As of late every book, conversations and source of inspiration has been so incredibly timely. Some might say it’s chance, but for me, I put very small weight in the idea of chance. Today’s timeliness comes in the form of a quote from a video that I feel required to share as it might inspire another. The beauty of the quote is that it is not limited to photographers but rather anyone doing what they’re passionate about.
“If there’s no future in it, at least it’s a present worth remembering”
DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.
Thank you, Alistair Sopp, for your soulful words.
Does anyone else struggle with too many ideas and focusing your efforts?
Every day it seems I wake up, take a shower and come up with some new idea. Maybe a new website, some fresh cocktail concoction, a product or an idea on how to make something work better for me. I head out to the kitchen, where my wife is enjoying her morning coffee, after having been up for hours. It’s then that I say “hey, you’ve gotta hear this new idea”, at which point she rolls her eyes; half serious and half jokingly. She usually follows with something like “...that’s awesome! You plan to do that in your free time?”. All with a smile, of course. Then comes the internal sting of truth. Where am I going to find the time? Do I have too much going on already? Am I doing the right things? Should I do away with one to make room for another? The frustration sets in.
Answering these questions have been a struggle for years now. This year it has started kicking my ass; having a toll on me as an artist. Just recently though I feel like I’ve started to gain a bit of clarity thanks to Scott Belsky, the founder of Behance. Apparently he released a book about me titled, “Making Ideas Happen”. Well, at least one portion of it is about me. It’s the part that talks about the creative person who has a great idea, gets rolling on it, experiences the adrenaline high of bringing the idea to fruition, eventually gets a bit bored and eventually starts on another idea. All at the expense of the prior idea. Or, the part about the creative who comes up with way too many ideas and doesn’t learn to manage them, create action items behind them, or how to put some on the “backburner.
Okay, the truth is Scott Belsky doesn’t have a clue who I am personally, but somehow he painted a great picture of me. Why? Because it seems there are a TON of others out there just like me. Thank God! There’s hope. After having finished Scott’s book and really diving into the The 99 Percent, part of the Behance Network, I can honestly say that anyone dealing with the same issues should run and get the book. It is worth every penny spent. Hell, if you absolutely can’t afford it, and share with me your story, I’ll figure out some way to buy it for you. It’s that good. I’ll go a step further though. Here are a few things I highly recommend checking out sooner than later.
3 LINKS TO DEAL WITH YOUR IDEAS & FOCUS YOUR EFFORTS
1. Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky
2. Scott Belsky: How To Avoid The Idea Generation Trap
3. Frans Johansson: The Secret Truth About Executing Great Ideas
I’ll continue to share what’s affecting me for anyone struggling with the same issues. In the meantime, have you read or seen anything that’s helping you focus your efforts or deal with the constant stream of ideas?
Over the last couple months our family has been dealing with quite a lot. Specifically, it’s been my mom and dad who have been dealing with it the most. For years now my dad has been dealing with pain issues stemming from a botched back surgery years ago, a botched open heart surgery, and now nerve issues in his lower back. This has caused long term severe pain. And over memorial weekend my mom was diagnosed with MS. All of us are now trying to figure out how to deal with this and what the future holds. Beyond the typical things any family goes through with this type of thing, it has also caused me to reflect on my artwork, my career, my attitude and most importantly life. It’s been an eye opening experience and one that has made me realize I don’t want to miss out on life because I’m heads down on the computer every hour of every day. As I’ve been reflecting on this there’s been some real moments of clarity over the last 4 days.
In this journey I stumbled upon a letter today that I felt needed to be shared. There’s a lot of wisdom in it. And while the core of it is meant as a response to an aspiring artist on how to become a better artist I think there is additional deeper wisdom between the lines. It speaks to me “lift your head and see the world around you. Don’t just look at the world around you, but see it.” I’m sure many of you, like me, have been introduced at some time or another to the art of H.R. Giger. My first introduction to his work was when I saw the very first Alien movie. Who I wasn’t familiar with though, until today, was his agent, Les Berany, who also happens to be his close friend. Les is clearly very much a part of Giger’s life. I’m guessing it was because of this that he took the time to respond to a fan’s email. The fan wrote “I’m an aspiring artist and a big fan of Mr. Giger’s work, and was wondering if you could possibly give me some advice? Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated, particularly if you could guide me as to what courses you feel would be of most benefit to me.”
Les responded to the email saying…
We’ve all experienced the feel of being locked out of our house. But how about the feeling of being locked in? Ok, maybe not locked in but definitely unable to go anywhere. I went outside to snag a shirt, for Sherron, that needed to get shipped out tomorrow and noticed that the garage door was not closed all the way. So I went ahead and hit that green glowing button that signals full closure of that ol’ garage door. Shortly after came a nasty creaking sound, a large shift in the framing of our garage door and then a little snap. Ok, a BIG snap. The door came to a screeching halt and after much slamming, pushing and grunting, the thing would NOT budge. Then came that nasty feeling. Yes, that feeling of being locked in. Not to mention I was also getting ready for a trip to Chicago in the morning for a friends art opening and both our cars and myself are stuck in the garage. Now comes the feeling of no transportaion. AHCKK. Man was I hacked. So next thing was to try to fix it myself. Bad idea. I almost cut off a finger, and nearly killed myself thanks to a piece of sheet metal whizzing by my head at about 50 miles an hour. It’s amazing what a spring loaded metal wire can do with a piece of sheet metal when it snaps. But after an hour of doing a horrible job of fixing the door (probably better referred to as destroying the door) I finally got the thing open and Sherron pulled both cars out. Whew, it’s finally over. Here’s to life happening and putting a little money into the wallet of a “garage door mechanic”. But most importantly, here’s to still being alive.
