Be. Create. Love

I've been lucky enough to live and breath my photography for five years without interruption.  No other job getting in the way and not even a need to do things to 'make money'.  No stress, just create, learn, and grow at a natural rate without limitations.  Other than my old head not absorbing knowledge like it once did it's been wonderful.

Every so often I catch myself with feelings that I don't like.  We all have them.  Well, I'd like to think it wasn't just me.  I'll see some work that rocks and I'd feel a little jealous.  I'd feel I was competing with other photographers, or I'd feel depressed because I just wasn't 'feeling it' with my work for some reason and I was worried I had hit the top of my abilities.

Part of my growth has been my attitude towards pretty much everything. 

Something I didn't do enough when I was younger, and should have, is sit alone, with no distractions, and consider why I feel like I do about something.  For example, there was a time I was jealous when I saw another photographer just totally rock a shoot with certain models.  I was more upset about being jealous than anything.  It took me a couple weeks of contemplation to understand just why I was jealous, and why with only certain models.  I came to the conclusion that these particular models had become personal friends and, of course, I wanted MY work to be the best they had.  A bright light came on and I realized they were friends, and I wanted them to have the best that anyone could give them, not just me.  The jealousy instantly vanished.  Like I said, I was more upset that I WAS jealous because I knew it was wrong.  Figuring out the root of that feeling solved the problem. 

Other aspects have changed for me too.  When I'd see someone else create something totally awesome, I would allow the inspiration I should have gotten from the work to be dimmed by a kind of regret that I hadn't thought of it.  Really?  I also knew this was a non-productive emotion. Over time I've been able to learn to love what I find as great and simply admire it.  This wasn't a conscious effort to correct other than knowing it was wrong to feel anything other than enjoyment.

How others see my work?  Anyone who says they don't care what others think of what we create is fibbing.  A true artist creates from the heart to please the eye, mind, and heart.  Art stirs the heart.  But we all enjoy seeing or hearing that others like what we've created.  It's part of our being to be accepted and appreciated.  I now do my art more for myself than others.  I share, but I'll also sit back and enjoy the creation myself without wondering what others will think of it.  

If you have feelings of jealousy or feel you are competing, consider why and try to get over those feelings. Some believe that competition is as important in art as it is in anything else.  I'd argue that anything that inhibits the creation process will, in turn, diminish how competitive the creations will be in the business end of art.  The two should be mutually exclusive.

Compete with your yesterday.  Be.  Create.  Love.

Creativity marks the spot

The feeling of excitement, wonder, and even a little fear, that one feels when they start a project of art is universal.  Maybe not to a full time and life time artist, but to those of us learning to create later in our lives, it's there.  The nagging worry that even we won't like what we create.

This is normal and important to the evolution of ones art.  That edgy feeling that works like adrenaline to the mind and opens our eyes to things we would not see otherwise.  That's when we are the most creative.

When I sat down to do this piece I really didn't have a solid thought out plan.  I wanted to do something with broken glass.  That's about it.  I brought in two images of Blonde Raven and just started poking around with my tools.  There were some false starts and looks that were not going anywhere.  By that I mean it wasn't moving me at all.  After all, you have to love your own art.

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I kept seeing my options and my eye kept me going because I saw something flickering in the pile and I kept fanning it until it started taking a shape I liked...then eventually loved.

It is hard not to doubt your own artistic abilities.  And some days nothing exciting comes from a few hours of sitting at the computer.  You eventually get to a point where you can feel when you will be the most creative and that's when you sit down and let your juices flow and create.  The more you create over time, the more confident you are in your art.  And the more confident you are, the more often those creative days will present themselves.

Play, enjoy your creations, and don't let the first tries or non-creative days get you down.  Make art when the mood strikes and the more you do it, the more often the mood will strike.

At least this has been my experience.

Creative juices...with pulp

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Being moody doesn't make you an artist. But almost certainly an artist will be moody. And by artist I mean anyone who creates. Writers have writers block, painters may sit in front of a canvas for hours just staring. Closer to home, a photographer may sit and stare at their last shoot and can't see anything they want to edit.

On good days the juices are flowing, planets are in line, wine is just the right year, something. Something clicks and you wake up and can't wait to get to it. Paint flies on the canvas, words flow like water, or Photoshop is so busy your computer fan is on high. The problem is, we can't control what days will be creative. We can't put a finger on the trigger for the same reason we can't control or really predict the weather. A lot of things can stop the juices and other things give it a fist full of pulp to give you special days.

