All great posts. Can you elaborate on how music, a movie scene, or a line in a poem has inspired you to make a particular image or series of images?
When I was on this hike I was inspired to do something more than just a chance shot with some great light (although those are fun moments). While on this hike it was high noon and terrible light to make any photo that I would have liked anyway. I had my pocket camera but left it in the car because I just wanted to walk. But I did see so many things that I took note of, and now I am watching the weather reports etc. so I can get the shot I see in my mind. It also made me think of some other places I have wanted to shoot but didn't really know how it would fit in with all of my other images. After this hike it all clicked and now I am ready and focused on it. I was inspired to produce much more than a happy accident.
The faster I travel, the less I see. So I walk, often the same walk over and over again, until something clicks and I come across a thing or a scene that just screams at me to be photographed. I am pig-headed and artistically deaf, so sometimes the thing needs to scream more than once. Eventually I dig out a camera (the biggest I can carry) and I bang off a shot just to make the noise stop.
Then it's back to walking.
My inspiration comes from poets, painters, illustrators, novelists, musicians, sculptors - in fact, from anyone who finds a way to make a space in their lives for their own creativity, and who has the nerve and the dedication to follow through on their instincts and actually do something.
Last edited by Struan Gray; 05-27-2008 at 06:02 PM.
The music of Nick Drake makes me want to make photographs of the autumn.
Miles Davis makes me want to photograph the night, and Dead Can Dance makes me want to photograph dark or mist atmospheres.
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[quote=Derek Lofgreen;539330]All great posts. Can you elaborate on how music, a movie scene, or a line in a poem has inspired you to make a particular image or series of images?
Its just something that happens inside... I see or hear something and it conjures up a vague idea for a photo. Most of my projects involve using my kids, family, friends who "volunteered" (or were drafted!) to recreate these scenes for me.
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“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
-- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
My inspiration comes from poets, painters, illustrators, novelists, musicians, sculptors - in fact, from anyone who finds a way to make a space in their lives for their own creativity, and who has the nerve and the dedication to follow through on their instincts and actually do something.
struan...
that image is astounding. You mentioned painters as inspiration... I was immediately reminded of Mark Rothko from your image post.
very well seen and executed, an image I wish could adorn my wall.
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I draw inspiration from works of literature and art, particularly works that are ripe with symbolism. In some cases, quite literally - I've shot photos to illustrate passages from an Elizabethan period play, and Greek mythology. I draw visual inspiration from the same sources too... Caravaggio is a major influence, as are Michelangelo and Da Vinci.
i don't know if this makes sense,
but i just stop thinking
and let things happen ..
i find inspiration just by noticing the world around me,
whether i am (being held hostage) riding shot gun in the car,
or slaving away at the kichen sink (supposedly doing the dishes),
or chatting with a stranger ...
struan...
that image is astounding. You mentioned painters as inspiration... I was immediately reminded of Mark Rothko from your image post.
very well seen and executed, an image I wish could adorn my wall.
Thanks scooter. That photo comes from a series that is very personal to me, which I am now tentatively trying out on a wider audience. It's very encouraging to hear it made a positive impression.
I'm too disorganised to sell, or even give away, prints; but I have ambitions to put out a book. APUG will hear the word if it comes to fruition.
It's interesting you pick Rothko as a model. I don't know if you have read the ongoing abstract expressionist thread, but there I have talked about how much that school has influenced me and my photography. My feeling is that this is Rothko-esque only at a distance, but becomes more and more busy as you look closer. My favourite painter from that movement is Marc Tobey, and a soon as I saw this I loved the way the cracks in the ice made their own "white writing."
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