Creativity in Photography

Creativity is an elusive concept and something may photographers struggle with. It does seem that while a lot of us have a hard time with creative blocks, it's not really something we spend a lot of time talking about or working on. I think we may be making a mistake by not spending more time discussing the nature of the creative blocks. It's my opinion that if we did more things like photowalking and working with other creative people, we might reach a kind of critical mass that would propel us to the next level of creativity.

In an effort to stimulate creativity, I have been reading the excellent e-books written by David DuChemin. His books cost just $5 each and are a great bargain. His first two books, "Ten" and "Ten More" are extremely practical and filled with exercises designed to get us thinking and working at pre-envisioning out photographs. They also are aimed at getting us totally comfortable with our cameras so we can interpret our own vision in our photos.

This evening I have been reading David's book "the Inspired eye Notes on Creativity for Photographers." Several things David had to say really resonated with me. First David starts off by saying creativity isn't easy. Oddly, this makes me kind of happy. I like the idea it's not just dumb luck or luck of the draw that makes our creativity work. He goes on to say that work will generate creativity and that we probably won't find creativity without work. Again, I find it comforting to know that as long as I am trying, inspiration may come to me. Ultimately, it's the idea that on my worst shooting day, there is still hope.

The images I have posted here were both shot in the same morning and were both a little bit out of my normal shooting modes. The first was shot with a Nikon D300 and 70 - 300mm lens from a tripod. I was forcing myself to shoot in manual mode and was looking for abstract images or shapes and colors. The second was shot handheld in my car while driving. Again, I was using a D300 and an 18-70mm Nikon lens for this shot.