The thing that keeps me sane during the down times is knowing it happens. It's not the end, it's how it works. Of course you should worry because, as we all know, if you worry about something it never happens.

I have found that the best way to come back strong is to accept the down days and go off to do something that's mindless or at least not creative in the same way as my photography.  This is often when I come up with new ideas.  Write them down for a juicer day.  The more I accept those days the stronger the creative days seem to be.

I also have plenty of my favorite images hanging on the wall or popping up on screens to remind me that yes...I'm a creative...maybe just not today.

The three C's of a great shoot

At first it was a bit annoying when I went into a shoot with a preconceived idea of what I wanted and others would make suggestions.  Of course, there is a time you need to have a focus on a specific look and idea for a client.  But if you are shooting for the fun of seeing what you can do and honing your skills, this is what I've found makes a great deal of difference in the outcome.

Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity

A photo shoot isn't a good place to be shy.  If you have an idea, speak up.  And no, not all of your or anyones ideas will be used, but often even a lacking idea sparks a thread of thought that creates better ideas.  I often let the makeup artist and hair stylist chat with the model and see what they have always wanted to try.  If they come up with an idea everyone is happy with we head in that direction.

For example, this mermaid shoot wasn't something I would have actually considered.  I'd shot for 4 years and avoided the seemingly required 'mermaid' shoot but they wanted to do it and I figured it was a good place to get creative.  So sure.  It became a lighting challenge where I had to envision the final scene.  My creativity contribution.  This, for me, was a LOT of fun even though the model had to take my word for it.  Trust is good.

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So, with some communications the ideas flowed.  Everyone was creative in their own way.  The makeup artist, Erika, brought bras with shells and pearls glued to them and did some neat little scale type patterns on Katrina, the model. While they were doing makeup I started digging around in the prop room looking for things we could use and found a net hammock that worked just fine.  And, of course, Katrina did some wonderful under water type poses with my explanations of how she will be in the water with light from above.

All three Cs were using full steam in this shoot.

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In the pirate example above Rebecca and Raygan, her mother, collaborated with Rubii, the makeup artist/hair stylist and came up with the idea of a ship in her hair.  I had the ship!  So, we made it happen and it came out wonderful.  Another very creative day indeed.

Looking over any very creative shoot I've done it was full of communication between all involved and that lead to energetic collaboration in every aspect.  Everything from hair and makeup to lighting to props to what music we listen to while we create.

Then again, it's those three Cs that set the mood and it becomes fun and creates the energy in the shoot.  And the energy is very important.

Stand back and put the camera down

We love to shoot. It's a passion and we certainly don't do it often enough.  We tend to want to just start shooting away as soon as we have someone playing and posing in front of our camera.  It's a natural instinct.

Then we get back to the computer and upload the images.  We go through them and often think...if we'd payed attention to all those needles in the snow we might have cleaned them up before laying her in the middle of them to shoot.  Or if the light had been just a little more to the left and down her eyes would have really popped.  It's to late.  Sure, some of the shots are going to be fine.

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This is when you have to ask yourself...is FINE what I was after?  I hope not.  I doubt you are reading this is average is what you are after.

I have a habit of stopping often and just standing there and looking at the model, the lighting, and the overall setting.  Yeah, it's a little odd and I usually tell the model to relax while I think this through.  After all, I don't want them to think I'm just staring at them and they are awaiting direction from me at this point.

So, stop.  Set the camera down.  Look at the light, where it's coming from, how it will hit the model, and envision what the end shot will look like.

Envisioning the end shot is the hard part, at least at first.  Once you have experience you can look at something you take right on the back of the camera and have a fairly good idea of what you can do with it.  I've found more and more I look at a picture and get excited about the possibilities of the shot when everyone else looks and doesn't see what I see.  Often my finished shots don't look very close to the original so in my case it's even more important to look and imagine what I can do with it.  So, it's slightly more important to get it right...to take my time.  Unless the sun is going down there's time.

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Don't get into the 'spray and pray' mode of shooting.  If you have a model that poses well from shot to shot, get everything working right and then let him or her go through 6-12 of their expressions and then stop.  I do often show them the first test shots to let them know what the lighting is like and how to angle their heads the best to take advantage of the lighting.  Then let them play as you shoot.  Those will be great shots.

So, take your time.  Enjoy being creative.  Train your eye to look at the shot in the view finder for a while before hitting that shutter button.

One thing I've done, even in the studio, is to wear the R strap with my camera.  Then, when I want to think, talk with the model, whatever, the camera is at my side.  And it's not far away in those rare and fun moments in time when a perfect shot hits you in the face and you need to get it quickly.