How Creative are you..............Really?

Daryl

Daryl

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Daryl
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I read a lot about 'Being creative' but are you really?

If you are creative it must flow past Photography..

I have artist friends on the Isle of Wight who are photographers, Painters Carnival designers. some have designed and built their houses. boats etc.

If you tell me you are creative Photographer and live in 1940s semi and cant draw or paint or have a single design/Artistic idea out side of photography are you CREATIVE? I think not and those people are telling porkies.
do make your own clothes? Can you do, make anything pottery?

That is a creative person.... Creative people have it in their blood their soul it's their life and in everything they do?
do draw in pastels or charcoal?

If you say you are creative. Are you creative in something other than photography?
 
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I've been playing keyboards since the age of 17 and writing instrumental tunes, I use to have racks of synths, drums machines etc but these days I do it all via 1 master keyboard, a desktop PC, cubase and loads of soft synths.
Is that creative?
 
yours is a narrow definition of "being creative" - people create when they work, some do anyway
 
Having seen some of the utter guff that's passed off as "creative photography" on here I often wonder if there are any parameters at all. I do not think this is a good thing.
 
I used to draw a bit many years ago, loved charcoal, now it's just doodling when I'm on hold on the phone..

Oh and I made my son a giant beanstalk for book day many years ago that was twice his size.. Does that count [emoji16]
 
Cg_Girl said:
Oh and I made my son a giant beanstalk for book day many years ago that was twice his size.. Does that count [emoji16]
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If his name is Jack then maybe.:cool:
 
Interesting post.

Slight thread drift, but I was going to post a thread asking people how creative they are, specifically, when was the last time they produced something origional.

Can someone who is creative at photography or painting or sculpting or embroidery, be classed as creative? or is creative a 'thing'? I'm not sure how good at embroidery Mark Rothko was or how good at sculpting Turner was :thinking:, but I consider them creative.

I'll have to ponder this one more.

Thanks for posting.

Cheers.
 
Daryl said:
I read a lot about 'Being creative' but are you really?

If you are creative it must flow past Photography..

I have artist friends on the Isle of Wight who are photographers, Painters Carnival designers. some have designed and built their houses. boats etc.

If you tell me you are creative Photographer and live in 1940s semi and cant draw or paint or have a single design/Artistic idea out side of photography are you CREATIVE? I think not and those people are telling porkies.
do make your own clothes? Can you do, make anything pottery?

That is a creative person.... Creative people have it in their blood their soul it's their life and in everything they do?
do draw in pastels or charcoal?

If you say you are creative. Are you creative in something other than photography?
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Tried learning the guitar and enjoy writing lyrics and singing so have made a few songs albeit not to any great standard. I do enjoy writing in general though and a few years ago wrote 25,000 words of a Sci Fi novel... One day I'm hoping I'll finish it.

Also came up with an invention but the £4k fee for a patent lawyer was our of my reach, especially as my meeting with one revealed it was 50/50 as to the likelyhood of it being granted. If it was and I went through with it there's no doubt I'd be a very rich man!
 
I'm as creative as a dog's turd.
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An Honest Man

yours is a narrow definition of "being creative" - people create when they work, some do anyway
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some

Why can't you be creative just in photography (and photoshop)?
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you paint in Photoshop Marcus .... It's not only photography.

Ajax Andy is on the Creative side....... Inventor and Musician.

It's all there.

Yes
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Crap answer Sirch. do you make Pastry sculptors?

Posiview, did you make your own outfit in your avatar?
 
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Answer to opening question: yes.

Deny assumption question is based on.

Answer to final question: yes.
 
Daryl said:
I read a lot about 'Being creative' but are you really?

If you are creative it must flow past Photography..

I have artist friends on the Isle of Wight who are photographers, Painters Carnival designers. some have designed and built their houses. boats etc.

If you tell me you are creative Photographer and live in 1940s semi and cant draw or paint or have a single design/Artistic idea out side of photography are you CREATIVE? I think not and those people are telling porkies.
do make your own clothes? Can you do, make anything pottery?

