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Ever ride a yo-yo? I feel like I do-every time I set out to create.
Feeling inspired is pure euphoria and I often spend weeks, days, and even months, daydreaming about my next photo.
By the time I break out my camera though, I’m falling down again. I take a photo, it sucks, I change some things, and repeat. Sometimes I’m on to something right away, but other times I just can’t get there and I start to feel like a tails up penny on the floor… there’s no picking me up.
My first attempt at this photo (after 3 hours and 100 shots) was a total failure. I took a break. I slept on it. Then I tackled it again. What’s my point? If I had given up I wouldn’t have gotten this. Now I look at it and the euphoria returns.
P.S. Thanks to Melissa Dinwiddie for making me realize I’m not alone in this vicious cycle of artistry! Check out her blog post on the creative process. This is also what inspired me to do what I’m about to do next… oh no…
P.P.S. I’m going to share… gulp… an ugly outtake. Quick scroll down and look at it before I change my mind!
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
This is my lump of clay before I molded it with light.
See another photo from this series & a sneak peak of my setup!
Ah, yes, that lovely feeling of reaching into a black hole, not knowing what, if anything, you’ll pull out, or if indeed you’ll be sucked in and lost forever!
That’s what I feel every single time. Every. Single. Time.
Thankfully I’ve started to get sort of comfortable with this blessed discomfort. 😉
Thanks for the mention, Rebekah! I’m so glad you persisted! What a glorious final pic. 🙂
Thanks for inspiring me Melissa! You are an awesome creativity instigator 🙂
Rebekah, the cala lily was beautiful. Thanks. I saw your “ugly.” It wasn’t. It had depth, shadows, emotions that I picked up on. I enjoyed it almost as much as the one “perfect” one.
I had a feeling someone was going to say that about the 2nd photo, Fredia. Thank you for that, maybe it’s not totally horrible, but it’s not what I was going for haha. Thanks for looking!!
Only you, initially, can feel in your heart the spirit of what you would like to reflect with your image. When it feels “right” and you share it, the world is blessed to have the opportunity to also feel the spirit in your image.
Thank you for sharing your heart, Rebekah!
What a thoughtful thing to say Lauren, thank you for that =)
I would agree that while your “ugly” photo is not at all ugly, it doesn’t have the wow factor of the 1st photo. The 1st photo has an inner glow and ethereal quality that is lacking in the 2nd photo. As artists, we are always struggling to produce the image we see in our mind’s eye, and pushing ourselves beyond “nice” to “great” is part of the struggle. I think you did great!
Thanks Dorothy =) It is certainly a struggle sometimes. It was an even bigger struggle for me to post the unfinished photo, but what a reward to find out that some of you don’t think it’s as horrible as I do haha!