Ten Stop Signs on Creativity Road
By Marty Coleman
9 Sep 2008
"A genius is just someone with fewer stop signs in their head"
I have 10 'Stop Signs' that can stop you in your creative tracks faster than a head-on with a semi. They may seem harsh, but that is because they are. Just imagine Simon Cowell talking to a photographer instead of a singer and you will get the attitude I am trying to put forth here.
Stop sign #1 - it's boring.
Answer: No, YOU are boring. Not the place, person or event. Remember, you are only as interesting as you are interested in the world around you. Look at details, look from the floor, look straight down, look in a corner.
I saw the scene of 'purse and stump' at a rehearsal for a wedding. It was a completely boring image of a purse on a pedestal. But I looked past the pedestal to see the stump in the background and that became something interesting to me. Pay attention, find unexpected scenes, angles and views. Look beyond the obvious.
Stop sign #2 - It's not perfect.
Answer: According to who? If it is a print and is too green, blurred, flared, dark, whatever then collage it with something that makes that 'negative' stand out. An art piece is not limited to one photo all by itself. Draw on it, cut it in stripes and layer it over the same exact shot you took that is good. Cut the worst part of the image out and tack that bad part on your wall, look at it, find something in it. Keep tacking up the bad parts until you find something interesting.
If it is a digital image in your computer, make a copy of it, then do special effects on it up the wazoo until it is something cool or at least you learned something. Go to the extreme with each setting, see how far you can take it.
Waiting for perfection is an excuse. It shows a worry about what others will think instead of seeing things through original eyes.
Stop sign #3 - My equipment isn't good enough.
Answer: Then you would have to explain why photographers' work from 75-100 years ago is worth thousands and esteemed the world over as great photographs when their equipment sucked compared to ours now. Even if all you have is a point and shoot, it is YOU that makes the photo great, not the camera.
The photography world is filled with people who love old, crappy cameras with no control like the Holga, or who use pin hole cameras that are nothing more than a cardboard box with a hole in it.
Lack of equipment is an excuse and shows a lack of imagination. Go out and take photos with what you have, quit waiting for a better something.
Stop sign #4 - I am not educated in art and photography.
Answer: Thank your lucky stars you aren't! There are many highly educated 'artists' who are picking their noses watching TV and eating too much instead of using their talents. They aren't worth doodoo compared to one person with passion and vision even without a formal education. What matters is the doing. If you do the work you will learn.
That doesn't mean there aren't things to learn in a formal setting, there are. I have 2 degrees in art because I wanted to learn. I learned about printmaking, drawing, art history, certain artmaking techniques, and a bit about the art world.
But I had no formal training as a photographer at all. My sole educational work in photography was about 3-4 sessions in a dark room during grad school with another student who taught me the basics in exchange for me teaching him the basics of lithography. The truth is the vast majority of my creativity and my end results as an artist are not a function of my formal education, they are a function of my desire and my passion.
Stop sign #5 - I don't have time.
Answer: How much time does it take to snap a photo of yourself behind the wheel waiting in traffic, the full kitchen sink, the beautiful toy in the sunlight in your kid's room, or an arm's length self-portrait?
It isn't time you are lacking, it is imagination and decisiveness. Keep your camera with you. If you have a big honkin cadillac of a camera, then get a small point and shoot to have with you when you are on the go. FIND A WAY to take the photo!
The high contrast photo in silhouette was at a local diner. It took no more than 20 seconds to get my camera on the table, take the shot, review the shot and put the camera back down on my seat. It isn't time you are lacking, it's commitment.
Stop sign #6 - What if people don't like what I do?
Answer: Guess what? They WON'T like what you do! At least many won't. Many might, some will. But that is like saying what if someone doesn't like your clothing style. So what? Are you going to not get dressed because MAYBE someone won't like your choices? NO, of course not. So, time to do a reality check and realize that the normal state of the creative life is that someone won't like what you do. That isn't bad, it's to be expected. Embrace it, have it be an acceptable part of your understanding about life.
The wild building jutting out over the street is the Denver Art Museum, by Daniel Libeskind - I have a funny feeling some Denverites don't like this building, though I am sure many do as well. It obviously is different than the buildings around it. As a matter of fact, the building next to it, the city library, by Michael Graves, was controversial 20 years before, and now looks positively traditional next to this new building. The question is what sort of building would have been built if the goal was to have everyone like the building?
Stop sign #7 - I don't know what to photograph.
Answer: What are you passionate about? Photograph that.
Even if it is your secret doll fetish or chronicling the cutting of your toenails. Artists who continue to create art are the ones who have admitted to themselves and the world what it is they love. They have courage.
