Tag: creativity

“I am not interested in shooting new things, I am interested to see things new.” Ernst Haas

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

I was leafing through an old photography book and I came across the above quote by Ernst Haas. He was (and remains) a great influence on me.

There are quite literally millions of things to photograph and no photographer could rightly claim to have photographed everything there is, however we do not need to.hang-in-there

I often hear the comment, ‘there is nothing to photograph…” An amazing statement really… As I look out the window (in suburbia currently), I see many subjects and many ideas come to mind of what/how I could photograph them.

The problem isn’t the lack of subject matter. The problem is that we wander around blissfully unaware of our surroundings and we also get caught up in the world, rushing here rushing there.

STOP! Just for one moment wherever you are reading this! Look around.

Do you see a tree? Yes. Look at it as if it is not a tree, but an idea generator, branches as conduit bringing forth ideas (leaves) and photograph it accordingly…

Do you see a fence? Yes. Look at it as if it is not a fence, but a palette. A palette that has light dancing over it creating form and texture, lines and shapes.

Are you a glamour/nude photographer? View the body, not as a body but as a sculpture; view it as part of the landscape and photograph it accordingly…

Are you a flower photographer? View the flower, not as a flower but as a person with a personality…

It is not lack of subject matter, it’s a lack of ideas.

The continued challenge as a photographer is that we need to reinvent and apply new ideas to the subject matter or as Ernst Haas eloquently puts it…

“I am not interested in shooting new things – I am interested to see things new.”
Ernst Haas

David Johnson
October 2016

For more information on Ernst Haas
http://www.ernst-haas.com

Subconscious Musings…

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

subconsciousness-musings

Its Always Been About The Moment

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

It has indeed been always about the moment, whether I was shooting film or digital photography.

I remember back in 1983 when I purchased my SLR and a whole new world opened up to me, it was a liberating experience. I began to be aware and see things that had always been there yet, I had not seen. That feeling and experience continues to this day.

Back in the film days there were many ways that an image could be produced and/or manipulated. Now with the invention of Digital, we have many more ways to enhance/manipulate an image, perhaps way more than we need (or want for that matter). The ’science’ is there no matter whether we are talking Film or Digital.

I would like you to step back though, away from the film, the pixels, cameras, chemicals and paper and think about the following… If there was no moment, no spark that formed that idea in your head or no experience that drove you to pick up that camera to take that image, there would be no image.

Which takes me back to my original comment, ‘It’s always been about the moment.’

When I’m out there photographing, when I’m out there experiencing the moment i.e. the realisation of an idea, being on the hunt, interpreting the experience, recognising that moment, that has always been the thing I love the most about photography.

Back in the Darkroom or the Lightroom the process continues to build on that moment, which is necessary to bring the vision to others. That process is of course, important, for without that the photographer’s vision will not be realised.

For me though it’s that joyous moment, where I am one with my camera, an experience I can re-live in my mind at any time. The ‘finished image’ is a mere reproduction of that moment, a moment only, really truly experienced by the photographer…

 

Written by David Johnson
20 August 2016

Declutter & Re-Fuel!

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Look at this mess!

I’m feeling drained!

Do either of the above thoughts ever go through your mind?

It doesn’t matter whether you are a student, run a business, work a job or are retired, there comes a point where certain aspects in your life get cluttered or you get close to burning out, or indeed burn out. I’m yet to experience the ‘retired’ lifestyle but I talk to many people who end up being so busy in retirement, they can’t work out how they used to fit their job or business into their lives!

At different times in my life, these questions have raised their head.

My wife & I are in the process of decluttering, which was mostly brought on by the fact that we moved house. It is amazing how much less we have now (in terms of clutter) than we had previously, and we are still in declutter mode. For example, over the past 3 years we would have easily given away a couple of hundred (or more) books.

This process is continuing and is spreading to other areas. For instance, I reviewed my Facebook Friend list the other night. It had grown to over 500 people, and as I looked through the list, I saw people I had not connected with for years, I saw others who are always being negative on Social Media and others whom I wondered why/how we connected in the first place?

The Friend list now stands at 472 and it may drop lower.

We also need to look at our priorities in life. We can only do/be involved in so much.

I’ve reviewed the groups/associations I was a member of in the past 12 months. I’m now a member of only one Toastmasters Club. I just dropped out of an Art Group as (due to other commitments) it would be difficult for me to get there on Tuesday nights.

For the first time in 30 years, I am not a member of any Photographic Society/Camera Club. The Photographic Society I was a member of, I found it increasingly difficult to get to as we had moved further away from it. There is one 8 mins drive away now but I dropped out of that 2 years ago as my photography interests have moved in a different direction anyway.

Another area that needs decluttering is my mind…

I’ve always been a ‘verbal/visual’ person. As you would see from this blog, communication is what I love, with my interests being photography, public speaking, writing, poetry and painting. On top of that we have our marketing business.

As with most people’s mind’s, there is a lot going on up there and it comes out via one of the outlets above.

A few years back I purchased a book called “The Complete Artist’s Way” and actually it contains 3 books in the one volume.

