Blank pages, blank canvases, blank frames of film terrify me. And yet I can’t resist trying to fill them.
The important thing is to keep trying to make the gap shrink each time you create something new.
Creativity sometimes takes more than one person, even if they’re both in the same body.
Which am I first, photographer or artist? If all photographic technology were to disappear from the world, I will still seek ways of expressing myself creatively, and can find happiness in other forms of art. If all human interest in art were to disappear, I will likely seek a different profession and spend the rest of my days in misery.
Sometimes in our industry, our professionalism, we get [put into] silos…it should be all of our goals to break out of those silos. The more you work, the more people want to put you in a silo so they can define who you are by their terms. Our job is to never let anyone define who we are…
(via Chase Jarvis)
I’d also add:
Sometimes we put ourselves into silos - Not Good Enough, Not Smart Enough, Not Had Enough Experience. Breaking out of these silos is the hardest task in many ways, but it’s one worth pursuing every single day.
Visual Pushups
Funny thing, getting back in the creative saddle. I’ve not been out and shot - just shot, with no real aims other than to shoot what I see if I think it’s worth shooting - for over six months; the last time was back when I was doing my 100 day countdown project.
It turns out that being creative is the same as doing any kind of workout. Whether you’re using your brain or your brawn, the first few times you do your workout after a long layoff you’ll find that your muscles are stiff and unresponsive. Afterwards, you’ll be sore. Eventually you’ll get used to it and you’ll be able to push yourself further and harder.
And that’s what I’m doing on this blog; what Jay Maisel calls “visual pushups.” Why? Because if I don’t, I’m going to stagnate, and being creative will get harder and harder. Even if all I’m producing every day is rubbish, my hope is that every day it’ll get a little less bad.
When Mur Lafferty said “Quit whining and make something,” I did.
(Note, just change the .co.uk to .com if you’re in the US).
