Tag: Creativity
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It’s all in the mind . . . Or is it?
I have a confession to make. When I first became interested in photography at the ripe old age of 13, my interest may not have been driven by the quest for art. As you might imagine, any young boy has one thing on his mind, for me that was fitting in. I was not athletic…
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Feeling What We Rarely Notice
When my mother volunteered at the Denver Museum of Natural History, one of her jobs involved painting imperfections on artificial leaves used in dioramas. Not the leaves themselves, but the imperfections. Tiny signs of weathering. The occasional insect bite. Small details most visitors would never consciously notice. I still remember how proud she was of…
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The Wrong Measure of Success
Other People’s Reactions Over the years, I’ve entered photography contests, participated in camera clubs, and shared enough photographs to notice something that at first seemed contradictory. Some of the images I am most proud of receive little attention, while photographs I would immediately toss become someone else’s favorite. It’s a mystery to me. For a…
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Staying Present in an Age of Novelty
There is something strangely revealing about watching attention drift in real time. Not dramatically. Not catastrophically. Just slowly enough that it begins to feel normal. A few days ago, I caught myself circling the release of the Sony A7R VI again. Reading specifications I do not need. Watching videos from people whose enthusiasm feels almost…
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Creativity Bleeds on the Sharpest Edge
At the time, more sharpness felt synonymous with higher quality. If I could make textures stand out more aggressively or edges snap harder against each other, I assumed the image was improving.
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Freedom Inside Process
One of the ways my mind tends to work is by reducing things to a process. At first glance that sounds antithetical to creativity. Creativity is supposed to be spontaneous and intuitive. Yet for me the opposite often turns out to be true. A well-designed process removes friction. When the details take care of themselves,…
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Drift
In my recent book on artificial intelligence, I described drift as something to watch for. A subtle shift in direction that moves us away from our original intention without our noticing. In that context, drift can erode clarity and quietly send us down irrelevant rabbit holes . And yet, in the studio, drift has often…