I wake up
each day wanting to create -I find objects around me triggering ideas with
images following. Sometimes it works and
other times what I thought I saw just doesn't happen. However, this is all part of the creative
process -you are only limited by your imagination and the will to explore. It is an exercise in abstracting and
selecting ideas within your thought processes -and like the painter or writer
presenting these creative ideas on a photographic canvas. This abstracting is an almost automatic
process combining light and the idea into a photograph.
So what
starts this creative process? It is a
strong desire to capture an idea via my chosen media, photography. In my case it is an ability to find uniqueness
in a subject -something maybe others overlook.
This uniqueness can be its simplicity or it can be looking at the
subject from different perspectives with regards to angles and lighting. You may find this uniqueness in symbolism or
patterns that you see within your subject and want others to see.
I find that
when I look at something for any length of time -the more my imagination churns
and ideas and images begin to form.
However, this creative process has some limitations created by the
boundaries of a machine called the camera.
Therefore, this creative process has two levels to it -the creative use
of a mechanical devise combined with your ability to see. Creativity takes place on two levels - within
your mind and the manipulation of the mechanical (whether a camera or an
iPhone) to create your image. So, it is
not just the uniqueness of subject but how creative you can be using the
various aspects such as lenses and exposure, in this medium you've chosen to
use. Neither camera or software makes
the image of course, - you do.
This spark
we call creativity is either there or isn't. Can it be learned or developed? That depends on the willingness and the
desire to observe and embrace ideas freely.
Thoreau says, " The question is not what you look at but what you
see." It is basically training your
mind and eye to see what others don't or refuse to see. It is a desire to turn the ordinary into
something interesting.
Try
exercising your eyes to see -even when you don't have a camera in your
hands. Look around you and pinpoint
things that interest you. Is it the
light or the shape that caught your eye?
Rather than focusing on the whole dissect the scene into its individual
parts and how would you photograph these parts.
The creative process is about observation first and then how you
manipulate that observation to convey what you’re seeing and want others to
see.
