Garlic in a wholesale market, Dihua St, Dadaocheng, Taipei
One of the distinguishing facets of the digital age of photography has been the technological advances and innovations. Unlike in the film era, where a camera body might be used for decades, these days it seems we’re upgrading and replacing bodies at a frequency never imagined a decade ago. While these advances are undoubtedly opening new frontiers in photography, all too often we find ourselves caught up in an endless cycle of more megapixels where the equipment specifications are more important than the actual photographs.
I’ve previously expressed some of my thoughts about creativity in a two part series entitled Musings on Creativity and Seeing. You might like to read part 1 and part 2 in conjunction with today’s post. There’s also a giveaway associated with this post so leave a comment to have a chance at winning. More on that at the end of the post.
To my mind, there does seem to be a turning of the tide away from equipment and back towards creativity and artistic vision. Photographers such as Chase Jarvis, David DuChemin, Chris Orwig and many others are at the forefront of this movement back to the soul of photography. In many ways, this is a breath of fresh air. Photography, as with any artistic pursuit, should be more about taking the artist’s vision and allowing it to be expressed than it should be about the tools.
For that’s all the cameras, lens, software and so forth really are. Tools. They are the means to bring forth the creativity that exists in ones mind and put it into some kind of tangible form. All the pixel peeping in the world doesn’t matter if the vision is lacking. Conversely, when the vision is there, a way will be found to express that regardless of the tools available.
So now it’s over to you. What does creativity mean to you? How do you express your vision and what inspires you? I welcome your comments, thoughts and ideas – let’s start some discussion on this. To give you a little more incentive, I have a couple of things to give away. A few weeks ago, I asked Steven Pressfield some questions based on his book The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
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Craig Ferguson Images | Cultural Photography. One of the key aspects of life that we humans identify with is culture. We label people, places and events according to our ideas of what they are, ranging from the broader scale defined by tradition and place down to the small scale subcultures and tribes. Craig Ferguson Images is consistantly creating new visions in the field of cultural photography. From traditional festives and customs to modern, urban subcultures, Craig Ferguson Images is in touch with the changing world. From our base in Taipei, Taiwan we are perfectly positioned at the crossroads of the ancient and the modern.
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All content © 2010 by Cultural photography from Asia | Craig Ferguson Images
I agree; I have been on that 'I need this tool before I can do that' ride myself.. but in the end it all comes down to the photographer, not the equipment and I'm glad I realized that!
Wrote a blog post about all that a while ago, too. It's good that it's out there, that more and more people are sharing this opinion. I know it helped me; it will surely help others!
I have had rumblings in my mind over how to achieve such creativeness. The best way for me to do this personally and have started doing so is to do the photo walks, driving around, etc without the actual use of a camera. So in other words Picture the Picture, you may think yes, this is what we all do as photogs but doing it without carrying the camera at times keeps 'the mind working'. Apart from trying to follow the latest and greatest, I think we get so bogged down by looking through the viewer, we loose what the big picture is all about. May seem odd in words but in mind it works out…. :p
I agree that creativity isn't bound to tools.
but I do think that the right tools can enable creativity. a few months ago, if you would have asked my friends whether I was a creative person they would have responded with laughter. though I considered myself to be creative, I was more of a consumer than a producer.
that all changed the moment I got my iPhone. all of a sudden I had this tool that made it easy for me to take pictures, process them and share them with others. I wasn't bothered by the crappy cam and the slow shutter speed at all. in fact I love the limitations because suddenly it's no more about megapixels, but about the story behind the shot.
in my case my iphoneography work also introduced me to a lot of cool & creative heads (like valerie) from all over the world.
at the end I think the key is whether you can translate your vision into something, that enables others to take part in the story you want to tell.
Hi it has been 2 weeks since I've stumble upon your site, I really don't remember how did I end up bookmarking cfi. I'll try my luck on this one. Creativity is being happy with your creation. if you feel satisfied with your work and find it different from everybody's work then you will feel fulfilled. It is looking up to the masters work and asking your self what's about that certain work that makes it special? A creative work asks questions, it gives the viewer a sense of uncertainty when one is looking at it. Creativity is genuine only the artist know what is the real meaning of his work.
It's not the equipment that you've got that will make your work different from other people it is the feeling and the effort that you put into it and how important a certain work is to you.
[...] 2010 to give away to some lucky people. All you have to do is head over to this post entitled Turning Tides of Creativity and leave a comment on what creativity means to you. This giveaway is open to everyone, anywhere in [...]
[...] back with a bit of travel. Before we do that however, don’t work that you can enter the Creativity giveaway for a chance to win some great [...]
Love your thoughts on Creativity, and totally agree that technological advacement does not make up for composition, framming and having a creative eye. We are continually bombarded with upgrades, the standard shelve life of a DSLR is 18 months, in fact on certain models and brands less. The only winners with all these maddness are the manufacturers and definitely not we the consumers. Just a shame the majority believe otherwise. Picked up this quote a couple of years ago and really hammers home the point “Gear is good, vision is better” Anon
Love your thoughts on Creativity, and totally agree that technological advacement does not make up for composition, framming and having a creative eye. We are continually bombarded with upgrades, the standard shelve life of a DSLR is 18 months, in fact on certain models and brands less. The only winners with all these maddness are the manufacturers and definitely not we the consumers. Just a shame the majority believe otherwise. Picked up this quote a couple of years ago and really hammers home the point “Gear is good, vision is better” Anon
[...] Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, take a look at the contest I’m running entitled Turning Tides of Creativity. I’ll be announcing the winner next week, so don’t miss [...]
[...] self promotion. A couple of weeks ago I asked for your thoughts on creativity in a post called Turning Tides of Creativity – Back to the Soul of Photography. One commenter will be chosen from this and will win a copy of Steve Pressfield’s [...]
As an amateur photographer, who likes to think I’m creative with a very good eye for composition and beauty, I love not only sinking into your photographs, but absorbing your expertise on the art of photography. I’m a believer that all good photography should leave us yearning for more. Leave the viewer asking questions, not just viewing a beautiful but static and sterile representation of the subject. Your photographs do that beautifully and expertly and your blog posts teach us not only how we might try to improve our skills, but the musings and philosophy of a wonderful photographer. Thanks for sharing on twitter and your blog.