I have been invited to contribute periodic pieces to PhotoCineNews, a blog rapidly establishing itself as a leading source of information on the convergence of photography and filmmaking. I’m excited to be a part of an impressive roster of creative professionals contributing to that digital publication. If you haven’t seen it, check it out: PhotoCineNews.com
When I write something there that’s relevant to the conversation here, I’ll make and announcement here as well. Though it will first appear published at PhotoCineNews. Below is my piece on “inspiration and creativity”…
________
Graphic designer Owen Shifflett has written a thoughtful observation on the manner in which “inspiration” is used by creative professionals and the resulting decline in creativity.
Virtually all of us in creative fields keep an eye on what is happening in relevant artistic spheres, and it’s a common notion that thoroughly knowing what work is out there is not only acceptable, but essential to being in the game.
Or is it?
The reality is that it’s easier to be inspired than it is to create an original idea… It’s easier to jump onto a design inspiration gallery site than it is to sit down with a blank sheet of paper and a pencil… It’s easier to copy a style or idea that works than try something that might miss the mark or outright fail. Above all, it’s cheaper mentally for us to rally around what’s already been done and emulate it.
When we over-saturate ourselves in other people’s work it short-changes our own creative development. For example, so many of the design inspiration sites on the web today serve up content in bite-sized chunks, resulting in a form of visual junk food. While the work featured on these sites can be some of the best our industry has to offer, the way that it’s displayed usually throws concept and story out the window in place or pure visual sugar. The story of a design (the problem and solution) are stripped away so only the visual execution is left to absorb. This view of design rots away the core foundations of our profession
Even if not deliberately knocking-off the work of others, it’s virtually impossible to avoid the subconscious gravitational pull of work we have been exposed to. And that’s not inherently bad, new artistic works have always built upon what has come before them. In the best instances, it’s like adding a comment to an ongoing and evolving conversation. But it takes effort and discipline not to get lazy and let inspiration become a crutch and an excuse.
The other pitfall is that the research for inspiration can be a procrastination device, or even an addiction (like over-the-top email checking, twittering, etc..).
Joel Dueck divides the types of websites we spend time on into two categories, one of which being the sites we visit regularly – these sites have frequent content additions so there is always something fresh, whether they are content aggregators or producing original material.
Either way, they demand a big effort and a lot of time to stay on top of. And keeping up with the prodigious creative output of others sucks away time from our own work. It’s easier than getting to work yourself, yet it’s preparation for work and therefore seems justifiable.
I feel a constant battle with distractions falsely disguised as productivity in the effort to create more work more often, beyond client gigs. And the desire to find new approaches to address the themes that interest me is a perpetual effort. So Owen and Joel’s suggestion to spend less time immersing oneself in the creative content fire hose resonated with me, and left me with nothing to do but get to work on something new.
Related posts:
[...] content and inspiration at the risk of curtailing your own creative process – see here. Comfort zone excursions are going to be my big thing in 2011 – but joking apart, [...]