Day Twenty-Eight - Where Did You Go?

Thursday, February 28th: Telling Stories

Thank you so much for taking this journey with me. I hope some of the prompts have worked for you. I'm not sure why creativity has always been such a passion with me - part of it is my love of novelty but it's also about the quest of being an artist.  This week I heard the "task" of being an artist summed up brilliantly in the film Brief Encounters, a documentary that covers ten years in the life of photographer Gregory Crewdson. Towards the end of the film he had a great take on what being an artist is all about:

"I feel very strongly that every artist has a single story to tell," he says, "the struggle is to tell and retell that story again and again in visual form and try to challenge that story. At the core the story is the same. It is the defining story of who you are."

The fates were generous with me in sending this film my way the day after I received some sad news. It helped put things into perspective in that it sent me back to my core. My task for you this last day is one of review and reflection. Look back on the work you've created (or maybe just thought about creating) during these 28 days, see if you are finding your story - or finding new ways to challenge it - it's in there somewhere.

At this point, I'll be returning to my weekly post date of Thursdays and so I'll see you next week with a new post. Once again, many thanks for joining me. I'd love to see some of the images you created during this time - please feel free to send me some! (small jpgs!).

If you've just joined us, February was a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Twenty-Seven: Random Moments

Wednesday, February 27th: Timing Life

Today you're going to take an image every "x" amount of time throughout the day. Set your timer to beep you every 10, 15, or 30 minutes and you must take a shot when that alarm goes off. At the end of the day, review the images. Did it free you up to just "have" to take an image without thinking or planning? What does it say about your day? Do you see patterns or themes? Did you take them all from the same viewpoint...change them up? If we didn't know you, would we know what the order of the images should be? Were some of those taken in embarrassing situations? Did you take them anyway? Do you wish you'd taken more? 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Twenty-Six: Typology Tuesday Color

Tuesday, February 26th:  Red and such

Red is such a sexy thing and for photographers its a bit like "shooting fish in a barrel" because it has such power. Today's typology is about color - feel free to use red...or choose your own. Think about color, how it's used and how you relate to it. Are there cultural or age components to color? How does it change when it's new, old, saturated, pale, darkened...you pick only one hue, but it can have many variations. 

A typology is a collection where everything is the same type of thing. Think of it like a collection - that collection could be shapes/objects/places/parts...you name it. The only rule is that you compose each shot the same - so the "type" fills roughly the same amount of space in each frame, and is located in the same position. 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Twenty-Five: Assembly Required

Monday, February 25th: Tear it up

Today we're going to look at abstracting images through deconstructing them a bit. Starting with a printed image that is fairly tight on its subject, tear the print up into smaller pieces and reconstruct the subject in a different order. See what kinds of new shapes you can make, try doing it with multiple copies of the same image. Once you've got a composition you like, rephotograph it and move on. Try for 5-10 during the day. 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Twenty-Four: The Look of...

Sunday, February 24th: Tasting through your eyes

I'm told we have five senses...actually I think they've added a few more...but today you're going to look at creating a bridge between two of your's. I'd like you to choose either taste or smell and let that guide you through the day. How do you illustrate what taste or smell looks like? An obvious way is to photograph the object/subject that it comes from - but let's see if you can go beyond that. Think about the sensations, try to move away from the literal. 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Twenty-Three: To The End of Victory

Saturday, February 23rd: Where the road leads you.

This post is done with the assumption that you may have today off...or at least a few free hours. If Saturday is your big work day...accept my apologies!

My husband and I have a ritual we call "to the end of Victory" which is named after a drive we took on Victory Blvd - taking it all the way until it ended. There was some thought that "hey, it goes west, so it must end at the ocean." Needless to say, it didn't, but the ensuing trip was a lot of fun as we watched neighborhoods and cultures change.

My challenge for you today is to select a street and take it from its beginning to its end. You could select a long one or a short one...but see where it takes you and document those changes. One of my favorite trips of this kind was when we started south on Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena, which then turned into Atlantic Blvd, which turned into Eastern Blvd, which turned into Garfield, which turned into Cherry which landed us a block from the ocean - from the mountains to the ocean in one afternoon was really fun.

Have fun...oh, and if you don't have a car...take a bus to the end of the line.