That is a creative person.... Creative people have it in their blood their soul it's their life and in everything they do?
do draw in pastels or charcoal?

If you say you are creative. Are you creative in something other than photography? I do wonder.
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Not as much as I'd like to be:
But I have made clothes in the past, painted and drawn, designed our extension, I do loads of cooking. I tried music as a kid, but I was rubbish.

I've also built kit cars, and customised and repaired classics, I enjoy writing but more technical rather than 'creative'.
 
I like to think I'm creative.

I started making pictures when I was very young. I started writing young too and passed through jewellery, pottery, sculpture and whole lot more. I suppose my highlights where/are being asked to produce art and having a poem published and a song accepted for an animation. I got my first camera at the age of 10 but it was years later that I developed a theme... but sadly no one has ever got it... :D and I suppose I'm still waiting for the day when someone looks at my pictures and says "A-HA! So THAT'S what you're saying!" It'll never happen but I'm always happy when someone wants one of my pictures even if they miss the point :D

If anyone does one day get it I expect to be sectioned the next.
 
I'm not creative at all. I can't draw. I can't paint. I can't sew and I can only just about knock out a few chords on a guitar.

As far as photography is concerned I tend to snap away wildly and occasionally see something that is worthy of working on. Perhaps that's creativity?

I do give good head tho, well, so I'm told. :D
 
Interesting that you post this Daryl. It's a subject that I often think about and, if I am being honest, it bothers me quite a bit. I am not a naturally creative person at all, but I really want to be. :(

With regards to photography, the basic technical side came fairly quickly and easy to me. Aperture/ISO/Shutter speed and how they all interact. The creative side I really struggle with. I make a lot of photos that are technically fine but soulless and boring. They leave me cold. I am trying to let go of that in an attempt to be more creative but finding it difficult. I have read a few articles that say it can be learned, however I am not too sure at times but I struggle on. Things that come naturally to me seem to be things like sports. I can take to (or could when I was a bit younger) new sports fairly well, where it seems some of my creative friends don't really 'do' anything sporty at all. Perhaps it's one or the other? Either way, I will carry on trying!
 
I guess it depends on your definition of creative too. Years ago, when I was without camera for a few years, I took up painting as a replacement for a while. I am ok at drawing, but only just ok, but I could then 'colour it in' with paint and without numbers. Even sold a couple at local exhibitions and earned a few quid from doing paintings with acrylics of peoples houses. Is that creative? I created the painting for sure, but I don't think I ever painted something out of my own head or imagination, it was always something that did or had existed.

I have made all sorts of stuff with a sewing machine, from a simple cover for a cot duvet, fully lined curtains, to the odd item of clothing, usually for the kids for some show at school or dance class. I can also knit though I don't do it very often, only recent thing [and by recent I mean last year for the first time in 20 years] is a knitted stuffed owl.

Last year a friend of mine ran a lino print evening, had huge fun and came away with a couple of huge napkins and some other bits and pieces printed with a cat design that really was straight from my own imagination [surely not I hear you say! :LOL: ]

I can make roses from plasticine too ya know! :LOL: I love trying my hand at anything that requires being good with your hands but is also a bit 'arty' or perhaps 'crafty' is a better word - I do enjoy making things. The only thing I can say I totally failed at was pottery, utterly useless imo.

Is my photography creative? I have never thought so personally, and I doubt many others do too and I always feel a bit of a fraud when I get lumped in as a 'creative' in stuff like twitter discussions, though appreciate it is a useful word as a catchall. When I look around I see some very creative photography, but it depends how you define creative. I look at some of the still life stuff @blakester does and find myself in total awe, not just of the picture, but how the hell he came up with the idea for their contents in the first place. I am another that doesn't find stuff like wire wool spinning, water drops and smoke pictures in any way 'creative', because to me being creative implies being imaginative and coming up with something from the deepest recesses of your mind that whilst may be not unique, is at least your individual way of seeing things [and that is where I am crap]. Others would argue that it is more about creating something that wasn't there before, not just photographing a landscape, but creating your own version of that landscape in the first place by spinning that wire wool in just the right place - I am not going to argue with that point of view, it is as valid as my own, just different. Hence my opening sentence, how you define creative will help you decide whether you are or not. ;)
 
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I use photography as my creative or artistic outlet, spending most of my time working on technical projects. Whether I'm creative or not isn't important to me, but it ticks the box for me.
 
