The Path to Creativity

Over my years making images, I have had so many amazing experiences. Ironically there have been as many experiences that have been byproducts of photography, having nothing to do with cameras and being in the field.

I have been so fortunate to have met and been able to “hang out” with so many influential people in the photography industry. Most of these folks were not only influential to me as photographers, but as people. It is these kinds of interactions that have added to my path to creativity.

Let me give an example. Around 1990, Guy Tal and became friends when one of the first websites for serious nature photographers appeared, Natures Photographers Network. (They are back again and better than ever). Guy and I corresponded via email and finally decided to run workshops in the Eastern Sierra. We had some great groups, had good experiences teaching and instilling passion to our attendees. However, we spent a lot of time together, staying up way too late, listening to music and discussing things other than photography. I really miss those times just as much as the photographic aspect of our time together.

Fortunately, I have had similar occurrences with other great people as well as photographers, over my many years and look forward to more in the future.

I now realize that these interactions have helped form who I am as a photographer. What I am today is a sum of all my past experiences, mostly in music and in photography. Our photographs should express who we are as people as well as who we are as photographers. Learning how to effectively express who we are as people and inject it along with our emotion in photography is a process. Learning to do it differently from other photographers is even more challenging but will separate you from the pack.

Creativity is the “art” of making interesting, unique, and different things. It overlaps in all art forms. It is always interesting to me as a workshop leader, and observer of photographers to see how everyone makes different images in the same places. I is also interesting to me how people want to make the exact same image as others do in certain areas. Are these images art? Probably not. To make an artistic image, I believe one must make something different than what has already been accomplished. Breaking the habit of repeating what has already been done can take time and awareness. How many more images of Mesa Arch do we need? Do we need another image of the mittens at the overlook in Monument Valley? NO! Why not try and interject your view of the world into your images, even if you are at Mesa Arch or in Monument Valley. True artists do this all the time. They do not just regurgitate more copies of what’s already been accomplished by lots of others.

There were over 1.5 trillion images made in 2019. That is a lot of photographs! You do have choices.

Creative work reflects your attitudes as well as what may be going on in your life. Have you ever heard the expression “Life is Art? Well is certainly is! You need to be willing to experiment, be yourselves and accept initial failure. I tell my students to learn to experiment and be yourself, and do not worry about who likes your images and who did not. It is about your experiences that will in the end help you to be more creative.

In the past, budding artists apprenticed and studied with masters, honed their craft, failed, improved, failed again and then at some point got where their individually creativity became apparent and set themselves apart from others. Today, I see very few folks who are willing to put the time in, ( art is a factor of time), as many of us did to get to the point that we are comfortable in showing others our work. Now too often it is about Instagram and Facebooks Likes. These social media outlets too often praise images that are not up to par. Often comments posted about images on social media do not look at the essential components that make an image creative and thus artistic. More often than not, folks look for affirmation (likes) within social media and totally ignore and realize that affirmation comes by producing creative and artistic images. The bottom line, in my opinion is that your individual growth as an artist, is inhibited and delayed by making and posting images on social media only for the sake of being recognized and ” liked”.

Though today I am still learning and growing in photography, I know that my work vastly different than it was when I started out.

If you want to be a true artist (and it is ok if you do not by the way!) you must grow your creatively. However, believe me I (and many others) have figured it out. It takes time, passion, study, and learning and learning how to use our experiences and emotions in ways that produce that creativity. I am not one of those who goes around saying “He or she was born with that talent”. If you find some form of art, either photography, music, writing, etc. that you truly love, and put in the time and effort to learn the craft, and just as important, to learn about yourselves, anyone can become an artist. You just must follow the path. Is does take time.

I recommend that you learn to use all your past experiences to make you into what you are today. Ask yourself, what has meaning to you today, and incorporate the past experiences into your current mindset and let your emotion flow into your creativity. Often, I go out to a location without any intention of taking a photograph. This mindset works for me. I will almost always make a better photograph when I do not set out with that specific intention. I also suggest you do some homework and learn the history and sense of place about where you are going to be. A pretty sunset does not guarantee a creative image. If that sunset evokes emotion within you for whatever reason, you will have much better a chance to make an artistic image.

“Visual expression” is a term I learned from Guy. It is a combination of neuroscience and vision. For example, when thinking about color, people react to red different than purple for example. We need to know this and how our visual system works. Did you know our eyes see more shades of green than red and blue? We need to know that. Knowing some of how our brain reacts is important as well. But that is another topic for another day. You can learn this on one of my workshops (of one of Guy’s too!)