Get something that is near and dear to your heart: A teacup from your grandmother, a clay artpiece from your kid’s secong grade class, anything. Grasp it in your hands and sit in a quiet space in your home. Close your eyes and relax. Things will go through your mind, things not even related to what you are holding. Let all things pass through your consciousness. What you will be searching for are the stories that come in relation to that piece you are holding. The stories may not be necessarily true! It could be a story from a far off place.

The key is to write down what you saw when you are done (it only takes about 5-10 minutes, but if you can go longer… You want to remember those fantasies and then the magic begins. You start creating what’s in your heart, not someone else’s.

The Artist’s Way - Julia Cameron

The Artist’s Way Workbook - Julia Cameron

Walking in this World - Julia Cameron

Finding Water - Julia Cameron

• Captured Moments: “The Captured Moments journal technique allows you to celebrate and savor, preserving in prose the glory and anguish, the serenity and sorrow, the pleasure and pain of your life” […]. A great candidate to be sent in a time capsule to the future.
• Stream of Consciousness: Very intuitive in nature, this is also called ‘meditative writing’. Here you just let yourself be guided by your subconscious. You will be surprised where you may end up. You may use aids like visual imagery as well, such as in a mental sanctuary.

“Creativity is a fact of your spiritual body and nothing that you must invent.”

The Artist’s Way - Julia Cameron

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If this podcast has opened your mind, please show your support by purchasing these two items in support of my creative communication – First the song by Delirium

Tectonic Shift - Delerium - Best Price $0.99 

Second, show your gratitude by purchasing the presentation through the create cart – to help make sure more presentations are availabe in the future:

If you would like more information from the speaker quoted in the presentation here is a link to his training materials titled “Doing Business Supernaturally 201″

Bleautiful Blur Overlays – Volume 2

The beautiful blurs can do a lot for your images! Read any of the online tutorials to get ideas:

The Beautiful blurs add to the creativity of any designer or photographer:

• Page Backgrounds
• Contrast modifying overlays for single photographs
• Color adding overlays for designs or photographs
• Website background images

70 High Resolution 16mp images for your creative project!

Soundtrack is “In McDonalds” by Burial

Available for immediate download – Liscensed for unlimited reproduction in any media with purchase from copyright holder Neil Cowleey ©2008 – Do not redistribute – liscense is non-transferable from original purchaser. Free Sample available here for download <–

Just for fun for you to watch – but what I picked up in the trailer, was the speach Carlos uses in the trailer.  Catching it at 1:29 Carlos says enough to show you that it’s NOT ABOUT LIGHTING.  Too bad his DVD title is cliche, seems his approach is genuinely creative.  At 1:35 – that’s powerful relationship Carlos is using to empower his model, and is what really impressed me.  Don’t ever forget that the relationship trumps the lighting and if your subject relationship comes before anything technical you have to do.  I also found a talk-through by Carlos on the livebooks site on lighting topics – so you can get a deeper dose of his work:

liveBooks – See the Light: Fashion, Passion, and Inspiration

Strobist: Four Reasons to Consider Working for Free (his words in italics)

“A check is a good thing. It puts food on the table and keeps the business running. But that same check can also keep you from growing in the direction in which you want to grow.”

I find this a discouraging way to start the discussion, and one that removes both the responsibility and the motivation.  Why?  let me lay out my points before I try to prove my thesis.

“Tenet One: Free Buys Access”

Really? coming from a guy who’s had a press pass for 20 years and he wants to convince me that free buys more access?  Humm, something feels warped here.  My ability to access people or places has more to do with my attitude and demeanor than money or power; as an art student I was written off by some crowds, and as a professional I’m mistrusted by other crowds.  So now, I just feel my way through things and try to keep on people’s good sides.  Balance in my approach is the result, and my attitude is the only real issue.

“I want to be a location people shooter. More specifically, I want to make engaged and technically sophisticated portraits of people who excel at what they do. I want to benefit from both the photos and the experiences of meeting my subjects.That is my personal photographic compass point. Where the photos get used is secondary. As is how much — or even if — I get paid for them. For now, anyway.”

David Hobby mourns the death of the editorial portrait?

The fact that he uses ‘technically sophisticated’ in his want list tips me off.  I’ve been surrounded my whole photographic come-uppance with guys who made a full career out of ‘technically sophisticated’ portraits and almost made it into retirement before the were extinguished by the market.  They were card carrying ASMP members, when it was a technical challenge to make a portrait with a medium format camera and a truck load of lights.  The need for the technical expertise is gone, with the help of very sensitive sensors for cheap.  And so are the careers of the guys doing that….how about an amazingly talented artist you’ve never heard of, ring up Woody Packard….and ask…

“Because I want to grow by photographing extremely interesting people. It is for my portfolio and whatever use you can find for it. Because that is the fastest way to get the photos I want into my portfolio. And you can judge the last question for yourself after seeing my work.

