Photography Clips

There's one big aspect of creativity that tends to get lost in the shuffle of everything else. We spend a lot of time thinking about how to think in innovative ways or learning new techniques and approaches to art. In all of this discussion about creativity and how to be creative, we lose sight of the fundamental fact that creativity is often about mindset.

That old "mind over matter" saying rings true, I think. Aside from techniques, skills, knowledge, and new ways of thinking, it's the desire or the motivation to be creative that is the thing that drives us to make photographs.

The thing is, it's not the easiest thing in the world to always be in that positive, motivated mindset, especially in this day and age with so much happening in the world. We must always remember that overcoming challenges and motivating ourselves to be creative starts with our view of the world we live in...

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/seize-the-day/

Photography Clips Podcast:

https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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Here's something I've discussed before, though when I last spoke about it, it was a bit different. It's the idea that we must get to know our surroundings or subjects to photograph them most effectively. Today, I'm framing it a bit differently because we photographers have a habit of always going after something new. New places, new subjects—we want to expose ourselves to as much new and unique as possible. It's all in the name of creating new and exceptional photographs. Most of us believe that if we're seeing as many new things as possible, we're photographing new things that may haven't been photographed as much by other photographers.

To an extent, this is a good thing. Where would photography be if none of us ever left our backyards? Most of the world wouldn't have been explored through the lens!

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/extreme-familiarity/

Photography Clips Podcast:

https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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Adaptability—Being adaptable is one of the key parts of being a photographer. There are a few different ways to look at this, too. Being flexible can apply to the vagaries of daily life, the things we photograph, and even the techniques and styles we use to create our photographs.

On the day-to-day level, being adaptable means being able to roll with whatever the day throws at you. Sometimes, this means you expected the day to be sunny and warm. Still, it turns out cold and rainy—thus, you need to adapt, which could mean bringing extra gear to accommodate different lighting conditions or protecting your equipment against moisture.

This can also mean your car breaks down on the way to your location. For most of us, the hassle and annoyance of such a thing would stop us from taking photographs. But is it possible to explore your immediate area while you're waiting for the tow truck? Being flexible means not coming home empty-handed, no matter what happens to alter your best-laid plans...

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/the-best-laid-plans/

Photography Clips Podcast:

https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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Searching for meaning is something that most of us photographers do almost by default. After all, that's the point of creating artwork, isn't it? To create something meaningful that resonates with the people who enjoy it. And that's why we spend so much time talking about how to imbue our photographs with meaning. Here is perhaps another way to look at or to approach that search for meaning.

As I said, this is something that most of us do sort of automatically as part of the creation process—but when we're searching for ideas or photographs to take in the field, we're also usually searching for other things beyond meaning. We might be looking for beautiful objects or looking for things that fit a theme we happen to be working on. For some of us, at times, the objective is to search out new things that no one has ever photographed before.

In this way, the search for meaning almost becomes an accessory to the rest rather than the primary focus of what we've set out to do on a given day. Perhaps instead of searching for the next new thing, things to fit our themes, or things of particular beauty, we should focus the whole of our search on meaning alone...

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/searching-for-meaning/

Photography Clips Podcast: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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Experience and insight is what makes each of our perspectives unique. No two of us can lead the same life. Even though on the surface, it may seem as if some of us are on very similar paths, we all experience it a little bit differently. Every person will have a different set of successes and failures, joys and hardships, achievements and ambitions—the list goes on. Our experiences are even more unique than our fingerprints.

And I think these experiences can—and perhaps even should—be applied to the art that we create. Experiential art, or art created through the lens of our experience, is the truest way I can imagine to create unique things. It's nearly impossible to photograph something that has never been photographed before, but no one has photographed these things through your eyes. That's the key thing to remember here. The thoughts, feelings, and memories associated with the things that you photograph are what gives you an individualistic frame of reference that no other person is going to have because no other person has lived your life.

To put this in simpler terms, let's look at real world examples. Imagine yourself out on a photographic outing, and you want to take a picture of a tree. Millions, probably billions of trees have already been photographed. If the tree you are photographing is particularly notable for some reason—because it's gigantic or has unique features—then you're probably not even the first person to have taken a picture of that particular tree...

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/experiential-art/

Photography Clips Podcast: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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We photographers produce an awful lot of content. It's not just the photographs that we put up to share with the world, but also the words that we publish, too. Many of us run our own businesses or have photography as a side gig or a hobby that we promote via websites, social media, and elsewhere. Some of us just enjoy blogging, so we do that along with our photographs. The point is, we put out a lot of content—and in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Now, you'll often hear from marketers about two different types of content, at least broadly speaking. This would be evergreen content versus timely content. What's the difference? Evergreen content is the stuff that is good and relevant no matter when one consumes it. A blog post that is still relevant a decade after it was published is evergreen.

Timely content is relevant to the time in which it is posted. Things like current events fall into this category—they burst onto the scene, and their relevancy fades away with time. Among photography sites, gear reviews are a common example of timely content. Once the next flagship camera launches, the reviews about the now older model are no longer quite so relevant anymore.

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/evergreen/

Photography Clips Podcast: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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There's been a lot of buzz about the "death of prints" in photography. But frankly? Prints aren't going anywhere. They may become less popular over time as digital technology continues to proliferate, but there will always be a demand for prints.

Why is that? Well, some people argue that prints are the only way to preserve photographs forever—though I would argue that the exact opposite is true. That's because prints degrade with time. No matter what papers, printing methods and archival techniques you choose, there will come a day when your ancient print just isn't salvageable anymore.

Digital image files, I would say, will always be around so long as we take care to back them up in multiple places. Particularly images that we make public. Perhaps all of our cloud drives will go by the wayside, and private data there will be deleted, but once it's on Facebook?

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/prints-arent-going-anywhere/

Photography Clips Podcast: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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We all experience creative lulls occasionally, and sometimes, a good break is in order, so we spend a few days or weeks focusing on things other than art. Whatever the case may be, when you've not been engaged in art for a while, it takes a little bit to get back into the swing of things. It's like going on vacation and then coming back to work. Your mind is still in "vacation mode" even though a whole different set of tasks is now in front of you. This is something that anyone in a creative line of work experiences from time to time, and some of us experience it on a daily basis—that moment in the day where you're not at your most productive, and the art and creative ideas just don't flow as freely.

That's why I think "warm up" exercises are a helpful tool in our arsenals. These are little things we can do to keep the creative gears turning so that when it's time to really think critically about artmaking, we don't find ourselves seizing up. So to that end, here are a few ideas for exercises that you can do. Some of these things are pre-shoot exercises, and other exercises are things you can use to get over a lull after you've had a longer break from photography...

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/exercising-your-creative-muscles/

Photography Clips Podcast: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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We spend so much time talking about photography—and for those of us who enjoy this pursuit as more than a passing hobby, we spend a lot of time in photography. Some of us who do this for a living spend most, if not all, of our time immersed in images and the world of art in general.

But what about the rest of life?

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/making-time-for-yourself/

Photography Clips Podcast: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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Creative guilt is a surprisingly common phenomenon. You've probably experienced it, and if you're like most of us, you've probably experienced it more than once. Perhaps we can call it part of the human condition for people engaged in creative works.

Podcast Notes: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/the-creatives-guilt

Photography Clips Podcast: https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/podcast/

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