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Twenty-Two: Ages of Man

Friday, February 22nd: Time Changes Everything

Earlier this month I had you use the eye-level you had as a child...well today I'd like to take that concept further and have you photograph from the changes that our mindset brings. Photograph as if you're 10 years old, then 21, then 33, then 56 and finally 87. Some of those are within your lifespan, and some will probably be older, so you'll have a chance to use both your memory and your imagination. Keep in mind that what was (or is going to be) important to you was very different at each age...so that should impact what and how you make images. 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Twenty-One: Meanings

Thursday, February 21st: Finding Meaning

Today, I'd like you to choose one of the following words and illustrate it throughout the day. Even in putting together this list I realized that words and language are fairly personal, but I tried to find words that can have multiple meanings...and that's what I'd hope you'd try and do in your illustrations of them. And hey...if you're a rebel, feel free to choose more than one of the words!

Possession

Life

Energy

Frigid

Threat

Pressure

Warm

Bitter

Open

Silence

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Twenty: Shadow World

Wednesday, February 20th:  Anything But...

Today you're going to photograph objects ... people ... buildings ... whatever, but you can't show the actual object in the shot. That might mean you're using its shadow, reflection, imprint...stretch your mind to find a way to photograph things without them being in the shot - remember it can be anything generated by the subject...but it just can't be the actual subject. 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Nineteen: Typology Tuesday Communication

Tuesday, February 19th:  Alphabet Soup

Most of us communicate through visual means - and the biggest one of them (and how you're reading this) is the alphabet. It's fairly amazing that with the use of 26 letters we can create everything from ransom notes to love poems. So, this week's typology is the alphabet - find the entire alphabet during the day - feel free to create any that you can't find. Also...it doesn't have to be the english language one...you could even make one up!

A typology is a collection where everything is the same type of thing. Think of it like a collection - that collection could be shapes/objects/places/parts...you name it. The only rule is that you compose each shot the same - so the "type" fills roughly the same amount of space in each frame, and is located in the same position. 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Eighteen: I M U

Monday, February 18th: Compassion

Very often one of the first subjects beginning photography students will want to photograph is the homeless. I completely understand that they feel it's a "real" subject ... and there's certainly a lot of "grit" to the subject. But, my concern is that they want to photography the homeless because of they are different...they are the "other."  So what I (usually) tell them is that "You need to go beyond that, I want you to photograph them for our similarities...not our differences." 

Today's prompt is compassion...look at your world with compassion and see how (if) that makes a difference in the kind of imagery you are drawn to make. Look for how "I am U" is played out, how you connect and recognize yourself in the world at large. 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Seventeen: Inspiration

Sunday, February 17th: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Not all creative challenges are a direct call to action...some are about input as well. Wanderer above the Sea of Fog is a painting done in 1818 by Caspar David Friedrich, a German artist. It's a beautiful and romantic image of a man standing on a rocky point overlooking what seems to be miles of similar rocks and mountain tops in the distance. His back is to the viewer and yet the artist chose to make both the man and the set of rocks he's standing on the only fully saturated part of the image...so we are drawn to him and he retains a lot of visual strength. There is a peacefulness through the use of cool tones in the mid and background areas...while the foreground tones are warm and feel more human.

What's really interesting about this painting, in a larger context, is how many times you've seen it without ever being aware of it. There's a great set of referenced images on this Wiki-link that show the influence this painting has had on popular culture. Art History can be a wonderful reference and resource for us...so today's exercise is about doing a little bit of input, thinking about various types of images and how you might draw upon them to enrich your own image-making process. I'm having you look at painting because it's close enough to photography to be readily understandable and applicable.

I've put together a series of searches to get you started. When you do your own searches, remember when you "google" something, you then click on "images."

Sublime Painting (if you don't add the painting part you get a very different search!)

Gothic Painting 

Andrew Wyeth

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Sixteen: The Eye of The Beholder

Saturday, February 16th: Beauty

Our ideas of beauty are cultural, they exist in the eye of the beholder. Today find a way to make images that sing with their beauty and also make some that push you away with disgust. Then, I challenge you to switch those two - make beautiful photographs of that which makes you cringe and ugly shots of beautiful items.  Is either of those two things harder? Does it change your ideas about the subjects? 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Fifteen: Tribal

Friday, February 15th: Tribal Living

Each of us survives living in such a large society by becoming part of a tribe... We're used to the idea of tribes being individuals that dress alike or perform an action together - but what other kinds of ways do we evidence our membership to our tribe? Today - go out and document the tribes you experience on a daily basis. What ties them together and how to show it?