Thank you for the tag and comments @Yv
In answer to Daryls OP, I do think I am creative in the creation of some of my still life subjects but there's a caveat on that. I feel taking photographs of my still life objects doesn't necessarily make that creative photography IYSWIM.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy with the images but think, at times, the object overrides the photography and it is just a photograph of someone else's work. As in the argument of taking photographs of graffiti say.

I agree that taking straightforward record shots isn't creative but beyond that, there is creativity. People photographers shaping the light in a portrait, landscape photographers choosing a particular light or view, that's creative thinking IMHO.

There isn't one single definition of being creative but it covers a broad spectrum again IMHO.
 
Creativity isn't just about arty and crafty stuff. There"s creativity in mathematics, in laboratory research, in computer programming, in keeping old machines running, in management, in banking, in philosophy, in military command, in fact pretty much anywhere that people find things interesting or rewarding enough to spend time working on.

Why should the label of "creative" be denied someone who is only creative in one thing, such as photography? Where else was Vivian Maier creative? Where else was Magritte creative apart from painting?
 
Based on the narrow and IMO somewhat flawed definition of "Creative" in the OP...

No, im not. Far from it. I'm barely a photographer if I'm honest.
 
I get where the OP is coming from and myself I am heavily into Dance music production and mixing and have been for a lot of years, i find creating anything to be fulfilling whether its a new music mix, a new photograph or a new food recipe !

Just as when i finish a set of wedding photos and deliver them i get a buzz , i get the same feeling from spending hours developing a music mix ( when it goes right anyway ! )

Heres some of my mixes for anyone into house or old skool !

https://www.mixcloud.com/andy-davies6/
 
It's an overused term. Most people just recreate, or stumble upon a slight variation.
 
"It's not so much creating something, it's noticing when something is starting to happen..."

 
Can barely draw the curtains or a bath. Not that good at decorating cakes. Have a reasonable eye for a photograph and have done a few cake designs in my head (with Mrs Nod executing my ideas). Can get quite creative in the kitchen and have done a couple of gardens.
 
ajax_andy said:
Tried learning the guitar and enjoy writing lyrics and singing so have made a few songs albeit not to any great standard. I do enjoy writing in general though and a few years ago wrote 25,000 words of a Sci Fi novel... One day I'm hoping I'll finish it.

Also came up with an invention but the £4k fee for a patent lawyer was our of my reach, especially as my meeting with one revealed it was 50/50 as to the likelyhood of it being granted. If it was and I went through with it there's no doubt I'd be a very rich man!
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I have £4k to invest. What was your idea again?
 
Daryl said:
I read a lot about 'Being creative' but are you really?

If you are creative it must flow past Photography..

I have artist friends on the Isle of Wight who are photographers, Painters Carnival designers. some have designed and built their houses. boats etc.

If you tell me you are creative Photographer and live in 1940s semi and cant draw or paint or have a single design/Artistic idea out side of photography are you CREATIVE? I think not and those people are telling porkies.
do make your own clothes? Can you do, make anything pottery?

That is a creative person.... Creative people have it in their blood their soul it's their life and in everything they do?
do draw in pastels or charcoal?

If you say you are creative. Are you creative in something other than photography?
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BillN_33 said:
yours is a narrow definition of "being creative" - people create when they work, some do anyway
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Being artistically creative and being creative are not necessarily the same thing
 
Wow..it never ceases to amaze me how many photographers also have a musical side..didn't realise there were so many on here.. I too have played in bands since my teens and now have a studio in the backroom of the house with racks of keyboards and outboard gear along with abelton logic and reason computer rig for writing and recording..andy these mixes are great.. now my listening for browsing talk photography and more.. great stuff currently listening to house candy podcast..never mind a canon 7d or a nikon d3 and the photo it or its owner can make ..you just cant beat a great groove with a tb303 ..now thats what I call being creative..
 