And hopefully, I am circumventing the photographer’s Catch-22 — that you won’t be hired to shoot subject matter that you can’t already show in your portfolio.”

But you won’t necessarily be hired to shoot what you can show in your portfolio either! and this is where the rub comes between the check and creativity.  

“Tenet Three: Free Buys You Near Total Control”

But on what day of your life are you not given control?  you have the control to say no to any paying assignment you don’t feel you can complete.  And you don’t have to half heartedly complete any assignment you’re given – how you commit is again your attitude and your spirit.

“Why couldn’t I hook up with him and create a series of portraits of chefs at some of these places? Make his blog look as good as a decent food magazine, create a nice project in my portfolio and hook up more people with great local food?”….

“Answer: There is no reason why I couldn’t, if I take money out of the equation. If I wait for money, this little project will never happen. But take the money out, and it could happen in a heartbeat — and on my schedule.”

So here’s my personal story.  In late 2006 I started out to build a portfolio and promote it to commercial agencies.  I combined my love for action, my love for a unique photographic moment, and a technical palette that was colorful and bright.  I couldn’t sell it.  Why?

Because an art director couldn’t put it in a brief …. and because the market is shrinking.

I had art directors call for a quote asking for my people skills, the humanistic perspective, and turn around and tell me their client won’t justify the cost.  Of course the AD and myself know they’re buying 10 billboards across the city, but they’re not going to justify the custom content to go on them.  The iStockPhoto effect – it’s a part of your daily life.

“Tenet Four: Free is Powerful Karma”

“But I Don’t Want to be Branded as a Free Photographer”

“You wouldn’t be. You are not working for free because people asked you to. You are offering to collaborate on a project. And therein lies a huge difference.”

Collaboration is a creativity of a different kind.  One that has a goal.  A goal who’s monetary value has yet to be determined.  Much like the internet that David has made his living from…hold that thought.

Karma is the opposite of freedom, and I just felt the need to make that clarification.  Karma is causal and influentially determines what you’re going to do tomorrow – so if you need to work for free today, what in your past would create that need? 

Carry that thought and realize that your attitude on every job you did is creating your ‘karma’ for your life now.  So my point is the cycle is to find balance – not to invest in the future.  Balance is the natural state – and one from which your creative powers are unleashed.  Doing something to impress the future is in itself an imbalance. 

“When a company or organization asks you to work for free they may be (okay, probably are) taking advantage of you. When you are in control, no one can take advantage of you. You have the ability to offer your work for free, but you retain the ability to decline a request to work for free.”

Just because you decline doesn’t mean the company is going to stop expecting it for free, or keep searching for someone who will do it for free, or for a $400 day rate with all rights.

“Why Now? Isn’t the Whole World Caving In?”

“This makes the most sense right now, for so many reasons. How many people or organizations could use photos — but have no budget? How many days do you sit waiting for the phone to ring with an assignment?

How often have you looked at your home loan / stock portfolio / shrinking newsroom / etc., and just wanted to feel good about something, personally and/or professionally?

You may not have piles of excess cash to donate, but you have skills. You can leverage your value to someone through your pictures — and grow as a photographer at the same time.”

From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought) are usually considered to have both originality andappropriateness.

That’s from the definition of Creativity on Wikipedia

Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. An alternative conception of creativness is that it is simply the act of making something new.

Social Interaction with other like-minded people

From Camera Dojo

Two weeks ago I got together with a number of other photographers up at Robert Evans’ studio in North Hollywood to do a trash the dress shoot for a couple. They probably ended up with hundreds of images from a dozen photographers, none of which charged a nickle. Robert opened his studio, I brought fog machines and dry ice, Candice supplied several dresses, and a dozen people worked together on a project that was for the betterment of all involved. This was so fun and worthwhile, we have decided to try to do it once a month.

Free exchange of thought will solve this current economic problem, we will create new efficiencies to solve the economic imbalance (as long as the government [antithesis to creativity] stays out of the way) We as a people must become and demand moral balance (with the government as our agent for social morality).  We are not ‘entering’ a depression, we are experiencing a correction – it only becomes a depression if we frame it that way in our minds, and begin to act that way.  Continue to think freely, act responsibly and we’ll solve the problem.

In your personal search for balance, I hope you achieve freedom of thought and heart to create what we must to pull together.  And remember, everybody is free

Yours in the image!

