I was lucky enough to be invited to join a group of fellow photographers on a trip up to the Lake District a couple of weeks ago. To be honest I think we cracked it weatherwise, as I write this three weekends later its now snowing there on the tops and people are reporting that half the leaves have gone from the trees.
I love “doing” photography. Of late, however, I have been taxing myself on the issue of creativity.
- “Am I being creative in what I do?
- “This is just another straight landscape?”
- “Is this a cliché?”
- “What are my motives in taking this photograph?”
- “Why am I here?” – joke!
All interesting points to consider.
Autumn in the Lake District, aside from an autumnal Padley Gorge, may be one of the ultimate British landscape clichés. But what of it? I shot 11 rolls of 120 film when I was away (Portra 400, Provia 100 and some Ilford FP4), some may well be clichés – indeed I did have a “guilty pleasure moment” when I took a photograph of a boat house on Rydal Water. I may have shown my hand too soon by using the word “pleasure”.
I had pleasure/fun taking this picture – yes its a cheeky cliché, but its my take on it with the boat house framed on the left hand side by the tree and at the bottom by the reeds and tree debris. The thing for me is that I enjoyed taking that picture, I enjoyed the company that I was with, I enjoy the composition of it and at the end of the day creative or not no one is going to take that moment away from me.
There is, I feel, some pressure nowadays to “be creative” in everything that we do, whether that’s to be different or have some sort of deeper implied meaning in what we do. What about actually just taking some enjoyment in what we do? As an aside, why does taking something with my pinhole camera, or doing an image in Black and White make it more worthy and/or creative? Is that because you view the image in its simplest form with colour removed from it (answers on a postcard to the usual address)?
So where is this unstructured rambling going? Not too sure myself, but I will press on.
Do you need to have a deeper motive in a single image landscape other than that of wanting to capture faithfully a scene that moved you in the first place to take the picture? I don’t think so. A series, where there is a theme running through the images, say of decay, dilapidation etc, as a series shows a progress and intent to show something that bit “more” than what a single image can ever do on its own. A series/project is a great thing, but not everything in life can be given over to a series, sometimes a single image of a great view (large or intimate) will just have to do and there is nothing wrong with that.
So there you go, I’m not sure if this is progress or not, but I’ve stopped examining my belly button for the moment and I’m going to press on with MY photography and its meandering scatter gun style. I’m going to carry on taking photographs that give me pleasure – its my recreation after all – I’m not a pro. I’m going to take pictures of scenes, big or small, that give me that “Oh wow!” moment. I’m going to look at the pictures of others that do that for me too. I’m not going to question their intent and motives – if it gives me pleasure to look at their images and I feel physically moved by what they’ve done then as a simple soul my box is ticked.
I’m on a roll (bear with me). In my four days up in the Lakes I also appreciated, that you don’t need to go on expensive workshops that promise everything and deliver little to develop yourself. You need a smattering of people of various skills and outlooks, some maps, some accommodation, a bit of prior local knowledge and lots of bonhomie. I felt, photographically, that I moved on in leaps in bounds in those four days, more so than I have at any other time prior to that. Inspiration and confidence aren’t always to be found on a workshop.
I really like this. I think the final point, about the connection to others, is key: our creativity often comes to the fore in congenial contexts. Workshops will hopefully do that, but not necessarily.
In terms of the images, you have some very beautiful ones here. I particularly like the bridge and the one below it – I think you’ve really captured something elegant here, that speaks to me…
Thanks, as ever, for your kind comments. I am particularly pleased with the bridge and sign shot. I think I have said elsewhere that I was doing a (very small) happy dance when I was taking that shot. 🙂
Well, I’m not against having fun or single images for that matter and you should pursue your photography in any manner that pleases you. But to deny a pleasure in creativity is wrong to my mind – least of all the fact that what you do is creative!
Creativity is my greatest pleasure, it is the deepest most profound aspect of my life, there is a huge amount to be gained personally. I wouldn’t be me without it, it is part of how I define myself, there is introspection and sometimes pain, but it it’s part of my life. If you wish to close your eyes to that prospect then that is your choice. I’ve never said what I do is for everyone, or that everyone should try to be like me. That is because creativity IS personal, it is a journey and outsiders shouldn’t try to impose their will on what you do.
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will” – George Bernard Shaw
I’m not closing myself off to anything when I write this, I’m just (for the moment) not going to torture myself over whether I’m being creative or not in the eyes of others when I make my photographs. You know that I’ve been taxing myself over the issue for a while and in the absence of anything better – I’m just going to enjoy the moment, the time to connect with the subject and just being out there making pictures. I’ve spent too long searching for something deeper, but maybe for now and for me there’s nothing more deep than the enjoyment of making the picture and sharing with others. Thats my epiphany until the next one comes along.
Rob, I don’t think that Alastair is trying to ignore creativity: “There is, I feel, some pressure nowadays to “be creative” in everything that we do, whether that’s to be different or have some sort of deeper implied meaning in what we do. What about actually just taking some enjoyment in what we do?” – it’s not a dismissal, but a comment about what can also be a parallel approach that doesn’t necessarily involve profound introspection. Others might see things in his images that he doesn’t (and that is fine), but it doesn’t mean a lack of creative energy.
I feel as if I am observing a lot of reification of a certain conception of “creativity” in some photographic circles at the moment, and perhaps that is as much of a problem as ignoring it altogether?
This is a very nice piece; well expressed.
I think too much focus on actively trying to ‘be creative’ can stifle creativity (personal experience!). I do think that series of images, leading to ‘a portfolio’ or eventually forming ‘a project’ are probably the best expression of photographic art and creativity, but increasingly I’m finding that a slightly more passive approach to the overall creative process is often better (not always, merely often).
It seems to me that letting our subconscious minds perform the assimilation of experience and visualisations of the long term process of making photographs is potentially more powerful than consciously trying to dream up new ‘creative directions’. I’m not saying that such active ‘creative directions’ are not valid, they most certainly are, but sometimes taking a more passive approach may well lead to a stronger set of results and to new directions.
Stepping back from what sounds dangerously like ‘random snapping’ though: what I’m endorsing is the idea of simply going with your instinct – some of the time at least – and making images that please you at the moment of capture, as you say in this article. Over time I think the mind formulates pre-visualisations of the /type/ of thing which conforms to one’s vision and is then more inclined to notice potential subject matter. Perhaps that’s reasonably summarised as “do the groundwork to facilitate both the technical aspects and being in the ‘right’ places to occur, then go with the flow when actually capturing images”.
Anyway, if the approach leads to enjoying the process, that’s good in my book!
Mike
Really enjoyed your blog about your trip to the Lake District , the pictures really told a story how the time was spent and made me think what direction I want to take in my photography the colours and the light looked so good and you showed them with so much creativity.
A well written article and I couldn’t agree more. In my opinion there’s far too much being written about photography these days and not enough people actually going out and taking photos that please themselves rather than trying to please others. Ignore your ‘likes’ and web stats, enjoy yourself. We’re not here for long so make the most of it.