‘That would make a good photo’
I thought this today, as I rode by a postered wall on my chilly ride to school. I immediately raised my eyes skyward and whispered thanks. To what? I’m not yet completely sure. Let’s save the spiritual bulk of this discussion to another day. The dominant emotion was of thanks.
Here’s why.
Photography is a symptom for me. A symptom of creativity, happiness, openness of soul. And for the last month my camera has sat on my desk gathering dust. I look at it with a detached pity. A little blame and resentment. I want to be artistically inspired. But most artists will tell you that you can’t really force creativity, or manufacture inspiration. When I’m productive as a photographer, I know I’m inspired and happy in life.
The same applies to my writing. For the past month I’ve been phoning it in on this blog. Really lazy, actually, writing more often out of a sense of obligation than real desire. There may be a few factors, but I can see now that this period started just about the same time I reinjured my back, before Christmas. This has made normal function difficult, triggering a month of working from ground level. Not exactly productive.
I’ve learned that my physical health is linked, naturally, to my emotional health and happiness. And I know this in turn is connected to my photography. This is why I was so thankful this morning. It’s been a frustrating month. The last few days have been among the physically hardest. That’s why when I saw that shot between the bursts of sciatic pain, it meant a lot.
True happiness or inspiration can be obvious or hidden under the surface. When it’s hidden but there, what daily symptoms do you see? When it’s not there, what aspects of your daily life change?
B
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
great shot.
glad to hear you’re feeling better and the creative juices are flowing again.
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Hey B.
Nice shot - always great to feel your intensity for pix. What are you shooting with these days? I am considering dropping some of my limited $$$ on the G11. Any thoughts?
R
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Brendan Reply:
January 27th, 2010 at 8:52 am
The G10 most of the time. I have a ‘nicer’ camera, but it does nothing but collect dust. I don’t know anyone who has bought a G series and been disappointed, over many friends, several years and several model types. They are just awesome, period.
Get it.
B
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Interesting post B. I’m somewhat opposite of you and find that I need my outlet (writing) when times are tough, as opposed to good. I think it might be because I need to channel and sort my emotions, and writing helps? Whereas, when times are good, I just want to live it. Nevertheless, I always find it interesting to see what inspires people…
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I like the shot–reminds me of my days going to college. Regarding your sciatic pain, I’ve found most pain is often the result of a rotated pelvis. This happens when the muscles in front of the pelvis asymmetrically pull one side of the pelvis forward. This creates unilateral spinal extension and can pinch the nerve roots composing the sciatic nerve. This is correctable with exercise but the other big problem is that movement habits are reinforcing these issues. A couple of examples of habits that may be perpetuating sciatic pain are standing or working asymmetrically putting more weight on one leg than the other. This leads to the asymmetries in the muscle tightness. Typically, sciatic pain responds relatively quickly to corrections on both fronts. I’ve just written a book about fixing back and sciatic pain using an approach that has been very effective over the last few years. I hope this helps so you can photograph pain free from now on! Thank you for your article.
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“…you can’t force creativity”; that’s interesting, as, without fail, every writer I’ve heard interviewed about the process of writing has said the hardest part is getting the seat on the chair. They treat it like a job, wherein they have to sit down and WRITE for 2/3/4/5 hours. They admit that when it’s not flowing it all goes into the garbage can, but they sit and do it every day. Stephen Leacock said that writing was easy: “You just write down whatever occurs to you…the writing is easy, but the ocurring is hard”.
I guess photographers would be the same; even if they don’t feel creative I’m guessing they pick up the camera and head out.
Just my (uninformed and unexperienced, as I’m not an artist, view).
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I’m really feelin’ this post… I’ve had my creative ups and downs… and just noticed how re-vitalized I have been since my foray into teaching.. I have the tools and techniques, but somehow lost the zest to create beyond the day-to-day photo jobs for a while there. Just look at my flickr stream and see how I shot ‘for myself’.. I shot ‘to learn’.. and then started shooting ‘for clients’… and somehow the shooting for myself got lost in the mud!!
Seeing college students so full of life and inspiration.. well.. it’s really pushed my creativity back into high gear. I’m creating more for myself than ever.
My blog on the other hand, is suffering… no posts for TWO months. ouch… good reminder to get back on that horse.
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