Staying Creative
One of the biggest challenges facing myself and other professional photographers is how to stay continually creative – how to produce images that are full of life and energy that force us to develop and grow as artists. This is especially true in the current economic climate and with today’s hectic lifestyle, with all the stress and worry that comes with the territory of trying to run a successful business.
Stress is apparently one of the archenemies of creativity, and it can quickly lead to feeling unmotivated or being unable to create work that feels new, fresh and uplifting. If we are already tired before we begin, and feeling burned-out, we can come back from a photography session feeling unsatisfied with the results. This leads to a sense of insecurity, lack of confidence in what we’re doing, and even more stress.
If we aren’t careful, we might become locked into an ever-decreasing circle that could lead to more serious consequences, such as depression – with disastrous consequences for our business.
It’s all too easy to succumb to this cycle, and even easier to blame everything else for the problems we face (the economy, where we live, other responsibilities, even the weather), but how do we combat this and stay positive and creative?
I don’t pretend to have anything close to all the answers to this question, which is why I invite comments from anyone who might have any insight on this subject – I’m sure it will make for a lively discussion. However, I have found some things that can certainly help me at least and thought I would share them here.
Personal Assignments
When business is slow, I’ve found that setting myself small but interesting photographic assignments really helps to get the creative juices flowing again. The important factor here is small. Anything too ambitious (at least to begin with) can take too much time to complete and it’s easy to come up with excuses not to complete it. For example, take a drive to a nearby town you haven’t visited before, and spend a couple of hours photographing the architecture, textures and moods of the place.
The process of photographing something new and interesting helps to regenerate our inner photographic eye and gives us new ideas and concepts to throw into the creative mix.
Pretend You’re Still Using Film
Okay, if you are using film then you won’t need to pretend, but if you are using digital set yourself a limit of 36 exposures on a single project and stick to it. Don’t cheat by deleting any of the images (remember, film had no delete button!). Choose a simple subject and study it by eye and then try to capture as many facets of it as possible in just 36 exposures.
Then, take a second “roll” of the same subject and keep repeating this while continuously aiming to make every photograph different. It’s quite a challenge, but also a lot of fun.
Having a relatively small number of frames to work with really makes us focus more on each individual image, forcing us to consider every element of composition, arrangement, perspective, focus and exposure before we press the shutter release.
I personally find this kind of project very effective at rekindling the flame of creativity and becoming excited about photography all over again.
Networking
Some of us can overlook one very great resource for support – our colleagues in the industry. In my experience, most photographers are willing and eager to share knowledge, tips and help with others. There are a small few that think that just talking to another photographer amounts to industrial espionage, but they are thankfully few and far between.
Nowadays, thanks to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, forums, chat rooms and all the other methods of social networking, it’s easy to hook up with other photographers in your area (or anywhere else in the world) to discuss such topics as staying creative and other issues that we face on a daily basis.
Why not see if one or more of your local group of photographers would like to go on a fun day of shooting to a local State park or other suitable location? This is a great opportunity to get to know each other better and feed off each other’s creativity. With a bunch of professionals all together in one place like that, there’s bound to be an element of friendly competition too, further fuelling one’s creative fires.
When you foster these kinds of relationships with your peers, you might find that referrals start to come your way if other photographers are unable to take a job for one reason or another, leading to more business for you.
Keep Busy
One of the worst things we can do when things get on top of us, or we feel stressed out with everything is to give up and do nothing. It’s too easy to sit at the computer or by the phone waiting for the calls to come in, but this can lead to feeling more despondent, burned-out and even less creative.
The answer to this is to stay busy – work around the house, catch up on some gardening, wash the car, go for a walk, go to the gym, the library. Anything, in fact, that will take your mind away from the worries of work for a while.
Like many of us, I work from home, and find myself at home most of the time, working on marketing, advertising, accounting, the web site etc. I’ve discovered many times that housework is a wonderful thing to do if I need to think about something. It’s amazing what 20 minutes of vacuuming can do to help relax the mind and solve a problem!
Study Other Photographers
Sometimes, after a photography session, I come back feeling disappointed that I wasn’t able to be as creative as I wanted to be with the photographs. Maybe the location wasn’t perfect, the light was difficult, or the people were not into the idea of being a little different.
Whatever the reason, this is one of the things that can really make a dent in our confidence as artists. Even though the photographs we just created are fine and the clients loved them, we can still feel they lack a certain style or element of uniqueness, making us wonder why we didn’t try this or that at the time.
I’ve found that studying the work of other photographers whom I admire has really helped in this area. I’m not suggesting that you should copy their work, far from it, but we can create new work based on some of the core ideas. By taking elements from a variety of sources we can develop a new look that is distinctly our own.
This is a slow process and I would suggest working on just a few new things at one time. However, when it comes to a photography session, it makes it a lot easier to try something a little different that we might not otherwise have thought about.
Dare To Be Different
One of the killers of our creativity is a sense of monotony or feeling that all our images are becoming the same. Familiarity breeds contempt, and if we do the same thing every time and produce the same photographs, we risk becoming bored with our own work and caring less about what we do.
Striving to be different really forces us to tap into our creative resources. The key here is to experiment: try a new perspective, a different lighting arrangement, alternative poses, a new lens, fresh locations, different post-processing or anything else that can make your images feel a little different, at least to you.
Give Yourself A Break
It is important, too, to take a rest from it all every once in a while. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy, as they say, so take some time to recharge the batteries. Spend some time doing something you enjoy that isn’t related to photography or work and, preferably, that doesn’t involve the computer. Being outside, or with other people in a social environment helps us remain emotionally connected with society.
Conclusion
Creativity is at the very core of what we do – without it we’re unable to function as artists and photographers. It is therefore vital that we never lose sight of that fact or allow external factors to rob us of our gift.
I’m sure there are many other ways than those presented here to cultivate and stay in touch with our creativity, and I think it would be a wonderful idea to see any comments and suggestions people have in this area… I look forward to seeing them and posting them here.
As always, thank you for reading.
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