Ultimate Photographic Creativity
"All parts of the universe are interwoven with one another, and the bond is sacred. Nothing is unconnected with some other thing." - Marcus Aurelius, 121-179 A.D
The subject of photographic creativity is, quite frankly, a frightening and difficult one to write about. I think that's part of the reason that discussion of photographic gear (Canon vs. Nikon vs. Pentax vs Sony; camera shootouts; lens tests; etc.) and photographic technique (how to pose portraits; how to use Photoshop; how to retouch pictures; etc.) probably outweighs discussion of photographic creativity 100 to 1, at least on the Internet.
I think that most photographers consider themselves very lucky when they make a beautiful photograph. (I might even extend this statement to all artists in general.) If they're brutally honest with themselves, most photographers would probably admit that they are missing a good 90% of the opportunities that regularly arise to make inspiring, interesting, or great photographs. I'd like to share a few thoughts as to why I think that is.
The goal of this article is to help get you thinking about some concrete ways to increase your receptivity to creativity. First, I'll introduce you to some ideas from the world of psychology, then I'll tell you what I think they mean in terms of increasing photographic creativity.
The Human System
In this article, I am going to borrow very liberally from some books by Stephen Wolinsky. If you have any interest at all in psychology, you owe it to yourself to check out Wolinsky's writings. I'll recommend a few books at the end of this article.
According to Wolinsky (and modern quantum physics!), everything is made of the same underlying substance. This substance would appear to the human perceptual apparatus as nothingness, or emptiness, or a void. Out of this one substance, the perceived manifestation arises in a way that is like gas (water vapor) condensing down into a liquid (water, or H20), and then further condensing down into a solid (ice). Seemingly solid things in the perceived manifestation then "thin out" into what appears as nothingness. And this is the cycle of living, as we directly experience it. We might have ideas or concepts to the contrary, but the actual direct experience of living is pretty much the successive arising and subsiding of apparent objects, sensations, and thoughts within our awareness. And there is also the arising and subsiding of awareness itself as we awaken from sleep and return to sleep.
If we classify the ways that nothingness manifests into "something," we might get a classification like the following:
The Outside World (other people, the computer screen, the desk, the house, etc.)
Thoughts (mental images, the voice(s) inside your head, memories, concepts, beliefs, etc.)
Emotions (anger, sadness, fear, etc.)
Human Biology (the needs of the human body, the nervous system, fight/flight responses, survival responses, etc.)
Spiritual Essence or States of Grace (unconditional love, peace, compassion, pure beingness, etc.)
The Collective Unconscious (the realm of archetypes, the forces that connect the whole human family, etc.)
The Void of Undifferentiated Consciousness (the state of the one underlying substance before it has condensed into something we can be aware of)
And finally, we'd probably create a catch-all bucket for everything that exists but is beyond classification. All sorts of labels could be chosen, including: Universal Intelligence; God; The Universe; The Self; etc.
To get something from this article, there is no need for you to accept the particular classification system above. It's just labels for the un-labelable; categories for the indivisible anyway! At the end of the day though, I think that most people agree that a human being is made up of many parts, or forces, or experiences that feel related but different. That's what makes being a human being so interesting in the first place!
Now, as a human being, would you be happy if you woke up one morning missing a part of your body? I doubt most people would be happy at all about that! But every day most of us amputate huge portions of our daily experience for one reason or another. Read on for some ideas about how we do this psychic amputation.
Trances
Most people think of Trances as unusual states, where a person becomes semi-unconscious and has some strange or mystical experience that only they are aware of. That describes less than 1% of the trances that actually happen.
The other 99% of trances happen all the time to everybody.
A trance is a state where a person's attention is narrowed (focused on only one thing) and fixated (not free to focus on other things).
Milton Erickson gives us the following definition of a trance state:
"Trance is a condition wherein there is a reduction of the patient's foci of attention to a few inner realities; consciousness has been fixated and focused to a relatively narrow frame of attention rather than being diffused over a broad area."
How many times does that happen to you in a day? For most people, at least 100 times per day!
Here's an example that might apply to some of us: You are at work and unexpectedly called into your manager's office. Your manager explains that your work performance has been lower than expected, and asks you how you plan to fix this problem. Immediately, you begin to hesitantly talk about how things have been difficult with a family situation, and you are sure this is temporary and things will get better. As you talk, your palms begin to sweat a bit, and you have this awful fear that you'll be fired if you don't come up with a good explanation.
Later, in thinking about this situation, you realize it reminds you of how your father, when you were young, would call you into his study and get on your case about your grades. You realize that you had an age regression trance, and you began reacting to your work supervisor in the same way you learned to react to your father when you were young, combined with a narrowed and fixated focus.
For example, while you were explaining things to your supervisor, you realize you didn't notice the comfortable chair you were sitting in, the sunshine and the birds signing outside your supervisor's partially opened window, or the delicious aftertaste of the special lunch you treated yourself to. Although the sensory data for those things was present, your awareness was narrowed and fixated on something else!
