creativity at work

my husband, ben, and i are going to be on a plane headed for china in a few days time. it isn’t just a trip to china, it is a trip to see my sister, bother-in-law, and nephew. going on this trip brings a lot of my cretive juices to the top, my sister and i are always doing creative things together and i hope this won’t be an exception. she insires me and i hope i do the same for her. she is one of the most creative people i know and it is one of the things that i love about her most. we bring out eachother’s silly nature and i think my silly nature is very creative, maybe because when i get silly i’m willing to try out some of my new ideas or maybe it is just having the support of my silly sister. i’m also sooooo excited to take pictures…i know it will be hectic, but wonderful.

i had such a great time at the culminating experience and later on i realized what is was. i think it is when people from every walk of life are attracted to something like fostering more creativity or learning more about creativity in general, people are attracted to eachother. not attracted like, “wow, he’s cute.” attracted in a way that is more mental than anything. i met so many people that were so neat and i got to see my classmates in action, being creative and explaining creativity to others. i did actually think a couple stations really lacked, but who am i to judge. i have to remember that everybody is capable of a certain amount and that amount isn’t going to be the same for everyone. even after being done witht his class, i will always look back and compare a lot of life situations to what i have learned. it has been amazing.

some families have asked me to take their Christmas pictures at their home, and i’ve done it three times now for 75 dollars an hour. it is so interesting each time. the first time i did it, i was extremely nervous, but they loved the photos and that was it. it was challenging…five people, three dogs, and a house that i was unfamilar with. the second time i was a little more at ease, but the family was slow to do this or that and the kids weren’t that excited and the dog was crazy, but i did it. after that shoot i drove home thinking that i didn’t really want to do it again. i got a call from a friend of a friend and she said that they desperately needed pictures taken for family and friends and would i be willing to come over to their house the next morning…i said yes because i wanted to make the connection with the family and it was some nice, relatively easy, fast cash before ben and i go on our trip. i went over there, immediately connected with the family and had so much fun taking their picture in the back yard, in the family room, by the christmas tree and so on. i came home, fiddled witht he pictures a bit and burned her a CD. while the cd was burning i put together a quick slide show of the pictures (they weren’t expecting that) and went over there to give her the CD and show her some pictures. she said that they were the most beautiful pictures she had ever seen and she started crying and crying. it was the most amazing experience, it reminded me of how creativity can make such a positive impact…that’s all.

i have been thinking a lot about what i wan tot do to be in shape. i joined wellbridge for the community of people and they also teach Nia there, which is a highly creative dance/kickboxing/yoga type of class. i feel super creative while i am doing it and it inspires me to find ways enjoying myself and exercising at the same time. i had a session with a personal trainer and he went through all these exercises i should go through twice a week. well…i went there for the first time by myself and spent about twenty minutes being miserable and wishing i were somewhere else. there comes a time when simple is better and not coming up with a unique plan of action is best all around. i decided to cancel my membership and i am just going to run. running is fun and i come up with lots of creative ideas while i’m doing it.

i’m takin a photojournalism class and we have been talking about creativity quite a bit.  we have come a long way in photography. there was a time when the person that was getting their picture taken had to stay still for an hour or more; which made it hard to take any pictures where there were moving people involved. now there are High Definition cameras that can take video and then simply choose the frame they want a still image of. does that mean that someday photographers will be out of business? maybe. they will no longer be needed to get the perfect shot that says the whole story in a single photo or capture someone jumping in puddles and getting that shot right before they hit the water, why? because a video camera can do it all. but what about creativity? are we letting go of it and simply moving on?
to be creative is to produce a product that is unique. creativity isn’t built in to a HD camera, video camera, digital camera or any other type of camera. it is true that they are very important tools in the process of being creative in the world of photography and photojournalism, but there is still a process and through that process something creative can be produced. something else to keep in mind is that the product doesn’t have to be a photograph. the product can be a feeling that someone gets after shooting all day and not capturing anything spectacular, but feeling good about learning or trying something new. if someone takes a unique picture and nobody ever sees it, is it still creative? if it produced some amount of satisfaction and enjoyment, then yes. we can only hope that the next generation of children enjoy the process of creativity through photography and photojournalism.

i was thinking about halloween and i was a bit digusted wiht the costumes that some kids wear. not that they were gross, but that they were boring. i remember dressing up for halloween, most years it was a huge drawn out affair. my mom or dad would spend days and days helping me prepare. one year i was a hershey kiss. my dad made the cardboard frame and then glued tin foil all over it. it even had a little paper thing coming out of the top of the hat that read, “kisses kisses kisses.” it seems like now parents just go to the closest costume shop and all the parts are included (except the batteries). halloween was fun the way i remember it, but now it is losin all the creativity it ever had. too bad, because it was the one day a year i could eat tons of candy and not get in trouble. i really wonder what it will be like when i have kids. hmmm…

i find that i get most creative when i am crazy busy. which i think might be some sort of defense mechanism. let me explain. when i get supper busy i get stressed out, anxious, and all around not at my best. my way of coping though is usually art or some other crafty project. i find that it makes me feel more at ease and i am able to think about other things going on more clearly. it is frustrating at times because when i make time to do something “creative” it usually means that i have the time and i find that it is harder to think of something to draw, write, etc.  i love creativity and i find that fostering a creative environment (for me) means keeping myself on my toes.

I was in vintage vinyl the other day and couldn’t help but notice thousands of albums around me that I never want to hear. I feel like I am a pretty open-minded person and I enjoy a variety of music. But I would like to know why people listen to music that nobody can understand, sounds like noise, and the words that can be understood are all swear words. What is the point? Isn’t the point of life to be uplifted or inspired to do things? I don’t see any happy looking people listening to that music and I am wondering why it is still around. Do the “artists” that create this music really think that they are talented? Creativity has always had a positive connotation for me and I am not about to give that up to see some punk playing a horribly violent video and listening to screaming fuzz in the background. I refuse to call that creative.

When I am creative I am a happier person. If I do something creative and if someone sees it or not, I feel more centered and I am a better person in general. I feel motivated to be productive and am more creative in the future. Does the physical product of being creative, like a card or a painting, more imortant than the result of being creative, being happier, joyful, patient, etc. So my question is where does creativity stop and living life begin? Where is that line drawn and who decides?

I think that there is no line. Creativity is an open box and it flows freely from situation to situation. To be creative is to take advantage of life’s resources and love oneself fully and appropriately. All of the negative aspects of life come from a lack of something essential, like creativity for example.

Going back to what we were talking about in class. I’ve thought about this for the last week and decided to blog it. I keep coming back to the fact that when I am creative, I feel better. I am happier, more able to focus, and generally a better human being because of it. So I can almost see the outcome of the creative process being creative in itself. What if an artist who wasn’t considered good, painted for 20 years in private and got better and better over time, then painted a master-piece? If all of his/her paintings that nobody saw aren’t considered creative, what are they? Interesting topic, I’ll be thinking about it more over the next week.