There are two things you must love to be successful. One, you must love your subject. You must feel passion and love and excitement about it. I love women, backs, tattoos, and life events, among other things. Sometimes I am lucky and find a woman and her back with a tattoo at the life event! It doesn't matter what you have a passion about, what matters is you admit it.
Two, you have to love the process, not just the end result, of creating your art. If you don't then eventually you will find ways to not create it. So, if you don't love setting up lights to create a great studio image, chances are you won't do that as often as you need to be successful at it. If you don't like getting dirty and sweaty and being at the mercy of the elements to get the nature shot, then chances are you will not be a great, or even mediocre, wildlife photographer.
What do you love? Subject, style, process? Admit that and do that.
Stop sign #8 - It costs too much
Answer: What is it you can't afford? A point and shoot camera? A computer? Be creative, find a camera at a pawn shop, or a resale shop. If you can't afford a new computer, once again, find a refurbished one. Maybe trade services for what you need.
You don't have to go anywhere to create interesting photos, you have yourself as a subject, and you don't have to travel to get there do you? You have your home, your yard, your sidewalk, your street signs.
I realized by having children that we are all capable of saying we don't have the time or the money to do something. Without exception my children almost always found a way to do the things they REALLY wanted to do. That usually did not include cleaning out the garage with dad, so in that case they had too much homework. But a call from a friend to go to the movies, well, in that case, they realized they could do their homework when they got home, or in the morning. In other words, they WANTED to go to the movies, and found a way.
Do you WANT to be a photographer, an artist, a creative person? Then you WILL find a way and you will not use excuses.
Stop sign #9 - Everyone is so much better than I am.
Answer: True, they are. Get over it and take your photos. Pretty soon you will be who the faint hearted ones look at and say 'they are so much better than I'.
Here are the attitudes to avoid. Those who feel they know everything and as a result have nothing left to learn. Those who feel they know nothing and as a result are afraid to learn. Their thoughts in both cases are all about 'self'. The 'know-it-all' is wanting to show the world how much he or she knows. The 'know-nothing' is consumed with what others will think of them.
The know-it-all doesn't encourage and lift up but instead diminishes and puts down those who know less. People don't follow 'know-it-alls' and so they eventually find themselves alone and bitter.
The 'know-nothings' don't realize their need for education might be a gift a teacher needs to get motivated. They don't realize that teachers need students, mentors need mentees (mentoes, mentals?). All they are thinking about is how they will appear to others and so they hide and bewail their shortcomings.
Both types are tiresome and selfish.
So, yes, there are people who know more than you (and less). Will that fact make you hide, or will it inspire you to go find those people and allow yourself to be both blessed and be a blessing?
Stop sign #10 - It's Overwhelming
Many people want to do something interesting with their lives. They want to accomplish something. What stops them is the overwhelming nature of the big picture. 'I can never graduate from college, I can never get a law degree, I could never move to another country, I could never learn photography'. They are thinking about ALL the things they need to do and it seems like it can't be done.
But the truth is you don't have to do ALL those big things. All you need to do is the next small step. You might have a big dream, and that is good. But the key to success is to then put that big picture dream on the back shelf and focus on the small steps of today that bring you closer to that big dream.
Take Tiger Woods, the famous golfer. It is obvious that from an early age his goals were to be the best golfer ever. But guess what? Interviews with him repeatedly have him saying that when he is on the golf course he thinks of NOTHING but the shot he has right in front of him. Not the dreams, not the accolades, not the money. Just the shot. And the amazing part is the more he is able to focus on that one shot and NOT think about anything beyond it, the closer he comes to winning the tournament, having the best season, and having the greatest career in golf.
He has very few stop signs in his head. What are your stop signs?
No More Stop Signs
So, no excuses. Go be who you are suppose to be and create what you are suppose to create. Don't wimp out, don't be a lazy baby about it.
Here is a good quote that lays out HOW to go about it. "It is easier to act yourself into another way of feeling than it is to feel yourself into another way of acting." What that means in the context of the stop signs is that if you wait until you feel creative to act on it, you might wait a long time. But if you act creative, if you take the photo, walk around the corner, look at a detail, pay attention to the light, even if you don't feel creative, guess what? You will have a VERY creative day!
So, go take the photo! Then take another and another and another until you can't stop smiling because you are so proud of yourself, just as we all will be.
2 responses
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Linda Hobbs gave props (7 Dec 2008):
Marty, your 10 tips speak straight to me. I'm going to print out a copy to keep with me at all times--just the kick in the pants I need. I know lots of folks will find your story helpful. Oh yeah--publish it!
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Tracy Frayne said (12 Feb 2009):
Great tips! Thanks
