Sometimes what it takes for a little inspiration is just changing the venue. 
One of the greatest things about having kids, for me as a photographer, is that my world view is changed irrevocably with their presence. I will never be able to look at a pine cone without thinking of it as a “porcupine-fish”, as my daughter described one once or as a projectile, as my son demonstrates often. What I mean to say is I try to use this childhood perspective in my own life to see things in a new way. When applied to photography, I have been thinking more and more about how to *see* with fresh eyes the things that are all around me. Here is a little photo/creativity exercise:
Pick a subject and decide to capture it in as many ways as possible. At least 8. Use your toothbrush, anything. Just change your perspective. I bet you will find the first 4 easy then it starts to get harder.
I have been reading this book : How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum by Keri Smith. I found her book after stumbling upon her blog entry 10 ways to infuse your work with your personality Which is a good read if you are feeling like you need a kick in the creative rump.
Archive for the ‘books’ Category
Creativity is all about perspective
at my bedside
Currently books in our house (big thick ones with written narratives in them) seem to be getting more use as footstools allowing little hands closer to light switches, everything on the counter and the raisin jar. But I still find myself reading a lot. But now it is mostly magazines or things I can put down without having to spend much time on reintroduction. Life with little ones seems to be lived in little cubits of time. About the length of a magazine article with corresponding pictures…
This being said, these are the books I keep reaching for over and over again, determined to spark a new idea, see a new lighting technique or share with the kids. The kids favorites are at the bottom. Zoo logy by Joelle Jolivet is huge at bedtime. And I don’t just mean that, when open, both kids can hide behind its nearly two-foot-tall pages. It has all of these fantastic block prints of animals in category groupings such as “Hot”, “Horns”, “Striped”, “In the Sea”, “at night” and “underground”. We can spend good parts of an hour laying on our bed playing eye spy and discovering animals we hadn’t heard of before. Also a big hit is Wheres the Cake created and illustrated by T. T. Khing, We get lost in the many layered stories that are told entirely through pictures. There are many plot lines and characters to be followed from the beginning of the book to the end.
