if you want to truly understand something, try to change it. ~ kurt lewin
"we often think of art as an escape; a release. we feel free to express ourselves in ways which feel freeing and gratifying. but sometimes, over time and without thinking, we entrap ourselves in our own style. we become comfortable and dependent upon certain techniques or methods or styles. eventually, before we can even recognize that it has happened our ways of creating become so habitual that we lose just a bit of our pure and free creative spirit." ~ from creativity boot camp, day 6
creative word prompt: fluid: changing readily; shifting; not fixed, stable, or rigid.
my creative mojo has been stagnant lately - a real true blue creative limbo. i WANT to be trying new things, expanding on how i use my camera, explore new mediums, but my soul is having a hard time figuring out just how to express what it wants to say. my camera and i are in discord these days it seems - it pulls me one way, i want it to go another. now i know logically, that it probably has more to do with not using my camera often over the last many months, and my lack of knowledge, but particularly, this latest little insidious bug that has crept into my psyche; over-thinking what makes a good photo. it's as if i have taken a step back from the more free-wielding passionate way of expression, and i seem to have allowed this little analytical critter inside to come make itself comfortable on my couch. how does this start? where does it come from? is it lack of inspiration? lack of confidence? a fear of being judged? i'm finding lately that when i step out with my camera, i've been defaulting to what feels safe. "oh, i can probably pull that off.....". it's not that i WANT to play it safe, it's just that i've been feeling........stuck.
well this sneaky little boot camp seems to have invited itself to start jumping on my couch, and is consequently clearing the room.
and thank goodness. that little vermin has long been overstaying it's welcome.
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this day's assignment was to create something different than what we are used to, to break the rules we have set for ourselves. so i applied slow exposures, the tripod and shooting at night - all things i have limited familiarity and comfort with - while chasing after what fluid means to me.