A Few Thoughts On Creativity

My résumé includes the following job experience:

1. Lawn mowing

2. Cleaning ceiling fans

3. Frying taco shells

4. Busing tables in my college cafeteria (I thought it would be a great way to meet chicks...until I found out you had to wear a paper hat)

5. Roustabout on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico

6. Shelving books at my college library

7. Selling records and cassettes (remember those?)

8. D.J.'ing at a radio station and at an ice skating rink

9. Working for a tax consulting firm

10. Stenciling people's house numbers on their curb

11. Selling camera equipment

12. Car rental agent

13. Pizza delivery guy

14. T.V news reporter (while I was a pizza delivery guy. Seriously)

15. Teaching English as a second language

16. Being an extra in a Jackie Chan film

17. Dubbing Chinese kung fu movies into English

18. Marketing manager for an publishing company traveling all over southeast Asia

19. Being a human test subject for pharmaceuticals not yet approved by the FDA

20. Picking up dead bodies at night for a funeral home

The last time I picked up a corpse was in 1988. Ironically it was the body of the embalmer I worked with every night. Ever since then I've been a full time professional photographer. Speaking of which...there's no better way to beat the life and soul out of something you love than to do it for a living.

Which is why I'm re-examining the way I take photographs. For more than two decades, almost every time I've put the camera to my eye, there was that little voice in the back of my head that said "Is this what the client wants?" "Will this satisfy the art director?" "Will they pay me when I send them the invoice?"

Even when shooting photos for fun, on some level there was still that nagging voice: "I wonder if I can sell this image" or "Don't forget to leave some negative space for a headline!" or even "Won't it be cool to show this to my friends when I get home?"

I've wrestled with the question "What am I bringing to this photograph that conveys my unique vision, that makes the viewer see things in a new way, that isn't the same trite sunset or predictable image that anyone with a camera could take?"

It's especially difficult to screw up....or to be creative, when I find myself in an exotic environment or in front of an exotic subject, and the light is just right. How do I create a photograph that isn't simply clicking the shutter and recording something that's been handed to me on a silver platter? The "compliment" that really makes me wince is "Wow! It looks just like a postcard!"

One of my idols, Sean Kernan, is not only an incredible photographer, but a magnificent writer and gifted teacher as well. His photographs are simple, poetic, breathtaking. And they don't rely on fancy Photoshop® work or trendy tricks or trying to serving up the flavor of the month. Do yourself a favor and check out his work at seankernan.com.

Several years ago, I had the good fortune to attend one of Sean's workshops. We did much less photography than I expected and much more in the way of experimentation. Sean had us drawing pictures, doing Chinese calligraphy, meditation, leg wrestling, improvisation using sounds and movement. I remember him saying something to the effect that creativity is a room into which there are many doors, and that "keeping your creative faucet dripping" in any way you choose is of vital importance if you want to keep fresh ideas flowing.

And so....despite the fact that I've been sailing in a photographer's paradise, I challenged myself not to take ANY photos while I was here in Tonga. It was brutal. Several hundred times each day I would catch myself framing the perfect image in my mind. But I resisted the urge to grab my camera. I felt like a heroin addict during my first week of withdrawal.

And then, my creativity started to bubble up in other ways....building a big spiral out of rocks on the sand, encouraging everyone in the group to make a unique hat out of aluminum foil, painting abstract shapes with a flashlight on a moonlit beach.

And then Sean's words came back to me. It dawned on me that when there are no rules, no correct way to do things, no bacon to bring home, when I'm not a hired expert who has to deliver the goods, what remains is the sheer delight that always accompanies playfulness, self-expression and creating something new.

I hope to bring that freedom back to my photography and to approach everything I do with that same sense of creativity, playfulness and joy.