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Fourteen: Pairings

Thursday, February 14th: Influence

Strangely enough, today I'm not going to ask you to shoot anything. Instead I want you to think about how images, and their meanings can change when they're paired with other images. Select some of your favorite images and start by looking at how they can work together.  Don't just combine things that make sense...go beyond and try very dissimilar images together. Also, see how it works when it's just a few (2) images or many (9+)...what does that change? What about size? Make a printout that's small and then tile another to be as big as you can. Put them on the wall and live with them for a few days. If you don't have a framing app, here's several: 

Frame Magic

Frames for Facebook

PicFrame

Photo Frame

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Thirteen: What's Wrong With Your Face?

Wednesday, February 13th: Portraits 

When we think of portraiture there's a lot of energy that goes into either hiding or uncovering the subject's personality - it gets a bit stiff very quickly. What if we don't even attempt (or allow) either of those two approaches? Shoot a series of self-portraits...while doing the following sounds: aaaahhhhhhhhh, mmmmmm, wowowowowowow, heeheeheeheeheehee, auuuggghhhh...you get the idea... See how many sounds you can make and photograph yourself doing each. Try it with your parents, or kids also. 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Twelve: Typology Tuesday! Passages

Tuesday, February 12th:  Openings

This week's typology will be looking at entrances or openings...so think about how openings serve to link two different spaces... by their very nature there is an inside and an outside and the opening is about that transition. 

A typology is a collection where everything is the same type of thing. Think of it like a collection - that collection could be shapes/objects/places/parts...you name it. The only rule is that you compose each shot the same - so the "type" fills roughly the same amount of space in each frame, and is located in the same position. 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Eleven: Shake, Rattle and Roll

Monday, February 11th: Get Moving

Today is all about movement. What interests me about motion is that, for the most part, what we photograph is what we can also see. That changes when we start to think about movement...which is really what so much of life is about. So think about the idea of "motion" and its cousin "change" and see how you can illustrate that. Part of that could be literal movement...spinning, shaking, twirling and those are nice literal ways to think about it, but what about the feelings that come with movement, or figuring out the space between completely still and movement that is so slow it's almost invisible...?  

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Ten: Tell Me A Story

Sunday, February 10th: Story-Telling 

Use three images to tell a story - which will give you a beginning, a middle and an end. The story can be an actual event...or it could be something simple that happens throughout the day...looking for a restaurant, ate, left a tip... try it as many ways as you can think of.

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Nine: No Peeking

Saturday, February 9th: Intention Shooting

Today you will allow the fates to help you create your compositions. Rather than "framing" up each shot through a viewfinder or screen, you're just going to go on faith and hold your camera up to the subject and take the shot - no peeking! Try this for an entire day and wait to review the images. Notice any similarities? How do the images compare to what you thought you might get?

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Eight: What's holding you back?

Friday, February 8th: Barriers

A bit strange to start off a month of freedom by looking at barriers...but isn't that often the problem with us just enjoying ourselves to begin with? Today spend some time looking at anything that divides us and keeps us away. Throughout the day, look at your world...what separates us, what are the obstructions in your life and how can you show that in a visual manner?

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Seven: That's So Abstract

Thursday, February 7th: Abstractions

Choose a subject to photograph - it can be a person/place/thing...it just can't move. In your first image make sure you can see the entire subject, then with each new shot divide the distance between you in half...do this until you are touching it (or as close as you can get). Feel free to change the composition with each shot...this isn't just about cropping, but what things look like as you move from a view of the whole to its abstraction. Does the subject retain its qualities as you move closer? Do they change? How?  As you do this a few times does a pattern emerge?  

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Six: Go Back In Time

Wednesday, February 6th: Think Five

Remember when you were a kid, everyone seemed so tall? Ever go back to a place you lived when you were young and everything seems so much smaller...what happened...did everything shrink? No, you've just gotten used to the world from a different eye-level viewpoint. So let's go back to shooting at the eye-level you had when you were a kid. For most of us, that's somewhere around our hips...see what the world looked like back then and how do images taken at that eye-level differ? 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Five: Typology Tuesday Face Forward

Tuesday, February 5th: Typology Tuesday - Faces

A typology is a collection where everything is the same type of thing. Think of it like a collection - that collection could be shapes/objects/places/parts...you name it. The only rule is that you compose each shot the same - so the "type" fills roughly the same amount of space in each frame, and is located in the same position.

