Creative blocks

What happens as a photographer when you find yourself facing a creative block?

We all face them at some point in our careers. What’s most interesting perhaps is how we as creatives choose to individually fight our way through. One of my professors would stress the importance of shooting your way out of it. Others would stress just putting the camera down for awhile until the passion resurfaces.

Below are a few choice quotes from a writer’s perspective on dealing with ideas and blocks:

the hard fact is that words are emotional things, and emotions shift. They grow. They grow impossible. They move away. There is a tide in creativity, and until you are familiar with its ebb and flow, it is hard to look at that distant sea and believe that it will ever come close again.

So I don’t do “inspiration” or “blocks”. I just do “work” and hope for the best. Some days the geese stay geese, but often enough I get a bit of swan action; a still reflection, a glimpse of white. The trick is to keep yourself open to the moment. The trick is to keep yourself vulnerable and true, and this can be tiring, after a while. It can hurt – quite literally. So there will be times when you have to retire a little, and shut down.

But there is no need to panic. It does come back. One day it comes back. The tide turns. The words mean something again, and they manage to stick to the page. The right shell is on the beach, the light is beautiful and just for you. As you turn into the wind and head for home, the swan itself shits on your coat. And there, standing by the car, is another human being.