Nightski

That is a good reminder for all of us. :thumbup:

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Miller 64 light works too. :thumbup: :thumbup:

jrb1213 Loc: McDonough GEorgia

Creativity can neither be defined or practiced. By defining you limit the scope, by practicing it you are no longer creating. The closest I can come to it is creativity is something you do without planning to.

timmah1979 Loc: Utica,ny

Sorry bout that, I didn't think one statement that i had made would turn into full blown out discussion and i as well had given it its own thread (and not seeing yours).

Looks like hot topic here on forum lol

Nightski

Maybe Admin would combing them.. It's an interesting topic.

timmah1979 Loc: Utica,ny

yeah i think that would be great idea

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

Nughtski - good advice!

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Please do combine them! I am getting cross-eyed! :mrgreen:

My own take on the topic is that technique can be taught, but creativity cannot. I do not think I have one single creative bone in my body. Maybe that's harsh, considering that I made a living in a "creative" field for more than 30 years, and I loved it, and still do (I'd rather be taking and making pictures than just about anything), but I have never ever considered myself an "artist." I went to seminar after seminar to learn how to be "creative." I would imitate what I was taught, but never seemed to have the spark to go the next step—to "create" something totally new. I loved what I did. I loved what I got. My clients did, too, but I was mostly channeling Donald Jack or Rocky Gunn. When I did commercial work, for the most part I always worked with an art director. Art directors get paid to have the vision, the creativity. What I brought to the game was the technique, the ability to translate the art director's vision into pictures. I like to think that I'm a good, solid craftsman; I know how to get the picture, sometimes under nearly impossible conditions; I have a terrific sense of timing; I know how to compose and so on yada yada, but the truly creative spark I suspect must be inborn. That's not a bad thing. It just is what it is. :shock: I also think that to make the most of your inborn creative spark (however bright or dim) you must have technique; you must know the palette. If you want to be creative you must understand how. But some of us will always be mechanics. :? :lol:

waykee7 Loc: Cortez, Colorado

Chuck, I hear what you are saying. I've wrestled with the same issues; I have two art forms, pottery and photography. I have wondered for a number of years whether I'm an artist or a craftsman with pottery. The one thing I would note is that when you're working under an art director, you're probably working at a craftsman level, but I suspect when you're on your own, out walking in the woods or traveling or photographing your family, you're actually functioning on a higher level. I might be wrong, but maybe. I read an article once by Ananda Coomaraswamy (Parabola, 1991). He says "The basic error in what we have called the illusion of culture is the assumption that art is something to be done by a special kind of man, and particularly that kind of man whom we call a genius. In direct opposition to this is the normal and human view that art is simply the right way of making things, whether symphonies or airplanes." and "There can be no doubt about th epurpose of art in a traditional society: when it has been decided that such and such a thing should be made, it is BY ART that it can be properly made."

Our discussion on creativity is related to art. I think when we see something we consider as art, we assume there's a level of creativity involved, and maybe there's usually some creativity in a "thing well made."

It occurred to me, before I ever read Coomaraswamy's article, that I made the mistake of comparing myself to geniuses like Van Gogh or Beethoven, and always found myself wanting. We don't have to initiate some kind of breakthrough creativity like an Einstein or Frank Lloyd Wright to be creative. It can be using one of those techniques you learned in a different way, it's that thought that pops in your head, hey, this would look cool if I tried THIS. Even Isaac Newton, who knew a bit about creativity I would venture, said that if he saw further, it was by standing on the shoulders of giants.

I have heard literally dozens of people say they didn't have a creative bone in their body. Is that true? Maybe. Is the task to unlock one's innate creativity? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it's just to do something very well. I sho' don't have the answer.

anotherview Loc: California

The act of human creation in photography has little if anything to do with the so-called breaking of rules. Assuming the breaking of rules associates with creativity itself could mislead the individual into associating the two and expecting creative output simply from breaking rules -- a narrow path.

Instead, the masters of photography learn the rules, principles, concepts, techniques, guidance, and forms of their craft, and then use these in combination to express themselves. The masters produce and create from givens. They also recognize where variance from the standard approach will result in a worthy photograph.

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Well reasoned and well written. "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9. Many—most, even, of the Giants of the High Renaissance apprenticed under artists that, for the most part, no one has heard of since, yet those artists were the Working Pros of their time, producing Art on Demand for Patrons. The thing is that, of all the students they must have had, only a handful became Giants. They first learned technique, they copied and imitated, and then some indefinable something happened, the spark exploded, and we got a Michelangelo, a Rafael, a Leonardo, just to name three off the top of my head. The were all consummate craftsmen, but they had genius, and that's why I think you can't teach creativity. You can teach craft, and if the genius is there it will out. If it isn't, there's nothing in the world wrong with that, and it does not mean that, among us, for example, we won't occasionally produce something truly WOW :shock: ——it's just that most of us are not born creative geniuses. That's a gift. If you've got it, flaunt it. :D :mrgreen: :lol: I know I ain't got it. :oops: :twisted:

Dcn Bob Loc: Hamilton, NJ

I do not think that you can teach creativity, but if you keep clicking the shutter and looking at what you created with a critical eye you can develop your inner creativity.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

Sums it all up - good way to put it.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Been thinking about this since reading your posting. I think I have gotten distilled down to only 2 words Intelligence and thinking.

Nightski

That's one of my favorite verses in the Bible, Chuck. I think it reminds us to be humble.

I think we are all creative. The geniuses know how to tap into their creativity. It you've got it, share it, don't flaunt it. Remember where your gift came from.