This week's prompt will be Faces - which sounds fairly straightforward...but the reason I'm choosing it is because the word can mean so many things. It can refer to the image we put into the world, it can be the simple physical space at the front of our skull, it can be the surface of an object...it's fairly wide open. What does it mean to you? 

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Four: Good Morning

Monday, February 4th:  Good Morning

Photograph everything you see during your morning...think of it as an essay on how you greet the day. Imagine you're describing your day to a stranger. It can end when you head out the door...or whenever you feel it's no longer morning - if you're a night worker...just choose when ever your day "starts."


If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Three: Possessions or Possessed?

Sunday, February 3rd:  Create the Catalog

Catalog your life - take the time to take a longer look at what you've chosen to place around you. Choose a room where you spend a lot of time and take an image of everything in that room...or if that's too overwhelming, chose a small area/dresser/desk/closet and catalog every item whether it's a piece of clothing or a penny. Possessions have an interested effect on the owner - that's part of the strength of the "ring" in Lord of the Rings...

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs.

Day Two: When Worlds Collide...

Saturday, February 2nd:  It's a Small World...

Get a small figure...a toy... it can be a person, car, animal...you name it and create a travel documentary for it. Take it everywhere with you, shoot it in different locations...try some stealth shots of it (yeah museums!)...just make sure you shoot some at it's own "eye" level. Remember you're trying to create a life and story for this object so don't be afraid to create your shots (props etc.) instead of just working with whatever you find.

If you've just joined us, February is a 28 day creativity challenge with a new "prompt" each day to get you thinking in new ways. The goal is to just have fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use a cell phone or any camera that's easy for you. Don't worry about the end results. With each prompt you can take it literally or not, you can wing it, google it, ask for people's opinions...whatever you want to do is perfect. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there are no right or wrongs. 

28 Days To More Creativity!

February is Black History month and the International Month of Creativity...well, I actually just made up that last part. Nevertheless - join me this month in starting a new year with a month-long series of creative exercises designed to get you thinking in new ways...and maybe even reviving the love you had for photography (or image-making) in the first place! 

It's tempting, especially for photographers, to just think of technique when it comes to trying something new...but I'd like to go deeper than that...to really think about how and why we make images and to assess what our artistic process is. You may decide to do each one - or just browse until you find the ones that work best for you. 

I suggest that you just spend this month having fun, don't try to control too much, feel free to use your cell phone or whichever camera is the easiest, don't worry about the end results! With each prompt you can take it literally, figuratively...you can wing it...google it...ask people for their opinions...however you want to approach it. Bottom line - it's supposed to be fun, there's no right or wrongs.

Creativity is NOT something you have to be born with - it's in everyone - it's just a muscle that responds to exercise, faith and attention. The more you allow yourself to believe that you are creative, that you have important and interesting stories to tell...the more it will be true. So, let's begin!

Friday, February 1st: Observation

I'm writing this while sitting in a small restaurant that I can tell used to be italian by the red and white checked table cloths and the lasagna specials...but now it's run by a vietnamese family who have added their own set of specials (bun with shrimp - yum!) and it's called the Americana Grill and Fountain. There's a great chart on the wall by each table called "The Proper Way to Eat" which explains how to eat vietnamese food correctly. 

Somehow I managed to miss most of this until I put away my iPad and started looking around me. One of the most important things we do as artists is observe...and that's an activity that’s starting to fade as we are constantly entertained by our media devices. 

Today, strangely enough, I’m going to ask you to just sit and observe. Pick a location that’s got something going on...even consider a place you’ve been to often, but never really took the time to look at. Get a comfortable vantage point and just observe. Feel free to bring a notebook and spend time watching what’s happening in that environment and see what it tells you. 

Look at the people, how they dress, their age, what they’re doing...what can you figure out by observing them...what are their stories? What about the architecture - the way the space is physically laid out? What time period does it reflect, what was its original purpose, how well suited is it for living? How is the light...does it change during the time period you’re there? Is it natural light, artificial...are there different color temperatures in it? Does it have hard edges, soft, are there reflections on the surfaces...are they smooth or textured? What colors are in this environment - do they work well together or does everything clamor for your attention? What can you tell about the neighborhood culture in general - what groups have moved through and left their mark? Add your own questions to the mix and see where your observations take you.