Creative Practice

Recently a photographer friend of mine and I decided to partner in building idea fluency (see my blog post Early Morning Light) and photographic expression. We agreed to regularly choose a word or phrase from which each of us would create a conceptual photograph. 

We chose for our first phrase — This year — as in 2020, the year of pandemic, George Floyd’s death, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, presidential election, unprecedented fires, and a record number of hurricanes.

Nothing like starting with something easy. (Ha!)

So now I begin this new

Creative Practice

Imagining what I will portray and how to portray it has been a several day process. Ideas flit in to my mind and for most of them I find one reason or another to reject the idea. There is the question of how to portray this year. Will I do it symbolically, metaphorically, or with real images of real things that happened? As I dig deeper I realize that it is a way of understanding my own responses to the year.

How not to be present

Writing a haiku

in my mind during morning

meditation time.

I made a primitive mind-map in my journal. And then I let go of any effort at thinking about ideas for the image and simply waited for my subconscious mind to work on it for awhile.

Sure enough after a couple of days and numerous ideas that I rejected I imagined using an ornately framed mirror to reflect some of the feelings or ideas this year has brought to me. Since the mirror shown above is the only mirror in my house with a decorated frame, I decided to try using a photograph of it.

All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.

     — Chuck Close

It takes time

The photograph at the top of this post is what I now plan (plans often change however so I make no poromises) to use as my anchor for the image. It’s a mirror that hangs in the hallway of our house. I plan to remove the reflective portion of the mirror using photoshop. (See first effort at that below — probably many more efforts before I’m totally happy with the results.)

Inspiration comes and goes, creativity is the result of practice.

   — Phil Cousineau

This is as far as I’ve gotten with my idea. I have no clue what I will place inside this frame. In fact, I don’t even know what it is exactly that I’m trying to say. That’s why I call this a creative practice. It is just like my morning meditation practice. I’m working on building the ability to be in the present moment. And I am practicing adding more meaning into my photography.

What is your creative practice?

May you walk in beauty.