Photo Courtesy of Shane Snyder photojournalist

Then would you believe it could finish like this?

Photo Courtesy of Shane Snyder photojournalist

When I talk about a concept such as “Mind Like Water” there are two very important lessons to be learned:

• always be open to be impressed by the world of experiences around you
• always respond appropriately to your experiences to make them expressions

Water Drops are special in thier physical properties and principlels

By no classical measure is Shane’s original photograph a success.

So why do I feel it’s a great illustration of mind like water?

Because Shane kept his heart open to what was moving him about the photo – and sought that out through expressive manipulation of the photograph.  The visual cues that generally tell us this is not a good photo were ignored and creative freedom was found – out of creative freedom came a unique and expressive image.  The principles you learn keeping your Mind Like Water are the key to unlocking your vision and expressive potential in the image – foundational to understanding how to move forward in your retouching. You don’t need to like Shane’s image to learn from it.  You need to learn to feel and respond to the potential of your image, not it’s problems.

So let’s deconstruct this process

I’m not in Shane’s head – but I get a glimpse in when I look at this picture.  After e-mailing he told me the eye caught his attention, and I will attempt to explain the visual principles he used in retouching to capture and convey the energy of the eye. You might say the eye was Shane’s muse.  This tutorial is using LAB color space and my ONE ACTION layers. It is not an attempt to copy Shane’s work, but an effort to deconstruct the adjustments and curves that are used to achieve a similar effect.  The effect is to draw the viewer’s attention directly to the eye – while balancing the focal point with texture in the frame.

First in my saturation layer I desaturate to black and white leveling both the A* and B* channels.

Second, on my vignette layer I paint in close to the eye and alter my curve lightening the shadows (left end point) and darkening the highlights (right end point). The effect of this curve is to flatten the overall contrast and remove any blacks from the image – leaving the eye the only point of black in the image.

Listen to your shadows, and as the white shirt was competing too much for attention it was minimized.  The top end point on the curve brings the whites down to less than 50% grey.  The middle point is interesting because it nearly removes the stripes in the shirt by lightening their range of tones.  And finally the bottom point of the curve is brought in for extreme darkening.   It looks really weird on it’s own, but the Vignette layer that’s focused on the eye is on top of it so that’s OK!

A little warmth in the image is created by adjusting the B* channel up by 2 points.  With such a dramatically artistic manipulation, a lightly perceptible warmth will hint viewers that this is an inviting image of mystery and warmth/tenderness/security.

Shane added his own texture – I added a Veritas Vignette from my collection using a Hard Light Layer Mode and a transparency of 60%.  In deconstructing this image, this is my result.  What does the texture do?  Well, it’s a visual counter point to the dramatic focal point of the eye.  The creative reduction in overall contrast makes the eye the dramatic focal point as the only black element in the frame.  But remember water, it always seeks balance.  The balance of the specific interest in the eye – is the non-specific interest of the squiggles and blops introduced by the texture on the remaining space of the image. 

Shane has created a gradient of darkness to the right – and a dose of highlight just above the eye on the man’s face – that keep the whole surface of the image activated.  You’re almost embarrassed to look directly into the woman’s eye – so you look away and bounce through the texture – and sneak another peek into the searching eye.  This is the balance that brings forth the Tao of a rich artistic experience – the tenuous balance – a balance with energy – a balance not at rest.

May your creative path continue like water…

 Thanks Shane for a great image!

50mm, f/4, 1/80, ISO 200.

Lurking around every corner is texture. You may not notice them upon first glance, but if you take a closer peek in the crooks and crannies of your neighbourhood, you will find a whole world of excellent textures to capture: Mossy rocks, rotting wooden fences, rusty hinges, chipped paint on window sills, and corrugated metal doors. It’s out there just waiting for you to shoot! And unlike people and animals, mossy rocks sit still for hours with little to no complaints.

Read more… | MostlyLisa.com

Why shoot textures when you can buy some?

Creativity is often exploration

Creativity is seeking beyond what is known.

Let your creativity flourish with a simple exercise where you only focus on what you find most interesting before you!

Let nothing else interest you – and clear your mind of clutter.

Street Corner Technique

This variation is a fun way to turn a single location into one Overlay collage. Pick one location to go and shoot. A street corner works well. Shoot four distinct photos from this one location. For instance, for the example in the post above, I shot a tree, a face, a building and a texture. When you get home, overlay those four images you took and go through the “basic technique” steps above.

Show some of your Photo Overlays! in the Overlays Flickr Group for your to upload your final images.

Take a creative exercise where you simply respond to what interests you in the moment….