Never Be Content

This past Thursday our local APA chapter here in DC had their monthly Brown Bag event. This month’s topic was about change and how we as photographers can, and should, adapt to the economic crisis we are in. One of the last questions asked was about our source of inspiration. Some said looking at other photographer’s work. Others mentioned playing an instrument to clear the mind. I think these are all great ways to find inspiration and to jostle the creative mind. For me it’s many things, but three come to mind right away.

There are certain blogs that I like to read (not consistently, but often). One of the best is Rob Haggart’s A Photo Editor. It’s full of interviews, photos, news and tidbits that other blogs just don’t have.

A web site full of "ideas worth spreading" is TED. This is brilliant site full of inspirational speakers who talk about subjects that help feed the creative mind. Most of the talks last 18-20 minutes and afterwards you feel inspired, motivated, influenced, encouraged and enthused about the future and what it holds. One of my favorites is a talk by JJ Abrams about his "Mystery Box" (see it here). TED’s latest batch of speakers just came online. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love”, speaks about the concept of being a “genius” and how we have ruined it (see it here). It’s a fascinating journey through the mind of a creative person and her thoughts on genius - who has it, how we manage it, and how we can connect with our own geniuses.

Finally I love to watch movies, especially the real arty ones. I can watch a good movie over and over again. I get inspired not by the writing or action scenes, but by the use of angles and light and how scenes are composed.

All of these have helped me realize that creating is an evolving exercise - one where we should never be completely satisfied or content. Once I am content then life seems to loose some of its meaning.
Live to Create and Create to Live. Never Be Content

What Do You See?

During a photo shoot this week one of the items to be photographed was a candle. Fairly simple item to shoot, but being black caused some problems with reflections. But my assistant, Rachael, and I worked it out. Where my creativity was really sparked was when we blew out the candle. The puffs of smoke that rose from the candle was mesmerizing. We just had to take a few minutes to play. Here are some of the results. The shots were taken moments after the candle was blown out. The more I look at them the more I see - letters of the alphabet, faces, a horse...
What do you see?

Characterizations

The portrait is a wonderful thing. Probably my most favorite assignments are portraits. The photographic possibilities are endless. You can shoot in the studio, in a chosen environmental, get close or pull back. Revealing the character of a person is what it's all about. Being able to capturing their mood or showing an emotion inspires me to keep shooting.

Fortunately many of my assignments are portrait related. The wide range of personalities and the variety of advertising concepts produced by clients keeps it all fresh. There's always a different way of portraying an individual. Capturing the character of a person is what keeps me in photography.

The Color Card Assignment

Before the start of any photo shoot I use a color card - as every photographer should. After two photo shoots this weekend (and going over the images later) I noticed that those images were very candid, and sometimes funny. I started to go through some past assignments and noticed that most of them were great, spontaneous moments that really could make a wonderful series of images.

This is what I love about photography. Anything can come from everything. You just have to be willing, and open, to see it. So from now on I'm not going to take these pre-assignment moments for granted. But instead shoot them as a personal assignment.

I'll have more to show in the future.

Creativity: Part I

Do a search for the word "creativity" through either Google or Yahoo and you will get 69,800,000 hits. Quite amazing concidering that we all know what to be creative means - or do we?

So what is Creativity? Is it the act of turning ideas into reality? Or is it the simple act of just being imaginative? In some ways I think that being creative is what we all are striving to be. If it's through art, invention, business or love we all want to have a unique perspective and to be able to share that with others.
Personally, I like to think of creativity as having a passion and commitment to follow through on an idea - and using that to turn ideas into a reality.

How many of us have been trying to sleep, mind racing with thoughts, and a great idea comes into our heads? It happens to me all the time. How often do I write them down? Hardly ever. In my head I have written numerous, and I might add brilliant, movie scripts, great ideas for posts to this blog and unique ways to reach art directors. I always say "Oh, I'll remember that..." The next morning I rarely do.

So this weekend I am gong to take photos inspired from a past photo shoot I did of a white chair - see images below. I thought about it, came up with an idea, wrote it down and now I am going to make it a reality.

So tune in to see what I come up with - I will probably, hopefully, surprise myself.

Barber Shop

These are two images from a recent shoot for BlueCross BlueSheild at a small barber shop in Washington, DC. The first is an personal portrait taken of Fredrick just before we started shooting. He had a great look and I wanted to take a few minutes to take his portrait.
The second photo is the one used for the advertisement. It was a fairly simple shoot - mainly used the available light from outside and the existing tungsten lights in the shop. Two lights were use. One on the left, behind the subjects and bounced off the ceiling. The second is a fill light directed towards the subject.