SUMMER HAS ARRIVED and with that a change of scenery for me. The Black Hills of South Dakota has always been one of my favorite places to photograph with so many different options to shoot. From amazing landscapes, abundant of flora and fauna, rustic locations, and storied characters, there truly is never a shortage of something interesting to put in front of my lens.
Arriving in a new location always introduces a new challenge. With so many possibilities, where do you begin? For me, inspiration has always been a fickle gift. Some days the ideas just come pouring out and then there are others where the only course of action is to manufacture those very ideas. So where do you begin? How do you manage the inspiration when you need it most?
To answer that of course, you have to begin to understand yourself. Of course this sounds trite and cliche, but if you truly work to understand the actual question of "How am I inspired?" and give an honest accounting of steps that have worked for you and steps that haven't, then you can begin to really understand your specific process.
“How am I inspired?”
And I use that word "process" very intentionally. For while, I believe there are those out there who are truly gifted and can conjure up amazingly brilliant ideas out of thin air (I do believe I have seen others do it it seems), I know that I am not one of them. For me, inspiration, is a process. Thankfully, or perhaps regrettably, it has only taken me several years to begin to understand that.
My secret to inspiration centers around production. For me, creation begets creation. In my younger days, it might start as boredom and for lack of something better to do, I may pick up my camera and go for a walk, presumably to find something to photograph. Only, nothing would catch my eye. Nothing would be interesting enough or important enough to warrant putting the viewfinder to my eye. And thus I would walk, and walk, and walk until hours had passed and I had not shot a single frame. So it was, that several years ago I stumbled across an article much like this one discussing the secrets of inspiration. Their solution couldn't have been more simple.
“Just Click the Buttion”
That simple idea changed my entire outlook on photography and more importantly began a process I continue to evolve and adapt to manage a creative process. For I readily admit that I am not one of the creative geniuses able to conjure up inspiration. I have to make it, and that is the beginning of the process.
I start by clicking the button on literally just about anything. I set aside time that I want to dedicate to practice or creation and start the "shoot" by finding anything and shooting the shutter. I have learned that my creative process is fueled more by revision than by creation and starting from a single point usually creates more ideas, and those ideas create additional ideas. Before too long, I find that I can start seeing all of these opportunities in front of my camera. Changes, new subjects, new ideas, experiments. My head would be full and I would be inspired, moving from topic to topic, from idea to idea.
But for me it all started with an understanding of how to create that inspiration, how to manage that creativity. And that all started with an honest look at the question "How am I inspired?"
“Your process may be completely different.”
I am not writing this article to say, "This is how it is done." For you, your process may be completely different (actually "likely" is probably a better word there). My lesson here is to start with a truly honest look at your own process, method, or spark of inspiration. If you treat it as a cliche then you will only have a superficial answer to the question, and more than likely an answer that will fail you when you need it the most. But to discover the true nature of your process, then you can begin to tap into a creative flow whenever it suits your desire.
