Whether you’re doing photography, drawing or macramé chairs, what’s most important is what makes your work worthwhile is your creativity. It is much more difficult to talk about creativity than about technical skills (which are “concrete”), but let’s look at some ways to strengthen your creativity.
Some would say that creativity, like talent, you either have it or you don’t.. I don’t agree with that vision. defeatist who would like whether or not we had a gift from the fairies above our crib. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that creativity can be learned (although that’s debatable), but at least that it can be develops. Yes, it is, we’re all creative. More or less depending on the field, the time, or the number of cups of coffee we may have had during the day; but we are all. Remember your childhood: how many hours did you spend letting your imagination run wild by making up stories when you played with your figurines or dolls? Personally, I remember very well having an overflowing imagination and telling stories for hours playing playmobils (forward the stories :P).
Anyway, creative, you are. But how can you be… express this creativity that you have deep down inside?
1. Find inspiration
Careful, it’s not about copy other people’s work, which would be less creative. It’s about seeing and understanding how others see the worldThe aim is to confront other points of view, to put yourself in their shoes and to see things “through their eyes”. This will allow you to change perspective and see things more easily differently.
Don’t just look at pictures: think of the paintings also, which are great sources of inspiration concerning light for example. Generally speaking, take an interest in all visual arts: they have all something to bring you.
A great way to do this is to search Flickr for photos of places, events or people you have yourself photographed. For example, I’m used to looking for pictures of concerts that I photograph afterwards. It’s always very interesting to see how some people saw the same thing differently than you did (and sometimes almost the same way!)
2. Change your point of view
Just as your interest in other people’s work changes your view of the world, consider adopting points of view you’re not used to. Putting yourself at the level of your subject is a piece of advice that I regularly give to give more strength to your images, but you can adopt this approach in a more global way: put yourself in the place of a child, a giant, a dog, an ant, a bird… What makes the banality of quite a lot of photos is that they represent the point of view that all and sundry a: and no one is interested in seeing a photo that reminds them of the way they see the world (at human level, etc.).
The very fact of changing one’s point of view not only gives force to your photos (think of the images taken at ground level), but also offers endless possibilities for creativity 🙂
3. Think photo all the time
I’m always talking about keeping a camera on you all the time, but if you don’t have the possibility or you don’t have the time (the evil of the century…), it doesn’t stop you from thinking about the picture you could take. Find the subject, frame the picture and think about how you would take the shot, all of that. mentally. It’ll give your eye a lot of exercise and make you think creatively. You might even think of shots that you would never have thought of with your camera in your hand (because it’s socially difficult to lie down on the floor of a subway train to see if a ground-level view would look good or not :P).
You’ll see that the positive effect is that you’ll be frustrated not being able to take those pictures you imagine, and that you will soon have a biting urge to keep your camera with you 😉
4. Change the air
Sometimes the best way to be creative is simply to get out of routine and places we go every day. Take a day off, detach yourself from what normally occupies your day, and your mind will go astray. It’s a great way to bring new ideas to the surface, and you’ll feel more serene about accomplishing them 🙂
5. Do not be afraid
Fear of other people’s eyes first of all. I guarantee you that if you lie down on the street and take THE shot you want, nobody cares like his first spoonful of applesauce. It’s hard to believe, but you’re not the center of the world 😛 People will just vaguely look at you, and forget you in 30 seconds. Anyway, they’ve already seen more enlightened than you, don’t worry. 😉
Fear of critic too. Going off the beaten track also means exposing yourself to criticism, sometimes acerbic. People naturally tend to dislike it when something goes outside a certain standard. I hope that’s not the case with you, because… the norm is the exact opposite of creativity… ! Creativity is a new way of seeing and showing things. Don’t let the standards and attachment that others have put on you get in the way. Make abstract photos, upside down portraits, center your subject (oh mercy, not respecting the rule of third parties, what a shame :P), in short test things and take chances !
As I said recently, breaking the rules of photography can be a great way to see things in a way that is usually “taboo”.
I hope that these tracks will allow you to develop all this creativity buried in you, and to make images that resemble you.
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