Painter vs. photographer
I often wonder whether I should consider myself creative or not. My hesitation is that I have a hard time coming up with an original idea out of the blue. I feel like I am much better getting inspiration from something and using that as a jumping off point for my own creativity.
John Greengo, a photographer from Seattle summed it up perfectly in a class he teaches on Creative Live. John said, “Painters start with a blank canvas and add their ideas to it. Photographers start with the entire world and narrow it down to their idea.”
I think that must be why I am drawn to photography. I don’t have to come up with an original concept. Mother Nature, or an architect, or a car manufacturer (and on and on) have already created the original. My job as a photographer is to find a unique way to represent the object in a single moment in time.
My creativity comes in the point of view I choose, the information I include in the photo and the information I leave out. The technical aspect of photography also requires my creativity. Will I shoot the entire image in focus or allow one aspect of the photo to be the focal point, leaving the rest to recede into the background? Do I want the photo darker or lighter in order to convey a particular feeling? Will the photo be more impactful in color or black and white?
These photos are a perfect illustration of this. Somebody else had the creativity to paint this building in bright colors so that it stood out amid a row of dingy grey neighbors. My inspiration was sparked by the colors someone else chose. The first three photos are straight out of camera. I took three different shots with different compositions, experimenting with what to leave in and what to leave out. For the final image, I chose to leave out the window on the left and the electrical boxes to the right of the door. There is no right or wrong answer here, just what appeals to me.
