March 6, 2009...............................................................................HOME............................................................"Inertia Where There is None"
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Technical Data
Camera: Nikon D3
Lens: Nikon 70-200 f/2.8
Capture: NEF
Metering: Matrix
Release Mode: Aperture Priority
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/1250
Aperture: f5
Focal Length: 70mm
Software: Nik Color Efex Pro v3 (solarization)
Every artist faces it sooner or later. A creative block. Sometimes it lasts for days. Sometimes for months. You want to make art, but forces conspire against you. They may be unknown adversaries, or something as obvious as the nose on your face. But the bottom line is the same. At the moment creative energy just doesn’t seem to be flowing.
Getting discouraged, or worse depressed, does no good. After all this is a normal part of the creative cycle. So you need to expect it and have a normal plan for dealing with it. Here are some suggestions...
Think of creativity as having characteristics of water. It can trickle. It can flow as a roaring river. It can freeze. When it stops running the answer may be as simple as a blocked path. What does flowing water do when you block its path? It finds the route of least resistance and continues to flow. I’ll lay odds that even though creating images has you stymied, creative emotion is still simmering beneath the surface. So find a way around the obstruction and let those emotions and the creativity they carry flow in another direction. Do something else creative, related or unrelated to photography. I have a back burner urge to revisit a lost talent of my youth... piano. When I come even close to mastering the smallest passage, and notes caused by my hands float to my ears, it’s something amazing (to me). Instead of gathering photons with a lens, I’m creating audible pressure waves from tight coiled wires; both end up enriching me.
Not creative in another medium? (Don’t make the mistake of assuming I’m creative at the piano!) Find an alternative to put a face on your photography. Direct some effort into printing one or a few images that should be prints, but haven’t made it yet. Print them, mat them, frame them yourself. Don’t let someone else do it. You’ll save money, and suddenly you’re investing yourself in creative work. Discover the respect a fine print will produce, as you do it justice with materials you select to honor it on your wall. As you see a blank piece of paper evolve into art you created, it will do good things for your spirit.
Printing all up to date? You are a challenge. Try this...
Learn something new. Order an instructional DVD about a topic you know you should understand more clearly, but have just let slide. As new skills and techniques take shape, you’ll probably see potential for these new tools in your work almost as quickly as your brain assimilates them.
You may not need to even order a new DVD. Why not learn more about something you already have: your image development software. Photoshop user? Lord knows few of us ever master what this powerhouse puts at our fingertips. You could spend 8 hours a day for weeks digging through the menus and the dialog boxes. (Big heads up here!! In those dialog boxes are option buttons you’ve probably never dreamed of clicking. Find out where they lead and what the settings they keep hidden can do for your pixels.)
Take an image you like (start with a file that already has positive karma) and explore. This is the path I decided to take the other day when my back was sore from sitting at the piano. Last fall I took an image in NYC while leading a Mentor Series trek. The shot was from a boat as we circled Manhattan. There weren’t any jets landing in the water that day, so I worked the skyscraper architectural angle instead.
I gave myself the challenge to run this image thru virtually ever menu choice in the program, studying the effects, making notes for the future. Without even realizing what I had done, I saw my original image become something different, interesting and new. I rarely do photo manipulation that takes my images away from traditional photo constraints, but I realized I liked what was happening. Recalling artists who create a series of related works based on a common theme, I decided to see where this could lead. Before long I had the building blocks for a new piece. Inertia had developed while I wasn’t paying attention and carried me to a new place. The new place will be just a visit, but that isn’t the take home message, which is...
Don’t waste time and creative energy remorsefully worrying about why you’re not creating. Push yourself (that’s where the hidden inertia comes from) in a different direction. You won’t know where you’ll go, but the flow of redirected energy will begin the process of circumventing that creative block.
The example here is a 35x35“ composite of nine images, all stemming from the original in the center. (The light gray numbers and lines represent elements added to create an ambience of technology, an overlay of plotted data, complimenting the architectural theme). Since you can’t begin to appreciate the quality of light and color form the complete piece at this resolution, I’ve included several variations below in detail.
I hope my portage around a creative obstacle gives you ideas for the next time your creativity seems to run dry.
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Original Image
Image Three
Image Six
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Mark Alberhasky is a Nikon Mentor for the Mentor Series Worldwide Photo Treks.
Join him as he travels and share his enthusiasm for photography and learning.
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