Learning to work with your limitations could be the answer to boosting creativity
Learning to embrace what you have and go for it. Even if it’s not the usual approach. For years we’ve fought against what we should create and how, what people expect and are used to seeing. When all along our hearts didn’t quite flow with our minds.
We don’t live in a perfect a world, so how can we expect ourselves to stay in line? When sometimes all we want to do is push boundaries and go with our gut. We want to be seen and heard. Because surely there is something more to going with the flow, there’s more energy to it, more fire, more life.
When we push through and embrace it, all kinds of energy appears and we’re drawn into a message, a point.
We feel things, we’re inspired, rather than be told what we should feel and do.
In particular a lot can be said for feeling more free in our creative work. But surprisingly what frees us is usually having a few limitations so that we can stretch our minds further and make a few mistakes along the way. In our mentoring we often talk about photography gear, what’s the best cameras and lenses? and to be honest, there’s always going to be those questions. It’s natural to see other peoples work and feel that the gear may produce those images more than the creative.
but what actually happens if you try to just use what you have? well, I’ll tell you a little of what happens with us. When we have limitations, we are forced to move more, look at different perspectives, see things from new view points and really think about how we work and the reaction we will capture on camera from behaving differently with our subjects or moving the camera in a different way.
When we are forced to work with what we have we learn to bend the rules more, creating work that speaks more about the ideas and the feeling, rather than the technicalities. These are always the images I LOVE THE MOST. The ones that were taken with more thought, more meaning and less perfection.
Here’s a few projects for you to try with your camera to break out of your usual creative box -
SHOOT THROUGH SOMETHING
Anything! A glass, leaf, sheer fabric, grass, a colander, basically try anything. It’s often suprising to see what happens and can also be a lot of fun!
SHOOT ONLY AT A CERTAIN PERSPECTIVE
Thinking about your composition, tell a story with a particular view point. Imagine being a child and only seeing things from their perspective, looking at things upwardly and inquisitively up close.
SHOOT IN THE MORNING FOR 1 WEEK
Use that difficult low light and really stretch you and your camera’s capabilities and see what happens. Move around more, create blur and spend time really trying to see the light as it comes in your room. Follow it as it changes and makes patterns. Watch as it falls on faces and changes shapes as it goes.
KEEP YOUR SUBJECT IN ONE PLACE
Using one subject (preferably a person) keep them sat in one place, while you work with them. Talk to them, help them to feel themselves. Capture different elements of them that you see and tell their story. Move your body around them to really see them in different lights.
We hope you enjoy our project ideas and learn to be limitless within your limits.
If you don’t have time to read now, you can pin it for later!
