Working through Creative Block
July 10th, 2008 | 
Author: Draft
I’ve spent the last couple days shooting at the beach which is where I go for inspiration. I’ve felt slightly depleted on the creative side for a couple weeks so I started the day by sitting on the rocks and ignoring everything. It slows the internal dialogue and forces me to let go of my expectations. I sometimes fall into a trap after having a good batch of images. I’ll go out to shoot but if what I’m getting isn’t impressing me, I’ll lose focus and start to wander compositionally.
I start by turning off my mp3 player and getting comfortable. That’s not always easy to do sitting out on a barnacle encrusted rock but I make it happen. I forget about composition for a while because too often I find as soon as I sling the body and glass over my shoulder, I’m searching for it. That leads me to rejecting images because of where I am in relation to the object. I might see it differently if I was ten feet closer or ten feet back. After about twenty minutes of resting my mind and enjoying the warm sun I start looking around. I don’t frame anything in my head but just look at the small details around me. A patch if lichen or the shape of a rock. I examine shadows and contrast and after a while I start to expand my field of view.
After about half an hour I’m seeing shots all around me. They may turn out to be deletes when they move to Lightroom but I’m no longer critiquing the shot before it’s recorded. Other days it seems are too easy. Living in British Columbia can spoil a photographer. We’re surrounded by beauty no matter where you look. If you live downtown you can take a ten minute walk and be sitting on a beach looking at mountains and surf. I never take it for granted, but sometimes I forget to look up and enjoy the light.
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I love that picture of the sea gull on the rocks. Is that one of the photo’s you took on Tuesday? Have you got any prints made yet?
I told Heather about the Forum you used to have on the web site. She thinks you should make another one.
Those are from Wednesday after noon. I should have been there earlier but they turned out ok.
I have a couple at the Lab right now (16×24) one for the Book and one for stock. Give me a call and I’ll throw something on the drive for the next time I’m out. I can get an 8×12 done on the way out today.
I’ll think about the Forum idea again sometime soon. It’s a matter of spam filters and moderating. I barely have time right now for other life stuff but I’ll take a look at guest books when I get a spare block of time. It would be easier than the Google talk having it right on the site. Heather?
The spam filter here does a great job so I’ll check and see if they do any other SQL applets. Besides Spam you’re just about the only person to write a comment. Apart from the kids who still think it’s funny to swear on the Internet.