Law Office Commission

A few weeks ago I finished a commission for the law office of a friend of mine in Oregon. It was a really great experience to create a personalized group of images to celebrate the start of her new practice. It's always interesting voyaging down the creative rabbit hole. The only direction she gave me was "vintage office" and "black and white." I stumbled around for a few days shooting this and that old thing, but then I stumbled into Foothills Flea Market in Fort Collins and it became clear what to do. All these themes started to arise. Themes of education, culture, travel, time and dedication, and communication. All things that go into making a great lawyer. And knowing my friend, I knew all those themes fit her well. Then, it was a matter of finding the right lighting. I chose to keep it low-key and stark to create an austere and contemplative mood. I wanted to make something that was individual to her and something she could appreciate for a very long time. In total I printed 9 13x19inch ink jet prints on smooth pearl paper. I can't wait to see them all hung up in her office! My thanks to Foothills Flea Market for allowing me to set up a small studio area and photograph whatever I wanted! It's a great way to spend a day.

Random Acts of Creativity- Part 3- Headphone Cables and the Merits of Instagram

Continuing on the theme of finding beauty and interesting stuff all around us, here is a shot of flailing headphone cables in the air. I can attest that it's quite a way to spend an afternoon flinging these things repeatedly into the air. This is the start of a series which I hope to be able to share soon.

However, what I really would like to talk about, while I'm in the midst of "Creativity Week," is the Instagram debate. I want to get my two cents in before I spend them on something else. With Facebook's recent acquisition of Instagram, the debate over its merits seems to be gaining attention. For a quick look at some of the debate you can visit PetaPixel and The Verge. This is the same debate that creeps up in photography every time some new advance in technology comes along. Is it art, is it not art? What is its value? There seems to be some special love/hate relationship between the practitioners of photography and the technology with which it is so entwined. This is the same debate when digital cameras first came out, when color film came out, when the first consumer cameras came out, and when photography itself was first introduced.

Art is so much more than a device or the media used. These are just the modes of communication, the clothing, they give character to the voice, but they alone do not determine whether an object is art or not art. It doesn't have much to do with Instagram, or megapixels, or Canon or Nikon, or Holga, or collodion, or daguerreotype in itself. Art is the way you live your life. It's the way you perceive and receive the world. It's the way you reflect your small piece of the human experience back onto the stage of existence, hopefully with ever increasing acuity. The chosen mode of communication is secondary.

As an artist there is a responsibility. A responsibility to yourself, to the process, and to the viewer. A responsibility to not waste anybody's time, to value the viewer and their thoughts, and to give them something that enriches their lives, something new to consider, to challenge them, or simply to enjoy. That's the intention, but it is a precarious process and there are no guarantees. When you are dealing with the abstract communication of emotions and ideas enrichment is difficult to quantify.

Right now, what's the best (or worse, depending on your side of the debate) thing that Instagram has going for it? That it's fun? Isn't fun a part of the human experience? Instagram is too new to have developed much value as an art form in terms of the institution of the art world. And here I'm talking about a broad definition of "the art world" meaning a general consensus of what is considered art along the lines of George Dickie's "institutional theory of art." Similar to photography when it was first introduced, it took time for its potential to develop and mature before it achieved "the status of candidate for appreciation." In this sense, Instagram isn't there yet, because it can't be. There hasn't been enough time for it to realize its potential and enrich its value. Much like how the bonds of a new relationship take time to develop and mature, it will take time to determine and define our relationship with Instagram.

Random Acts of Creativity- Part 2- The Lamp Post

I'll christen this post on creativity with a quote by 20th century French painter John Duffet

"Art does not lie in beds ready made for it. It runs away when its name is called. It wants to be incognito. Its best moments are when it forgets what it's called."

Which brings me to a line of questioning, and for those who follow me on Facebook this will be familiar; is creativity different from originality? How does it differ from art? How important is originality and what is its role in creativity/art? Does practicing a craft, such as photography, automatically mean one is an artist? How are they different or the same?

Another point to consider is; does being a unique individual, which we all are since no one else has lived a life exactly like ours, enough to make one original? Is it the degree to which one can access this uniqueness that makes one's work considered to be original or cliche?

Jonah Lehrer recently published a book on creativity called Imagine: How Creativity Works,
(or for a more scathing review you can visit The Guardian) which makes some interesting points concerning the creative process. His interview on Slate is good to get the conversation rolling, however limited it may be. There is also the book Conceptual Blockbusting by James L. Adams which is a great resource on creativity. Well, I think that's enough to get us going on a Tuesday and all from one image of a lamp post!

Random Acts of Creativity- Part 1- Antler Studies

This week I'll be concentrating on random acts of creativity, a study in how creativity constantly surrounds us in our lives we just have to see it that way. This series of antler images came from a visit to an antiques flea market looking for interesting objects to spruce up the house. Oh yes, these antlers will probably get painted neon pink and be placed somewhere on the wall or television. Perhaps there will be a whole room dedicated to neon painted antlers and when you enter that room you have to be dressed either like Teddy Roosevelt fresh from a Jazzercise class or Max Headroom.