<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d10668659\x26blogName\x3dOrganized+Individualists\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dSILVER\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://organizedindividualists.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_US\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://organizedindividualists.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-2572478259347834530', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

Redux

I blogged about Richard Dyson's blast against "creatives" about a week ago, and it's been on my mind ever since, especially this quote :

"And the fact is that they are not creative at all. They are doing the very worst thing you can do, which is to sit staring at a drawing board trying to come up with an idea out of nowhere. You need dialogue to create."

He's right. But yet, he's wrong.

He's right in the creative dialogue, the give and take needed for synthesis of new ideas doesn't exist in a vacuum (even a Dyson. ;-) ). But he's wrong, because you don't need other people to have that dialogue. You can have the conversation that's needed for creativity, if you apply yourself to create something for it's own sake (and not for someone else) and are honest with yourself about the quality of your work.

I remember talking with an old girlfriend when I first started out about how blessed I was to be a photographer, because I had a built-in barometer of my emotional health. If I was depressed or over-elated or had something that wasn't clicking in my conscious mind, it would show up in my work, allowing me to deal with it. We've all had those moments in the creative process where we step back and say "Whoa! Where did that come from?" as our feelings or emotions get drawn out of us and plopped down onto the paper/keys/film/canvas. Having those moments, and recognizing them when they happen, is exactly the dialogue with oneself that allows something truly creative to happen.

“Redux”