October 2007
- 4
Spectrum of Creativity
The subject of creativity isn’t confined to photography, but it’s certainly a part of it. In January 2002 lecturer Paul Kleiman of Lancaster University described a ‘spectrum of creativity’ at a conference in Liverpool, which I attended. The four stages he suggested are as follows: 1) Replication 2) Formulation 3) Innovation 4) Origination 1) Replication A craft like ceramics relies on replication. If we understand it as a combination of mechanical skill and creative design, the former concerns the visual, sensory…
- 5
Pursuing Mountain Photography
One commonly repeated idea about photography is it doesn’t matter where you are and what your subject is, rather that you think and work creatively. I’ve seen photographers give this advice, and I don’t wholly agree with it; it’s a lazy answer that doesn’t properly address the issues. It’s certainly true you can create good photographs from mundane and less obvious subjects and there is for example, an interesting self-explanatory book called Trash Aesthetics that…
- 21
The Romance Of Photography
A friend said to me a few months ago, “why photography”? I didn’t know how to reply, because he didn’t clarify exactly what he meant. Was it supposed to prompt some kind of self-reflection, or a more simple declaration of why I like it? I don’t think he realised himself how the question could be considered in different ways, but it’s the kind of thing I like doing and after gestating in my unconscious for…