The Creative Process – Chaos
I’ve been so busy the last few weeks and I’m working really hard to get my mails answered and all the work done. But on tuesday I turned 33 years old and I gave myself a little present: 2 hours of creative chaos.
Blogging photographers talk often about the technical stuff and I’m one of those photographers. Technique is important to me but in the end it’s just a set of tools to turn a creative spark into a picture. I don’t know why I don’t write very often about the creative process. It’s hard to capture something like that in words and often I don’t even know how it works, it just happens.
I’m planning a personal shoot soon, and I’m going to try to give you a look at what happens under my scalp.
Usually I first decide on the goal of the shoot. This time I don’t really have a certain picture or story in mind. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the direction I want to head into with my photography. I feel like it’s time to let my stile evolve. I see elements that keep coming back but maybe I don’t do enough with them. Maybe I have to go a bit more extreme, bold and clear. The shoot is a way to (hopefully) clear up things a bit. The end result is of no importance but experimenting and learning are key.
Once the goal for the shoot is set, it’s time for the part I really enjoy: CHAOS. Just let everything go and allow chaos in your head. Many people have a hard time letting go but I’m convinced that chaos stimulates creativity.
Everyone will have to find his way to get into a state of chaos. One of the things that work for me is what I call ‘Photo Surfing’. I have a folder titled ‘inspiration’ on my hard drive that contains several thousands of pictures that spark my imagination. Some of those images are masterpieces but there are also snapshots that contain one little details that captured my attention. It can be light, a background, clothes or whatever. An even more surprising way is to wander through Flickr without thinking.
I start for example with a picture I like and then check out that photographer’s stream. After looking at some of his pictures, I check out his favorites and click on another image that catches my eye. I try not to put a system into it, just clicking where my gut feeling tells me to. If I encounter a really interesting photo stream, I might bookmark it for later but in this chaos phase I really need to surf without thinking.
While I’m photo surfing, I have a sheet of paper and a pen next to me. I write down words and sentences that come to mind (for some reason I do this often in English instead of my native Dutch). When I look at the piece of paper after I returned to earth, thing often become very clear.
Next time, I’ll show you my piece of paper.
If you use other ways to get creative, please hit the comments
Hi Bert,
I’m an specialist in innovation and creativity (not a photography professional right now) and I totally agree with you: creativity and new ideas come from ‘chaos’. However, this chaos has got an intrinsic logic, which constitutes a conceptual trigger in the creation process.
I’m really experimenting with it to offer new services but not in the search of new images. I’ll try to in the next days.
Congratulations for your work.
Best regards,
Miguel Angel
http://www.fotouset.com
Nice setup. Like to give any detail (CPU, RAM, Monitor details etc…)?
Thank you so much for bringing this theme up on your blog. I am already spending some time on flickr (fotorannestad) and I see your point. I am so glad you start to share these experiences. I have just made an agreement with two magazines for freelancing. I am a bit shaky. This is a boost in my photographic “career”. I will read every single letter and comma of your upcoming posts.
Bjørn
Thanks for your interesting post! I think that you have to know first the tools of trade (cameras, technical stuff) and how they work, before it is possible to get deeper in the creativity process.
Creativity… I often switch to a creative mode by first focusing on non-technical things – have a peaceful and easy walk outside, play some pool (the visual aspects of the game always help me with photography), draw sketches of things around me, check portfolios of favorite photographers…
Hey Bert,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Great idea for the present to yourself. With your creativity and your family you’re a rich man indeed. Congrats, I’ll buy you a drink at the next seminar/meet/whatever. Offer of help still stands don’t forget.
Kindest regards,
Duncan
Sure my chaos is bigger than yours. And i do exactly the same thing photo-surfing in flicker. The difference is that I don’t write anything in a paper so all the ideas just fade away…
Happy birthday. Looking forward to see your creative present
I think to me getting creative involves listening to music and reading the lyrics alot…books helps sometimes, but nothing beats music as far as getting a feel when executing new ideas.
I also disagree that surfing the photos makes me ‘creative’ – the opposite is the case, if I’m able not to surf them, to hesitate to surf, then my chances are much better – all existing creativity just collapse my fantasy and nothing keeps open. To back to myself I need abstinence and other things like Literature, Paintings & Theater. or a coffeehouse, here in Vienna.
Full day of ToDos take away the creativeness – relax and ‘do’ it – BUT thats the hardest – you can’t buy it and you can’t force it – and that’s the reasom ‘it’s not too much out there’.
I wish you a relaxed birthday with your family. Enjoy.
Thanx for all you thoughts – very welcome.
Ciao Axel
[...] Confessions of a Photographer « The Creative Process – Chaos [...]
I have done that careless flickr browsing before but the idea of writing down words related to what I saw is really a good thing to do in order to spring that creative process.
Thanks for the idea!
Thanks for your input. Everyone will have to find something that works for her/him.
[...] last step in my creative process before the actual shooting starts, I often use music. Based on my state of chaos and some keywords I pick some songs in my iTunes library that feel right. This is done by intuition [...]
[...] you like to know where the creative process I wrote about has lead me? Here’s part one of the shoot with Erika, Ake en [...]
I’m so intrigued to see the way other people come up with their ideas. I’ve been trying to figure out the best ways to get ideas into my head lately, and I’ve decided that having some kind of stimulus really helps and is often essential to coming up with ideas for me, so I also like to surf through flickr. Another helpful thing when trying to come up with ideas is if you have a theme to work around, then you have something to work with. I saw a page in a magazine about a photography competition the other day and its theme was relationships and having an actual theme to work around really helped me to get ideas flowing (even though I haven’t actually taken any pictures for it – am still saving for a DSLR
hopefully by the end of this month, though 
)
I guess there’s no ‘best way’ but I agree that it’s interesting to see how other people do it.
Good luck saving up for the DSLR!