just superficial inspiration from without but access to transfiguration in your creative self?... |
I'd likely seek out some desolate place and wait, while paying attention. No muse likes noise or busy-ness.
Creativity, by my definition, is not my doing. It is something that visits me, when I'm open to it long enough.
Mentors etc. are useful only at a later phase. |
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10/25/2007 12:40:33 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by zeuszen:
I'd likely seek out some desolate place and wait, while paying attention. No muse likes noise or busy-ness.
Creativity, by my definition, is not my doing. It is something that visits me, when I'm open to it long enough. |
That's also true - I quite regularly find inspiration while out running. The peace & repetition are somewhat meditative.
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10/25/2007 01:07:04 PM · #5 |
Funny you should ask. I have made drastic (I think) changes in my approach to photography in the last six months. Looking back at it, I have been looking at a great variety of graphical works, including sculptures, for inspiration. I tend to pay more attention to advertising, TV and movies. I push myself in exploring the corners of photoshop (and for me, that's a BIG area), try camera settings I haven't and photograph things I just don't normally do.
When I can vocalize my desire, I go out and hone the skills to accomplish it. It's all so serendipitous.
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10/25/2007 03:09:18 PM · #6 |
| For me it sometimes takes listening to others' reactions to my photos. Someone said that an image of mine was "introverted", and that struck me in an odd way. I thought about it. Glancing at my portfolio, I saw that many of my images intimated some kind of loneliness or introversion. This is a great source of inspiration for me currently, and I think I'm viewing the world and its potential for photographs a little differently. I had to really listen to someone's thoughts though. Criticism would also help in this regard. |
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10/25/2007 03:13:35 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by Louis:
For me it sometimes takes listening to others' reactions to my photos. Someone said that an image of mine was "introverted", and that struck me in an odd way. I thought about it. Glancing at my portfolio, I saw that many of my images intimated some kind of loneliness or introversion. This is a great source of inspiration for me currently, and I think I'm viewing the world and its potential for photographs a little differently. I had to really listen to someone's thoughts though. Criticism would also help in this regard. |
So are you moving towards or away from that loneliness or introversion now ?
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10/25/2007 03:18:09 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Originally posted by Louis:
For me it sometimes takes listening to others' reactions to my photos. Someone said that an image of mine was "introverted", and that struck me in an odd way. I thought about it. Glancing at my portfolio, I saw that many of my images intimated some kind of loneliness or introversion. This is a great source of inspiration for me currently, and I think I'm viewing the world and its potential for photographs a little differently. I had to really listen to someone's thoughts though. Criticism would also help in this regard. |
So are you moving towards or away from that loneliness or introversion now ? |
Towards.. even though it seems I've got lots already that evoke this sense in some people, I've found myself seeking out photos of solitude or lonesomeness, instead of creating them subconsciously or by accident. |
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10/25/2007 03:24:48 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by Louis:
Originally posted by Gordon:
So are you moving towards or away from that loneliness or introversion now ? |
Towards.. even though it seems I've got lots already that evoke this sense in some people, I've found myself seeking out photos of solitude or lonesomeness, instead of creating them subconsciously or by accident. |
Have you found, or noticed, any difference in the end results - are they more forced, or more explicit ? Or does it become more subtle even though you are more aware of it now ?
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10/25/2007 03:49:16 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Have you found, or noticed, any difference in the end results - are they more forced, or more explicit ? Or does it become more subtle even though you are more aware of it now ? |
I think more forced (or more formal) - but with an end result that I like. I'm also excited by the possibility of continuing to find this kind of imagery in unlikely places; and I also think that, even though the end result may be more manufactured (at least for now), I've taken this concept on as a kind of "style" that defines a part of what I do, for good or bad in terms of output, but something that is personally satisfying.
By way of example, it's whatever difference might be seen in the following two, the first taken before I got that comment, the second after. The first actually contains the comment I'm talking about.
[thumb]500855[/thumb] [thumb]601746[/thumb] |
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10/25/2007 04:28:13 PM · #11 |
| I am there now, interesting you bring it up. The answer for me is Las Vegas. I walk a little, sit a little, listen to the music of the street. Old and new, beautiful and ugly, sadness and happiness, rich and poor, its all there in it̢۪s rawest form. The best part nobody notices the photographer. |
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10/25/2007 05:22:44 PM · #12 |
My downfall is that I have too much experience.
My career has made it possible to know a lot on photography. How camera FX are done. How to light. Blah, Blah.
I seem to shine when it comes to sports photography, and that is a never ending source of inspiration.
What makes me hit a wall is when I know the image that I am after, know how to get it, think about how I am going to do it, then time passes by, and something new interrupts, and distracts me.
Distraction is my enemy, and that kills my inspiration.
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10/25/2007 07:35:57 PM · #13 |
| Music. Happy, sappy, frustrated, everything is rosey... what ever type music you are into look into the lyrics, feel the beat. Others have told the story in words now it's our turn to present some of those feelings visually. |
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10/26/2007 10:21:14 AM · #14 |
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