G. Steve Journal

Inspiration

My own experience lends credence to this quote I recently came across:

    Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working."

                                                Pablo Picasso

 

Nothing

I came across this interesting perspective on creativity by filmaker Jim Jarmusch:

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.”

Responsibility

I recently came across an interview with Tim Ferris, author of The 4-hour Work Week -- here's a telling excerpt:

You're known for your grassroots marketing style. Do artists today have a responsibility to market themselves?

It's 100% their responsibility. If you want to be a tremendous artist, and then expect people to beat a path to your door, you can try that. The fact of the matter is, it's not going to happen unless you meet someone who makes that happen.

So you can make it accidental or you can grease the wheels of the universe and try to encourage those things to happen. In that case, guess what? You're marketing. When people think marketing, they think of a cheesy sales guy. Marketing is knowing exactly who your customers are, and trying to get your product, your art to them. If you are creating art for yourself, well great, go live in a cave and do it. But if you're doing it commercially and you have bills to pay, it's not selling out to get your work to the people who most appreciate it.

from an interview on 99u

Discover

A column in the NY TIMES caught my eye last week.  Silas House, a writer, describes an encounter with another writer at a workshop and I thought his conclusion could be applied to photography, or any creative endeavor:
 

I was a young, naïve, foolish writer who was searching for my way. I swallowed hard and asked [ James Still, a novelist and poet] if he had any advice on how to be a better writer. He didn’t answer for a long minute, gazing off at the hills as if ignoring me.

But then he spoke, and I realized that he had taken that moment for quiet thought. “Discover something new every day."

This way of being must be something that we have to turn off instead of actively turn on. It must be the way we live our lives.