By the way, a trance is not necessarily a bad thing. A trance state that helps you survive a truly dangerous situation is certainly not a bad thing. I would suggest, though, that a trance that happens automatically in a non-survival situation may not be allowing you the full freedom possible in that situation.
Let's take another example. For a long time, I was a huge fan of Edward Weston. I've read his Daybooks (the published version of his personal diaries), seen every photograph of his I could get my eyeballs on, visited Mexico City to see some of the neighborhoods where he lived, and photographed at Point Lobos where some of his most famous photographs were made.
For a while, I was living an "Edward Weston" trance! This was a time where my attention was fixated on comparing my life with what I knew of Edward Weston's life. My attention was narrowed so that I looked for photographs that reminded me of Weston's photographs, I tried to live in situations that reminded me of his bohemian living situations, and I idealized a life that looked like his. In the process, I partially lost contact with what was real and what was happening in my personal world moment to moment.
Any perceptual input that arose to me and did not fit my "Weston filter" would have been immediately discarded, before I could even freely decide whether to discard it. I was truly living an "Edward Weston trance!" Any uniquely creative photographs that were asking to be made by me would have to slip past the filters of this massive trance state of mine. Who knows how many creative opportunities I missed during that time!
Perception and the Human System
The human nervous system comprises the ability to see, taste, touch, hear, and smell. The primary purpose of the human nervous system is to ensure the survival of the human species, and especially the particular member of the human species attached to that nervous system! Although the nervous system makes possible many awesome experiences (enjoyment of delicious food, enjoyment of a loving caress, smelling the proverbial roses, etc.), it's primary purpose is to ensure human survival.
80% of our attention goes to the sense of sight. Most photographers rely exclusively on their sense of sight when finding, selecting, and composing photographs. Well, that and their mind.
The mind is an outgrowth of the human nervous system. Although the human mind is the primary reason that life today is so much more comfortable for so many (those above the poverty level) than it was hundreds of years ago, the mind is truly an outgrowth of the nervous system. Most people have almost no control over the thoughts that go through their mind.
Prove it to yourself: think of nothing but the chair you are sitting on right now for the next 5 minutes. I'll be back in five minutes to check how things went.
Well, how did that experiment go? Do you still believe that you control the contents of your mind?
Here's the point: if you only rely on your optical system and the contents of your mind for photographic inspiration, creativity, or guidance, you are missing a huge slice of potential sources for photographic creativity! Have a look again at how I categorized the world of manifestation:
The Outside World
THOUGHTS
Emotions
HUMan Biology
Spiritual Essence or States of Grace
The Collective Unconscious
The Void of Undifferentiated Consciousness
Universal Intelligence; God; The Universe; The Self; etc.
Notice that in this list, I have bolded Thoughts, and part of the word Human Biology. This is to point out that the normal way of guiding photographic creativity is to look to the mind, and to a part of the human biology (the optical system).
Here's what I'm really trying to say (sorry I had to give so much background information to get to this point): Every item on the list above is a potential source of guidance towards amazingly creative, inspiring, beautiful, and simply GREATphotographs!
Relying only on the eyes, or the eyes plus the mind, for photographic creativity is a bit like being in a trance state: your attention is narrowed and fixated compared to what it could be if your were receiving perceptual data from the other aspects of our world.
Can bodily sensations guide creativity? How about dreams? What about a recurring interest in stories of a mythical or imaginary nature? Could an ability to be grateful for or at peace with or in love with everything you experience moment to moment be an opening to creativity?
The answer is YES. Nothing is unconnected. Every "thing" that manifests in your awareness is a potential opening or guide towards creativity in photography (or artmaking in general). It doesn't have to be just a thought or a visual perception.
On the other hand, let's think about the things that can be corrosive to creativity. How about unresolved emotional issues? How about a nagging pain in your body that the doctor's haven't been able to explain? How about a mind that obsessively or compulsively focuses on problems that "must" be solved?
Can these things diminish your access to creativity? The answer is YES. Every thing that reduces your ability to experience the totality of your personal world moment to moment is a potential restriction on creativity.
Can you dissolve these blocks to creativity? The answer is YES.
John Wimberley
I met master photographer John Wimberley in 2006. I had signed up for a brand new weekend-long workshop he was putting on: Sight & Insight. That workshop opened my awareness to some of the things I've discussed in this article. And it started me on my own personal exploration of how I could be more open to creativity.
The results have been truly transformative. I'm going again to John's Sight & Insight workshop this October (2009). John tells me that the workshop has evolved every time he's taught it, and I can't wait to see what new insights he presents in Newport, OR this October!
P.S. Many accomplished photographers teach excellent workshops. I've been to several John Wimberley workshops, and two things stand out: the EXCELLENCEof the teaching and the information provided. And second, the PRICE! I've never had to pay more than $300 to participate in a John Wimberley workshop and I can tell you that they'd be a bargain at three times that price.
My own photographs have improved dramatically as a result of John Wimberley's workshops, and all I can tell you is that if you're serious about improving your photography, you need to sign up now for the Sight & Insight workshop. I'm planning on encouraging all of the artists I know, photographer or not, to attend!
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