Creating to Find Inspiration
How do you find the motivation to create?
Do you push through your apathy? Do you wait for divine intervention?
Romanticized versions of artists depict creative epiphanies. A painter so enamored with a beauty they shout “I must paint you,” and invite them to the studio. A photographer walks along a river and happens upon a sunset so majestic they have to start shooting. Do these moments happen? Yes. As a creative, you can’t rely on them, so we must make our own.
How? Practice, engage in your art form to stay competitive, and learn new skills. Habit, consistently create through practice to create, even when you don’t feel like it or it’s not coming out right.
"Creativity doesn't wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones." -- Bruce Garrabrandt.
While resting or taking a break from your craft is valuable, there is a difference between rest and avoidance. I can’t tell you which one you need. I know I use rest too often as an excuse when it’s not the truth. I claim to be waiting for inspiration when I have nothing but fear holding me back.
How can we make our own inspiration? The first step, get over the fear of failing and any notions of perfectionism. We do not need to make portfolio-worthy pieces every time we set out to create. When we don’t execute the photo the way we envisioned, discouragement must not stop us from trying again. We did not fail, we succeeded in finding one way it didn’t work to paraphrase Thomas Edison.
For the second step, I suggest trying one of these exercises. There are tons of suggestions for solving creative blocks. The ones I mention below help me. B&H (not sponsored) has a blog post with suggestions as well.
Look at other artwork, doesn’t have to be photographs.
Find works of art you like—paintings, photographs, sculpture, embroidery, any type of creation. Ask yourself what you like and don’t like about them. Don’t think about it too much, just let your gut answer. Take the list of what you like and develop images that reflect these traits. Do you like the colors of a painting? Do you like the texture of the embroidery? How can you bring that to your photographs?
Did you find something you don’t like? What would make you like it? Create a photo that does it better. Let’s take the example of René Magritte’s The Son of Man. I think it would be better if the subject wasn’t centered. I do like the subject’s obscured identity. When taking inspiration from other artists, copying the image falls short. My photograph Sacrifice (below) obscured the human figure not with an object but with selective focus. The main subject of cherries, in the bottom right of the frame, undoes the center composition of Magritte’s painting.
Sacrifice - Bridget Haggerty © 2021 All rights Reserved
Give yourself limitations.
Limiting yourself pushes against your comfort zone. What camera settings do you default to? After nearly a decade of event photography, I seldom use manual focus. What about the subjects you shoot? Are you strictly a portrait photographer or do you shoot everything? What about your aperture? Often people shoot at one extreme, the widest or the smallest aperture. Whatever you normally default to, try the opposite.
Some examples:
shoot on manual focus
select one subject for a month and only take pictures of that
only shoot with one lens for a month
Try Different Techniques
The four different techniques are part of the upcoming challenge in my Facebook Group Imperfect Photography. Starting July 30th, once a week for four weeks, members are going to post their attempts at each of these challenges.
Explore your camera settings to force yourself into a new way of thinking. What helped me was
Setting my camera to the “wrong” white balance. Most cameras come with presets for sunlight, shade, fluorescent, incandescent, and a K or Kalvin Temperature setting. Set your camera to the wrong white balance—fluorescent when you’re outside, shade for when it’s sunny—and see what happens. You will notice the temperature running warm or cool. My favorite is to set the temperature manually on K. You can also change the tint—magenta and green levels—for a super custom look. Use live view mode to preview what the colors will look like.
Hold an object close to the lens and “shoot through” it. You see this commonly with plants. Hold a leaf or flowers close to your camera lens. Even with a small aperture, like an f-8 or f-11, you will not have the close-up object in focus. Take it a step further and use a prism or mirror for added effect.
Julissa—Bridget Haggerty © 2021 All Rights Reserved
3. Back light your subject. Placing your light source behind your subject usually creates a silhouette. You can use this to create drama, mystery in your photograph. Backlighting can be done with flash, strobe or natural light. Typically the source is placed right behind the subject. You will see a glow around the silhouette. A second light source can be used to highlight something in the foreground. Try working without it and see what you get!
4. Long exposure with flash. We know what motion blur is right? When your shutter is open for a long period of time, you can see streaks of light reflecting off moving objects. They are not frozen in time as a typical photo subject is. Have you ever combined the two? Experiment with using flash and a long exposure time, above 1 second. You will be able to selectively freeze motion for one part of the image while capturing motion blur in the other. It is far from technically clean but results in unique images.
In conclusion, waiting to be in the mood or for a lightning bolt of inspiration will not break your creative block. Do you need time to rest? Yes. It is OK to take a break. What we really need is the wisdom to know the difference between rest and procrastination.
What are you going to try? Share your photos in the Facebook Group Imperfect Photography.