Daryl said:
I have artist friends on the Isle of Wight who are photographers, Painters Carnival designers. some have designed and built their houses. boats etc.
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Well, it is a very creative place. I don't know why, it just is. Who do you know here? I might know some of them.

Sometimes I am creative. I have built guitars, valve based audio recording equipment and PA loudspeakers, I play guitar, bass, mandolin and ukulele. I have also built a few cameras.

I often struggle with the idea of photography being creative as more often than not, you are just making a two dimensional representation of an already existing scene in front of the camera. I think truly creative photographers have some input into the manufacture of the scene before it is photographed.

Daryl said:
do make your own clothes?
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I can knit... but don't tell anyone!


Steve.
 
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thequietman said:
Wow..it never ceases to amaze me how many photographers also have a musical side..didn't realise there were so many on here.. I too have played in bands since my teens and now have a studio in the backroom of the house with racks of keyboards and outboard gear along with abelton logic and reason computer rig for writing and recording..andy these mixes are great.. now my listening for browsing talk photography and more.. great stuff currently listening to house candy podcast..never mind a canon 7d or a nikon d3 and the photo it or its owner can make ..you just cant beat a great groove with a tb303 ..now thats what I call being creative..
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I am quite tempted by Abletons Push ;) , its always music gear v photography gear twice the GAS :( thanks for giving my mixes a listen glad your enjoying them - wont get much more time doing those till the end of next wedding season now but would love to hear some of your stuff quiteman ? linky ?
 
Not too sure!
I did ballet from 6 years old till I was 17 when a problem with my ankles finished my dream of becoming professional :( I then spent years trying to find something "creative" to fill the gap left, I do paint and draw, love interior design ( not that I'm that good with it), have done other various craft things over the years but it was when I first picked up a camera properly 6 years ago that I finally felt I had found what I was looking for :)
After learning the technical side I now love planning the occasional more creative shoot, like the clown one and silhouette ones that I have popped up on here.
Am I creative? I would like to think I might be but others might disagree ;)
 
Photography can be creative. Of course, the simple act of holding a camera up to your eye and pressing the button isn't, but if for example you have seen the possibilities of a scene for post processing, or set one up with models, lighting, etc, or made specific choices as to filtration, exposure to create an effect or mod that is different to reality, then I'd say there's a creative element in that to various degrees.
Creativity can be as much in the process as it is in the end result.
 
blakester said:
I agree that taking straightforward record shots isn't creative..
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Steve Smith said:
I often struggle with the idea of photography being creative as more often than not, you are just making a two dimensional representation of an already existing scene in front of the camera. I think truly creative photographers have some input into the manufacture of the scene before it is photographed.
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I disagree most strongly with this denial that the act of using a camera to use a camera to record something transient and extraordinary that you have seen isn't a creative act. It's precisely how the majority of great photographs have been made.

Photography (that which doesn't revolve around the photographer manipulating the subject, light etc.) is all about choices; framing, position, timing - as outlined in John Szarkowski's 'The Photographer's Eye'. That's where the creative process lies. And when done well the results become more than record shots.

"Life is more creative than you. Spend some time looking around and it will give you images that you could never imagine yourself."
Kenneth Jarecke

Creative photographers see the extraordinary where everyone else sees the ordinary. This is very difficult to achieve consistently.
 
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Ed Sutton said:
I disagree most strongly with this denial that the act of using a camera to use a camera to record something transient and extraordinary that you have seen isn't a creative act. It's precisely how the majority of great photographs have been made.

Photography (that which doesn't revolve around the photographer manipulating the subject, light etc.) is all about choices; framing, position, timing - as outlined in John Szarkowski's 'The Photographer's Eye'. That's where the creative process lies. And when done well the results become more than record shots.

"Life is more creative than you. Spend some time looking around and it will give you images that you could never imagine yourself."
Kenneth Jarecke

Creative photographers see the extraordinary where everyone else sees the ordinary. This is very difficult to achieve consistently.
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Yes that's what I was thinking but you was better at putting it into words than me:D
I have seen lots of work on here and other places that I would say is creative:)
 
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