It’s been a long time since I did one of these posts, but aside from a biography about Vincent Van Gogh that’s as entertaining as it is depressing, I’ve got very little on the go right now. I’m just past my 4th week in a cast and on crutches (catch up with that story here), and going a little stir-crazy. I’m trying to make good use of my time, planning projects into 2015 and learning about Polaroid emulsion lifts, but we all have ups and downs in our creative process and this is one of those lulls.
I want to point you to a couple sources of inspiration, places I’ve gone recently to stir the paint and dream of being out there making photographs.
Faded + Blurred, a place I wander when I’ve got a few minutes to stir the paint by something beautiful or interesting. They do a great job of curating that site, and the podcasts and articles are full of intelligent stuff. Highly recommended.
Plastic Pacific, by Kim Preston – an astonishing, and eerily beautiful, exploration of our polluted oceans, specifically plastics in the pacific. If you think you can’t do that next personal project on a budget, and still create something amazing, this should make you think again.
Moksgm’ol, The Spirit Bear, by my friend Jon McCormack. Jon had a beautiful encounter with a Kermode bear, or Spirit Bear, while recently exploring British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest. See his photographs here.
Kalle Gustafsson. Simple. Beautiful. Not my kind of work, but my kind of light and elegance.
Sergey Gorshkov. Featured recently in National Geographic, his work from Wrangel Island in Russia’s arctic, is stunning.
We posted this over on Craft & Vision’s social media stream, and it’s made the rounds, National Geographic being what it is, but if you’ve not seen this video, it’s worth 6 minutes of your time. The Photographers on Photography
Lastly, if you didn’t see it, we released The Created Image earlier this week. If you wanted to come to the Created Image weekend this year but couldn’t, it’s now available at Craft & Vision, and if you act before the end of October 07, there’s a steep $30 discount and a chance to win a $500 B&H Gift Card. The Created Image was an inspiring weekend and the impact was amazing. 10 sessions, filmed in HD and available in 14 hours of streaming and downloadable content. Don’t be confused by the Volume 1 designation, we did that so it wouldn’t be confused with next year’s conference or resulting videos. 14 hours of teaching on topics like creativity, composition and visual language, editing, post-production, and more. Only $50 until the end of October 07, if you use the discount code. That code, and more information here.
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Okay I thought I was the only one to feel stupid and not want to share when I had my 2nd accident this year. So I was so heartened to realise I wasn’t the only one. It took me three weeks to put a blog up on my site admitting to breaking my ankle, mine snapped stepping off a kerb in Bangkok, and I was beyond shame and sure that no one would want me to take their pictures or let me photograph their project because of my new accident prone-ness.
Get well soon and thank you for the sites. I’ve re-organized my photos, taken pics of flowers just outside the house, read a lot, looked at tutorials, gazed at beautiful images and tried not to feel sorry for myself as I hobble on my crutches, mostly I’m successful. You continue to be an inspiration to me for your honesty, beautiful photographs and e-books that have never been anything but helpful. Thank you. (four weeks to go)
I am also out of commission, sidelined by rotator cuff surgery, so I appreciate the list of links. However, I want to thank you for your “permission” to focus on vision, instead of gear. This week one of my photos placed in a small juried art show. The show included multiple genres of art, and mine was the only photograph to place. What made the award better for me is the fact that I took the photo with my cell phone.
It’s not about the gear.
Ironic. I’ve spent last weekend and this painting (my house), instead of being out making photographs…
Could be worse though, could be not photographing due to putting an axe through my foot…
I have found time to watch the first part of the video series though, can’t wait to get through the rest.
Get well soon David.
Whoah! Thank you so much for the mention, David. We’re pretty big fans of you too…but you already knew that. 🙂
It’s always interesting to read your blog David, grazie. You just remind me is coming the time to look at my projects and my plans for next year, form me 2015 is still far away! and Tim is correct, Faded + Blurred which I didn’t know is extremely interesting.
robert
You’re right, 2015 is a long ways away, but I’ve learned that time and money get eaten up by all the little things if I don’t plan for the big things even farther in advance.
Thanks for pointing to Faded + Blurred! Never ran across them before. Looks like I have some nice podcasts to listen to on my upcoming long flights for work 🙂
Van Gogh, sad story, absolutely beautiful work.
Interestingly enough, during my life, people, teachers, etc. who wanted to discourage my life taking a “creative” direction would always point to Van Gogh as an example of how art was a foolhardy choice, as he only sold one painting in his life, completely ignoring the fact that he had a disabling mental disorder!
My take on his story is how his creative spirit triumphed over great odds.
His work was always and still is an inspiration to me…
Funny how we find our cautionary tales where we want, isn’t it? Van Gogh’s a great example of a great many things, including his astonishing perseverance. Might have sold more work in his lifetime if he hadn’t cut his lifetime so short. In short, a little *more* perseverance and he might have seen that longing fulfilled…
Love, love, love the The Created Image video series! $50 extremely well spent. Much of it is like your books but in audio/video format. Thank you!
Thank you, Jan. That project was a new direction for us. A little intimidating. But I’m looking forward to more of them.