The books are:

– The Artist’s Way
– Walking In This World
– Finding Water

One of the techniques discussed is called ‘Morning Pages.’ ‘Morning Pages’ is ‘stream of consciousness’ writing and it is done when you first get up in the morning. Writing down whatever comes into your head, e.g. negative thoughts, how you are feeling, to-do items etc ‘gets it out of your head’ and frees up your mind and assists creativity. I started doing them some time ago but unfortunately allowed ‘life’ to get in the way and stopped doing them.

I just started doing ‘Morning Pages’ this weekend again, and I can feel the benefits already!

In Part 2 I will look at things I am doing or am looking to do to re-fuel for this continuing fantastic journey of life.

 

Written by David Johnson
13 August 2016

 

For more information on ‘Morning Pages’, please click on the link below.
http://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/

Viewing Life

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography, Stories From Life

Back in the year 2000, my wife and I were touring around southern NSW and visited (among other places), Yarrangobilly Caves. They are but one of a number of beautiful examples of limestone caves here in Australia.

We received a guided tour that day and apart from the memory of the caves, I remember a conversation I had with the tour guide as he, like me, was into photography for a great part of his life. This was until one day, after a 20 year love affair with the medium, he gave it away, citing that, ‘he was tired of looking at the world through a rectangle…’.

I didn’t think of this again until recently when I began reflecting on my photographic journey. Unlike the tour guide, I have not given up photography (as I will love it till I pass from this world), however I now have other interests as well and these days I am a bit more selective of what I photograph with my DSLR (and at this point I’m refining my ‘Light Inspired’ photography business as well). My phone is with me just about everywhere and images from that end up on Instagram.

Starting my photographic journey in 1982, I too have looked at the world through a rectangle via 35mm and through a square via a medium format camera. When I wasn’t with family, friends or at work, I was involved in photography in some way, shape or form since that time, either photographing, developing, printing, editing, reading about the subject, attending a Camera Club (or two) or judging photography. The ‘other’ interests I speak of are Toastmasters/public speaking (since 2008), drawing/painting (since 2010) and writing/writing poetry (since 2013).

Whereas once I would only be thinking and communicating about the world via photography, I now attempt to do this in a number of ways (depending on how I feel that I want to communicate it) and it is a lot of fun.

Life is about having experiences, fun, creativity, overcoming challenges, helping others, growth and communication.

I now enjoy seeing the world in different ways, not just through a camera. In some ways, I feel like my journey has just begun…

Written by David Johnson
June 2016

A Journey To Personal Style…

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

I love it when I see an Artist’s creations and they have that much of an impact on me that it changes the way I think about my own.

In this case I’m taking about the latest episode on Colour In Your Life, featuring Sydney Artist, Sandra Blackburne which was aired in Sydney last night, and which I have now watched for the second time.

I would class myself as a ‘Beginner’ in terms of painting as my creative background has been through Photography, over the past 35 years. It started as a bit of a hobby about 5 years ago, though and I only ‘painted when I could fit in it’ as I have had other full-time occupations in that time. In January this year I decided that I would allocate 2-4 hours per weekend to my Oil painting and so far I have only missed out once, and I made sure I doubled the amount the following weekend. 😃

As I watched the episode, taking notes (as I do with each one), quite a few things resonated with me and have given me food for thought, such as:

  • Sandra does a few Plein-Air sketches of the subject she paints rather than photograph the scene. She mentioned that this allows herself to ‘put more of herself’ into the painting rather than be constrained by a photograph
  • Sketching with Colour Gesso is a new technique to me and watching Sandra create, I can see the benefits of doing it
  • The choice of colours which creatively evoke the Australian Landscape
  • The concept of layering paint which helps give the image light and life
  • The colours that were used and the way that they were applied. Sandra said that ‘tightening up when painting’ signals the death of a good painter
  • Using Cobalt Blue on Gum trees to reflect the Blue of the rich Australian sky

My style (if indeed I have one yet) seems to be more to ’try to paint subjects in a pictorial way.’ I remember when I did a basic Drawing course 6 years ago, the teacher said that appeared more a ‘Line Drawer’ than a ’Tone Drawer.’

Part of the challenge for me I guess is that coming from a photographic background, I’m too used to seeing subjects in a pictorial presentation rather than a fluid, abstract way, i.e. when I paint a leaf, a tree, or a building I try to capture all the detail when I don’t need to…

Looking at Sandra Blackburne’s Art I see sheds, trees and other subjects as perhaps ‘how I would remember them after a period of time has elapsed’, rather than as if they are in front of me, right then.

Sometimes I paint from photographs, sometimes from my imagination. I know which is more fun! A bridge between the photograph and the imagination is perhaps a Plein-Air sketch or two, which will then allow me to ‘put more of myself’ into a painting.

Thank you, Sandra Blackburne for your Art and inspiration. I look forward to seeing your Art face-to-face. Thanks also to Graeme Stevenson and to the team from ‘Colour In You Life’ for bringing such Art and inspiration into our Lives!

The journey to find my personal style continues…

 

Written by David Johnson
21 May 2016

 

Links:
https://www.instagram.com/sandrablackburne/

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=colour+in+your+life+tv+show